Chapter 121: Chapter 121 Leonardo past (1)
In the Leonardo’s study, the curtains were drawn, the dim afternoon light cutting soft lines across the bookshelves stacked high behind his desk.
Lina stood near the edge of the big oak desk, her arms crossed neatly over her elegant dress. Her eyes — those same cold, sharp eyes Leonardo had inherited were narrowed on her son like she could peel back every layer he tried to hide behind.
"You had one bad relationship with a woman and now you think every woman in this world is the same?" she asked, her voice low but sharp. "What a joke, Leonardo."
He didn’t answer, only sat there with his elbows on the armrest, fingertips tapping once against his knee. His eyes stayed fixed on the file in front of him but he hadn’t turned a page in the last ten minutes.
Seeing he didn’t bother to argue, Lina’s frown deepened. She stepped closer, her heels clicking softly on the floor. "Why are you making Bella suffer in this? She’s your wife now — or do you think that word means nothing?" she pressed, her tone cold.
Leonardo’s jaw flexed. He still didn’t speak.
Lina leaned in just enough to catch his gaze, her chin tilting up slightly. "Don’t tell me you don’t see her. Don’t tell me you’re so blind you can’t see how she tries every day to be good to you even when you give her nothing to hold onto." Her voice dropped softer, yet sharper at the same time. "She’s different. She’s not like the women you’ve known before. She’s soft. She’s kind. She’s... hard to dislike."
That last part made something flicker in Leonardo’s gray eyes. He didn’t respond but that faint twitch at the corner of his lips, the way his fingers stilled for a heartbeat, it was enough for Lina to see what she needed to see.
A knowing smile tugged at her painted lips. "Hmph." She straightened, brushing imaginary lint from her sleeve. "Well, suit yourself. But remember this, Leonardo — if you keep her stuck in this cold, loveless marriage much longer, I’ll take matters into my own hands."
He looked up, frowning. "What do you mean?"
Lina turned, walking toward the door with the regal calm only she could carry. "I mean," she said over her shoulder, "that I’ll marry her off to Jay instead. He likes her, he’d care for her — they’re gentle in the same way. They’d make each other happy."
Leonardo’s breath caught in his throat, an unfamiliar sting of panic scraping his ribs. "Mom —"
But the door was already swinging open, her figure disappearing down the hallway.
Left alone, Leonardo sat back in his chair, the ticking clock echoing louder in his ears than before. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he muttered under his breath.
"Troublesome woman..." he hissed but his mind was already spinning, replaying Bella’s small, sad eyes in the back of that car.
Back in high school...
Leonardo was only seventeen then. Back when the world was still soft around the edges, and his heart cold as it was now hadn’t learned how to shut itself up in iron walls yet.
Back then, he hid who he was. The heir to a wealthy family, the boy with a name everyone feared, he left all that behind when he stepped into that dusty public school with secondhand books and no chauffeur waiting outside. For everyone else, he was just a quiet, smart boy who worked part-time jobs and lived in a cheap apartment.
He didn’t mind. He didn’t care. He never cared what anyone thought until her.
She was different, or so he’d thought. She’d found him when he was hunched over a library desk, scribbling answers into a worn notebook. She’d sat with him in silence at first, then started bringing him tea in paper cups, humming songs he didn’t know. She was so warm — so sweet that he almost let himself believe he could have something soft for once.
It was the first time he’d let a girl close enough to see his tiny, hidden apartment. The walls were cracked, the window stuck half-shut but she didn’t mind, she’d said. She liked him for him, she’d whispered.
So that day that stupid, foolish day he’d sat at his small desk, carefully writing her assignments for her.
As usual, today he’d wanted to impress her by writing her assignment to be useful, so she’d keep smiling that soft smile just for him. She was also in the apartment today...
When he realized she hadn’t come back from the balcony for a long time, he’d frowned. He wiped the ink smudge off his palm and stood, pushing open the half-broken door to the tiny balcony. And there she was his sunshine girl in that short skirt he’d once found so cute, perched on the rickety railing with her phone pressed to her ear.
He didn’t even have to lean in to hear her voice, sweet and mocking all at once.
"Well... yeah, I know his family is wealthy! Hmph, but why doesn’t he use that money on me?"
She giggled, flipping her hair back, her eyes glinting with a cruel delight he’d never seen before.
"Yeah baby, don’t worry! I’ll take his money, I’ll make him pay for my shopping — then I’ll buy you that car you want so bad."
A man’s voice laughed on the other side of the call, muffled but low. Leonardo’s fingers curled against the door frame, the wood digging into his skin until it stung. He felt something break, deep in his chest, so sharp it made his vision swim.
She didn’t see him there or maybe she did and didn’t care. She slipped back inside a minute later, putting on her sweet smile like she’d done a thousand times. She kissed his cheek like nothing had happened. He didn’t move. He didn’t smile.
"Did you do my assignment?" she asked so casually, twirling her hair around her finger as if nothing had happened. She leaned closer, her fake pout on her pretty lips, her eyes sweet and shiny like she was the world’s softest girl.