“I know.” Summer nodded. Taking a deep breath, she answered the call.
“What happened?” Leonardo asked as if she would not call him if nothing had happened.
She thought for a moment, and indeed, that was the case. She never called him unless something was up.
“Nothing,” Summer said, trying to steer the conversation. “Are you busy?”
She would be wrong if she thought she could manipulate Leonardo. He did not believe in what Summer said at all. “Would you have called me if nothing was up?”
“You mean I can’t call you if nothing is up?”
After a few seconds of silence, Leonardo said, “You called to check on me?”
“What do you mean to check on you?” She had not a clue what he was talking about.
“Nothing. You can call even if nothing is up.”
Overhearing their telephone conversation, Douglas could not help but chuckle. Summer glared at him, but it just did not have that intimidating effect. Despite that, Douglas got the message, miming a zipping motion across his lips.
“Is Douglas with you?” Leonardo had heard his voice.
She panicked. “Yeah, I got off early today, so I came to fetch Douglas home.”
“Even Douglas’s leaving school early?”
That did not seem plausible. Douglas looked at Summer as if she was dumb. He approached her and spoke into the phone. “The last lesson is a gym session. It’s perfectly alright to skip it,” he lied.
Leonardo did not harp on it. “I’ll send Tim to bring all of you home.”
“That won’t be necessary. We can go to you ourselves.” She did not know what she was saying, but it was too late. Leonardo’s plan was to send Tim to drive her and Douglas home, while hers was to see Leonardo in Tip Top.
Leonardo paused for a second, then insisted, “Still, let Tim pick all of you up.”
…
Tim had quickly picked them up. He drove into the parking lot and brought Summer as well as Douglas into the private elevator. Summer’s former workplaces were all small companies, which had no such private facility. There was not even one in Jarrett Group, which had been built much earlier. It was a new experience for Summer.
“Young Master, Mrs. Emerson is here.”
Tim brought the two up to the door and left. Summer pushed the door and saw Leonardo sitting behind the desk. Closing the file in his hand and getting to his feet, his lips curled up in a smile when he saw Summer.
She appeared a little awkward while she walked in, finally sitting on the couch at the side. Douglas was checking out the office curiously.
Leonardo walked behind Summer, laying his hands on the couch backrest. He leaned down and looked at her from the side.
“Would you like a drink?”
“No, thanks. When will you leave?”
“Soon.”
Leonardo checked his watch. He had a meeting coming up, but if Summer was in a hurry, he could cancel the meeting. Just then, his secretary knocked on the door.
“Mr. Emerson, the materials for the four-thirty meeting are ready.”
Summer looked up at him, her eyes filled with his reflection. “You have a meeting?”
“It’s not very important.” Leonardo could not help himself, his voice gentle.
She could sense it. His voice was unusually gentle, unlike on normal days. Feeling that her heart was starting to throb, she moved her body to the side slightly. “Do your thing. I can wait.”
She was shy obviously, but she was lovely when she said she would wait for him. He almost wanted to kiss her. Leonardo glanced at Douglas, who was holding a book in his hand and looking over. Leonardo raised his hand, signaling him to turn his head away. Rolling his eyes, Douglas turned away reluctantly, pretending to study the books on the shelf.
Not knowing what Leonardo was doing behind her, she knew he was still there and looked back to hurry him away. “Go now…”
As soon as her voice trailed off, Leonardo had pressed his open lips to hers. It came without warning, Summer was caught in his kisses. After their lips parted, he gave her another light kiss on her lips.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Not really caring what he said, Summer looked over at Douglas, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that the boy was still reading a book with his back to them.
Hearing the door shut behind him, Douglas secretly glanced back, sneakily placing the book back on the shelf. He was blown away. Holy moly, Leonardo has human emotions too! He even knows how to kiss! Mother would be on cloud nine if she sees this. She’s been nagging about it for a long time, worried that Leonardo wouldn’t find a girlfriend and would have to live a lonely life!
…
When Leonardo said he would be back soon, he would be back soon. From the moment he left until he came back, it was only ten minutes.
They then took the elevator straight down to the parking lot.
Leonardo glanced at Douglas, asking, “You got into a fight, huh?”
“Yeah.” Douglas smirked. He could not tell why he got into a fight, but it took Leonardo so long to notice the medical plasters on his face. It was as if he was invisible when Summer was around.
There were subtle changes in Leonardo’s face. “That’s why Summer collected you from school?”
“What other reason could it be? Should I call…” The words were stuck in his throat. He suddenly found himself in a dilemma: to speak or not to speak. He shrank back in the elevator, trying to minimize his sense of presence.
He just had a Freudian slip. Summer secretly glanced over at Douglas. He had screwed up at the crucial moment, and she could not help him now.
Douglas winced behind Summer when he heard Leonardo’s snicker. Summer looked down at her toes, pretending to know nothing. Exiting the elevator, Leonardo walked ahead with Summer and Douglas following suit. She suddenly felt that she and Douglas were like two guilty kids, and Leonardo was the parent. She was appalled by her own thoughts.
Summer turned to Douglas, pulling her hand away from his. “Douglas, take care.”
Approaching the car, however, Summer decided to help Douglas once more. She got into the rear seat and sat beside Leonardo. Three seconds later, she regretted it.