Chapter 712 I Will Never Dislike You
The next morning, the alarm clock blared. Michelle rubbed her eyes drowsily, hit the snooze button, and closed her eyes.
She rubbed her head against the pillow, trying to coax herself back to sleep.
But the phone beside her kept beeping, making it hard for her to go back to sleep.
She checked her phone and saw three messages coming from Leon. "Good morning, Michelle. It's time for breakfast. Go downstairs," the first message read. "I'm at your door," the next one read.
"My dear white rabbit, please get up and open the door. I want to come inside," the last message read.
She groaned and buried her head underneath her pillow. 'Please let me sleep,' she mumbled to herself.
She grabbed her phone again and squinted her eyes to reread the messages. She thought she was dreaming when she first saw the WeChat messages from Leon.
'There is no way he's going to sing the rabbit song,' she thought.
The last time she sang this song was when she was in the 3rd grade back in elementary school.
But from to time, her mother would sing this song whenever she knocked on her door.
'Why would Leon sing such a childish song?
I must be dreaming.
Hmm...maybe I'll ask him to sing it for me later.'
Michelle continued to toss and turn as she rested her head on top of her arm. She felt the cold bracelet touch her face, which made her feel a little uncomfortable, and shifted to a new sleeping position. However, as much as she tried, she couldn't get back to sleep since her phone kept beeping. There were already several WeChat notifications coming from Leon.
"Get up already and open the door for me!" he texted.
"I brought you your favorite breakfast. If you don't get up now, it'll grow cold.
Get up, Michelle. Get up!" He sent numerous lines of messages, hoping it would wake her up.
"Who is this?!" She kicked away her blanket and sat up with a frown. She picked up the phone and groggily read through her messages.
'So I wasn't dreaming.
It really is Leon.
And he's at the door, waiting for me with breakfast.'
Just like that, her frown dissipated and turned into a wide smile. She got out of bed quickly and didn't even pass the mirror to check how she looked like right now. She was so excited to see him that she forgot to wear shoes. So she ran halfway back and put on a pair.
'Leon doesn't like me walking around barefoot.'
When she opened the door, he greeted her like a dazzling ray of sunshine. She saw his gentle smile as the cool wind tussled his hair slightly.
The sunlight shone on her neck and the lower part of her body, making her feel warm inside and out.
Her face lit up, and her smile grew only wider. "Leon!" she greeted him in excitement.
The very sight of Michelle reinvigorated Leon, who was too tired and fatigued from not sleeping well last night. He looked at her hair and was charmed by its messiness.
"Let's have breakfast first." He touched her head and further messed up her already messy hair. It was all tangled up, and there were still some bits of dried cream that clung to it. When she spoke, he could smell a faint creamy smell emanate from her breath. "Did you sleep without taking a shower last night?" he asked as he walked inside.
"Yes." She nodded. "Leon, how did you know? Do I smell bad?"
She raised her arm and took a sniff. "It's not smelly, though I think there's still some leftover from the cream cake last night. Wait here, Leon. I'll just take a shower."
"Eat first. Then you go take a shower. Your breakfast will grow cold if you don't eat it right away." He reached out to hold her arm and gave it a tight squeeze. "But..." She averted her eyes and looked down.
'It's important that I take a shower, or else Leon might dislike my smell.
But he's right; breakfast is also important. It won't taste good if it's cold.'
So she continued to stand still, paralyzed by her indecision.
Both of them didn't move for such a long time that Leon was able to sense that something was wrong with her.
"Breakfast's more important," he said.
"Do you think my body smells bad? Won't you dislike me, Leon?" she confessed.
"No, I won't. I won't dislike you," he whispered in a soft voice.
'I will never dislike you.'
When she felt his reassurance, she looked back at him, with joy evident on her face. "Okay, then. Let's have breakfast! Hurry up!"
"Okay." He put the breakfast on the table and handed her a cup of soybean milk. He took a straw and punched it for her. "It's not hot. You can drink it at ease."
She took a small sip and felt it moisten her throat, which made her voice sound softer. "Leon, it's a shame you weren't able to come here last night. We threw cream at each other as if we were throwing snowballs."
"Sounds like you had fun." He pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit down. He prepared the breakfast in front of her and sat down next to her.
Michelle preferred talking to Leon face-to-face, so she turned to look at him. "You really are my lucky star. Yesterday, my parents surprised me and came back home to celebrate my birthday. I was so happy!"
"That's good to hear." Just seeing her jubilant expression made the long talk and the teases from John all worth it.
"If only you here last night, Leon. But I understand. You were busy with work. Besides, you were the first person to greet me a happy birthday, and you gave me this beautiful bracelet." She shook her left hand with the bracelet. He kept his mouth shut. 'Just let her think I was busy with work.'
"Austin and Colby didn't come yesterday. They said it was because of an emergency. I hope they're doing fine."
He knew why they couldn't make it.
No one knew better than Leon why Austin and Colby couldn't come to Michelle's birthday party.
"Don't worry about them. They're no longer kids. I heard from my boss that an investor was supposed to meet with Austin yesterday. He must be very busy dealing with him right now."
To say Austin was busy was an understatement. He also had lots of both internal and external troubles plaguing his mind right now.
Even though he didn't want to take over his family's business, the investor was pushing him to take responsibility and run the company. However, this was the least of his worries.
The bigger problem were his siblings, who had always kept an eye on him. Now they had regarded him as a thorn they had to pluck. It wouldn't take long for them to scheme against him and kick him out of the company. However, Austin's father had always been supportive of him and treated him as a successor. While he wouldn't let anything happen to Austin, he also wouldn't help him. This was his father's means to strengthen his abilities. That was where Austin stood. He was too busy to think of his love life.
"As for Colby..." Leon chuckled, not trying to hide his contempt. Michelle tilted her head in confusion. "Why? What's wrong with Colby?"
"He hit a Bugatti, which was a limited edition. He and the owner are still discussing how to settle this financially. Since that Bugatti is worth more than ten million dollars, it wouldn't be so easy for Colby to get off the hook," Leon said indifferently, not caring what would happen to Colby.
Hearing Colby's accident and the potential costs made Michelle gasp in worry. "Oh my God! Are Colby and that man okay? Is it serious? I'll call Colby and ask him about it.
I'm his friend, and yet nobody knew he got into an accident yesterday. We were too busy hanging around that he didn't even cross our minds." She fumbled for her phone but realized that she left it up in her bedroom.
Then, she sprang up from her chair, but Leon grabbed her shoulder and motioned her to sit back down.
"I've already asked around. They're fine. Something was just wrong with his car. He's probably very right now trying to smooth everything out. When he's done, he'll contact you himself." He sensed the worry in her voice and was a little jealous. "Okay. I hope everything turns out fine for him." The worry still lingered in her voice.
"Don't worry about him. Just worry about yourself. Next time, don't take Colby's car anymore. He's not good at driving," he reminded her.
If he were any good at driving, then he wouldn't have let Charles hit his car. Charles was so good at driving and deception that he didn't make anyone suspect that he was the one who hit the other car.
Leon wondered where Bryant found this talent.