Chapter 52 The way Leo looked at her...
Two days later, at Mrs. Soy's house.
The doctor took the thermometer and looked at it for a while, his brows relaxed, and he asked Irene, "Apart from the back of your head, do you feel any discomfort anywhere else now?"
He started to pay attention to the back of the head because Irene was hit that day and then fell to the ground, which was why she fainted.
Irene shook her head. She had fainted because she hadn't eaten for a long time and was too frightened. Although the woman who kidnapped her kicked her a few times, she was young and in good health, so she would be fine after she recovered.
The doctor came in time and gave her two injections. She had been eating regularly in the past two days, so there was nothing serious.
"But you still have to take the medicine on time. They are mainly anti-inflammatory and sedative drugs. I will come back to see you after three days," the doctor put away his diagnostic tools.
Irene stared at his face for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking the question that had been in her mind for several days. She asked, "What is your relationship with the old doctor who opened a clinic on Bourbon Street four years ago? I feel like you two look like a family, are you?"
More than just similar, they are exactly the same. Even the curve of the beard is almost the same, and the expressions are exactly the same.
"You know my father?" the doctor asked in surprise.
Irene pursed her lips and said, "About four years ago, I took my friend to see him for throat surgery. Is your father in good health?"
The doctor paused, "My father passed away three years ago. He was too exhausted from treating the injured in the hospital, and he went home and lay on the sofa and never woke up again."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know..." The words of apology rolled around Irene's lips, and she could only say, "My condolences."
The doctor smiled slightly, and it didn't seem forced. It was obvious that his pain of losing his father had gradually healed over time.
"My father passed away peacefully. He insisted on working until his last day. We are all proud of him."
"It is indeed a blessing to be able to stick to a career you love until the very end," Irene said, the envy in her tone clear.
Leo, who was squatting under the bedroom window and eavesdropping, stopped breathing, his face darkened, and his whole body pressure obviously dropped a few degrees.
Who wouldn't be angry? Leo couldn't help but recall the dark days when he was looking for Irene.
Irene took the princess's job order because she was doing a career she loved, and it was also during this job that he lost Irene for four years.
Leo thought every day during those four years, what if Irene hadn't taken the job, what if Irene hadn't gone to Rose Manor, what if they had gone directly to Rochester after arriving in New Orleans...
Then they won't be separated.
He would not have been immersed in the pain of missing her for four years.
The resentment that had been waiting for four years was like countless slender poisonous snakes, densely climbing up Leo's heart and squeezing his flesh.
"Boss, aren't we going in today?" James, who was squatting under the window with Leo, asked softly.
Leo glanced at him coldly, and there was no expression on his increasingly handsome face, as if he had facial paralysis.
The next second, James watched him suddenly punch the concrete wall hard.
When Leo moved his hand away, some stone fragments fell from the wall.
One look and you can tell how hard Leo is working.
Does the boss's hand really not hurt? James glanced at Leo's clenched fist, wisely tightened his neck and dared not ask any more questions.
He could only complain silently in his heart - why is the boss like he's been on fire these past two days, he explodes at everyone he sees, and now he's even not letting the wall go.
If there was something going on, why couldn't he go and talk to Miss Irene face to face? Why did he have to keep it to himself and then come over to eavesdrop?
It was simply ridiculous, James shook his head seriously, but - the young man who had never been in love glanced at the newly installed gauze curtains under the window - nothing could be more ridiculous than them squatting under the window of an unmarried lady and eavesdropping for two days in a row.
In particular, it is said that their boss would come over several times in the middle of the night to check if the lady was still in the room. Each time he would stay in the room for more than ten or twenty minutes. Who knows what he did to the beautiful lady who was sleeping.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
James looked at Leo with despair in his eyes, and even began to wonder whether he should find a priest from a primitive tribe to exorcise the evil spirits for their boss.
It’s no wonder that James would think this way. Is Leo’s behavior something a normal person would do?
Who would guard under someone else's window for 24 hours a day except when sleeping? Even if a pervert came, he would have to admit defeat.
James was determined to go out and find out on his day off.
Irin didn't know there were two people squatting outside the window. After hesitating for a moment, she mustered up the courage to ask the doctor if he knew Mrs. Irin.
"She is a woman about 165cm tall, from Mobile, with brown hair and gray eyes. She lost her husband five years ago. She is your father whom she introduced to me. Do you still remember her?"
Of course he had an impression. The doctor unconsciously adjusted his glasses and glanced at the window.
Irene was still looking at him anxiously.
"Which lady?" The doctor hesitated for a moment. "I only met her once at my father's memorial service. I have been at war for the past few years. I haven't heard from her for a long time."
"What about Hannah? Do you know Hannah?" Irene didn't notice anything unusual about the doctor. She looked nervous and very pitiful.
"Hannah, um, Miss Hannah?" The doctor's eyes wandered, and he pushed up his glasses that kept sliding down his nose due to excessive nervousness. "She was sent to Europe by the eldest brother to study."
"Boss?" Irene uncomfortably pulled up the corner of the quilt. "Is that Leo? How has he been doing these years?"
The man under the window suddenly pricked up his ears.
"Yes," the doctor immediately poured out the manuscript that Leo had recently instructed him to rehearse countless times.
He cleared his throat, looked solemn, and answered Irene's question first.
"Not good, very bad. The eldest brother has had a very miserable life in the past four years. He was first framed by his brother and parents and was severely injured. He has to manage the family business while dragging his injured body."
Then he killed his own father and brother. Irene held the quilt and turned her head away to avoid the doctor's gaze.
"Then during the war, I was forced to join the army again. My left leg was broken twice, I was shot in the arm twice, and I almost contracted tuberculosis. Although I have been discharged, I am now covered with old injuries, which recur when the weather gets cold."
Then, relying on the money he got from his family and his military experience, he successfully broke through the blockade and made a lot of money by reselling. Irene's mood fell to the bottom.
The doctor looked at Irene's beautiful, clear eyes and spoke in a lower voice unconsciously, sounding as if he was feeling guilty.
"He has been searching for you all over the world over the years, and he has also saved a lot of money. His life has been extremely hard."
These three in particular were added by Leo on purpose so that Irene would have a very pitiful impression of him.
No matter what you do, the first impression is the most important.
This is the important experience Leo has accumulated after so many years of working in society.
Fortunately, he intercepted Irene when she first arrived in New Orleans. Leo knew that he had a bad reputation, and he could never let Irene know what those people thought of him.
So the first step is to create a correct first impression on Irene.
After saying that, the doctor nodded at Irene and left the room with the medical box.
Irene was the only one left in the empty bedroom.
Irene leaned against the head of the bed, and the scene of the old doctor sitting on the stool and teasing her and Leo emerged in her mind.
For her, this just happened a month ago, but for others, four years have passed, and even the pain of losing loved ones has gradually faded.
And Leo seemed to have changed drastically over the years.
Irene huddled under the quilt, staring blankly at the Roman columns at the four corners of the bed, which were carved with exquisite angels and looked very valuable.
As for the other decorations in the room, Irene looked around and every piece of furniture in the room highlighted one word - "expensive".
Leo did make a lot of money, and Irene indifferently withdrew her gaze from the expensive items.
She has never been a person who cares about material enjoyment, otherwise she would not have applied for a master's and doctoral program during her poorest graduate school years, just to fulfill her dream.
But this is not the most important thing. Irene stared carefully at the white mosquito net above her head. The most important thing is that Leo seemed to have forgotten her.
She recuperated in the room for two days, but Leo never came to see her once.
It's not just him who doesn't want to see her. Irene thought with a wry smile, she herself is also staying in her room recuperating from an illness, not daring to step out of the door.
I didn't even dare to talk to Leo.
She didn't know how to explain her disappearance for the past four years, and she didn't know how to face Leo, who didn't seem to like her very much.
…
The little girl with long braids came into the room with medicine in her hand, speaking in a gentle tone.
"Ms. Irene, come and take your medicine."
"Shanshan, you can just call me Irene," Irene took the medicine from Shanshan's hand and drank it all in one gulp, then drank a large glass of water to rinse her mouth, and only then was she able to suppress the unpleasant fishy smell.
Shanshan handed over the candy like a treasure and stuffed it into Irene's mouth.
"This is the candy our boss bought specially because I heard that the medicine you've been taking lately is particularly bitter."
She changed the subject again, and said with emotion as if reciting a text: "No matter how hard it is, it can't be harder than our boss. He has had a really hard time these four years..."
The girl continued to chatter on and on about Leo's difficult rise to wealth, and his despair after running all over the United States and failing to find Irene.
It was different from what the doctor said, but it was enough to show how hard Leo's life was.
The sugar in Irene's mouth suddenly lost its sweetness.
What the doctor and Shanshan had said left a heavy mark on her heart - as if all Leo's suffering was caused by looking for her.
But now that she is back, Leo has never come to see her once. Is this enough to show that after four years, Leo has reconciled with his suffering?
Time heals all wounds, including the doctor's grief over the loss of his father and the hardships Leo had to go through in order to find her.
Otherwise how to explain the fact that Leo looked at her like a stranger.
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