Chapter 812 Warm You Up
Michelle was given a guided tour of the field strawberries. Truth be told, the strawberries planted by Leon looked like the ones planted by others, she still felt that the ones he planted were special. Charmed, Michelle took a picture of the strawberry field and sent it to Leon.
"Thank you for your strawberries.
I like you so much, Leon.
I miss you.
How about I cook a meal for you? When you have the time, let's go shopping together. I'll cook for you."
Seconds after she sent that message, her phone started to ring.
Leon was calling her.
Caught off guard, Michelle almost dropped her phone.
Tasha, who was also startled by the ringing phone, glanced at the phone screen and saw Leon's profile picture. "I have something I need to take care of. Feel free to wander some more. If you need anything, just ask me."
"Okay, thank you." Michelle smiled sheepishly and waited until Tasha was out of earshot before answering the phone.
"Michelle," Leon greeted dotingly from the other end of the line.
"Why'd you call me out of the blue, Leon?" Michelle asked. She could barely hide the happiness in her tone of voice.
"You said you missed me. Sorry, I can't go to the manor now. That's why I called," Leon answered.
Michelle giggled. "I love you, Leon."
"I know." While Leon might not have been good at expressing his feelings, Michelle could tell from his tone of voice that he was quite happy.
His happiness meant her happiness.
She had been very happy these days, which seemed to wash away the pain of the past three years.
Now that they could be together, nothing else mattered.
"You seem to be in a good mood," Leon said. "What happened today?"
"I know it, Leon," Michelle said. "The strawberries."
After a moment of silence, Leon chuckled. "Let me guess. Tasha told you?"
"Yeah! Leon, can I cook a meal for you?" Michelle asked.
"Just one meal?" Leon seemed unsatisfied. "It took me three years to plant strawberries for you and yet you only offer one meal in return?"
"How many meals do you want?" Michelle asked thoughtfully.
"Cook for me for the rest of my life, Michelle."
His calm and soothing voice filled her body with warmth despite the cold weather.
Every time he spoke to her like this, she felt unexplainably hot, as though her heart started beating with fiery passion.
Before she could say anything, Leon's soothing voice wafted over to her again.
"You don't have to cook for me every day, just remember it's a lifetime thing."
"Yes! Leon, I won't forget it." Michelle tightly clasped the phone close to her ear. "Let me start tonight. Once Caroline is done with her work, let's go out and buy some ingredients." "Okay. Call me when you're done. I'll pick you up."
"Okay, Leon. I'm hanging up now."
When they dropped the call, Michelle stared at her phone screen, sighing contentedly.
That evening, Leon did as he had promised and picked up Michelle at the Dream Manor. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw a figure running towards him.
"Leon!" she cried ecstatically.
"Slow down," Leon cautioned her with a smile. Then he strode forward with arms outstretched, eager to meet her halfway.
Michelle practically leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. When her cold hands brushed against his neck, he shivered slightly.
Frowning slightly, he asked, "Why are your hands so cold? Don't you wear gloves?"
"Cold?" Michelle immediately withdrew her hands, worried she'd make him feel cold. Leon didn't like it when she worried for him. In his eyes, her welfare was above his.
"Don't take your hands off me," he said coldly.
His sudden change in mood perplexed Michelle, but she wasn't about to disobey him. She meekly wrapped her arms around his neck again, careful not to let her hands come in contact with his bare neck. "Is my neck cold?" Leon asked, shifting slightly under her weight.
It wasn't the first time she had leapt into someone's arms. She had done this with Nina a couple times before.
Hugging like this seemed normal to her in hindsight.
But she and Nina were two girls. It didn't matter if they hugged each other like this in broad daylight.
But Leon was a man.
Besides, Leon was holding her up by her legs, even going so far as to pat them gently.
Michelle's body instantly went stiff. Her face was only inches away from his, and she could feel his breath on the tip of her nose. "N-no, it's not cold."
Now that she felt conscious of herself, she started to stammer.
Leon leaned forward and rubbed his nose gently on the tip of her nose. His breath came out in white steam amidst the winter cold.
"Alright, then place your hands on my neck. It'll warm up your hands."
Knowing that she would be hesitant to do so, he removed one of his hands from her and pressed her two hands against the back of his neck.
At first, he felt a bit chilly from her icy palms pressed against his skin, but after a while, he grew used to the feeling.
"Leon, my hands aren't cold anymore!"
"That's good." Leon smiled. He could feel how warm Michelle's palms had gotten.
It was warmest where their skin touched.
After hugging for a while, Michelle's body gradually relaxed and she leaned into Leon's embrace. Her feet swung in the air, hinting at how happy she felt. "Leon! You're so warm!"
"I'll warm you up when you get cold." With Michelle still in his arms, Leon started to head for the car. "Let's go to the market and buy some ingredients." "I've made a list. We can buy things on the list and then I can cook for you tonight. This way, we can have dinner earlier!"
As Leon turned around, Michelle was made to face Tasha and Caroline, who were behind her this whole time. She waved goodbye to the two of them.
With a wide grin, Caroline picked up her camera and snapped some photos of them.
When they arrived at the market, Leon instantly became Michelle's slave. Like an unforgiving master, Michelle happily bounded from one aisle to the next, ordering him to buy the ingredients she wanted. By the end of their trip, Leon was holding many shopping bags.
Just then, his phone started to ring in his pocket.
With his hands full, he had no choice but to let it ring. He figured he could just call back whoever was on the phone. However, it seemed the caller was persistent, because his phone stubbornly continued to ring. "Michelle, can you answer the phone for me? It's in my back pocket."
"Okay." Michelle fished for his phone in his pocket. She didn't recognize the number flashing on the screen, so she looked at him questioningly.
Leon nodded reassuringly, so Michelle answered the phone, stood on tiptoe, and held the phone to his ear.
"Leon, Valerie is missing," said a man on the other end of the call.00000000000000