Taylor watched as Leonora hung up the phone and slowly closed her eyes. He raised his hand to gently stroke her hair, apologizing for his earlier harshness, regretting his inability to control his impulse.
In truth, he wasn't impulsive. He wanted to test Leonora, to make her yield, to show her she should stay away from Grant. But he underestimated her fiery spirit—Leonora was not one to easily submit.
As Taylor's hand rested on her head, Leonora, visibly annoyed, turned her head away. She was fed up with Taylor and didn't want him touching her.
Seeing her reaction, Taylor quickly withdrew his hand, "Alright, alright, you're the boss. I won't touch you." Then he asked, "Do you want to take a shower?"
Leonora remained silent. After today's debacle, she had no desire to engage with Taylor any further. Seeing her reluctance to talk, Taylor didn’t press any further. He tidied up the room briefly before heading to the bathroom with his pajamas.
When Taylor went to the bathroom, Leonora, despite feeling unwell, forced herself out of bed. She didn’t want to stay with Taylor, but she knew well that under the circumstances, Taylor wouldn’t let her leave, so she remained silent. She quickly got dressed and made her way to the living room, attempting to leave before Taylor could notice. However, she tried the door several times, twisting and pushing, but it wouldn’t budge.
Finally, out of frustration, she kicked the door hard, knowing all too well that Taylor must have tampered with it. She thought to herself, so this was his backup plan for going to shower.
Failing to escape, Leonora couldn't be bothered to return to the main bedroom and simply collapsed onto the couch with a pillow. Exhausted, so very exhausted. Breathing felt like a chore. And the worst part was, despite the exhaustion, she couldn’t fall asleep. Eyes open, her head ached. Eyes closed, not only did her head ache, her eyes felt uncomfortably dry.
After a while, Taylor came out from the shower. Seeing Leonora just lying there on the couch, he knew without asking that she had attempted to flee but had been unsuccessful. Without addressing the issue, he simply sat down beside her, gently caressing her face, suggesting, "Why not take a shower? You'll feel less tired after."
Leonora looked at him, still silent. Knowing she had been tossing and turning without sleep and had no intention of sleeping now, Taylor scooped Leonora up from the couch. In the bathroom, the bathtub was already filled with warm water. While showering earlier, Taylor had prepared the bath, thinking it would help her relax given her fatigue. Taylor carried her, and without protest, Leonora let him place her in the bathtub.
It wasn’t until Taylor mentioned he would fetch her clean clothes that Leonora slowly closed her eyes, sinking her body and head beneath the water, immersing herself completely. Moments later, Taylor entered with clean clothes only to see just a tuft of dark hair floating on the water’s surface. He panicked, dropping the clothes and rushing to the bathtub, hastily pulling Leonora out, "Leonora."
"Cough, cough, cough." Leonora coughed violently, her coughs sending a mix of saliva and bathwater splashing all over Taylor. Her intention had been to drown herself, to drag Taylor down with her death, but he had arrived too soon, before she could achieve her goal.
Seeing Leonora’s face turn red from coughing, Taylor finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, his relief soon turned to anger. He gripped her arm, frustrated, "Leonora, have you lost your mind? Do you realize what you were doing?" Had he been delayed by a phone call, or had he stayed outside a bit longer... Taylor couldn’t bear to think further.
Leonora kept her eyes shut, refusing to speak. She was immune to Taylor’s usual tactics and didn’t want to hear what he had to say. With her eyes firmly closed, Taylor offered a sincere apology. "I was wrong last night; it was my fault that I hurt you."
Taylor’s mention of the incident only fueled Leonora’s anger, making her close her eyes even tighter.
This time, Taylor didn’t wait for Leonora to be willing to listen to his explanation. He went on, "At dinner, I made a few jokes with Kitty. I didn’t handle her flirtations in time, nor should I have allowed her to follow up on the project in the secretarial office, let alone let her come to the company."
"I’m admitting my mistake and apologizing to you."
"But we need to get one thing straight—I have never had anything happen with Kitty. I haven’t even seen her alone."
"All I think about is you, and you’re the one I worry about every day."

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