Since she had stayed in Iceland long enough, Heather decided to return to Bradfort City at dawn. After talking to Leon, she felt a lot better.
Bradfort City still looked the same and did not change at all during the few days she was gone. As she walked out of the airport unnoticed, she glanced at the tall buildings while a sense of lament washed over her.
Upon returning to the city, everything felt so unreal to her. At that moment, the corners of her lips tugged upward as an emotionless smile emerged.
In fact, she did not tell anyone that she had returned. As she sat alone in the cab, she said to the driver calmly, “To Snowbush Manor.”
Leon recently bought a villa at Snowbush Manor; he had moved in before Heather returned from abroad since he didn’t want to stay in a hotel anymore.
Instead of going back to the Langston Residence right away, Heather went to see Leon instead. It seemed like she didn’t want the Langstons to know that she had returned to the country.
Leon was still asleep when she rang the doorbell, so she patiently rang it three more times before it woke him up. He went to answer the door groggily, and to his surprise, Heather was standing at the door.
“You’re back, Heather!” he said with unusual excitement.
“Didn’t you ask me to come back earlier?” Her brows were slightly raised as she wore a faint smile.
“Please come in, Heather.” He warmly welcomed her into his house.
While being led by Leon, Heather walked in as her gaze swept across the furnishings in the house. It looked like the previous owner of this villa was an artistic person.
The place had a European style to it, and she silently wondered if Leon had bought this villa from an old man since such decorations weren’t common. After all, the only people who liked this aesthetic came from older generations.
“You didn’t tell anyone that I’ve come back, right?” She wanted to keep her return a secret, and she specifically did not want Matthias to know about it.
“I am a man of my words, Heather. Do you not trust me?” He thumped his chest and reassured her. Indeed, he told not a single person and kept the secret well.
“I’ll be staying here for a few days.” She made her intentions clear.
Upon hearing this, Leon smiled brightly. He lived alone in a spacious and empty villa, and he was about to die from boredom. Naturally, he was over the moon when he heard that Heather was going to be with him.
that Heather was going to be with him.
“Why did you pick this villa?” She didn’t expect Leon to like this style. In fact, it was rather surprising.
“Because it’s unique.” He liked things that were novel; even the women he pursued and liked were different from others.
“It’s very unique indeed.” She had to agree. Despite all the unexpected things he did, Heather was never surprised at all.
“Let me take you to the second floor to have a look.” There were three floors in the villa, and the area was huge.
Heather liked simple villas, and two floors were already enough for her. In contrast, the Langston Residence was like a castle. The place was complex and luxurious, and it did not feel like a home to her at all.
“Don’t you feel creeped out living in such a big house by yourself?” she jokingly asked.
However, Leon innocently turned around and looked at her confusion, not catching the joke.
“How come there isn’t even a servant in the house?” She couldn’t imagine that he’d be able to clean the entire villa all by himself.
“I don’t like having people at home that I don’t know well.” He simply didn’t like being with someone who he wasn’t familiar with. As such, he dismissed the idea of living together with them.
“In that case, how do you clean such a huge house?” Heather asked as she gestured around the large villa. He didn’t like servants in the house, yet he bought such a huge place.
“Part-time cleaners, duh! I can’t go without them, and it’s not like you don’t know me, Heather.” He simply didn’t get why she would bring up such an insignificant matter.
Meanwhile, Heather gazed at him helplessly. She just wanted to talk to him about household matters, yet she was being frowned upon by him. Was she really incapable of initiating a conversation?
“It’s better for you to act like your normal self, Heather,” he said seriously. He couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. Ever since she returned from Iceland, she had been acting more and more bizarre.
“Am I acting unusually?” She pointed at herself and asked, wondering what his look of disgust meant.
Leon stopped in front of a guest room and pushed the door open. With a loud creak, the quaintly designed wooden doors opened.
“Come and see your bedroom, Heather. Do you like it?” Leon did not answer her and changed the topic instead.
At that moment, she swept a glance at the decorations inside the room. It was open and airy, and the villa’s former owner must have loved European culture. The antique style bedroom looked as though they had either gone back several centuries in the past, or they were currently on a film set.
“I like it,” she said casually. No matter what the room looked like, she still wouldn’t be sleeping comfortably. In fact, she much preferred her own bed.
“Good. I’m really glad.” A satisfied smile appeared on his face. In fact, Leon had put much thought into preparing the room for her.
Although the previous owner had decorated the bedroom in a European style, Leon hired professionals to come over and redecorate it.
However, him messing around with the decorations was pointless, for Heather wasn’t interested in this antique style at all.
“From what I remember, you mentioned that you like antique style interiors,” he said in an ingratiating manner. Since she liked it, he decorated it according to her tastes.
“Is that so?” She had no recollection of it at all. She wondered when exactly did she mention such a thing to him.
“Forget it. Your good memory doesn’t work when it comes to me at all,” he said exasperatedly. Heather had a particularly good memory, but she couldn’t remember things like this with Leon.
No one was able to remember every single thing; naturally, she only remembered things she felt were important. As for the unimportant details, she didn’t remember them by heart.
“I’m sorry, Leon,” she said apologetically. She did feel rather embarrassed that she couldn’t remember the casual remarks she made to Leon, whereas he could remember them clearly. From time to time, he would bring up what they spoke about before. In any case, Heather seemed to be the one who had the upper hand in their relationship.
“You’re scaring me by apologizing out of nowhere.” Leon gazed at her strangely, not expecting that she would take the initiative to apologize—it was not like her at all.
“It’s just an apology. Is it that scary?” she asked in a resigned manner. Was it such a surprise that she apologized?
Since the last disagreement with Matthias, Heather began paying attention to her words and actions in order to avoid hurting or offending others.
“You’ve apologized to me only a handful of times over the years,” he said half-jokingly. He started to notice the major changes in Heather after a few days of not seeing her.
Still, Leon couldn’t figure out what had happened when Heather and Matthias were alone together. She kept her mouth shut, and it aroused his curiosity. However, he couldn’t find a good reason to ask her about it.
“People are always changing,” she said casually. Perhaps her change came a little too late, but she was now paying attention. In due time, she would be able to kick some of her bad habits.
“Your change came unannounced, and it’s a little overwhelming to me.” He wasn’t used to this; it would’ve been better if she took one step at a time.
“Don’t you like the change in me?” She didn’t want to dwell on it any longer. After all, she had been sitting on the plane for a long time and was exhausted. Right now, she just wanted to rest.
“I do,” he said quickly. Since she had the sense to change herself, there wasn’t anything he had to say.
“I’m tired. I’m going to get some rest.” She spoke frankly, lest Leon kept pestering her. If this continued, she would probably fall apart from exhaustion.
She was going to plop onto the bed once Leon left, but for the sake of hygiene, she decided to freshen up a bit. She swiftly went to the bathroom and unexpectedly saw a large wooden bathtub inside. Then, she walked toward it curiously.
It seemed like she was supposed to bathe in this. She rolled her eyes as her germophobia was acting up. She couldn’t imagine taking a bath in a wooden bathtub, for she felt that it wasn’t hygienic. Further down the line, she wondered if Leon had ever bathed in this—it seemed even more unbearable to her.
She wanted to move to another room, but she no longer had the strength to go to Leon. When she glanced down at the bathtub, she was surprised to see that she hadn’t noticed the envelope inside it. After reaching out, she proceeded to grab the item.
She immediately opened it up, found a letter, and unfolded it. She didn’t expect Leon to have already expected that she would be fussy with the tub’s cleanliness, and he had even written a note for her beforehand. In the letter, there was a detailed explanation for her.
After reading the note, she was relieved and could finally enjoy a good soak in this high-tech wooden bathtub.
The bathtub design looked ancient from the surface, but it was actually a high-tech bathtub with a self-cleaning function—this was extremely important to Heather.
At that moment, Heather undressed herself to take a good bath. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed some flower petals that were placed on the side.
To her surprise, Leon had even prepared flower petals for her to take a bath with. It seemed like he had put a lot of thought into this.
Since he had made such a huge effort, she wasn’t going to disappoint him. After pressing the button on the outside of the tub, she scattered the petals into it.
With that, the warm water slowly injected into the tub while the petals floated on the water. Heather felt the water to check the temperature, but she quickly realized the tub could even automatically adjust the bath’s temperature.
Soon, half of the bathtub was filled. After a moment, she peeled off her clothes and stepped into the tub.
The room and water temperature was just right, and she slowly relaxed her body. As the speed of the water gradually slowed, she felt the water pressure gushing down her back.
The tub even had a massage function, but she did not turn it on. Heather just wanted to have a quick soak, for she couldn’t wait to get into bed and lie down.
The water in the wooden bathtub seemed to be different from regular tap water. It had a faint medicinal fragrance that was mixed with a light floral fragrance, and it was so comfortable that she was reluctant to get out. She was afraid that she would fall asleep in the tub if she stayed any longer.
