Only you in my love

Leon was still feeling a little light-headed. After he had taken the cold medicine earlier, he had been feeling drowsy. So when he heard someone knocking at the door, he didn't want to get up. He tossed and turned, trying to muffle the sound with his pillow. But when he heard the voice of Michelle behind the door, he forced himself to get up.

As soon as he opened it, he didn't expect her to throw herself at him.

Leon's grumpy look started to soften. The sleepiness in his eyes started to wear off as he looked at the girl in his arms. Her face was against his chest, and he stretched his arms out towards her for an embrace.

But before he could wrap his hands around her, Michelle pushed herself away from him in panic.

He felt disappointed that he wasn't able to hug her.

Meanwhile, Michelle felt as though her face was burning. She averted his eyes away from him and looked at the floor. "Leon, are you okay?" she mumbled, with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"Uncle Leon, does your head still hurt?" Van looked up at him and asked with concern.

Don continued to hide behind his brother.

"Le..." Berry opened her mouth but stopped herself before she could call Leon's name. Leon didn't know she was Vicente.

"Helen said that you're sick. So Mimi and the children came to see you."

The way she said it, sounded like she was saying "You're sick, so your wife and children are here to see you."

Leon squinted his drowsy eyes and smiled. He looked at Michelle for a moment, then turned his attention to Van and Don. He squatted down and patted the heads of both children.

"Van, Don. Thank you for coming to see me. I'll be fine after a good rest."

Leon pulled Don from behind Van. He pinched Don's cheek and lovingly said, "You're going to school, right? Hurry up, or else you're going to be late. Berry, please send them to the car. I'm afraid Nini and John might not have the time to do that themselves." Berry knew he wanted them to leave. So she nodded slightly, held the kids' hands, and left.

'Leon must want to be left alone so that he can rest properly,' she thought.

However, what she was thinking was different from what was running on Leon's mind.

When Michelle turned around to leave with them, Berry heard Leon stop Michelle.

"Michelle, I'm feeling a little dizzy. Can you help me back to my bed?" Noticing that Michelle wasn't buying his pretense, he added, "I haven't taken the medicine Helen gave me. I need your help."

His voice sounded feeble, and his back was hunched

as though he was about to collapse any second.

Berry looked at him and felt slightly suspicious. 'Is Leon really that weak?'

However, Michelle immediately believed him. She turned her back again and approached Leon. She held one of his arms with both hands and looked at him with deep concern. "Leon, you seem to be seriously ill. Let's go to the hospital, okay?" Leon's eyes lit up. His plan worked.

"No, I'll take a nap first."

"Okay." Michelle wanted to continue persuading Leon to go to the hospital, but he had already turned around and entered his room.

Michelle's mind was too preoccupied with Leon's well-being that she didn't realize he would be staying in the same room with him alone. When she helped him into his room, she looked back and noticed the door was already closed even though she didn't remember closing it herself.

Leon had secretly closed the door while she was helping him go in.

Michelle used all her strength to support Leon's entire body. She felt that she was assisting a drunk person rather than someone who was sick.

She helped him down to the edge of the bad and sat beside him. "Leon, lie down. I'll go get your medicine for you. Where did you put it?"

Leon pointed at the table. "It's over there."

"Got it. I'll prepare it for you right away."

A lazy smile formed on Leon's lips. "No need to hurry."

"But you're sick!" Michelle cried anxiously. Deep inside, she blamed herself for Leon's sickness. She thought it happened when she refused to take him in last night.

If she had known that he'd get sick, she would've taken him in and she could sleep on the floor.

Michelle quickly prepared some hot water and soaked the medicine in it.

Leon watched over and felt as though it was his wife who was taking care of him.

Although he knew that his thought was nowhere near the realms of reality, he was still free to think about it and believed it to be ultimately harmless.

"Michelle, I've been busy helping Nini with her wedding preparations these past few days. I didn't have time to talk with you."

Michelle slowly poured the medicine into a cup. When she heard what he said, she stopped midway. "Leon, are you going to ask me why I went abroad?" Although Leon did want to know, he knew that she wouldn't tell him anyway, regardless of how much he tried.

"No."

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Leon."

"I want to ask you something else. Have you talked to Lydia and others after coming back?" Leon fixed his eyes on Michelle and observed even her slightest movements.

"Yes. Only Debra's in Lexingport City. Lydia and Rainy aren't here, so we couldn't meet up for the time being." Once Michelle was done with the medicine, she placed it in front of Leon and stirred it gently with a spoon. "It's still hot. Drink it when it gets colder." Steam rose from the cup.

Michelle kept her head down and felt the rising heat from the cup of medicine warm her face.

Leon noticed that she always avoided making eye contact with him. 'Is she guilty of something? Or maybe she's avoiding me,' he thought.

"Since you haven't talked to anyone in the past three years, you missed out on a lot of things. For one, Austin could've inherited his family's company, but in the end, he decided to give it up."

"I see," said Michelle calmly.

"Aren't you surprised?"

"Not really." Michelle glanced at him but quickly lowered her eyes as soon as she met his gaze.

Leon frowned slightly and continued to scrutinize Michelle's subtle behavior. "Have you been in touch with Austin for the past three years?"

If that were the case, he'd be furious.

'What's so good about Austin?' he wondered.

"No." Michelle shook her head. "Austin went to graduate school. He wouldn't give up his studies."

He bought her explanation and was convinced that she didn't contact Austin. He felt slightly relieved, but still kind of bitter. "Wow, you really know him well. Did you know that one of the reasons why he insisted on going to graduate school was for Lydia? He didn't wait for you."

In the past three years when Michelle had disappeared, Leon had been paying close attention to her friends, especially Austin and Lydia. He wanted to know if Michelle would contact them.

However, it seemed like Michelle didn't contact anyone.

As for Austin and Lydia's relationship, he only knew that Lydia liked Austin, and she confessed her feelings to him. At first, Austin rejected her. Then they went to the same graduate school and had the same tutor. As time went by, there was good chemistry between them. Leon wanted to rub it in Michelle's face that Austin didn't wait for her.

Michelle's eyes widened as she learned about the news.

When Leon noticed that this affected Michelle, his head started to ache. He pinched his nose, hoping it would alleviate the pain. With droopy eyes, he said, "I heard that they worked well together. People think they're a couple, and they never tried denying it." Michelle looked shocked. "What do you mean? They didn't deny it?"

He paused for a moment. "Maybe they're in love."

"That's amazing!" Michelle cried in excitement. She was so ecstatic from the news she almost spilled hot water onto her skin. "Is that true? Are Austin and Lydia really in love? Debra and Aron are also in love. If that's the case, then there are already two pairs of couples in my class!"

Leon felt something wasn't right.

"Don't you feel bad?"

"No. Why would I?" The smile on Michelle's face suggested she felt the exact opposite of bad.

As he observed Michelle's reactions, everything slowly started to make sense to Leon. "So you only see Austin as a good friend. Is that right?"

"Yes. Austin's my good friend."

Leon couldn't believe it.

'So I made a mistake.

Is it possible that the one she's in love with is Colby?'

He asked her to confirm. "And Colby is also your good friend, right?"

"Yes!" Michelle looked at the cup of medicine and noticed that steam was no longer rising from it. "Leon, drink your medicine already. It's no longer hot."

"Okay." Leon grabbed the cup with both hands and stared at its dark brown content. Trying to sound casual, he asked, "Did you have a boyfriend while you were abroad?"