hapter 17
A late–night call disturbed Eleanor’s sweet dream. Exhausted, she couldn’t even bring herself to open her eyes. She reached out and patted around on the nightstand for her phone before instinctively pressing the answer button.
Aaron’s voice came through. He sounded drunk as he choked on his words. “Nora, where are you? Why aren’t you coming home yet? Are you abandoning me?”
In her drowsy state, Eleanor couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying. However, Leon who was lying beside her, heard every word.
Under the dim lights, he looked at Eleanor, who was still half–asleep. He slowly took her phone and walked out to the balcony. Then, he stared at the caller ID on the screen for a moment before slowly speaking up.
“How much have you had to drink, Mr. Ford? How did you end up calling my wife? Shouldn’t you be contacting Ms. Spencer instead?”
Aaron sobered up a
momentarily.
instantly when he heard Leon’s voice. He seemed to regain his clarity.
“How dare you answer Nora’s phone?”
Leon’s mood immediately improved when he heard the anger in Aaron’s voice. His tone was tinged with amusement when he answered, “Because I’m her husband. As for you, Mr. Ford, don’t you think it’s inappropriate for you to be calling my wife and disrupting our sweet dreams in the middle of the night?”
That response alone was enough to infuriate Aaron so much that he cut off the call on the spot.
Leon smiled when he heard the disconnected tone. Tapping on Aaron’s contact, he changed. the caller ID to “Mr. Ford“. Then, he scrolled up, found his name, and changed the caller ID to
“Sweetheart“.
He finally switched off the phone in satisfaction and returned to the bedroom after updating the names are all of Eleanor’s social apps.
Eleanor was still fast asleep. Leon put down the phone and returned to bed, pulling her into his arms before finally closing his eyes.
At noon the next day, Eleanor, who had slept for over ten hours, received a text message from Clara upon waking up. “Aaron got into a drunk driving accident last night and was injured. Do you know about that?”
Eleanor, of course, knew nothing of the sort. But she vaguely remembered picking up a call in the middle of the night, so she checked the call log on her phone. It showed that the call had
lasted three minutes, but she had no recollection of it at all.
The call log also indicated that the call had come in at around 3:00 am. Eleanor couldn’t help. wondering if Aaron had called her for help after running into the accident. If he had, then hadn’t she been a little cruel?
At the thought of that, she felt a pang of guilt. She hurriedly washed up and went downstairs.
Leon was up early and was making himself busy in the kitchen. When he saw Eleanor coming down, he quickly went up to her to ask her what she’d like for breakfast.
After a moment’s hesitation, Eleanor decided to ask him, “Do you remember hearing my phone ringing last night?”
The smile on Leon’s face froze when he heard that. “I do. I was the one who answered the call.”
Eleanor’s heart skipped a beat, and, she quickly asked what he had said.
Leon’s mood instantly soured when he saw how anxious Eleanor was. His tone was laced with jealousy. “You’re so concerned about him. Perhaps I was wrong to interfere and crash your wedding.”
Eleanor didn’t understand why he was being sarcastic and bringing that up again. Still, she patiently explained, “Someone just told me he got into a car accident yesterday. I’m worried that it was a call for help. I’m just asking because feel a little guilty.”
So it was just her sympathy acting up. Leon’s expression thawed at that.
“He was just drunk and trying to harass you. I told him off, and then he ended the call. The accident happened at around 6:00 am. It has got nothing to do with us.”
Eleanor’s guilt finally dissipated, and she sat down to have some breakfast.
Monitoring her expression, Leon noticed that she looked calm. However, he couldn’t resist probing. “Do you want to go visit him at the hospital? I heard that he’s quite severely injured.”
His heart began thumping the moment he asked the question, and it wasn’t until he heard her indifferent reply that a smile graced his features again.
“He’s not dead yet. There’s no need for that.”
Reaching out for the coffee beside her, Eleanor caught sight of him sniggering to himself.
She couldn’t help questioning curiously, “Are you that happy that he got into an accident?” Mimicking her earlier tone, Leon answered, “He’s not dead yet. Why shouldn’t I be happy
Chaplai
Chapter 18
