Summer pursed her lips and took a deep breath. “Let’s be apart temporarily.”
“What do you mean?” Leonardo squinted, his expression telling her that he was dangerous.
Nonetheless, Summer was calm—at least calmer than Leonardo. “We’re not even married legally. We aren’t bound to stay together. Let’s talk after my child is found.”
She was physically and mentally exhausted. Leonardo had spent a month looking for her child, yet he still found nothing. She had been waiting there, but besides waiting and living in torment, what else could she do? Before she found her child, she did not have the energy and the mood to worry about her relationship with Leonardo.
“We can register our marriage at any time.” Leonardo was stubborn.
However, Summer refused to give in. “You can either let me go or like before, confine me to the house with your bodyguards keeping an eye on me.”
She could not even protect her child as a mother. Every time something happened, she was on the receiving end. She had had enough of it.
Her words seemed to have angered Leonardo because his expression was extremely grim—so grim that Summer’s heart sank. Would Leonardo agree to the separation?
“Fine.”
Surprisingly, Leonardo agreed. Summer never expected him to give his nod. Yet, her heart soon sank when she heard that there was a caveat.
“With one condition,” Leonardo added.
“What condition?” She looked at him cautiously.
There was a hint of a smile in his eyes when he spelled out his words. “Register our marriage.”
“What?” She was wide-eyed. She almost thought that she was hallucinating. Had she not made herself clear enough, or did he have a problem understanding her words? She did not know whether to cry or laugh.
“Can you repeat that again?”
Leonardo did not do what he was told. Instead, he asked, “Without registering our marriage, how would our child get her household register?”
Summer was stunned.
…
She had never thought of getting her marriage with Leonardo registered under such a premise. They went to register their child in the household register the same day they received their certificate of marriage.
In the household register, the father was Leonardo, the mother, Summer, and the daughter, Rosie Emerson.
Seeing that Summer had spaced out while staring at the household register, Leonardo said, “I got the name ready long ago. It’s gender-neutral.”
She reached out to brush her fingers across the name, “Rosie” in the register. She had only seen her daughter, Rosie once. Suddenly, she looked up at Leonardo because she realized that Leonardo was deep in thought as he stared at the name, “Rosie” in the register.
“She was beautiful, just like you when she was born,” Summer said.
She had seen Rosie before, albeit just once. Meanwhile, Leonardo had traveled all the way from to the other side of the ocean, yet he did not get to see her. He was cold, but not cold-blooded. He was just as heartbroken as she was after their child went missing.
Leonardo glanced at her. It was only after a long while that he nodded in acknowledgment.
…
Summer moved out on the same day to a place not far from the upscale residential area, where Leonardo stayed. The unit was clean, and the surroundings were good.
Jessica was having dinner with her in the evening, but she did not know what had happened to the child. Summer reckoned that Jessica would know about it eventually, so she told her.
“Missing? Jessica’s reaction was just as strong as she had expected. “Are those people mad? They’re worse than animals. Why did they steal a newborn? These people are inhuman!”
Summer kept her head low and said nothing. The cases revolving around Leonardo’s mother and Grandpa Emerson had shown that those people were inhuman.
Jessica was so angry that she was almost tearful. Summer poured her a glass of water and said, “I believe that someone up there will look after her, and we will find her.”
Jessica did not feel any better because she knew that Summer was in greater grief. After downing the entire glass of water, Jessica asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Leonardo and I have separated temporarily, but the child still has to be found and life has to continue.” She was more desperate than anyone else to find her child, but in reality, even Leonardo could not do much about it. She was pampered as she had gone through many hardships in life, but nothing could crush her will now.
For a moment, Jessica was at a loss for words, so she changed the subject.
“Has the shooting started for the script—the one that you gave Eliza?”
“It’s in the final stage of preparation. The shooting will start soon.” Summer actually had no idea about it because after she revised the script for one last time, she had not contacted Eliza again.
“Then you can contact her and go to the scene of the shoot. Who knows, they might need your advice or something…”
Summer nodded. After all, she needed to have something to do. However, what surprised her was that before she made contact, Eliza called her the next day.
“I heard that you’re back in Hoover City? You didn’t even bother to look for me. Are you thinking of washing your hands of me after getting the money?”
“Since you already know, why bother calling me?” Summer said jokingly.
“Summer, you’re freaking arrogant.” Eliza chortled half-angrily.
“My bad. How about I buy you coffee tomorrow?” Summer said matter-of-factly.
“Deal.” Eliza agreed at once.
They met at a café in a remote part of the city. It took Eliza a while to find the place, and when she finally arrived, she started complaining. “This place is in the middle of nowhere. It took me half an hour because I went in circles looking at the same place.”
“I’ll buy you a drink.” While they spoke, Summer summoned the waitstaff over.
Eliza ordered two cups of coffee just as Summer had promised. Summer had no words for Eliza; this pampered woman did behave childishly sometimes.
Eliza then dropped a sugar cube into the coffee. “You’ve come back at just about the right time. The camera will start rolling for the series, The Lost City tomorrow. Don’t forget to attend the special ceremony tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Summer nodded. She would surely attend the first day of the shooting of her first movie.
Eliza was surprised by her quick reply. “You’re famous now. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; you could be surrounded by the media tomorrow.”
“Isn’t that playing into your hands? It’ll create publicity for the movie. Consider that a trailer. Who knows, the movie might get a great response before it’s even shown?”
Eliza glared at her. “The movie will sell on its own if it’s good. I couldn’t have cared less about such a publicity gimmick!”