Douglas glanced at Summer and went ahead, so she followed him. As she walked past and greeted Violet, that was when Violet finally noticed her presence.
Violet seemed to have forgotten who Summer was. She was temporarily stunned before she said, “You are…”
“I’m Summer, Leonardo’s ex-wife.” She spoke slowly, looking Violet in the eye.
“It’s you.” There was a fleeting surprise on Violet’s face.
“I have matters to attend to, please excuse me.” Summer kept going to catch up to Douglas. When she found him, he was standing in front of a fountain, back straightened with his head low. She went up to him and saw on the ground a few spatters of what seemed like tears. Douglas was crying.
She handed him a few pieces of tissue paper, but Douglas did not take it; he was still sobbing.
“Dad had been less active for the past few years. He held an art exhibition only after a quarrel with mom. My dad had a good temper, and he never lost his cool. Mom must have gone too far… I asked her why they fought, but she didn’t want to tell me. She must have done something so bad that my dad couldn’t take it and decided to leave…”
Summer never expected to hear this inside story.
Nathan and Violet had a quarrel, and he left the house, but Violet had refused to talk about why they quarreled. Leonardo had gone to M Country to look for Violet to investigate Adams’s background before talking to Nathan. However, Nathan died in an accident.
That was how the story went, and the events did not seem to have any connection with one another.
“Don’t cry.” Summer wiped the tears from his face with a tissue paper. “She’s your mom no matter what. She’s concerned about you. Your and her must have some kind of misunderstanding. Just allow yourselves to cool down and then have a heart-to-heart talk.”
Douglas took the tissue paper and wiped his tears. He did not respond to what Summer said. He clearly still blamed Violet for her quarrel with Nathan, his leaving, and his accident.
Douglas was chasing a dead end and would not listen to anyone. Summer comforted him for a while, then brought him for a haircut.
Douglas looked a lot fresher after the haircut. They meandered around for a while, and Summer brought him to a mall.
“I’ve sold my script and earned some money now. I can buy you stuff.”
Douglas was apparently not in the mood. He mooched about and suddenly asked, “Did you really divorce my elder cousin?”
Summer did not expect the question. She was startled for a while before she answered, “Yeah.”
Douglas turned to look at her and spoke matter-of-factly. “Was it because of the child? I trust him. He isn’t the kind of person who would take and hide the child.”
Summer did not respond immediately. Douglas had shown clear discernment and seen the elephant more than the peers of his age. He had his own thoughts, which was supposed to be a good thing. Nevertheless, he was a Emerson, and that meant he would not have become what he was today if not for his background.
Summer took a deep breath and turned to look at him.
“If it wasn’t him, who would it be?”
The question got him. His brows were knitted together as he fell into deep thought.
Summer patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s not talk about that. Just treat today as your day of keeping me company, and we’ll enjoy the day. How does that sound?”
“Okay.”
His dad had passed away, and Summer’s daughter was missing. They were in the same boat now. What followed next was Douglas’s turn to comfort Summer.
…
They spent the entire day together. Only after dinner did they part and go home separately.
Summer did not drive today, so after Douglas left, she went online to book a taxi. However, because it was during peak hours, the waiting time was longer. So while waiting, she logged in to her WeChat, checked the Moments feed, and stumbled upon Douglas’s posts.
He posted photos of the food they had and a photo of them together with the caption, “What a wonderful day. I hope we can hang out together again.”
Summer liked his post. After another refresh, she saw that Leonardo had left a dot-dot-dot in the comment section of Douglas’s post. She could feel his displeasure just by looking at it through the screen. She was aware of Leonardo’s attitude; he was a petty man.
One minute she was complaining about Leonardo, the next she was receiving a call from him.
The first thing he said was, “You spent the entire day with Douglas?”
“Yeah.”
There was silence for two seconds, then Leonardo just gave a faint reply. “Okay.”
While Summer was still dumbfounded by his reply, he spoke again. “Go home early.”
“I know.”
After that, they hung up. Summer’s mouth twitched as she wondered why he called with nothing to say. The conversation did not even last two minutes.
While she was still waiting for the taxi, a woman suddenly called out for her from behind.
“Ms. Jarrett.”
It startled Summer for a while upon hearing that. When she turned around and saw that it was Violet, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After calming down, she asked, “Mrs. Wilson, are you looking for me?”
“Yes.” Violet nodded her head lightly, then spoke slowly. “Douglas is still a kid and his priority is his studies. You should know what I mean.”
That high-sounding statement was meant to ask her to stop seeing Douglas. Violet was so much more tactful than Kate, but she still could not hide the edge in her voice.
“Does Douglas know about your concerns for him? If he finds out that you said this to me, I wonder what his reaction would be.” Summer did not like Violet one bit. She was disgusted with many of them in the Emerson family.
“Ms. Jarrett, this is between us adults. Please don’t tell Douglas.” Violet still sounded calm and collected as well as gracious.
Unlike Kate, Violet was a lot older, so she could keep her equanimity. In contrast, Kate was too arrogant, looking down on Summer and behaving without tact.
Summer looked at Violet and spoke slowly. “Mrs. Wilson, you are the elder while I and Douglas are more or less of the same age. I am just a child before you, not an adult.” She smiled.