Chapter 105 Great Figure
"What's with that look?" Leopold pinched Caroline's cheek. "If I'd known telling you would upset you, I wouldn't have said anything."
"Don't you dare!" Caroline pretended to be angry, but her heart ached like needles pricking it. "I'm your wife. If even I don't feel sorry for you, who else do you have?"
Thinking about his so-called family, it seemed like no one had ever cared about him or felt sorry for him his whole life.
"How lucky I must be to have married you," Leopold lifted his hand to tuck the hair by her ear, revealing her small, rounded earlobe, his fingertip gently rubbing it. "Such a beautiful, smart, and kind wife."
Caroline leaned into his embrace, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat. Such a good man, yet tortured by an incomplete family and absent affection.
She said, "I'm so good to you because you're even better to me."
A relationship that's nurtured carries warmth, and because of that warmth you become warm and soft yourself. It has nothing to do with money or fame—you just feel that life and the future are full of hope and kindness.
She was willing to spend the rest of her life with Leopold, and even more willing to grow old with him hand in hand.
Caroline cupped Leopold's face again, her wrinkled brow looking oddly playful. "My poor husband, you've really had it rough."
"You make me sound so pitiful." Leopold let out a pleased laugh from his nose, shaking his head helplessly. "One second I'm drowning in gloomy feelings, the next second you're making me laugh."
"Just lightening the mood." She lazily leaned against his shoulder. "Now there are no problems between us, but time has become the problem. Tomorrow I'll quickly find a photo studio so we can get our wedding photos taken. We'll work around your schedule—I'll fully cooperate with you."
Having someone willing to accommodate you—that's understanding and tolerance. Between them, there was no question of who was sacrificing what, simply because they both wanted to cherish this rare relationship.
"I really shouldn't be dumping everything on you alone, but right now there's no other way. Thanks for all your hard work, honey."
Caroline corrected Leopold. "Husbands and wives don't need to keep thanking each other. We share the sweet and the bitter together. When times are good, we're husband and wife; when times are tough, we're comrades. Besides, right now you're just busy—it's not like we're going through hard times."
This kind of interaction felt so comfortable. Leopold was absolutely certain he'd never meet another Caroline.
He picked her up. "It's getting late, let's rest."
At that moment, Erica was lying in bed browsing the web out of boredom when she suddenly saw news about Seaside City preparing to hold a paragliding invitational. She immediately thought of Maddox and quickly went to WhatsApp to find him. When she searched for his name, she noticed Maddox had changed his profile picture. His old picture was really cool—him paragliding in the air waving at the camera. This current picture was really ordinary and didn't look handsome at all—just a black puffer jacket thrown on a table, with the table looking messy.
She instantly lost the desire to chat.
Erica still forwarded the message to him. Before long, Maddox replied: [What?]
The two didn't chat often, but when they did, they weren't awkward or stiff—they joked around like old friends.
Erica: [Take a look.]
Maddox: [Not looking.]
Both replies were pretty cold. Erica felt inexplicably annoyed.
Erica: [Why are you being so loud?]
Maddox only replied with a question mark.
Not even bothering to respond properly now. Erica sneered inwardly.
Erica: [Are you getting impatient with me?]
This was too much.
Erica: [What do you want?]
Maddox sent an emoji: [My heart is like stone.]
At that moment, it actually wasn't Maddox replying—it was his relative's kid who was visiting and using Maddox's phone to play games.
Erica found his profile picture annoying and typed: Your profile picture is so ugly.
Thinking about it, their relationship hadn't reached the point where they could joke like that, so she withdrew it and sent a new message.
Erica: Your profile picture is too random.
Maddox happened to see his relative's kid about to reply to his WhatsApp, so he snatched the phone away. "Why are you replying to my WhatsApp?"
The kid pouted and ran to the couch to watch TV.
Maddox went to his gaming room, sat in his chair, and opened Erica's chat. Seeing the few messages they'd just exchanged, he didn't expect her to be paying attention to his WhatsApp.
Maddox had a bit of a thing for Erica and took the opportunity to tease her.
Maddox: [What?]
Remembering that Erica had a carefree and optimistic personality, he worried this might annoy her, so he changed his tune.
Maddox: [I'll change it then.]
Erica suddenly felt her mood lift.
Erica: [You're so nice.]
Seeing he'd changed to another really ordinary profile picture, Erica still didn't like it—didn't like it so much that she lost interest in chatting with him.
Erica: [Do you have other options?]
Maddox: [Yeah, lots of options.]
Maddox: [You're really picky.]
At this point, she finally found him interesting again.
But this time the profile picture was three raccoons—clearly a random shot he'd taken at the zoo. One of them had fallen on the ground, exposing its private parts. While it was cute, it looked weird to her.
Erica: [Change your profile picture again, please?]
It was rare to see Erica acting cute, and Maddox smiled.
Maddox: [No problem.]
Erica: [You're the best.]
This time it was a pilot's view with several planes flying overhead. Erica couldn't quite say why, but even though it was cool, it just didn't match his style.
Erica: [Also...]
She was being subtle, but Maddox still got it.
Maddox: [I have more!]
Erica searched online for an article about lucky profile pictures and sent him a screenshot.
In the blink of an eye, Maddox's profile picture changed to a male celebrity from Seraphim with a goofy smile.
Erica: Hard to comment on that.
This was her honest thought, but the profile picture reminded Erica that she'd recently been watching a Seraphim TV drama, and she really liked the muscular male lead Wesley Coleman.
Erica: [Can you change it to Wesley's picture?]
Maddox: [Sure, no problem.]
She worried he didn't know which Wesley she meant, so she asked.
Erica: [Do you know which Wesley?]
Maddox: [Which one?]
Maddox: [Which Wesley are you talking about?]
He really didn't know.
Erica: [The one with the amazing body.]
She sent him a bunch of Wesley's pictures in a row.
Erica: [No, I want Wesley.]
Erica: [Amazing body, I love it so much.]
Looking at his profile picture again, she saw Maddox had already chosen one from the pictures she sent.
Erica: [So handsome! I'm so happy! Feeling great! You couldn't be better!]
A profile picture could really change the chat atmosphere. Looking at Wesley's picture, Erica also changed Maddox's nickname in her contacts, entering Wesley as his name.