Once people made a mistake, they would be condemned to hell even though they had made no mistake or made only a few mistakes before. On the contrary, when people who had done loads of bad things before did something good in the present, they would be hailed as angels. Most of the time, it seemed that people tended to be more tolerant of bad individuals.
Summer was not so sure the authenticity of this exposure. But one thing was certain: Adams’s reputation was ruined. She had been his fan for many years, and this incident upset her.
Summer was feeling depressed on her way home. Once arriving at home, she could not help but ask Leonardo, “Is it true?”
She suddenly understood why Leonardo still thought of giving Adams a second chance when he found out that Adams was behind the secret photographs. Because right now, she felt how Leonardo felt back then.
Setting aside that Adams was Leonardo’s elder cousin, she had been Adams’s fan for seven or eight years, and she would not believe that he was an animal abuser. During her university days, she had a dorm mate who disliked animals. Her dorm mate would only stay away but had never done anything bad to the pets.
In psychology, abusing animals is a mental disorder. If this mental order is not resolved in time, the subject of abuse could go from animals to humans. Generally, this was called a perversion.
“Who cares if it is true?” Leonardo could not have cared less about this. What he cared most about was the outcome. Seeing Summer’s brows knitted together, looking at a loss, he thought for a while and then said, “I’ve never heard about it, so I can’t be sure. But those people who come for him are well-prepared. Since they dare to do this, they would not leave behind any signs.
Not leaving any signs? “You mean the allegation is true?” Summer’s expression changed.
Leonardo did not answer her question, just patting her head. “Go get some rest.” He knew that Summer was Adams’s fan. If the photographs are true, it was going to affect her.
Summer nodded. She knew she needed a good rest. While passing by Douglas’s room, she slowed down. Douglas had come back to his room the moment he arrived, saying that he wanted to check out the room if it still stayed the same since he was last here.
The door was opened from the inside. Douglas saw her standing outside and was surprised. “Summer?”
“I just walked past, going to my room.” Her lips slightly curled up in a smile.
Douglas’s eyes looked down, seemingly thinking of something. “You have stuff to do back in your room?”
Summer carefully observed Douglas and saw his eyes reddening. But she did not ask why. “Nothing in particular.”
Douglas obviously had something to say to her but kept a stiff upper lip.
“Why don’t we go out for a movie?”
“Yeah, why not?” Children were less likely to hide their emotions, and Summer was not going to expose him.
There was an audio-visual room in the mansion. Summer had never been inside once. Not that she did not want to.
It was just that she was not interested to go in there alone. It had a decent space with a large sofa.
They sat there side by side, each of them having a box of potato chips in hand, waiting for the movie to begin.
Only when the movie started, Summer knew that Douglas had chosen a kid animated movie.
She put a piece of potato chip in her mouth, and then said, “Are you sure you want to watch this?”
Douglas threw a handful of chips down his neck and mumbled, “There is a saying: respect for the old, love for the young. We can’t just think about ourselves but should also about my nephew.”
“Nephew?”
Douglas pointed at her belly. “I mean him.”
She was amused. “It is still only an embryo.”
Douglas turned down the movie volume and looked at her curiously, “Then could he hear what we say?”
“Uh-huh.”
She lowered her head, gently looking at her tummy as she caressed it. She then looked over at Douglas. “What do you want to tell me?”
“I know what happens to them—my elder brother and cousin.” Douglas sighed like an old man.
“Uh-huh?” She knew he had more to say and waited for him.
“Like I have told you before, I spent more time with Leonardo than with my parents and elder brother. My parents look like a loving couple and my brother is gentle. But somehow, I feel something was missing.”
“What is that?” she asked.
What he said was a little thought-provoking. She knew that it came from his heart.
“I can’t tell the feelings…” Douglas scratched his head, feeling a little confused. He suddenly went to take an artificial flower from a vase, holding it in front of Summer. “Just like this flower; it is beautiful. But it is not a real thing.”
“You mean they are fake?” She said it in a low voice toward the end of the sentence. She was not sure if this was what Douglas was trying to say.
“It feels like they are wearing a mask.”
Douglas lowered his head, his face tensing up with his eyebrows knitted together. She did not know the situation of Douglas’s family and the relationship of his parents. But one thing she did know was that something was amiss with Adams, his elder brother.
“Have you read the news about your brother online?” She tried to sound him out.
“I saw it.” Douglas’s expression changed. “When I was small, we had a big white cat at home. I and Leonardo liked her very much, and she always came and slept in our rooms. One night, she went into my brother’s room, and the next morning, we found her covered in blood, lying beside the stairs handrail. “His voice was brittle. “Mom said the cat was attacked by the neighbor’s German Shepherd.”
Summer could not bear to ask further. She patted his head. “Don’t think too much. Since your mom said it was the German Shepherd that killed her, that was definitely the case.”
Douglas shook his head. “But the big sister next door said their German Shepherd had always been chained in the compound. She wouldn’t lie because she liked our big white cat, too.”
Summer did not know what else to say.
Douglas was in his rebellious age, which was also the most emotionally sensitive period. He could sense the slightest changes in the relationship between the family members.
If what he said was true that his elder brother was an animal abuser, and that there were problems between his parents, something must be wrong in his family.