Chapter 55 SOS! I was almost...
The drizzle fell on the sloping walls, and the laurel fence rustled in the wind.
The fabric that was pressed against her back was freezing cold. Irene held up her soaked and heavy skirt and struggled to pull her heels out of the mud again and again.
Her face was pale with cold. Hannah followed closely behind her, holding the cloak she had just put on and trying to put it on Irene's shoulders.
Irene shook her head at Hannah and pushed away her hand that was holding the cloak.
Leo was standing under the wooden eaves diagonally opposite the tunnel entrance, facing her and Hannah.
When she first came out of the tunnel and saw Leo, Irene was so scared that she even felt guilty. She didn't even dare to look back at Leo. She could only temporarily avoid the man's deep eyes by talking to Hannah.
He was wearing a light brown vest and jodhpurs. The tight clothes perfectly outlined his solid figure. His dark blue pupils were as dead as a ghost.
Li seemed to be looking at her, but it also seemed as if there was no one in his eyes.
The thin wisteria climbing on the pure white wall behind him looked like a poisonous snake clinging to him.
When she thought of this scene, Irene suddenly felt a little timid. She couldn't help but curl her fingertips tightly, and the bone ring on her ring finger hurt.
"Miss," Hannah held Irene's cold wrist tightly. The cold wind blew away the girl's voice, which sounded vague as if she was trembling with fear. "He is angry. He was like this when you first disappeared. He had no expression at all. Everyone thought he was a monster."
"Don't go over there, I'm afraid he will hurt you. Leo is capable of anything. He has no heart, miss."
"I've seen his diary before, and you'd never guess what he wrote—"
Hannah's tone was full of panic and fear, and it didn't sound fake. But before she could finish what was written in the diary, Irene held her fingertips with her backhand, and her dark pupils looked at the black girl with tears in her eyes with tolerance.
She turned around and kissed the girl's cheek, who was now almost as tall as her, with a gentle tone.
"Be good, Hannah. Go back to your room first, take a hot bath and change your clothes. Don't catch a cold. I'll talk to him and come back to you."
Hannah was eager to say something again, but Irene placed her index finger between her plump lips and said "hush" softly.
"Don't worry, he won't do anything to me."
Hannah's unspoken words were blocked again. She looked at Irene reluctantly several times. Her habitual dependence on Irene made her unable to refuse Irene's request at this time.
So Hannah had to leave the courtyard, looking back every few steps.
Irene quietly looked at Hannah's receding back, and the hot blood that had rushed to her head just now gradually cooled down under the washing of the rain.
She didn't dare look back.
A strong feeling of being watched burned her back, and she knew it was Leo who was looking at her.
The man's gaze became more unscrupulous after Hannah left, sweeping across every inch of her skin like a sticky snake's tongue. Irene got goose bumps on the back of her neck and even started to tremble.
She wrung her other hand tightly, her knuckles turning white.
It's okay, Irene breathed a sigh of relief.
This is Leo, not an outsider, the Leo who will spend countless time and resources to find her.
Even if she said something offensive to him, Leo would not do anything to her.
And some questions will always bother her if she doesn't ask them.
She had to ask clearly.
Irene gritted her teeth and turned around in one go.
The black umbrella, the black muzzle of the gun, and the man’s pupils that are so dark that they are almost black.
The wet hair stuck to her face, and the inky color of her hair after being soaked by the rain made Irene's face look particularly pale.
Her lips were trembling visibly, and her face showed the fear he was familiar with.
Leo held the gun in his hand, his arm stiff as a mechanical device that had not been oiled for a long time.
He didn't even know why he pulled out this unloaded gun and pointed it in front of Irene, like a bluffing paper tiger showing a ferocious look, but in fact the inside of his teeth had already rotted and decayed. Just the simplest deterrence was enough to make him suffer.
"Why are you running away?"
It was clearly a question, but when it came out of Leo's mouth it sounded almost like an angry question.
"Why don't you come to me?"
Irene unconsciously took a step back.
"Why can you abandon me so casually?"
Red blood vessels slowly crept into the man's eyes, making the color of his pupils appear even darker and more terrifying.
However, Irene clearly saw that Leo's fingertips were shaking as he held the gun.
He was baring his teeth and claws like an abandoned puppy, but the tail behind him clearly showed his despair after being abandoned.
The intense pain that emanated from the man almost suffocated Irene. Tears welled up in her eyes and her throat seemed to be torn apart, so she couldn't utter a single word.
I didn’t—tears mixed with raindrops fell down in big drops.
"Why when you saw me..." Leo's voice choked.
The rain was getting heavier, and the sound of it hitting the umbrella was like breaking glass beads.
Leo repeated it again, trying to make every syllable as clear as possible.
"Why are you so scared when you see me?"
"Why are you afraid of me?"
The more he spoke, the more choked his voice became, as if it was shattered in the rain, and the sharp fragments pierced Irene's heart. She shook her head vigorously and bit her lips, but no sound came out.
No, no, I didn’t—
I never wanted to abandon you, it was just an accident.
The voice that could explain himself was stuck in his throat.
Irene couldn't say it, because whether intentionally or unintentionally, in her own and Leo's eyes, she did it, so she was unable to defend herself when questioned.
But - tears blurred Irene's vision, she looked at Leo, and finally couldn't help crying out loud - she had never thought of abandoning him.
Why was fate so bad to him?
The umbrella handle was knocked to the ground, and the arm holding the gun fell limply, and the mahogany gun handle fell into the puddle, causing a small splash.
The cold hands wrapped around his lower back, and the hot tears from Irene's eyes flowed down his neck into his collar.
Leo's mind was blank, but he subconsciously hugged Irene's shoulders. The rain flowed into his eyes, bringing with it a strong sense of sourness.
He had grown very well in the past few years, and his tall body completely held Irene, who was nearly 1.7 meters tall, in his arms.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I didn't know you suffered so much..."
He heard Irene's stumbling apology, and the tears that flowed into her collar soon became cold, easily extinguishing the anger that had been burning in his chest for almost four years. The grievance that had been suppressed for so long surged out of his heart.
Leo complained incoherently, "You recognized me at first sight, and you knew it was me. Why did you still look at me with such fear? Am I not your muse? Do you dislike me just because I am uglier than I was four years ago?"
"Why are you looking at me like that? Is it because I've become ugly?"
Irene could hear a strong tone of crying in Leo's voice, as if she was Chen Shimei who abandoned his poor wife.
She quickly explained:
"I swear to God I don't dislike you. I was just frightened by the death of that woman at the time. I am definitely not afraid of you."
"But you weren't scared when I killed John in front of you last time." Leo felt more and more aggrieved. He was almost 1.9 meters tall, but his tone was like that of an angry child. "Are you scared just because I'm ugly now?"
This was the third time he mentioned that he felt he had become ugly. Irene was really a little helpless. After all, anyone looking at this handsome face that was so superior that it could withstand all kinds of close-up shots would be stunned involuntarily.
Irene admitted that she was stunned for a long time, but she definitely didn't think he was ugly.
"I don't think you've become ugly, it's just that you've changed so much that I'm a little unaccustomed to it."
"Then why don't you come find me? You obviously know where I live."
After going around in circles, I finally came to this issue.
Irene sighed, "Because the way you looked at me was so cold, as if you were filled with ice. I thought you didn't remember me."
These two sentences were like a heavy hammer hitting Leo's head and making him dizzy.
He couldn't even recall what kind of look he had in his eyes when he looked at Irene. He only remembered the overwhelming fear he felt when he heard the news William sent him. This fear lasted until he found Irene, but when he saw Irene tied up in a mess on a stool, all that fear turned into hatred for the kidnapper.
Now that I think about it, it was probably this hatred that frightened Irene.
If I had known earlier, I would have restrained myself before going in.
As a result, he missed three days of spending time with Irene, and Hannah, that little brat, almost kidnapped Irene.
Leo felt a rare sense of regret.
…
Irene changed her wet clothes and huddled in the quilt, hugging the thermos that Leo had just stuffed into her arms, and quietly looked at the man who was pouring hot tea for her.
Although she knew that this was Leo five years later and some changes were normal, the changes were too big.
If the eighteen-year-old Leo was a beautiful man whose gender was indistinguishable, then after several years of military life, Leo has completely lost his childishness. He is full of the oppressive feeling of an adult male, his expression is more indifferent, and even the color of his pupils seems to have darkened.
It’s completely different from the handsome one before.
Irene couldn't help but cover her hot cheeks with the quilt, and the faint scent of basil filled her nose.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist and long legs, how come Leo is getting more and more handsome?
The door creaked, and Irene looked over. Leo took a small square box, said a few words to the little boy outside the door, and then closed the oak door.
Only then did Irene realize that the decoration in the room was very simple: a bed, a desk, and two high-backed stools. The only place that seemed a bit lively was the several sketches of people hanging on the wall.
It was still her sketch, from her wearing a complicated long dress in the manor to her at the dinner on the boat, even the details of her hair were depicted in great detail.
"Take some medicine first. You just got caught in the rain. Don't catch a cold." Leo handed the pills to Irene's mouth considerately and held the cup in his hand.
"Just give it to me. I can take the medicine myself."
As she said that, Irene wanted to take the medicine and water from Leo.
The man didn't move, but his eyes showed some traces of hurt as he looked at Irene pitifully.
After a while, Irene was defeated.
She endured the shame and took the medicine from Leo's hand, and he fed her half a cup of warm water.
The air was strangely quiet, with only the sound of Erin swallowing.
Maybe it was because the kettle was too hot, or maybe it was because the cold medicine she had just taken was working wonders. Irene felt her cheeks were burning so hot that even her breath seemed to be boiling hot air.
Leo's eyes looked at her more and more deeply, and flickered a few times, his sight always vaguely falling on her lips.
It must be that the two people were too close!
"Did you draw the picture on the wall?" Irene moved back while speaking, trying to distance herself from Leo quietly.
"Well, it didn't look like it at first, but then the more I drew it, the more it looked like it." Leo put the cup of water on the bedside table, but his body showed no sign of moving away from the bed.
"You are very talented. I have been learning figure sketching for a long time, but none of them are as detailed as yours."
Irene praised Leo with a smile, but she was not being modest as an art student. It was just that Leo's painting was too detailed. He added details on the paper that she herself had not noticed. Not only did the characters come alive, but the details of the clothes were also very delicate.
The most exaggerated thing is that he even drew it based on his memory, which is a memory that even professional students cannot train.
Leo was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Because I have drawn you many times, every day. I am afraid that I will not be able to remember what you look like when I am old, so I have to draw you over and over again, so that I can keep it on paper and recall it repeatedly. I only know how to draw you, so I am not as good as you."
"Just because I missed you so much."
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