Samantha felt her heartbeat start to race, as if a wave of humid heat had suddenly filled the room, and taking a breath felt like a hot gust hitting her face.
For a moment, she couldn’t find the words to respond to him.
“I… I want to think it over.”
He was quite straightforward, “Alright, I’ll give you time to think, but I don’t want you to take too long.”
She dazedly nodded, “I’ll be ready by tomorrow.”
“Mm.”
He nodded slightly and continued eating. Samantha stood there stiffly for a moment before realizing she should leave. Even after getting into the car outside the hospital, she still felt a bit dazed.
After all these years, he was still so direct, so much so that he didn’t give her any time to prepare mentally.
He had suddenly said he wanted to be together.
She sat in the car for a long time before finally starting the engine to leave.
After she left the ward, Leon quietly set down his spoon. He had already eaten, and he didn’t really want the soup; he just wanted to see her, to talk to her. Despite how easily he had just suggested they give it a try, he had actually thought about it for a long time and prepared himself mentally before saying it.
It was really… not easy at all.
He leaned back against the bed and exhaled, inadvertently glancing at her phone still sitting on the table.
This woman, she even forgot her phone.
What if she thought it over and wanted to contact him? He immediately called a buddy over, asking him to drive him to the hotel; he wanted to personally return the phone to her.
On the way back, Samantha kept thinking about Leon’s words, recalling that he had said something similar a few years ago.
Back then, Thelma had just gone through a change, and she was heartbroken, feeling utterly helpless. That day, she had gone to Mapleton city to cause a scene with Chris and the others, demanding a large sum of money from Chris. When he refused, she threatened to expose his infidelity, making a fuss until he couldn’t take it anymore.
She hadn’t expected that the usually restrained her would act so crazily. Later, she got the money, but she still felt powerless. She felt useless, thinking that aside from asking Chris for money, she couldn’t do anything else, and she felt guilty for not protecting her sister well as an older sister.
After returning to Brackenfield, she didn’t go home immediately. Instead, she ran to a bridge and hid in the arch, crying, feeling helpless and guilty, heartbroken for her sister and ashamed of her own cowardice.
She didn’t dare cry in front of her sister, fearing it would put pressure on her and show her a weak side, worrying that her sister would think she couldn’t protect her. So she could only hide and cry.
As she cried, she noticed a figure moving by the river. She quickly saw that it was a beggar, and he wasn’t even wearing pants.
By this time, the sky outside had darkened, and in the dim, damp arch of the bridge, she was all alone. She saw the beggar walking towards her and felt a bit scared, quickly wiping her tears and heading up the bridge. The beggar followed her, and in her panic, she didn’t notice someone coming towards her, crashing right into the person’s chest.
She looked up, and in front of her was a familiar figure. Although she hadn’t seen him since high school, and he had grown into a man, she recognized him at once.
“Leon, what are you doing here?”
“Taking a walk.”
He said expressionlessly.
Samantha hadn’t forgotten about the beggar behind her. She turned to look, and upon seeing Leon, the beggar walked back to the riverbank and lay down.
Samantha sighed in relief.
“Are you crying?”
Samantha hurriedly wiped away her tears. She tried to walk past him, but Leon followed her and asked again, “Why are you crying?”
This path led up to the bridge, a gravel road without streetlights, but with the bridge lights, she could barely see her feet.
The sound of her shoes crunching on the gravel mixed with the sound of the river, and as cars passed overhead, honking occasionally, she felt a strange calmness wash over her after the shock of the beggar and then seeing Leon.
In fact, her relationship with Leon during school wasn’t good. To put it more accurately, they had no relationship at all, except for that time he said he liked her.
They were completely from different worlds.
But at this moment, her heart suddenly felt hollow, and she found herself unconsciously telling him the truth.
“My sister had an accident, and I didn’t protect her well, so I feel very guilty.”
He suddenly stepped in front of her, blocking her path. She looked up, and they were almost at the top of the bridge, where the lights were shining above them. But he was too tall, blocking the light, and she couldn’t see his expression. All she heard was him say, “Be with me, I can protect you, and I can protect your sister too.”
