Winifred had never come back this late before.
And Leland had never waited for her this long.
He had been waiting for her for six hours and had simply eaten a bowl of noodles before sitting on the couch.
For three days in a row, Winifred had been going out to meet Garrison. Whenever she went to see Garrison, Leland couldn’t help but take out his phone to check the time. He sat quietly on the couch, staring at the darkening sky outside, wondering what Winifred and Garrison were doing at that moment.
Dinner at six, a stroll outside at seven, a movie at eight, a nighttime market at ten… there were so many things they could do.
Leland couldn’t help but think further, wondering if they would go to a hotel.
The person who said he would teach him how to kiss, she might be sitting on another man’s lap at this moment, getting closer little by little, ambiguous and unclear. Would she rub her foot against another man’s waist, teaching other men how to kiss?
Just the thought of these things made jealousy grow wildly in a secret corner of his heart, like thorny weeds.
Mr. Hamilton was also worried about why Winifred hadn’t come back yet. He told Leland to go to bed, but he couldn’t sleep either.
“Mr. Hamilton, you go to sleep. I’ll call Miss Winifred. If necessary, I’ll go pick her up.”
Mr. Hamilton replied, “It’s so late, where would you go to pick her up? I just called Miss Winifred, she’s with Garrison at the nighttime market. As long as Garrison is with her, she’ll be fine. Be obedient, go to bed, it’s already late, you have to go to school tomorrow.”
It was precisely because she had Garrison by her side that he couldn’t calm down at all, let alone fall asleep.
Just as Leland was about to go out, the sound of an engine outside could be heard. A car stopped outside the villa, and Leland stood at the door, using the light from the street lamp to see clearly.
He saw Winifred getting out of the back seat. She was wearing a white dress, her slightly curled long hair falling behind her. She looked in a good mood, walking lightly and talking to the person in the car.
After a while, a foot stepped out from inside.
This was the first time Leland had seen Garrison in person. Like a nobleman under the moonlight, he stood in front of Winifred. The two of them stood together, so perfectly matched.
Leland felt a lump in his throat. He had originally lifted his foot to step out, but it froze midway, then stiffly retreated. He clenched his fist tightly when he saw Garrison place his hand on Winifred’s head. The untrimmed nails on his hand dug into his flesh. Despite not feeling anything, he exerted more force over and over, just to hide the discomfort in his heart.
The night was too dark for Leland to see Garrison’s face clearly, but he seemed tall and well-dressed. Needless to say, he was completely different from a stray dog like himself.
Leland overlapped the photo in his documents onto Garrison’s face. Was Winifred now looking at Garrison’s eyes and the birthmark on his face with a serious look?
The genuine article had returned. Would she still care about his existence as a knockoff product?
Leland lowered his eyes, unable to look anymore. By the time the car engine started again, Garrison had already left.
Winifred touched her hair and slowly walked over. She had not noticed Leland hidden in the corner.
It wasn’t until Leland called out to her, “Miss.”
Winifred was startled by his chilly voice. Frowning, she looked over, “Are you playing ghost and surprise me here without a sound?”
Leland lowered his head, “You told me to wait for you obediently.”
He looked like an abandoned stray dog, sitting on the roadside waiting for his owner to pick him up. Winifred’s face changed slightly, “I didn’t ask you to wait outside.”
Without bothering to look at him, Winifred walked straight inside. After changing her shoes in the room, Leland followed her like a shadow.
What Winifred didn’t know was that Leland was secretly observing her from behind, looking at her from head to toe for any anomalies. The only anomaly was the hairpin on Winifred’s hair.
He noticed that Winifred often touched the hairpin on her hair, which he had never seen before.
It was a gift from Garrison.
Mr. Hamilton saw Winifred come back and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, walking beside her and saying, “Miss, you should come back earlier the next time you go out. If the master finds out, he will surely scold you. It’s too dangerous for a girl like you to be outside, even with Garrison. Be more cautious next time. Leland had been waiting for you at home for so long after dinner. I was afraid to go out to find you.”
Mr. Hamilton said so much, but Winifred’s face remained unchanged. She didn’t care about Leland waiting for her at home; isn’t it a dog’s duty to wait for its owner? Besides, she didn’t ask him to wait for her without sleeping. He voluntarily did so, and she couldn’t do anything about it.
“I understand.”
From Winifred’s nonchalant tone, Mr. Hamilton knew she didn’t take it to heart. He sighed again and asked Winifred, “Miss, are you hungry? Would you like something to drink?”
“I’ve eaten outside already. It’s too late; I’m going to my room to sleep.”
She started to walk upstairs, with Leland following behind. Just as Winifred was about to close the door after entering her room, Leland suddenly reached out and stopped the door.
Winifred was surprised when she turned around and realized that Leland was too close to her. She almost bumped into him when she turned around. Also… she noticed then that Leland was taller than she had imagined, seemingly taller than Garrison by a bit.
Thinking of Garrison, Winifred’s expression towards Leland became even worse. He was always just a substitute, used to pass the time.
“Miss, the hospital test results are out. Do you want to see them?”
Test results?
Winifred remembered – she had secretly taken Gregory’s hair out for DNA testing after the incident with Aubrey. She had Leland deliver it to the hospital for paternity testing.
She had thought it would take a week, but she didn’t expect it to come out so quickly. Her relaxed mood suddenly turned heavy, filled with tension and anxiety. It felt like a stone hanging on her heart.
“Hand it over.”
Leland returned with not only the testing results but also the bottle of pills. He handed the results to Winifred, still sealed. She opened the file and turned straight to the last page.
Test opinion: Does not support Gregory being Winifred’s biological father.
It felt like a bolt from the blue. A chilling sensation shot up from the soles of her feet, numbing her entire body as if she had been acupunctured. A heavy, suffocating atmosphere engulfed her, the surrounding oxygen seemed to vanish, and Winifred found it hard to catch her breath.
Clutching the test report tightly, she couldn’t believe that she wasn’t Gregory’s biological daughter.