Leon wasn't sure if Michelle went to pick up Van and Don just to see him, even though he was sure he wanted to see her. When he had heard someone comment that they looked like they were a family of four, he allowed himself to imagine such a scenario.
In fact, the Shi family had someone pick up Van and Don from school. However, Leon volunteered to do so.
The corridor was so quiet that they could hear each other's heartbeat. Their bodies were close enough for them to feel each other's presence but not enough for their skins to touch. It didn't help that both of them were wearing thick layers of clothes.
And yet in that small space they shared, they could feel the warmth of each other's affection.
Michelle's heart was racing.
If things went on as they did, it would only be a matter of time before her secret affection towards Leon would unravel. She turned around and tried to run away, but Leon didn't give her a chance to escape. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned his forehead against hers.
Her heart jumped to her throat, and her eyes widened as she covered her mouth and muffled her gasp.
At that moment, her heart no longer belonged to her.
She could no longer control herself.
The very sight of Leon, from top to bottom, made the butterflies in her stomach flutter.
He knew why she was covering her mouth. He couldn't help but smile as he continued to breathe on her blushing face.
"Michelle, your heart is racing. Do you have a crush on me?"
Just like that, she felt her secret unravel before his very eyes. It took her three years to hide this secret, and now, it was finally being exposed. Her panicked eyes caught his seductive gaze as she felt further drawn to his amber eyes.
If his eyes were an ocean, she was drowning in it.
She remembered people saying that only those who could swim might be drowned, while those who couldn't would stay away from water. This was how she understood what falling in love meant. She, who had never been in love, didn't have the courage to indulge herself in such a feeling.
She tried her best to push him away and run back to her room. She twisted her doorknob twice before pushing the door open and closing it without looking back.
On the other side of the door, Leon couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
Now, he was sure of two things. First was that Michelle wasn't against the idea of them being physically close. In the instance that they were, her face turned red and her heart pounded against her chest, begging to be let out.
The second was Michelle must like him even just a little bit.
All things considering, he realized things between them were not bad at all. In his current position, he could slowly increase her affection towards him.
Meanwhile, Michelle was lying in her bed, her face buried underneath her quilt.
She finally figured out what exactly changed with Leon. Even though he was still as gentle as before, what changed was that he was already willing to push her boundaries.
He already had the guts to ask her if she liked him.
And she did. She liked Leon so much, her affection spanning more than three years. Neither distance nor time could ever stop her from liking him.
And yet, when he asked her if she liked him, she didn't know what to say.
'Why did he even ask me that?
Does he also like me?'
The thought kept swirling in her head that she couldn't keep still. Finally, she sat up and said to herself, "I need to talk to someone. I should go ask Debra. She has a lot of experience when it comes to this."
She jumped out of her bed and took her phone. Since she wasn't able to charge it ever since coming home, she had to wait a while for the phone to turn on.
While waiting, she stood in front of the vase and solemnly stared at the champagne roses about to wither. "Thank you," she whispered to them. "I'll continue to take good care of you, so please continue blessing me."
When two petals fell, Michelle grabbed a cloth and covered them. Then, slowly, she unfolded the cloth.
"You're not going anywhere. Wait while I change the water for you."
She was using a big glass vase to hold the running water. According to what Mrs. Li had taught her, she had to let the running water warm to room temperature first before placing it in the vase containing the champagne roses.
Once she was done changing the water, Michelle clasped her hands together and bowed reverently before the roses. After that, she turned around and took her phone.
As soon her phone opened, her WeChat automatically logged in. One after another, message notifications popped up. She received more than 30 missed calls, all coming from the same number.
Since she had just changed her phone, the number calling her wasn't saved in her contacts yet.
But even if she didn't save it, she already knew to whom that number belonged.
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