" Leo."
Fernanda clamored as she scurried through him on the bed. She hurled her arms around his body, hugging him and he hugged her as same. With gritted teeth, a method Leo used to stifle groans of anguish, he refused to speak a word concerning how his grandmother's tight hug added pressure on his wound, making him uncomfortable. He just laid there, letting her hug her panic and sadness away.
" Sweetie, what happened this time? You are never careful. Are you still in pain?" The first teardrop rolled from her eyes then another and another, damping her long lashes.
" My wound? No, I don't feel as much pain as I did before. But as for my legs, I feel absolutely nothing."
Fernanda took out a handkerchief from the purse she clutched onto and wiped off the tears that trickled down her cheeks.
Of course, she just happened to have a handkerchief at that moment— on the go. Old ladies all carried handkerchiefs with them like a safety weapon.
" I always keep telling you to be careful but you never listen. Look what happened now." Fernanda blubbed and folded up her handkerchief before hiding it back out of sight— a weapon. " Thank God this is only temporary. I wouldn't have known what to do with myself."
Leo's brow arch in suspicion. " And you exactly told you it wasn't permanent?"
It couldn't possibly be him, Fernanda didn't even let him speak properly over the phone.
" Martino did. " Fernanda said with a slight shrug, sniffling.
Martino did? Oh, please. More like she pressurized him to. Apparently, the women in Leo's life turn to feral beasts when worried and devastated.
Leo rolled his eyes but chose not to dwell on it anymore. " You know you really shouldn't have come all this way just to say me."
" What kind of grandmother would be if I don't visit my grandson at a time like this. If I don't do it then who will?"
Definitely none of his other family members. Definitely not his grandfather.
" I guess no one then." Leo flashed Fernanda a smile then lifted his eyes to where Becca stood by the door. They held each other gazes for a few seconds and Leo smiled at her as well. The situation only reminded him of why he resented his family so much. To them, he was an object occupying a space— a position— and nothing more. To them, he was just a living, breathing emotionless being. A tin can. The heartless beast amongst hunger wolves and truth be told, before Becca came back into his life, he played the part well.
" Ah, almost forgot. Thiago asked me to say hi. He would have accompanied me and done so himself but you know how his mother is. Her eyes are always fixed on his studies and progress in school like a hawk."
Thiago, the only man barely the Kane surname that isn't a complete asshole yet. Leo hadn't heard from him in a while now.
" Completely understandable. After failing with Damian and Ernesto, Celeste better do well with this one."
Fernando rolled her eyes at Leo's snarky comment, brushing it aside before turning to Becca with a smile.
" Darling, hope he hasn't been too much trouble. Especially with his present condition, he might get a little cranky." Fernanda said but before Becca could utter a single word of response, Leo spoke out again.
" Are you asking her when you can just ask me? I am right here."
Fernanda snorted at Leo. " I'm aware of that and I am also aware of your baffling ability to lie through lie detectors."
Becca, on the other hand, couldn't believe what she just heard. Yes, Leo had managed to trick her into doing things for him but lying through a lie detector and not get caught? Impossible. Leo could never.
She stuck to that final verdict in her head while she said. " Leo has actually been an amazing boyfriend. He couldn't be trouble even if he tried."
Just like her, Becca's words were inciting enough not just to rekindle Leo's smile but also widen Fernanda. She could practically hear wedding bells and the sound of her great-grand-babies crying. Like what else is left? They two around live together, probably had tons of sex together, and made doe-eyes while staring at each other. What are they waiting for?
Becca ambled away from the door to sit at the edge of the bed, next to Leo and their playful banter continue and Fernanda couldn't help blushing when she noticed how Leo utilized every— and absolutely any— opportunity he got to touch Becca. Whether it was to hold her hand or just a slight rub of his skin on hers. And from the way Becca reacted to Leo's not-so-innocent touches, it was clear that she was used to Leo having his hands all over her. His touches, she loved them.
Fernando soon left them alone to themselves while she went to get all settled in one of the rooms on the third floor before coming back to the master's bedroom to call Becca and Leo down for lunch. Being that it was a fine Saturday afternoon, Fernanda decides to sneak up on the love birds first to see if they were playing by the rules. You know, because privacy is dead and extinct. Besides, it wasn't like she would be seeing what she hadn't experience before.
She tiptoed to the bedroom door and gently, she creaks it slight open. The gap just wide enough to peep but the only thing she could were Becca and Leo laying on the bed together, big smiles on their faces, probably amused by whatever they were talking about. Just like when she was in the room with them, Leo still held Becca's hand delicately in his. Fernanda had literally had to hold her jaw, in fear of it dropping and making a noise— in other not to foil her little snooping mission.
What the hell? Where was all the smut?
Not only were they playing safe but they were wearing full body armors, as in they weren't even doing anything. Nothing but talking.
Talking about what, if you may ask. Fernando didn't have the slightest clue. She was too disappointed by the scene in front of her to truly pay any attention. Of all the things to do. Of all the things this couple could do with one another in a big ass bedroom, it just had to be talking. For the love of God.
Fernanda knew that Leo was still injured but fuck that injury, she wanted great grandchildren. She remained on her spot, hoping things would eventually pick up and get steamy but nothing happened. Leo and Becca just kept talking and smiling at each other like lovestrucken fools.
Frustrated, Fernanda pushed open the door, somehow managing to startle Becca.
Relax, it wasn't like you were even doing anything to begin with.
" Let's go downstairs, it's time for lunch." Fernanda said and in an instant, the smile on Leo's lips vanished.
Go downstairs. It meant he would have to sit on that dreadful seat again— that idea from hell. The thought made him shudder.
Becca noticed Leo's sudden mood change and gently rubbed his shoulder. " Are you okay?"
He nodded and shot his wheelchair a side glare as if trying to disintegrate it with his mind. Reluctantly— after a lot of sweet talk from Becca— he finally agreed to be mounted on the repulsive things and Becca smiled as she pulled him downstairs, Fernanda walking by her side.
They sat around the dining table and Lunch was served immediately. They all dug into their foods but as everyone ate quietly, it was then that Becca decided to tease Leo a little.
She put her cutlery down and stared straight at Fernanda— who she hadn't even known for more than three hours but had managed to treat her better than any of her grandparents had.
" Grandma?" Becca's eyes shone with mischief as she called out to Fernanda.
" Yes, child." Fernanda lifted her gaze from her food to stare at Becca.
" What was Leo like as a child?"
And then that was it. The room grew gravely silent and Leo swirled his gaze from his grandmother to Becca, glaring.
Fernanda cleared her throat and wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
" People, especially when growing up, do things that seem especially absurd. Well, in Leo's case, he did a lot of absurd things. A lot of them." Fernanda said, ignoring the glaring blue eyes of her grandson and Becca bit on a giggle. Grandmothers were better at broadcasting news than most radio stations.
Leo kept glaring even when he knew that the two women sitting at the table were blatantly ignoring him.
" Like what?" Becca prodded, and without any form of hesitation, information began spilling out of Fernanda's mouth like it was an overflowing lake, leaking out all of Leo's childhood secrets.
At one point of the vile humiliation show being held at Leo's expense, Fernanda paused to go upstairs to her room, only to return with more resources to tease Leo with. His baby pictures. And all the while this happened, the only thing Leo kept asking himself was who the heck travelled with baby pictures.
Becca erupted with giggles when she got her hands on the photos. They were from more than twenty five years ago and in the picture, Leo stand in front of a birthday cake which was probably his and beside him was a woman. Not his mother but Fernanda. It him, she was the only woman who had acted like a mother to him.
" Awww, he is cute. How is he so cute? What happened to him?" Becca squealed and turned to look at Leo then at the pictures in her hands. The two looked alike but the glare Leo on his face seriously contrasted with the smile he had in the photo. " Leo, look how cute you were. "
Becca said, waving the embarrassment of a picture at his face but when he tried to snatch the picture away, she swiftly retracted her hands, laughing.
" Give it to me." Leo ordered, his forehead knotted in a frown and Becca, obviously and deliberately, ignore his frown and atuck out her lips playfully at him before taking another look at the pictures.
" Damn, Babe. You were so cute back then, what happened to you? A glow-up?"
" More like a glow down." Fernanda countered and the dining hall was once more filled with the sound of Becca's giggles.
Angry or not, it didn't stop Leo's heart from skipping beats as the melodic sound flooded his ears.