Leila was not a fool after all, she felt something faintly. She turned around and looked at the night sky outside the window. “Thank you for believing in me, Arthur. You’re really like my brother, you’re a good brother!”
Arthur turned around and looked at her. His heart felt like being pinched, he could only take a deep breath to relieve the congested pain. He sighed lightly and turned around. He did not say a single word and started the car quietly.
The mint flavor of the air freshener filled up the quiet atmosphere in the car.
Arthur focused on driving and he was looking at the road seriously. His slender fingers were holding the steering wheel. His expression was serious and focused along with his charming movement. It revealed his refined charming aura accidentally.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Any unfamiliar place!” Leila said.
“I think it’s not appropriate if nobody takes care of you. I do support you if you are leaving a while. But you should have someone to take care of you. How about this? I have a grand aunt who lives in City R. She has not been married in her whole life; she lives by herself. You can go and stay with her for some time!”
“I…” Leila was startled.
“It’s okay, you’re a pregnant woman. It’s not safe to go out by yourself, it’s not good for the child too. You can stay at my grandaunt’s house. She will not interfere you, at least she has someone to talk with!” Arthur explained as he was worried that she would not go. He could not imagine how a pregnant woman like Leila could survive living outside, although he wanted Leila to be happy. But right now, Vincent did not cherish her, he was disappointed.
Maybe staying apart for some time would be the best for both of them. It was a period to clear all the misunderstandings and doubts.
“Thank you!” Leila felt a sense of warmth in her heart. The way he tried to help her without asking for any returns made her feel so warm. But she owed him too much that she shook her head to reject. “I have somewhere else to go and I have someone that can take care of me!”
Arthur nodded his head after he heard her reply. “Fine, at least someone can take care of you!”
But in his heart, he knew that she was lying. Because in that moment just now, she hesitated. He knew that she was lying. He felt bad for her. Suddenly he wanted to do it without thinking the consequences. No matter what, he wanted to try to fight for his love.
Leila stayed at her home now. Because she worried that Vincent might come to find her at midnight therefore, she came back.
When they reached the entrance, she came out from the car.
Arthur came out from the car too and did not have the intention to leave. He was hesitating, his heart was struggling as he looked at how exhausting she was. He was in dilemma. “Lexi…”
“Yes?” Leila raised her head. She saw Arthur’s eyes was shining brightly under the streetlight. He suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed her hand.
Leila was shocked and withdrew her hand.
Arthur said, “Lexi, thank you for believing in me as you bid farewell with me. I have a few words that I wish to tell you!”
Leila was worried, “Arthur…”
“You trust me so much and tell me that you’re leaving, and I thought that I wouldn’t dare to say. I thought that you’ve never considered me in your heart! But…”
She tried to avoid and said, “I’ve said it earlier, you’re a good friend!”
Good friend?! “Friend” again?! Just “Friend”?
He took a cold breath. “It’s not friend! I don’t want to be a good friend.”
He suddenly burst out. He could not stand it anymore. He was confident and steady. He blurted out, “Your one word ‘Friend’ pushes me down to the hell. I know that you’re smart, you do know what I’m thinking about. Lexi, since you’re having a tough time, how about following me to United States. Leave this place! Leave Vincent! I promise that I will take good care of you and your child!”
Leila was startled as she raised her head. She looked at him calmly. He said it! He really said it!
Her heart was complicated, and she murmured, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Arthur, you should leave now. My head is a little dizzy, I can’t hear anything, I will go in first.”
“I know!” He whispered. His eyes turned even more deeper and brighter. “I know what I’m talking about and what I’m doing. I am just doing something that I should have done earlier. I am here… to request you to marry me!”
“Ah!” Leila whispered. She was shocked and startled. She covered her face with her palms.
But he did not allow her to avoid. He used his hand to hold her chin and lifted her face forcefully. He stared at her and kept asking, “What do you think? Tell me! I know that after I confessed, we might not be friends anymore. At first, I thought that you would be happy therefore I never wanted to confess to you and never thought of anything else. But now, you’re not happy and you’re suffering. He does not cherish you, I just want to protect and take care of you. Now I do want to give myself a chance. Whether it’s going to be successful or not. I think I want to give myself a chance!”
Leila felt like she could not breathe anymore. She could not move at all. Her mind was completely blank.
Arthur proposed to her. This sudden proposal caught her off guard. She was shocked, horrified and tired at the same time. “Arthur, I’m sorry!”
“I know that this is the result, I know all this time. You don’t have to care about me and try to consider about what I said. I will be waiting for you, don’t get stressed out. If you need me, please come to me. If you don’t need me, that’s fine as well. Please don’t feel guilty because the fact that I like you is my own matter!”
“Please don’t compare Vincent with me! If you can’t forget about him, I won’t force you! Before you give me an answer, please think thoroughly…” He withdrew his hand and lit up a stick of cigarette. His hand was slightly shaking, and his voice was a little stiff. He puffed out a thick smoke.
“I’m sorry!” Leila felt inexplicably guilty. She could not say anything bad towards someone who was so kind like Arthur. But she could not give him a response. “Arthur, you should leave now. It’s impossible for us, forever!”
Through that thin layer of disgust, he was watching her carefully and deeply. He did not ignore any subtle expression on her face. Her cheeks were getting whiter, and this expression squeezed his heart and twitched his nerves. She refused!
“Arthur?” Leila saw his blank expression and shouted at him.
Arthur raised his eyes and he looked at her worried face, “Don’t you want to think about it for few more minutes?”
He asked hoarsely as he tried to suppress his disappointment forcefully. His voice continued to tremble in anticipation, “I can wait. You don’t have to give me the answer so soon. Perhaps, tomorrow or perhaps the day after tomorrow… let’s talk after you think about it!”
“No need!” She answered quickly, “It’s impossible for us! Arthur, I’m sorry!”
Arthur pursed his lips into a line, then he suddenly got up and walked back to the car in big steps like a shooting star. He started up the car and left.
Leila looked at the car as it left, there was a mixed feeling from the bottom of her heart.
She took a deep cold breath. She felt that her whole body was sinking into a deep and cold icehouse. It was so cold that all her will had frozen.
My most beloved Arthur, so actually he liked me, why did this happen?
Arthur drove a long way and he stopped the car beside of the street. He was smoking non-stop. He must be out of his mind to confess to Leila, at that moment when he said it, he regretted.
He felt that he was not mature enough, but he already gave up too!
He was worried at the same time that Leila would not care about him anymore or might be angry, sad and annoyed. Worries had caused his whole body to be in tense and it also made him lose his grip. Through that layer of smoke, he felt that he was getting lonelier.
He was smoking one after another and his throat started to tighten, and he felt the pain.
After a while, when he finished smoking, he threw it out of the window. He took out another stick of cigarette and lit it up with the lighter. His hand kept trembling uncontrollably. It took almost quite a while for him to lit up the cigarette. He put away the lighter and he tried his best to cheer himself up. He tried to remain calm, but he was still trembling!
This was his first confession in his lifetime. It was always girls who liked him and took the initiative to confess to him. Who would have guessed that he failed at the first time?
It was a lonely night which belonged to the broken-hearted person.
Charles successfully caught Macey and brought her into his car by grabbing her arms.
Macey could not get rid of him and she was taken by him to the beach. He stood in front of her. He was being persistent with his pleading eyes, “Let’s get married, Macey.”
“Impossible.” She replied coldly as she looked at Charles’s eyes. There was no emotion in her eyes when she replied him. There was no fluctuation, only a faint silence. “We’re not suitable for each other!”
She really did not have any feeling for him. He raised the corner of his mouth casually with a self-depreciating smile in his eyebrows. He took a deep breath. Gave up on her? After all, forcing a woman’s feelings was not something that he could do but…
“No, we are perfect for each other. In those struggling nights on the bed, our bodies were very corresponding.” It was impossible to give up. Charles smiled confidently but there was a hint of weakness. But no matter what, he would not let go of her, he would not let her leave him.
“It’s up to you.” She did not really care about it anymore. Macey withdrew her vision coldly. She turned around and left. It was like a tribute towards her feelings in the past.
As Charles stared at Macey’s back who was leaving, the feeling of bitterness became stronger. He did not know if he liked her. He also didn’t know what kind of feeling that was. But that feeling of losing her was clearly engraved in his heart. It was empty and it felt that as if all his senses and emotions were taken away by her. It left only the helpless emotions that entangled him. He felt weak but still unwilling to let her go.
Vincent drove to the Pearl Community. No one was there. He came to Leila’s house again. Unexpectedly, Mabel just came back from the hospital and saw him.
Mabel looked at him coldly, “Please leave!”
Vincent was shocked, “Mum! I want to meet Leila!”
“Please don’t call me mum! I can’t accept it.” Mabel tried to cast away their relationships. “Leila won’t meet you. Didn’t your family hurt us enough?”
A single sentence made Vincent’s lips lose their color and his face turned pale. But he remained calm. “I’m sorry, I know that an apology will not make up anything! But I’m really sorry!”
“I get it, please leave!” Mable replied coldly.
“Please let me see her!” Vincent replied.
Mabel looked at him calmly and said, “It’s unnecessary, Leila doesn’t want to see you!”
Her eyes stared on Vincent, then she looked at him from top to the bottom. Vincent lowered his eyes unconsciously.
“Macey and Lexi have been fooled by you until now, we have paid a heavy price for this. I believe that you already know the truth, so don’t mess around with my children anymore!”