Leonardo’s frown eased up, his expression suddenly softening. “Come here.” He motioned with his hand.
Summer went up to him and noticed right then that he was holding her mobile phone. Grandpa Emerson saw her through the camera and said hi. She greeted him with a smile via the camera.
Leonardo panned the camera back to himself. “All right, you’re old, you should sleep early. Drink tea, practice tai chi, and keep yourself healthy.” His voice was flat, just like it was on any other day.
Summer, not knowing what they had talked about earlier, echoed what Leonardo said. “Leonardo’s right. Grandpa, go to bed early and do a little exercise.”
Grandpa Emerson choked before he put his hand up impatiently. “All right, all right, I’m going to bed now.”
Before his voice trailed off, Leonardo cut the line. It looked like he was not being sincere, and Summer thought that she should correct him.
“You should have first waited for Grandpa to hang up first.”
“He’s slow because of his old age. It’s a waste of time to wait.” Leonardo’s expression and tone said it all—he could not have cared less.
She thought about Eliza and left him to it. Leonardo should know how to take care of his own business.
…
Summer rose a bit late in the morning. She had been doing so recently.
The moment she walked into the dining room, Eliza was serving food on the dining table. The bump was still on her forehead, but it looked better than it did the day before. It was just that there was not much expression on her face.
While Summer ate her breakfast, she quietly observed Eliza. Since she got back from the hospital yesterday, she noticed that Eliza had been behaving strangely, but she could not exactly pinpoint it.
Nonetheless, it was apparent that Eliza had been talking less and doing more. She was either out of her mind due to the beatdown from yesterday, or she found working as a maid interesting.
After Summer finished her breakfast, Eliza suddenly came over as if she had something to say. Summer motioned the other maids to leave them alone, then looked at Eliza.
“Say whatever you want now.”
“I’m leaving.” Eliza got straight to the point.
“What?” Did yesterday’s fighting with Alisa knock some sense into her?
Eliza still looked indignant. Taking a deep breath, she said, “As much as I don’t want to admit it, I can see that you and Leonardo are a loving couple.”
The day before, in the hospital, she had clearly seen it from the perspective of a third party. All that filled Leonardo’s eyes was Summer.
Leonardo did not even look at Alisa, much less her. She was ambitious and sometimes got carried away by her self-confidence, but she did not lose her judgment. As the only child in her family, she was born proud. Sometimes, she made silly mistakes, but she was by no means stupid.
As Summer reached out to get a glass of water, she was stunned for a second when she heard what Eliza said. She could not help but look up at Eliza.
Feeling uneasy about being stared at, Eliza looked away. “I just feel that Leonardo loves you and pampers you.”
“You’re able to see that?” Summer blinked as if she had stated something obvious.
In Eliza’s eyes, Summer looked innocent like butter would not melt in her mouth. On the outside, Summer was all right—gentle and harmless—but she would stab you in the back when you least expected it. She did not have an exceptional family background, yet this unassuming woman was confident. When she stood together with Leonardo, the couple looked like a match made in heaven. Eliza had felt the same when she saw them together. They seemed so seamlessly matched that they were indivisible.
“Summer, I have a deal for you. You’ve been working on a script recently, and you want to sell your idea, right? I’m a movie producer. I can pull a few strings and get you some good deals. You just have to return my maid employment contract to me.”
Eliza was standing while Summer was sitting in a chair. This projected the impression that they were not equal, so Eliza sat down opposite Summer.
Summer was surprised. When Eliza disguised herself as a maid and tried to approach Leonardo, it showed how gutsy the woman was. However, she had misused her guts. As such, Summer did not trust her, but at the same time, she had no reason to suspect her either.
“I can return the contract to you. You can leave today, but I don’t need you to be my go-between—at least, not for now.”
Once beaten, twice shy. Summer knew how rampant theft and plagiarism were in the showbiz industry. She may not be famous right then, but her script was her blood and sweat. If Eliza wanted to, she could use this as an opportunity to stitch her up.
Eliza was not surprised that Summer rejected her offer so quickly. “That’s all right, but if you ever think it through, call me.” She then fished out a piece of paper from her pocket. It had her contact number, which she had written beforehand.
Summer took it.
After Eliza got changed, Summer instructed the chauffeur to send her home. As she watched Eliza leave in the car, Summer found that her life in the mansion suddenly became less exciting. She could go online, at least, to kill time.
Perhaps due to her past appearances on the trending topic, she was now habitually surfing Weibo to see what was new there. The moment she logged in, the first trending topic seemed like explosive news to her.
The headline “Adams Parts Ways With Tip Top” appeared at the top of the list. She tapped on the topic, only to find that the news had gone viral.
“Is this real? This comes just shortly after Tip Top’s mysterious founder wrote that lengthy Weibo post. I can’t believe that Adams is breaking up with Tip Top.”
“I think Adams wants to run his own show.”
“Honestly, Tip Top has been investing heavily in Adams all these years—so much so that it is almost unfair. He has never gotten a single bad script. If not because of Adams, Tip Top Entertainment could have created a lot more superstars. Now that the company has to recoup its investment, Adams turns his back on the company!”
That comment alone had garnered a few thousand likes and replies. Some were critical of the poster while some were in support. Even Summer thought that the poster had a point.
While Adams rose to the top, there had been no gossip about him. The credit rightfully belonged to Tip Top Entertainment for doing a good job at keeping gossip at bay. Adams’s departure would strike a blow to Tip Top for sure, but something deeper had crossed Summer’s mind.
Who terminated the contract? Adams or Leonardo?