“Arthur?” Leila lifted her head and barely made out the figure of Arthur. As if broken free from her sorrow, she burst into tears and rushed into his arms.
“Alright, it’s fine now.” This was the second time a woman was sobbing in his arms. The first time was her as well, out on the streets.
Arthur let out a sigh; there was a look of powerlessness on his handsome face. He softly patted Leila’s trembling body, who was sobbing like a helpless child. Her weak side as she cried made him want to hug her in his arms and tell her, “Leila, I’ve always liked you a lot!”
But the words just wouldn’t come out.
As she sobbed, she grabbed onto Arthur; all her emotions came pouring out uncontrollably. Gradually, her cries dwindled.
“Leila?” Arthur called her name in confusion; then he noticed that she had already fallen asleep. Her eyes were red from all the sorrow and pain she had held in.
Though her eyes were shut, she still sniffled from time to time. Arthur shook his head and carried her thin, small body toward his car in the parking lot. He placed her in the backseat and began to drive her home.
“Renee, time to eat!” Miyamoto knocked at the door, but only silence greeted him.
He opened the door and headed in; the person in bed seemed still sound asleep. Her messy hair covered over her face; through small cracks in the hair, he could see a row of thin arched eyelashes shut tightly in place. The snow white face was slightly rosy red, with a look of satisfaction as the person slept serenely.
“Renee, time to get up.” Miyamoto called out to her again; he didn’t notice that her slight smile already all managed to erase his frustrations from the afternoon.
As though she heard him, her lips pursed, and her body twitched a bit. She held her pillow even tighter, and continued to sleep.
Miyamoto shook his head helplessly; he walked to the bedside and removed her pillow. She was an adult already, yet still behaved like a child. Even Owen didn’t hug anything in his sleep!
With nothing left to grab, Renee’s hands randomly grabbed onto Miyamoto’s hand, and her lips muttered, “Don’t run, I’ve got you now.”
Miyamoto froze still when her hands held his, since she brought his hand directly to her chest. The softness of her chest suddenly made him start to get turned on!
In his awkward situation, Miyamoto looked to Renee’s face. She was still asleep, so it wasn’t her trying to flirt with him. Maybe it was because she was still muttering, there was still a hint of drool on the corner of her mouth.
Miyamoto pulled his hand away; he didn’t want to take advantage of her, especially in her sleep.
The second he yanked his hand away, Renee frowned.
“Renee, time to get up.” Miyamoto began to shake her hand forcefully.
“Mom! Don’t bother me! I don’t want to get up, I didn’t sleep well. Besides, I’m sick, I need rest! Don’t yell at me!” Renee put in an effort to open her eyes and complain toward the person that was forcing her to get up!
It was not her mother?!
In shock at the blurred vision before her, Renee shook her head violently, then more clearly saw Miyamoto standing before her. It then dawned on her that she was at his home.
“Ah, why are you on my bed.”
“I came to call you to go eat! Renee, can you let go of my hand now?” Miyamoto’s sight fell down to Renee holding onto his large hand.
“Ah?” Renee froze, then threw his hand aside as though it was a snake. “Why, why are you in my room?”
“Lady, you’re the one who grabbed me!”
“No way!” Renee frowned.
“Whatever!”
“Well, I must have mistook your hand for a pillow. But it’s your fault, why did you come in my room unannounced!” Renee smirked, then pulled the blankets over herself and shrunk herself into a ball.
Looking at her distant behavior, Miyamoto’s eyes looked a bit sad, and his heart slightly skipped a beat.
“Come on, time to eat.” Miyamoto said in a calm tone.
“Oh, fine, but you head out first.” Renee kept her distance. “Where’s Owen? Can you call him to come over?”
“He’ll be here tomorrow!” Miyamoto said as he headed toward the door.
“You, you mean, it’s just the two of us here now? Tonight? Just a single man and a single woman?”
Hearing her words, Miyamoto suddenly felt upset and turned around. “What’s wrong with just the two of us? Do you think I’ll do something to you?”
“Who knows what you’re thinking. Anyway, I just want to let you know that I’m not interested in you at all!” Renee pursed her lips; why did she felt a bit awkward from keeping her distance with him?
It was indeed awkward with just the two of them at the dining table.
Renee sat there and looked at all the food on the table. All of her appetite was lost with the strange half Japanese man sitting across from her.
“Drink the soup!” Miyamoto said in a low voice.
She slurped down all her soup without a word. Then she began to eat the other dishes in a hurry. All she wanted to do was quickly return to her room.
“I’m done!” Renee grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth as she headed to her room.
The phone suddenly rang, which startled Renee to the point that she muttered to herself, “Who could be calling me?”
She looked down at her cell and nearly jumped out of her skin; it was Callum calling. Startled, she blinked a few times, then gritted her teeth and picked up the call, “Hurry up and speak!”
“Renee, are you alright?”
“What’s that got to do with you?” Renee snorted. “Don’t call me, I’ve got no time to waste on you. Sorry, it’s just too tiresome!”
“Renee, listen to me, I just want to know if you’re doing OK?”
Callum’s voice sounded off; it had a scratchy sound as though he had been drinking. As though something inside her was stirring, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
On the other end, Callum sounded incredibly agonizing and lonely. “Renee, I truly didn’t mean to hurt you; I didn’t want things to turn out like this. Please, forgive me! I like you, I really like you, but I had to marry Lennie… Renee, are you still there?”
Renee froze still; she never expected to hear these words come out of Callum’s mouth.
It was all too sudden and without any sign. Renee didn’t want to keep listening, but listening to him speak this thought while drunk, she felt her own mind blank out. What did he mean he had to marry her? It was just an excuse!
To her, the man on the phone really hurt her too deeply, to the point that she wanted to die. As of now, after having gone through two life and death experiences, Renee was numb to Callum’s words.
“Callum West, I don’t want to hear from you again, not ever again!” Renee said in a cold tone.
Callum West!?
Hearing the name, Miyamoto felt slightly shocked. Her cold attitude made him glance at her.
He saw her calmly hang up the phone. He realized he was holding his breath, and he returned to normal as he breathed a sigh of relief.
Renee slightly turned around slowly and looked at him, “Can you get me a new number?”
Miyamoto raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he nodded.
Renee was about to return to her room, but upon looking at Miyamoto, she walked to the sofa, and said in a very calm tone, “Miyamoto, if Pippa gets well and realizes she loves you, you two should get re-married!”
In shock again, Miyamoto looked at her confusedly.
As though she was pondering something, she began to speak again, “Vincent doesn’t like Pippa. If he did, they’d have gotten married long ago, and he wouldn’t have fallen for Leila. So, in this life, there’s no way Pippa would ever marry Vincent. As for you two, the two of you chose to have Owen, so you should treat him well and give him a complete family with a mother and father. So, you should take Owen to visit Pippa more often in the mental hospital. She used to be quite normal, so I’m sure she can get well! So you should have some faith in her!”
Her words aroused mixed feelings inside him; he continued looking at her in a puzzled manner.
She blinked, “Actually, I think Pippa is not so bad. She might have been a bit spoiled, but deep down, I think she’s quite shy. She’s like a flower that only blooms at night, and when daylight comes, she wilts. And you happen to like that kind of girls; one look is enough to steal your breath away. She wants all the men around her to shower her with affection. Well, ‘all the men’ might be a bit exaggerated, but at least she wants you and Vincent to care about her! And with the two of you suddenly walking out of her life like that, she’s incredibly hurt. People like her in that kind of bottled up situation will definitely crack. It’s fine if they were not hurt, but once they are, it’s as though the world turned its back on her, and she will become extremely selfish and irrational! Then she becomes prone to erratic behavior.”
Miyamoto sat silently by the dining table and Renee sat on the sofa. There was some distance between them two.
Renee continued again, “Such introverts carry quite a bit of grudge but also an alluring beauty. If your heart is still with Pippa, then there’s no way you have room for another woman. The heart is like a house with a key, and the key is in the hands of the woman you love. If she doesn’t come, your house is empty. My key was broken by Callum. And yours was broken by Pippa! So for now, both our houses are empty and can’t fit anyone else inside, right?”
Miyamoto was still listening, but there was a complex look in his eyes.
“Love’s like that, it can lift you up to heaven or drop you down into hell forever. So many people try to forget their lovers in the afterlife and hope they never meet again in the next life. If there was a potion to make you forget the ones you loved, I’m sure I’ll make millions by selling it!”