“Mommy!” Rosie hugged her little tiger soft toy in her arms as she called out excitedly.
Summer would not pull a face at Rosie, so she smiled, and Rosie brought her little tiger into the house.
Summer only noticed that Rosie was carrying a schoolbag on her back while she was going in.
The schoolbag was unusually small; it was obviously a toy one.
“There are toy bricks in there,” Leonardo explained when he saw Summer inspect Rosie’s school bag.
Summer looked back and saw that Leonardo had entered with his luggage as if it was the obvious thing to do.
Rosie was familiar with Summer’s apartment. By then, she had climbed onto the sofa and tipped everything in her schoolbag out on the cushion, playing with them.
Summer glanced at her, then pulled Leonardo outside.
Once outside, she got her hand off of him. “Stop messing around, Leonardo!”
He looked calmly at her. “Since you’re not staying at my place, Rosie and I will move here. What’s wrong with that?”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.” Summer put her hand on her forehead in frustration. He was distorting her words on purpose.
“Then what are you talking about?” Leonardo was being patient, his voice not sounding exasperated.
Summer moved her lips but could not find the words to respond.
He suddenly took half a step forward, his toes against hers now. When he looked down, he could see her long eyelashes. There was nearly zero distance between them.
“I am Leonardo, the one you knew three years ago, Rosie’s father. My memories may not be complete right now, but I know exactly what happened. I am still me. What are you worried about?”
His voice was low and slow with comforting energy.
Summer had nearly forgotten that Leonardo possessed a soft side after so long. He could still patiently comfort her.
He had revealed her thoughts, and her expression changed, but she vehemently denied it, “I’m not worried about anything.”
When they left the mountains, Leonardo still looked as cold as ever. Yet, now, he was suddenly like his past self.
The speed of his transformation had caught her off-guard. She needed some time to let things sink in.
Summer was now in a pickle.
She initially thought that she would either find the hypnotist who hypnotized Leonardo and help Leonardo recover all of his memories or get him to cultivate his love for her again.
However, Leonardo remembered something out of nowhere. The memory he recalled contained his love for her, but at that point in time, they had not gone through everything together yet.
He said he knew exactly what happened, but he did not have the memories or sense of realism that came from personal experience. She felt that something was still missing.
“Really?” That was more a statement than a question. It seemed like he did not want to hear her answer.
“Leonardo!”
Rosie suddenly called out to him
He extended his hand to gently pat Summer on the head before he held her hand. “Let’s get back inside. Rosie’s looking for us.”
She instinctively tried to free her hand, but his grip was firm like a clamp. It was impossible to shake it off.
She looked at him as he acted as if nothing was out of place.
She was cheesed off but could not argue with him because Rosie was in the house.
Rosie took her small schoolbag, jumped down from the sofa, and scurried up to Leonardo with her brows knitted together. “Where are my Opti-Morphs?”
Leonardo did not release Summer’s hand in front of Rosie. “Aren’t you the one who always keeps it? How would I know?” He looked at Rosie, expressionless.
“No, you’re the one who keeps it!” Rosie furrowed her brows even more.
“It’s not me. It’s you.”
“It’s you!”
“It’s not me.” Leonardo raised an eyebrow, appearing a little more serious now.
“All right!” Rosie knew when to buckle. Taking her small school bag, she walked back to the sofa.
Summer saw Rosie’s dejection. “Was it really not you?” she asked Leonardo.
“She wanted to bring the Opti-Morphs, but they wouldn’t fit in her schoolbag, so they’ve gone into the luggage.” He had just bullied Rosie, yet he spoke as if he had a clear conscience.
Summer did not know what to say and just shook his hand off. “You’ve stayed in the guest room once; you should know the place. Take your luggage inside.”
“The mattress in the guest room is too hard,” Leonardo said solemnly with a glint in his eyes.
Summer was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
His lips were raised in a faint smile on his handsome face, but that was enough to make him look spirited.
“I am tactfully requesting to sleep with my daughter’s mother.” He spoke very slowly, as though he was afraid that Summer would not get what he meant.
He called that a tactful request?
Her mouth twitched. “The mattress in the master bedroom is equally hard.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Leonardo!” Summer raised her voice. She was beginning to look slightly angry.
He said nothing but cocked an eyebrow. Then, he carried the luggage into the guest room.
He knew the place because he had stayed there once.
Summer stood at the doorway and watched as he took the contents out of his luggage.
It was not large but just enough for Rosie’s colorful toys in one half and his clothes in the other half.
With one glance, she noticed that all of his clothes—shirts and dress pants—were in dark colors.
He was seen taking out the toys first, followed by his suits and shirts.
Summer had been standing at the doorway for some time. “Just two sets of clothes?” she could not help but ask.
He looked up at her. “Your daughter wanted to bring everything. If I had agreed, she would have brought all of her toys.”
So, he was trying to say that Rosie’s stuff had taken up most of the luggage space, hence he could only fit two sets of clothes in there.
Thinking carefully, it seemed like he was trying to earn her sympathy.
She got the feeling that she was starting to have a mental disorder because of him; she would make all kinds of associations whenever he said something.
The wardrobe was empty without even a clothes hanger inside. Summer went back to her room and took a few clothes hangers for Leonardo to hang his garments.
Ever since Leonardo was little, someone else had always taken care of his every need. Even when he was living with Summer in the past, everything he used was expensive although he had learned to do many things himself by then.
The clothes hangers that Summer handed to him were of ordinary quality, which could not support his suits. After he hung his suits on them, he frowned.
“Do you want to go home and take your own clothes hangers or buy some new ones?” she asked.
“You’re going out with me?” he looked at her expectantly.
“Are you disabled? Can’t you take care of yourself now?” she could not help but dig at him.