Leonardo did not bother to lighten his footsteps. When he entered through the kitchen doorway, Summer could hear him coming.
“I told you to wait outside,” she said without looking back.
She only looked back after a while, and by then, Leonardo was not there anymore. She took a couple of steps back and caught a glimpse of Leonardo sitting at his working desk, seemingly doing something.
She pulled her attention back as the water had started to boil in the pot.
After she put some noodles into the hot water, she reached for the salt. When her eyes caught sight of the sugar in the seasoning box set, an evil thought came to mind.
How dare Leonardo think that he could manipulate her any way he liked?
An evil smile spread across her face as she poured half of the sugar into the pot.
Rosie and Leonardo might have looked alike, but they had entirely different taste buds.
Rosie loved anything that tasted sweet while Leonardo avoided sugar like the plague.
Summer stirred the contents in the pot with a ladle, making sure every last grain of sugar melted. Only then did she taste it.
The moment her tongue came into contact with the broth, she covered her mouth and went aside to spit it out. It was sweet like nobody’s business. She bet that even Rosie would frown big time if she had tasted it.
After she poured the noodles into a bowl, she hesitated, wondering if she had gone too far. But when she thought of Leonardo allowing Amber to sit beside him, her last bit of hesitation dissipated.
She served the noodles to Leonardo by slamming the bowl down on the desk. “Enjoy it,” she said matter-of-factly.
Leonardo glanced up at her. Saying nothing, he took the chopsticks and dug in.
The moment he put the noodles in his mouth, he froze.
Summer pulled a chair over and sat down, resting her chin on her hands. Her elbows were on the desk, and her smile was gentle. “Taste good?”
“So good.” He ate it as if nothing was wrong.
“Really?” Summer was puzzled.
“Mhm.” As though he wanted to prove what he meant, he ate another mouthful without hesitation.
If she had not tasted it beforehand, she would have thought that there was nothing unusual about the bowl of noodles.
She was wide-eyed, watching as Leonardo finished the last bit of noodles. He even polished off the broth.
Summer looked at the empty bowl. “Do you still want some more?”
Leonardo put down the chopsticks and shook his head. “I’m done.”
She got up and carried the bowl, as well as chopsticks, back into the kitchen.
She secretly rubbed the residual broth on her finger and put it to her mouth. It was sweet like no other.
Summer then peeked out from the kitchen doorway, but there was no one in the living room.
She went out and heard water running in the toilet.
She followed the sound and knocked on the door. “Are you in there, Leonardo?”
The sound of running water became even louder.
After a while, Leonardo opened the door. His face was wet, but his expression seemed normal.
“What were you doing in there with the faucet running?” While she spoke, she looked past him into the toilet.
“Doing my business.” He came out and closed the door behind him.
She did not believe him. Who would let the water run while they did their business in the toilet?
Had Leonardo acquired some weird habit without her knowledge?
Without waiting for her to speak, Leonardo walked around her and reentered the living room.
Summer observed him as he took a few steps and covered his mouth with his hand.
Sensing something, she poured out a glass of water and handed it to Leonardo.
He looked at her but did not take it.
They looked each other in the eye. “Are you still angry?” Leonardo asked.
She did not answer his question directly but handed him the water again. “Have some water.”
He took the glass and drank a mouthful of water.
“Do you think that finishing a bowl of noodles will be enough to quench my anger?” There was a hint of anger in her voice.
Leonardo was averse to sweet food. Yet, he finished an entire bowl of insanely sweet noodles. The running water in the toilet was supposed to drown out the sound of his vomiting.
She could not believe that he finished the bowl of noodles without batting an eyelid. She could not eat even a small portion of it.
“I can eat another bowl, then.” Leonardo raised his lips in a smile. “I’ll eat as much as you want me to so that you won’t be angry with me anymore.”
Summer was transfixed. Leonardo knew everything.
He knew that she was still angry and willingly finished the noodles to make her feel better.
Humans were weird beings. When she and Leonardo were quarreling over the phone, how she wished that they would never see each other again. But now, when he humbled himself and surrendered, she could not wait to forgive him.
Summer thought for a moment. “I have something else to ask you.”
“What is it?” Leonardo appeared to be all ears and ready to answer her every question.
Summer looked him in the eye. “Why did you want to meet Stanley? Are you targeting him just because he has a dubious background?”
Leonardo snickered and sounded a little ghastly. “I’m starting to think about getting rid of him just because you always talk about him. That’s on top of his dubious background!”
“So you’re targeting Stanley mainly because you’re prejudiced against him?”
Leonardo got to his feet and leaned closer to Summer. “That’s not prejudiced.” He spelled out his words.
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” She knew she would have a hard time communicating with Leonardo when it came to Stanley.
“You’ve said what you wanted to say and had your dinner. Leave now!” Summer showed him the door.
He tucked his tie. He did not like the situation one bit, having to live with Summer like a fugitive.
He looked down and remained silent. After a while, he lifted his gaze abruptly and called out to her solemnly.
“Summer.”
“What?”
“Marry me.”
“Huh?”
Summer blinked. “Can you repeat that?”
“I said…” Leonardo went up to her, holding her shoulders with his hands. “… marry me. Be my wife in the open.”
He had a feeling that there was something he needed to do, and he had yet to do it. Now he realized that this was it.
Stanley had used marriage to rebut him many times.
It was not that he cared about the marriage certificate and the wedding ceremony.
However, when those people kept reminding him time after time that he and Summer were not legally husband-and-wife, he became very unhappy about it.
He wanted them to shut up and wanted Summer to stay with him.