Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
Not cold? That was obviously a lie. Seeing how insistent Leonard was, Stephanie stopped refusing him. “Thank you.”
“Speaking of which, we haven’t been in touch for over ten years. Have you been doing well all these years?” Leonard casually asked, trying to ease the awkwardness between them.
Stephanie nodded. “I’m doing pretty well.”
It didn’t matter whether she was doing well or not. There were many things she couldn’t talk about with Leonard.
“That’s good. I’ve been busy working all these years and haven’t thought of contacting our classmates from back then. I don’t know how everyone’s been doing.” Leonard sighed.
After he graduated, he joined the police force and started off as a rookie police officer and worked his way up to where he was today. He couldn’t quite talk to anyone about the bitterness and difficulties he encountered.
Running into Stephanie in Bardoff City was something unexpected for him. However, that coincidental encounter ignited a sense of hope in his heart.
Hearing him say that, Stephanie smiled. “I haven’t been in touch with our other classmates either. Even if I did, it would just be a casual ‘like’ on their posts on social media. But you look much more handsome now compared to back then. If our classmates found out that the chubby kid has turned into a hottie, they’d be surprised.”
She looked at Leonard. Undeniably, Leonard was really handsome after he’d slimmed down. She would never have guessed that he was her former classmate if he hadn’t revealed his identity.
Leonard also smiled with a hint of embarrassment. “I was under a lot of pressure to do well back then, so I gained weight because of the stress. After I went to the police academy and exercised every day, I naturally lost weight.”
“That’s great,” Stephanie complimented.
“What about you? I heard you’re working in your own company now.” Leonard said.
Stephanie nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m helping my parents. They’re getting older, after all. I can’t be as wilful as I was when I was younger.”
If it weren’t for Paul’s appearance, Stephanie felt she might still be living her life as a spoiled rich kid and wouldn’t be able to understand her parents’ difficulties. But because of Paul, everything changed.
“Look at you being all wise. You’re still young now,” Leonard said with a chuckle, “and you’re very pretty.”
Feeling embarrassed by his appreciative gaze, Stephanie said, “You don’t have to flatter me on purpose. I’m almost thirty.”
“If you put it that way, doesn’t that mean I’m an old man?” After all, he was slightly older than Stephanie.
Stephanie put up her hands, feeling embarrassed. “No, no. You’re a typical handsome guy right now. I can’t see any signs of aging on your face.”
She wasn’t lying when she said that. Perhaps it was because he exercised regularly that Leonard looked much younger than their peers. When they were at the police station, had he not mentioned that they were classmates, she would just assume he was a hot young guy.
“Really? You find me handsome?” Leonard asked.
Stephanie nodded without hesitation. “Yes, you’re very handsome. I’m sure you’re the kind of guy who can charm all women.”
“Oh? What about you? Have I charmed you too?” Leonard suddenly asked, with a smile that seemed casual but his gaze made Stephanie blush nonetheless.
Stephanie quickly averted her gaze, not daring to stare at him anymore. “I…I just appreciate the way you look.”
It was normal to want to take a second glance at a handsome guy.
A Stalker
Stephanie didn’t give Leonard a direct answer, but he wasn’t discouraged.
“Then you’re in luck. You can see me often in the future.” The implicit meaning of his words was obvious. It meant he would appear around Stephanie frequently in the future, giving her plenty of opportunities to see him.
Stephanie didn’t reply, as she didn’t know how to respond, so she remained silent.
The four of them didn’t walk for long. After all, the weather was frigid that day. After
Stephanie and Leonard had finished chatting, Danika suggested that they leave. Eustace sent Danika home, and Leonard escorted Stephanie back.
On the way to Stephanie’s house, she and Leonard didn’t talk much. During a moment of silence, Leonard noticed a car following them from behind. He had a worried expression on his face immediately, thinking it was someone seeking revenge against him. Making enemies was very common in his line of work.
He sent the license plate number to his colleague to investigate right away. Soon, he received a text and saw the name “Paul Wagner.” Leonard glanced at Stephanie out of the corner of his eye.
Stephanie seemed to sense something was going on and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Leonard put away his phone without saying much.
Before long, the car arrived at the Zelliot family’s residence. Leonard watched
Stephanie go in and didn’t hurry to leave. Instead, he waited downstairs for a long time. After receiving a message from Stephanie confirming that she’d arrived home safely, he turned around and made to leave. When he was about to get into his car, he saw the car that had followed them parked across the street.
Leonard knew who Paul was, but it wasn’t because of Stephanie-Paul’s background wasn’t exactly spotless. He’d been involved in a case Leonard had investigated before, but there wasn’t any evidence against him. As a result, there wasn’t a need to contact him or bring him in for questioning.
After meeting Stephanie a few days ago, Leonard learned a bit more about her and came to know about what happened between her and Paul. Since then, he knew that no matter how he felt toward Stephanie, he wouldn’t let her be with Paul because that man wasn’t a good match for her, in Leonard’s opinion. Besides, he liked Stephanie.
Therefore, he would try his best to prevent them from getting back together.
As he was thinking about that, Paul seemed to have spotted him from across the street and lowered his car window. The two men stared at each other across the street silently.
After a while, Paul started the car and left, and Leonard left as well.
Eustace and Danika arrived at the residential area where they were staying. They walked into the elevator from the underground parking lot.
“Do you think Stephanie likes Leonard?” Eustace suddenly asked, looking at Danika.
“Why are you interested in that?” Danika felt curious about Eustace’s question.
“I was just asking,” Eustace replied a little shiftily, as he was actually asking for Paul’s sake.
Danika saw through Eustace’s intentions but didn’t call him out on it. As she walked out of the elevator, she said, “I think Steph has a good impression of him. At the very least, she doesn’t dislike him.”
If Stephanie disliked Leonard, she wouldn’t have reacted the way she did. Danika was well aware of that.
“Well, that’s easy to tell.” Eustace could see it, too, and didn’t find it unusual. After all,
Leonard was an upright inspector working in the police force. So, most people wouldn’t dislike him, as he was an embodiment of order and justice.
“If you want to help Paul, tell him to pursue Stephanie straightforwardly and honestly.
Don’t use any underhanded means behind people’s backs. It’ll only make him look bad,” Danika said without beating around the bush.
Eustace touched his nose a little awkwardly and said, “Hasn’t he been pursuing
Stephanie that way? He hasn’t done anything bad to her since he arrived in Bardoff
City.”
“Good. Ask him to keep it up,” Danika said. She then smiled and opened the door to her unit. After waving Eustace goodbye and bidding him good night, she closed the door.
I Lied to You
The next day, Danika was busy with work at the hospital as usual when she unexpectedly received a call from Evan. It was the first time he’d called her since the incident.
“Danika, would you like to have lunch with me this afternoon? ” Evan’s tone was neutral, so Danika couldn’t gauge his emotions behind the question.
She checked the time and realized she had two more hours to go before she ended her afternoon shift. Danika thought she should be able to finish consulting her patients by that time, so she accepted Evan’s lunch invitation.
“Sure,” she replied.
After hanging up, Danika continued to busy herself with work and didn’t think much about why Evan wanted to see her.
Two hours later, Danika met up with Evan at the hospital gate.
“Sorry for being late,” Danika apologized. She’d been held up by a patient as she was about to leave. After she was done explaining some things to the patient, she ran a little late for her meetup with Evan.
Evan didn’t mind. He opened the car door of the passenger seat for Danika and said,
“Get in. I’ll take you somewhere for lunch.”
Danika got in the car without refusing or asking where they were going. Soon, the car started and sped off.
During the ride, neither of them spoke. Evan didn’t know what to say while Danika waited for him to speak. She thought that since Evan had called her, he must have figured out how to explain things to her.
Fortunately, they arrived at the restaurant shortly after. Evan led Danika to a private room. Silence permeated the air as they took their seats.
“What would you like to eat?” The way Evan carried himself seemed no different than usual. If it hadn’t been for the fact they hadn’t been in touch for a couple of days,
Danika would’ve thought nothing was wrong.
She returned to her senses and replied casually, “It’s up to you. I’m fine with anything.”
Evan didn’t insist and ordered a few dishes. Unsurprisingly, they were all Danika’s favorites.
After the waiter left the room, it was just the two of them. Danika looked at Evan, waiting for him to speak.
Soon, Evan looked up, and their eyes met. He seemed to know what Danika was expecting and sighed helplessly.” Danika, you’re putting a lot of pressure on me by looking at me like this.”
“Am I? I’m just waiting for you to say something.” Danika felt that if he didn’t plan to explain things to her today, they would no longer need to keep in touch with each other.
Although she believed that Evan wouldn’t hurt her intentionally, she wouldn’t continue to keep in touch with him. After all, he wasn’t the same Evan she thought she knew 鈥?/p>
too many mysteries surrounded him. These unknown aspects about him might also bring unforeseeable dangers.
Evan sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to continue keeping Danika in the dark.
Fortunately, he’d already prepared before he came, so he wasn’t entirely at a loss. “I lied to you.”
Danika furrowed her brows but didn’t say anything; she just listened silently.
