“Had his fill with all those cigarettes?”Rosie was curious about what Summer said.
She knew what cigarettes were, but could someone really eat cigarettes?
“Your Daddy has a special ability. All you need to know is your Daddy is full now,”Summer said with a smile.
Rosie nodded her head, albeit still in confusion.
…
After dinner, Summer and Rosie were back at home. It seemed unusually quiet.
Summer turned on the light and scanned the house, her eyes landing on the door to Leonardo’s room.
She did not have to check the inside to know that Leonardo was not there because his scent was not present.
She could not describe it, but she just knew that he was not there the moment she stepped inside the house.
Summer took particular notice of the stubs outside the door when she came home earlier. The stubs and ash were no longer there. She could not believe that Leonardo had really cleaned them up.
She could not help but imagine the scene of Leonardo hunching over while sweeping the floor.
She had never seen it before, so it was all left to her imagination.
Rosie scurried up to Leonardo’s bedroom and knocked on the door.”Daddy?”She did not get an answer. Confused, she looked back at Summer.”Daddy isn’t opening the door, Mommy.”
She thought Leonardo was still inside.
“He might have fallen asleep.”Summer brought her to the bathroom.”You need to sleep early too.”
It was late. Rosie already looked tired when they were having dinner outside. Her eyes kept closing as Summer bathed her.
After everything was done and Rosie was asleep in bed, Summer closed the door behind her. She took out her mobile phone and scrolled to Leonardo’s number. Her finger hovered over the screen as she hesitated. In the end, she did not make the call.
It was Leonardo’s fault in the first place. Why should she be the one to bow?
Even if she made the first move to reconcile with him, the problems between them would still remain unsolved.
She just could not understand Leonardo’s thought process.
…
Tim received a call from Leonardo very early in the morning, telling him to get some toiletries, as well as two sets of clothes, from his mansion and send them to the office.
He was a little confused. Was the young master not staying at his wife’s place? Why did the young master need him to send him clothes?
Had they quarreled?
Tim knew that he was right when he arrived at the office.
The atmosphere in Emerson Group was tense throughout the day.
Whenever Leonardo was not happy, he would not mince his words.
After office hours in the evening, Tim received a text message from his wife reminding him to go home and have dinner for the third time. So, he went to Leonardo’s office on the pretext of sending him documents.
“Do you need me to drive you home today, Young Master?”
“No need.”Leonardo did not look at him.
“In that case, may I go home now?”Tim cautiously asked.
“Go home?”Leonardo finally looked at him.
“It is close to nine now,”Tim said as he nodded respectfully.
“You were never in a hurry to go home last time.”
“My wife is waiting for me for dinner.”A smile spread across his face at the mention of his wife.
His smile was garish.
Leonardo narrowed his eyes as he stared at Tim. He grabbed his jacket and got up all of a sudden.
“Let’s go,”he said as he walked past Tim.
“Go where, Young Master?”Tim quickly followed him.
“Dinner in the Golden Cauldron.”
Tim had no choice but to drive Leonardo to the Golden Cauldron.
He thought that he could go home after he sent Leonardo to the Golden Cauldron. But, when they arrived and he opened the car door for him, Leonardo told him to join him.”Let’s have dinner together.”
“Young Master…”Just as Tim wanted to decline, Leonardo walked ahead of him into the restaurant, his tall body appearing dreary under the light.
He did not want to have dinner with Leonardo at all. He just wanted to go home and spend time with his lovely wife and child.
At his age, he had started to miss home already.
Yet, Leonardo had given his order. What could he do?
He was forced to follow it.
Leonardo had an extravagant dinner that night. The dishes filled the table to the brim.
However, all of them were light dishes, which were not Leonardo’s taste. Tim had worked for Leonardo for many years, hence he knew that Leonardo liked spicy food.
The two men sat face to face, but no one spoke. Tim could feel an awkwardness in the air.
He suspected that Leonardo was doing it all on purpose. Leonardo had a quarrel with Summer and could not go home for dinner, so he did not want Tim to go home to his wife and child too.
Leonardo noticed Tim’s facial expression.”Do you find it hard to accompany me for dinner?”He cocked an eyebrow.
“No,”Tim immediately denied.
“Did you quarrel with your wife, Young Master?”He plucked up his courage to ask after he sighed.
Leonardo was picking up a dish when Tim questioned him, and his hand froze in motion.
He then pulled back his hand and put his chopsticks on the table as he looked at Tim intently.
“I was just asking. Maybe I could analyze the problem for you if you, Young Master, are willing to share it with me.”
Tim was sincere in his words. He knew Leonardo and Summer well enough to know that whenever they quarreled, the problem most likely stemmed from Leonardo.
Leonardo did not respond immediately. Tim kept his head low, waiting for him to speak.
“Do you think Stanley is after Summer?”Leonardo finally spoke after a long pause.
“Mr. Bates’s background is dubious. He surely is up to something when he approaches your wife.”There was no doubt about it.
“Even you know that Stanley is up to no good, but Summer has denied that she and Stanley have any relationship!”Leonardo sneered.
Tim frowned.”I think, Young Master, the relationship between Mr. Bates and your wife may not be what you think. It is probably something else.”
The young master had still not gotten rid of his paranoia. He thought that every man who approached Summer had dirty thoughts in their minds.
He was insecure, suspicious, and paranoid.
Tim had already seen such problems in Leonardo a long time ago.
However, that was when Leonardo was still in his early twenties.
When Tim first worked for him, Leonardo did not trust him.
As time went by and Leonardo got older, though, he became more self-restrained and behaved less unreasonably.
Sadly, he manifested those shortcomings in his relationship with Summer.
It all boiled down to what Leonardo had gone through during his teenage years.
After Leonardo experienced those horrible things, his mental health took a blow.
Being paranoid and insecure once in a while was totally understandable, but being that way constantly was not a good thing.