As soon as she hit the bed and closed her eyes, Michelle fell fast asleep. Her mouth was hanging open as if she was dreaming about eating again. Eventually, the dream vanished. She sluggishly opened up her eyes and turned on the light.
She woke up in the middle of the night with a strong desire to go to the bathroom.
She stood up and trudged sleepily to the bathroom. When she came back, she noticed a glimmer of light spilling out from the gaps in the door leading to the next room.
"Why is Leon still awake?" Rubbing her eyes, Michelle staggered towards the door and knocked on it.
The loud sound was enough to wake Leon from his own dreams. His eyes flew open, and his eyelashes seemed to tremble slightly with fear.
"Leon, are you still awake?" Michelle's sleepy voice drifted over from the other side of door. She yawned after speaking.
Leon threw a quick glance at the door, and then closed his eyes again. His pale and slender fingers pinched his nose. It took a while before he opened his eyes again and replied, "No."
His voice sounded awake and alert with no signs of sleepiness. The knock was enough to frighten him back to his full senses.
Still in a state of shock, he opened the door and peered outside. "What do you want?" he asked. His tone was colder than usual.
Michelle had always perceived Leon to be a gentle man. He always spoke gently and calmly like still water. But at that moment, Leon was acting odd. His face and tone were cold as if he was talking to a stranger.
However, Leon was also usually gentle with strangers. He must be angry this time.
Michelle found herself at a loss of what to say or do. She lowered her head in panic and began to apologize. "I'm sorry, Leon. Did I wake you up?"
As soon as he heard the word "sorry," Leon realized that he had let his guards down and revealed his real self.
For a long time, his identity had forced him to be polite when dealing with people. Every day, he always had a smile to show to others. As time went on, he had seemingly formed an impenetrable mask which he wore in front of everyone else.
He only took it off at night when he was alone. Without it, he was unkind and unfriendly. He was especially grouchy when someone disturbed his sleep. However, this was not because of temperament. It was fear.
He had been dreaming of ghosts lately. It also didn't help that he was constantly tensed. It was as if he never had a moment to relax.
There were so many things he needed to do that required him to make judgments and choices. The entire fate of C Island rested on his shoulders.
A person's burden was determined by how well other people treated him. And in Leon's case, his identity made it difficult for him to be a carefree and ordinary person.
The fact that he was constantly on edge resulted to strange dreams each night. It was because of this that he never turned his light off when sleeping. He was afraid of what he might find in the dark when he suddenly wake up.
In his dreams, he was fearless. He knew that he was dreaming and that nothing was real. Even if he dreamed of falling off a cliff, he knew that he would not die.
But reality was different. Fear would always bring him a series of physiological reactions. His body would tremble and shake. And his heart would beat erratically against his chest.
Just now, the knock on his door was enough to wake him up feeling terrified. This made him miserable, but he wasn't angry. The mask he had worn for years had made him unable to be angry at anyone. That was why he acted coldly towards Michelle.
Except for his sister Nina, he would instantly hate anyone who dared wake him up while he was sleeping. Wynn, for one, didn't know this before. As a result, he had received Leon's resentment and was thrown into a dilapidated building in the middle of nowhere.
No matter how hard Wynn tried to apologize, it didn't work. But Michelle's case was different. As soon as she apologized, Leon felt guilty.
"Don't worry. You didn't wake me up." Leon's voice was back to being gentle again. He had to bend down a bit to place his hand on top of Michelle's head. "I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought a while ago. I thought it was Wynn who knocked on my door. That's why I was like that."
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