Chapter 213 You Are Not Her
"Not often," Caroline said honestly. "Nash has been to my office twice, both times for business. He won the bid for our company's cable procurement project, so we'll need to meet a few more times for contract signing, delivery, and inspection."
It wasn't that he wanted to interfere with her work freedom, but Nash made Leopold uncomfortable. The way Nash looked at Caroline wasn't simple.
Leopold was a man—he understood that restrained admiration and constant eagerness to please. Nash had impure motives toward Caroline, and if he really had a chance, Nash would definitely make his move.
Seeing Leopold lost in thought, Caroline lightly bumped his shoulder with her head and said, "This jealousy is pretty ridiculous. Or do you suspect something could happen between him and me? If you think that, you're both underestimating your looks and insulting my intelligence."
"What kind of person is Nash? Don't I know? He just wants to prove he's charming and wealthy enough by conquering women. Plus, getting connected with me brings him hefty profits from procurement projects every year."
"Professionally or personally, his tricks don't impress me at all."
Her few words put Leopold at ease. He smiled and said, "The best thing about my wife is how smart she is."
Caroline pouted, "Is that my best quality, or just your security blanket?"
The elevator opened, and they walked out one after the other.
Leopold said, "Anyway, no one can steal my wife away—she's completely crazy about me."
Caroline smiled, following behind him. "Right."
He cooked in the kitchen while Caroline unpacked deliveries at the doorway. Ever since she got hurt, Leopold wouldn't let her do any work.
He came out carrying the stir-fried dishes and saw Caroline sitting on the floor unpacking. He walked to the sofa, grabbed a cushion, bent down, scooped her up with one arm, and slid the cushion under her bottom. "The floor is cold."
Caroline sat cross-legged, holding up an ivory-white Mickey Mouse ornament. "How is it? Does it look good? It glows pink when you plug it in. It might not quite match our home decor, though."
"No, I think it matches pretty well." Leopold looked it over and asked Caroline, "Where do you think we should put it?"
It was a Mickey Mouse bust display piece. She'd been worried Leopold wouldn't like this cute style of decoration, but unexpectedly, he responded very seriously.
Sure enough, having a partner who didn't kill the mood made life happy.
"Put it on the floor platform. At night, we can plug it in and use it as ambient lighting for the living room."
Leopold placed the Mickey display where she suggested and plugged it in. He turned off all the smart lights in the house, leaving only Mickey's light switch on.
The moment it lit up, Leopold seemed even more satisfied than she was.
"How is it?" Leopold asked her.
Caroline could always feel subtle happiness and delicate love from him. Only someone who truly enjoyed their marriage would be like this.
He walked over and extended his hand. "I'll help you unpack the rest after we eat."
Caroline let him pull her up, and they came to the dining table. "Your cooking gets better every day."
Leopold served her food. "Try it and see how it tastes."
They chatted while eating. Leopold asked, "Do you have any favorite celebrities?"
"Yes." Caroline blurted out the name of a deceased veteran artist.
Leopold stopped chewing, at a loss for words. "Any living ones?"
Caroline said, "Spider-Man."
Leopold fell silent.
He had to take a sip of water, or he'd really choke. Putting down his glass, he said, "How can Spider-Man count?"
Caroline said, "Why can't Spider-Man count? He's amazing, has superpowers, and he's clever and smart."
Leopold frowned. "Don't you have any real-life idols?"
Caroline laughed out loud. Leopold knew she was deliberately teasing him.
Leopold said, "A variety show is planning to film in Seaside City. A bunch of celebrity actors will be coming. If there's anyone you like, I can arrange for you to take photos and get autographs."
Caroline narrowed her eyes. "There's this kind of perk?"
Leopold picked up some food, eating while saying, "I'm not in the government system, so this little ability is all I've got."
"Annoying." Caroline said coquettishly.
Leopold laughed through his nose. "I'm annoying again? Who was it this morning clinging to me, wanting hubby to hold her, wanting hubby to kiss her?"
Caroline felt embarrassed and just focused on eating. "Can't hear you, can't hear you."
It wasn't that Caroline was pretentious—she really didn't have any celebrities she was crazy about. The people she admired were those heroes who dedicated themselves to the country back in the day.
Leopold said, "Since you don't have any favorite entertainers, I won't arrange anything."
Caroline said, "Which celebrities are coming this time?"
Leopold looked down. "You're not even interested, why ask who's coming?"
"I'm curious which beautiful women are coming. If you get charmed by a female celebrity, where would I go to cry, right?" Caroline said as if it were real. "This fully shows I have a sense of crisis."
Leopold didn't look up, but lifted his eyelids with a meaningful smile. "Three days. I've been back for three days. You know what that means?"
Caroline blinked, getting it immediately.
Three days without making love to her.
Caroline immediately behaved. "I take back my question."
Leopold snorted coldly.
"Oh, right," Caroline remembered news she'd heard during the day. "Let me tell you something. That brick kiln factory owner I had a conflict with got beaten up last night. I heard he was beaten really badly, his face was beaten into a pig's head."
Leopold showed little interest. "Got it."
Caroline thought his reaction was too bland. "You're not surprised?"
Leopold's cheeks bulged as he chewed, shaking his head.
Caroline continued talking to herself. "I was pretty shocked. Do you think this is karma?"
Leopold choked and coughed repeatedly.
Caroline quickly went to get water and came back. "Drink some water. How did you choke out of nowhere?"
Leopold caught his breath, cleared his throat, and pulled out a tissue to wipe the corner of his mouth. "I'm fine, just eat."
Before bed, Leopold helped Caroline apply bruise-healing ointment on her back. The pressure was hard to control—too much force, and it hurt her, too little, and it wasn't effective. In any case, by the time he finished applying it, she was sweating.
He stayed with Caroline until she fell asleep. Once she was sound asleep, Leopold took his laptop to the study.
Putting on headphones, Leopold clicked to start a video call with Allegra.
Allegra said to the person on the other end of the video, "You're ten minutes late."
Leopold scratched his eyebrow. "Sorry, my wife just fell asleep."
Allegra's expression was helpless. "When we were dating, I never saw you this patient with me."
Leopold lifted one corner of his mouth in a mischievous smile. "You're not her."
Allegra replied, "You really are a bastard."
Leopold said, "Thanks for the compliment."
Allegra opened the documents in front of her. "Let's begin."