When Hazel Sinclair heard this, she playfully swatted his arm. "How come you never call me ’husband’?"
Leon Sterling took the hit with a smile, then called out to her, "Husband."
A true man doesn’t fuss over winning a petty battle of words.
Hearing him actually call her ’husband,’ Hazel Sinclair froze. "You really did it."
"I’ll always listen to whatever my wife asks."
Hazel Sinclair understood. Her swat turned into a gentle pat, a faint smile on her face as she called back, "Mmm, husband."
"And I’m a very good listener, too."
They exchanged a look, and finally said, while pedaling the bicycle, "Let’s go home."
"Alright," Hazel Sinclair replied.
Leon Sterling carried the large bag of groceries and stopped at the fruit stand downstairs to buy some fruit.
The fruit here was much cheaper than in Veridia, and there was a wide, fresh selection.
Leon Sterling ended up buying a lot. He also picked up some yogurt, planning to make a fruit and yogurt bowl for Hazel to try when they got back.
Trailing behind Hazel Sinclair with bags big and small, the weight of their shopping dug into his palms, leaving red marks. Even so, he refused to let Hazel carry a single thing.
He even refused when Hazel offered to carry the bag of fruit.
He was perfectly happy to be her beast of burden; he couldn’t stand the thought of those hands of hers touching any housework.
Once inside, Leon Sterling set the bags on the floor and squatted down to start sorting everything.
He put the meat in the freezer, placed some of the fruit in a bowl to be washed, and neatly put away the household supplies and snacks.
Hazel Sinclair just sat and watched him bustle about. Resting her chin on her hand, she asked, "You’re a big-shot CEO. Don’t you feel like it’s beneath you to be waiting on me like this every day?"
"What’s there to be embarrassed about? I’m taking care of my own wife," Leon Sterling asked, genuinely puzzled. "Behind closed doors, it’s just the two of us under one roof. This is our life to live. Let other people worry about ’face’ and all that nonsense. I certainly don’t need it."
Back in school, he’d had to work part-time jobs at restaurants and bubble tea shops just to cover his tuition and living expenses. He’d even done manual labor on construction sites.
One was for money, the other for his wife. He did both with a willing heart.
Things got a lot easier after he learned to code. He didn’t have to do that kind of manual labor anymore. He could just sit in front of a computer, tap out some code, and earn half a month’s living expenses in just three or four days.
After he finished putting everything away, Leon Sterling carried the fruit to the kitchen. He washed it, patted it dry with a paper towel, and started slicing it on the new cutting board.
He put the sliced fruit into a bowl, opened the yogurt he’d set aside, poured it in, and gave it a quick stir. All done.
He made two bowls, one for each of them.
He brought them out, placed one in Hazel’s hands, and said, "Here, eat up."
As for him, he held his own bowl in one hand and his phone in the other. After a few taps, he sent several large money transfers to the account Hazel Sinclair was currently using.
Hazel heard a notification, and when she picked up her phone to look, she saw it was a money transfer.
She opened the notification and her eyes went wide. "Why did you send me so much money?" she demanded in astonishment.
"It’s for you to spend. I hope it’s not too little," Leon Sterling said, looking at her seriously.
Hazel did a quick mental calculation. He had sent ten transfers of 200,000 each, for a total of two million.
Hazel’s eyes widened. She quickly set her bowl down, grabbed him by the collar, and asked, "What did you do? How do you have this much money?"
"It’s what was left over from the Vincent Hawthorne deal. I gave it all to you," Leon Sterling explained.
After buying the twelve percent stake, there had only been a little over two million left of the money from Vincent Hawthorne. Leon had just transferred the lion’s share of it directly to Hazel.
With so much money suddenly in her account, Hazel was at a loss for how to spend it.
They say the sign of a rich person is buying two cups of soy milk—one to drink and one to pour out, just to be extravagant.
But just pouring out one cup wasn’t enough to reflect her newfound wealth. Hazel decided she would buy three cups—drink one, and pour out two!
Seeing the money made Hazel impossibly happy. She reached out, cupped his face in her hands, and planted a huge kiss on his cheek.
"You’re so good to me."
"Mm-hmm." Leon was inwardly pleased by the kiss. ’If giving her money gets me kisses,’ he thought, ’then I’d better work hard and earn more.’
’Then I can give Hazel lots and lots of money and have her take the initiative all the time.’
After finishing their fruit and yogurt, Hazel yawned and headed for the bedroom. She was getting really sleepy.
She stood up, yawning. "I’m going to take a nap."
"Alright." Leon gathered their bowls to wash them. After cleaning up, he hurried to the bedroom to join her for a nap.
"Shaw, that guy was unbelievable. So arrogant. Not only did he curse us out, but look what he did to my hand." The man held out his hand, showing the black and blue bruises to the man sitting in the center seat—the clear boss of the room.
Shaw could see clear as day how much force had been used.
"Who hurt my brother?" Shaw took the cigarette dangling from his lips and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke that instantly filled the office.
"Never seen the bastard before," the man continued, "but his wife is gorgeous. A real head-turner on the street."
"If you want to find him, just tail his wife," another man suggested. "Once we catch him, Shaw, you have to teach him a brutal lesson. And then you can take his wife."
The man’s mind flashed to Hazel Sinclair’s beautiful face, and he yearned to snatch her away, to make that woman completely his.
A woman like that on your arm, it’d make you look good.
"Alright. Warren, you keep a close eye on them. The day you catch that guy, you bring him to me. I’m going to teach him a lesson personally. I have to make sure he knows who he’s messing with," Shaw said with a nod.
With their orders, the two men quickly left the office. They went and found two more guys to join their crew to ambush the man.
’The next time they saw that guy, they were going to give him a beating he wouldn’t forget. They had to make him understand who was the real boss in Rivenhall.’
「A few days later.」
Leon Sterling continued to accompany Hazel whenever she went out. As for the violin lessons, she finally had a new teacher, replacing Mr. Lawson.
The new instructor was a woman, a much gentler teacher with a soft, quiet way of speaking.
She often had a sweet smile on her face and seemed very easy to get along with.
With the new teacher, Hazel became much more enthusiastic about her violin lessons. When Mr. Lawson had been her instructor, he was always asking pointless personal questions and frequently used the lessons as an excuse to get handsy.
Leon Sterling could play a little piano, but the violin truly stumped him.
The sounds he produced were like a dull chainsaw sawing through wood—a dry, halting SCREECH that set your teeth on edge and made your scalp tingle.
Hazel hadn’t heard him play yesterday. But hearing him today, she was rendered completely speechless.
The new teacher put it very tactfully, "It’s quite common for adult beginners to sound like that when they’re learning the violin."
"Oh, Leon Sterling," Hazel said, patting his shoulder with a laugh. "You really don’t have a shred of talent for the violin." ’Finally, I’ve found the man’s weakness!’