Chapter 136. Important

Chapter 136. Important
Laura stared at him as if he were a maniac. "What exactly is good about the timing? You can't just appear in front of someone like that, you know. " Laura said as she tried to catch her breath.  "Yes?  Is there something you need? Or you casually came to see me, which I doubt. "

Leo shook his head. "Actually,  I came here so we can talk."

Laura stared at him silently for a few moments. "About?"  She asked the obvious question but she didn't care as she just wanted him to state it out plainly for her. "About Rachel I'm guessing." She said not as a question but an obvious conclusion.

"About Rachel.  About us. About everything going on in general. " He stated simply as he stared at her with a blank expression which he seems to have been doing since she got here.

Laura stared at him briefly,  as if she was trying to read through the neutral expression he was pulling up. But she couldn't detect anything from his face, almost like he had done a good job covering it up so well. Indeed they said the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and in this case, the trees here happened to be Senior Carter.

Holding her laptop tightly against her chest, she pulled the door behind her closed.

"So what, do you want to talk here? " She asked with a raised brow.

As much as she tried to act all composed in front of Nathan,  she felt herself cracking slowly inside the whole facade as she anticipated what it was he wanted to say that could either make or break their situation more than the level it's already at.

Leo on the other hand examined the surroundings as they stood in the middle of the hallway which were lined up with more doors leading to different rooms, but neither of them had anyone in them.

"Sure." He said calmly. "We can talk here."

Laura nodded. "Sure. But can you be a little quick about it? I doubt I can stand here for too long."

Leo just let out a hum as he lowered his head from her gaze. "Why exactly are you here, Laura? Honestly. " He asked

Laura's brows furrowed together.  "What do you mean by why am I here? Weren't you the one who told me to feel comfortable around your family?" She asked.  "Or has that changed too like you did?"

"And what's that supposed to mean? "

"Let's not act clueless, come on." She said with a sigh. "We're good one moment and then the moment you hear your ex is pregnant, there's suddenly a switch. It's as if you suddenly forgot I was even there."

Leo sighed as he used his fingers to stroke through his hair. "This wasn't what I was hoping to discuss. Why do you keep trying to pick an argument on this issue?"

"Why are you so stuck on the idea that I want to pick a fight? How hard is it that..." Laura took in deep breaths,  trying not to let this blow up in the wrong direction.  "You know what, it's fine. Is there anything else? You want to say?"

"Laura, just..." She cut him off

"Like I said, is there anything else you want to say?" Observing Leo's silence,  she replied to him with a nod. "Obviously not." She moved to walk past him.

"Why does Rachel's pregnancy bother you so much?" Leo suddenly asked from behind.

Laura on the other hand slowly stopped in her steps,  while his question rang in her ears all over again.  "What did you say?"

"I just…want to know. Does it make you insecure that much?  Is that what this is about ?"

Finally turning around,  Laura matched towards where Leo stood and immediately slapped him hard against the face and the hallway seemed to have turned silent as if the walls themselves were holding their breath at what was happening.

"You pathetic bastard." She said in a cold and low volume.  "Is that really how you see me? Like some desperate person who trembles at the thought of another woman's child? Or more like your child?"

Leo stayed silent for a few moments as she touched lightly against the place Laura had slapped. "You've seemed to become really defensive these days. As If something is eating you up."

"Excuse me?"

Leo turned his gaze back to Laura. "Did you really think Rachel wouldn't tell me what you said?" His voice lingered with some sort of anger and that caused Laura to take a step back.

"What are you even saying..." 

“You threatened my child, Laura.” His voice came out so sharp that it caused Laura to flinch for a second. “How could you be so twisted minded to do that?”

“I have no idea what you're even talking about.”

Leo huffed in disbelief. “After dinner last night? Does it ring a bell to you right now?”

“For Christ sake Leo, you know how I feel about back and forths like this. If you have something to say, be clear and stop this rubbish you're going on about.

“Rubbish?” Leo scoffed. “Did you or did you not threaten to push Rachel down the stairs if she were to try any rubbish?”

Laura stared at him as if he had just spoken a foreign language she had no idea of. “What are you even…”

“Rachel told me.” He cut her off sharply. “While I left you and her alone at the dinning. She said you threatened to push her down the stairs if she got in your way.”

Laura stared at him in complete shock. She could not hear what was just said to her. But that's not even what scared her. It was the look in Leo's eyes. Almost as if he believed it without even giving her the benefits of the doubt.

She swallowed hard as she clutched on to the laptop placed against her chest. “Tell me,” she paused for a little while. “Do you believe her?

Leo didn't reply immediately and Laura felt her heart cracking as each second was filled with a thick and heavy silence.

“Tell me, Leo,” she moved towards him and pushed him against his chest. “You actually believe her, don't you?”

“I didn't want to at first,” he said. “But can you really blame me? You literally threatened her in my presence.”

Laura didn't know the words to say to him. It seemed like a slap in her face as Leo had actually believed she would stoop so low to threaten Rachel in the way he had said.

“You knew we were here, didn't you?” Leo suddenly asked, causing Laura's gaze to move back to him. “You knew that Rachel and I were here, that's why you came, isn't it?”

Laura didn't say anything and Leo couldn't hold in the sigh that escaped his lips.

“I understand the situation, we're in right now Laura, but—”

“You understand what?” Laura's words came out sharply. “You really think you understand what's going on? You really do think you can relate with what is happening right now?”

“Rachel is pregnant, Laura.” He said through clenched teeth.

“And you've reminded me about it about a million times now. A million and one adding this one.”

“You don't understand these things Laura.” He said, his voice coming out louder than he intended it to. “This is really important to me, can't you see that?”

“And I'm not?”

“Laura—”

“I asked you a question, Leo. Is all this really more important than I am? Is it really more important than feelings I thought actually existed?”

Leo didn't give her a reply immediately and Laura couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

“I should have expected it.” She said, pulling the laptop down to her side. “It's true that a leopard really doesn't change it's spots. You just made a fool of me, didn't you?”

“I didn't make a fool of you.” He said with a sigh. “But you have to understand where I am coming from.”

Laura snorted. “That's basically all I've been doing Leo.  Understanding you even if you didn't see it.” With that, she walked past him.

“Do you really want me to sacrifice my child over us?”

Laura stopped midway in her steps and a bitter smile formed on her lips. “Unbelievable.” She glanced back at him from her shoulders. “I've made sacrifices for you, Leo. Think about that.”

Without anything else, she walked away from there.