Chapter 25
The fall of the Ford family stirred up quite a storm in the elite circles of Drakemont.
When Clara, who loved gossip, heard about it, she invited Eleanor to a meal and casually brought up the topic.
A prestigious family that had been in power for over a century had fallen apart due to internal strife. Both Eleanor and Clara felt sorry for them.
As they chatted, Leon gave Eleanor a call to check in on her, and she patiently updated him about her whereabouts.
Clara sniggered in secret when she heard their playful bickering.
When the call ended, she patted Eleanor on the arm with a mysterious look on her face. “When the whole thing with Aaron and Alina first happened, they kept things under tight wraps. Do you know who was the one who told me about it?”
From the look on Clara’s face, Eleanor could tell there was more to it than met the eye. After all, she had been abroad back then, and Clara was the one who had told her about it.
To this day, Eleanor was still curious about where Clara had gotten intel from.
Clara scooted close to her and signaled at Eleanor’s phone with her eyes. “It was Leon. He took the initiative to talk to me about it. Back then, I wondered why he’d be interested in such things. But in hindsight, it’s clear that he had an ulterior motive.”
With Clara being all mysterious, Eleanor was confused. She insisted Clara explain things clearly.
“What I mean is that Leon did it on purpose! He wanted me to tell you about it so you’d give up on Aaron. Then, he’d swoop in and win you over himself!”
Eleanor instinctively retorted, “How’s
that even possible?”
Clara looked at her like she was a hopeless case. “How is it not possible? On the day he took. you away from the wedding he requested 1 get your documents for him.
When I refused, he told me himself that he’d had a crush on you for the past decade. And when I asked about it from some close friends of his, they all said that it was true. You’ve been. married for so long. Don’t you know about it?”
Eleanor genuinely knew nothing of the sort, and she was taken aback by what she heard.
Seeing how lost she seemed, Clara got even more excited.
“Think about it. If he doesn’t like you, would he spontaneously agree to go crash your wedding and run away with you? Besides, why would he even bother to leak the information about Aaron?
Chapter 25
“And most importantly, he dragged you straight to the city hall to get your marriage registered after taking you away. Wasn’t that because he was afraid you’d run away?
“If this isn’t love, then I don’t know what is. You truly are dense, Eleanor!”
After hearing Clara’s logical breakdown of things, Eleanor finally understood why Leon had occasionally shown signs of jealousy after their marriage.
So it wasn’t her imagination running wild after all. He really loved her. That was why he had a conflict with Aaron, disregarded her ridiculous request to crash her wedding, rushed into marriage with her, and clung to her day in and day out after that.
There had been signs all along. It was just that she had been too caught up in her past relationship to notice.
Seeing the realization dawn on Eleanor, Clara grinned wider. She eagerly spilled all the secrets she had uncovered.
Back in middle school, when Eleanor had been at dance practice, there had always been boys peeking at her through the window. Leon was the one who had gotten someone to teach them
-all a lesson.
Back when she was 18, she had once accidentally injured herself and nearly had to give up dancing. Leon had stepped in and convinced one of his family members–who was over 80 years old to come out of retirement and treat her.
Three years ago, Eleanor had been stranded on Lunaris due to a blizzard. Even then, Leon was the one who had secretly organized a rescue team to save her.
Only now did Eleanor realize that all those little strokes of luck she had attributed to fate had actually been orchestrated by someone. Leon had been silently watching over her all along. She just hadn’t noticed.
That whole afternoon, Eleanor felt a mix of emotions as she listened to Clara recount these
past events.
Leon arrived at the cafe to pick her up at the agreed–upon time that evening. He was right on
time.
Looking aloof and carefree as ever, he leaned against the car door. A nonchalant smile spread out on his face the moment he saw her.
“What did you talk about for so long? Did Clara badmouth me again? If she went overboard, I’m gonna demand a confrontation!”
Somehow, Eleanor found him rather endearing when she heard his playful words. She walked up to him with a smile and mimicked his tone.
“Well, she said quite a lot. She told me that you had a secret crush on me. Is that true?”
Chapter 21
Then, in the blink of an eye, she leaned in close to him. Startled, panic flashed on his face
“I–If I like someone, I do it openly, okay? H–How could I p–possibly have a secret crush on anyone?” he stuttered.
All it took was one look for Eleanor to see that he was just trying to hide the truth. And that only made her feel even more compelled to tease him.
She tossed her handbag at him, clasped her hands behind her back, and put on an exaggeratedly regretful expression.
“I was thinking that if that’s true, then we could have a wedding and make things official between us. But since you claim that it’s just bogus, we can just forget about it then
When Leon heard that, he got all worked up. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her into his arms.
“No! We can’t forget about it! I was lying! It’s all true–it’s true that I’ve always had a secret crush on you. You never noticed! Aren’t you going to give me a wedding to make it up to me?”
Leon’s eyes were bright when he spoke.
For some reason, Eleanor was reminded of the time they had arranged to meet at the cafe. He had the exact same look in his eyes when he heard her talk about crashing her wedding- bright and hopeful.
So it turned out that fate had its way of putting things in place. That meeting in the cafe was the moment her fate had changed. She had just been oblivious to it all
Fortunately, they had made it.
Eleanor reached out and hugged him back. As she felt the warmth of his embrace, her voice betrayed the smile on her face..
“Alright. What kind of wedding do you want? I’ll make it up to you.”
“Don’t go back on your word!”
“Never.”
