The Hawthorne family’s old residence was built on the tip of the Isle of Serenity. Behind it, the entire island consisted of real estate developments spearheaded by the Hawthorne family.
Kian Hawthorne parked his car and walked a few steps forward before suddenly stopping to look back. Leah Sinclair followed him at a moderate distance. She didn’t rush up to grab his hand like she used to. Her face was calm, and her eyes lacked their usual luster.
He frowned and held out his hand to her. "Let’s go."
Leah hesitated for a moment before walking over and letting him take her hand. Kian glanced at it and said, "Your hands are very small. They aren’t suited for holding a scalpel."
"I rank first in my major for my entire grade," Leah replied lightly.
"You want to be a doctor?" Kian smiled faintly. "It’s a poor and exhausting job. Isn’t your life good right now?"
Leah furrowed her brows, swallowing the words that had reached the tip of her tongue. Grandma’s trusted aide, Auntie May, was guarding the entrance. Spotting Leah from afar, she hurried over to greet her. "Madam heard that you were coming back, Young Madam, and asked me to wait here."
"Where is Grandma?" Leah pulled her hand out of Kian’s grasp.
"She’s clamoring to eat the Napoleon cake you make and is currently in the kitchen directing the staff to prepare the ingredients."
Leah quickened her pace and walked inside. In the kitchen, the septuagenarian Grace Gilmore was busy directing the staff. Her eyes lit up when she saw Leah. "Leah, come here quickly! I just don’t feel at ease letting them do it."
Leah walked over with a smile, rolling up her sleeves to wash her hands. Grace stood on the opposite side of the counter, persistently urging Kian. "Kian, hurry up and take a video with your phone. I want to send it to my group chats so my old friends can see how capable my granddaughter-in-law is."
Kian helplessly pulled out his phone. In the camera frame, Leah had her head down as she kneaded the dough. Her hands were covered in butter and pastry flakes, and a small patch of flour was smudged on her cheek, which she hadn’t noticed. As she kneaded, she chatted with his grandmother, her eyes curving into bright crescents when she smiled.
Holding up his phone, he suddenly felt as if a soft, fluffy little ball had nestled its way into his heart.
Once the Napoleon was baked, the three of them sat around the table to drink tea.
The old woman let out a soft sigh. "When I lived in Westgate as a child, my absolute favorite was Napoleon cake. What a pity that nowadays, no one but Leah makes it for me anymore."
Leah lowered her eyes and remained silent. When her parents were still alive, they had run a bakery that specialized in Napoleons.
Noticing the sadness in her eyes, Grace patted the back of her hand and turned to Kian. "Kian, have you been bullying Leah?"
Kian froze for a second before offering an accommodating smile. "No, Grandma. Leah is so well-behaved. How could I ever bear to bully her?"
Grace turned back to Leah. "Is he good to you?"
Leah nodded. "He is."
Grace blinked. "Then why don’t the two of you have a child yet?"
The couple exchanged a look. Kian coaxed her with a smile, "Grandma, Leah is practically still half a child herself."
"I had you two move out in the first place because I didn’t want Leah to have to endure your stepmother’s attitude," Grace sighed. "I thought I’d be able to hold a great-grandson soon enough. With these old bones of mine, I don’t have many years left to wait."
Leah’s fingers grasped the hem of her skirt in dismay. It was impossible for her to have a child with Kian. She desperately convinced herself, "Just endure it for a few more days. Once I get the medicine, I’ll ask for a divorce."
Kian looked at his grandmother’s saddened expression, then glanced at Leah. "Don’t worry, Grandma," he said, taking Grace’s hand. "Leah and I will try our best to hurry."
Grace raised a hand to wipe the corners of her eyes. "You’d better do as you say."
With her head bowed, Leah found it too difficult to keep listening. "The tea has lost its flavor. I’ll go to the kitchen to fetch some fresh leaves." She stood up and walked out.
The moment her granddaughter-in-law was gone, Grace stared at Kian, her eyes regaining their usual shrewdness. "Kian, tell me honestly. How is your relationship with Leah?"
Having long anticipated this question, Kian smiled. "Grandma, our relationship is great."
Grace kept her gaze fixed on him. "Then tell me, what is so good about Leah?"
Kian thought for a moment. "She is pure and kind-hearted. Sensible and well-educated. She doesn’t care about fame or fortune."
Grace patted his hand. "In this life, there are many things you can obtain just by fighting hard for them, but family isn’t one of them. You need to cherish the person right in front of you."
"Grandma, what are you worried about?" Kian said smoothly. "Leah and I are just not in a rush; it’s not that we don’t want children. Rest assured. Leah is so sweet, I care for her deeply, and I will always treat her well."
Grace’s face darkened. "It’s been two years and you still don’t have a child! How could I not be anxious? Are you harboring other intentions?"
Kian let out a helpless chuckle. "How could that be?"
Grace glared at her grandson. "Let me tell you, I won’t accept anyone as my granddaughter-in-law except Leah."
Kian patted his grandmother’s hand. "Don’t worry, Grandma. Since I chose to marry her, I’ve committed for a lifetime."
Leah returned with the tea leaves and stood at the entrance of the tearoom, overhearing the conversation between the grandmother and grandson. Grandma knew absolutely nothing. She stood there for another moment, took a deep breath, and stepped inside, interrupting their topic. "Grandma, I found the Narcissus tea you like in the kitchen."
***
Since they were spending the night at the old residence, Kian and Leah naturally shared a room. When Leah stepped out after her shower, she was surprised to find him already in the room. He was bending over to pick up a small baby doll from the bed and place it on the nightstand.
"We’ve been married for two years, and she’s still pulling these stunts..." he muttered impatiently under his breath.
Leah froze in her tracks. Kian shot her a sidelong glance. "You don’t get it? Grandma is using this baby doll to remind us that she wants to hold a great-grandson sooner rather than later."
She thought, "Then go have one with someone you actually like." The words nearly slipped from Leah’s mouth, but she pressed her lips tightly together.
Kian watched her with casual amusement. "Why are you just standing there? Weren’t you quite the expert when it came to winning over the old lady? What, you don’t know how to win over your own husband?"
His words felt like a harsh slap to the face. Leah’s lips trembled as she clenched her fingers into fists. "I will say this one last time. When Grandma suffered a sudden bout of cardiac arrhythmia at the Z Medical University Affiliated Hospital, it was entirely a coincidence that I passed by and administered first aid. Any medical student walking past would have done the exact same thing.
"Furthermore, you always claim I frequently visited Grandma’s ward afterward to scheme. My internship supervisor was her attending physician! How could I not check on her? If I couldn’t get my internship certificate, were you going to handwrite one for me?"
With both hands balled into fists, Leah’s face flushed with a faint red tint of anger. After all this time, this was the first time she had ever lost her temper at Kian.
Kian looked at her in silence. "Can’t keep up the act anymore?" he drawled lazily. "I knew it. Nobody could possibly be entirely devoid of a temper. Playing this part for the past two years must have been quite exhausting for you, right?"
He walked over and stopped right in front of her, continuing, "Fine, let’s say I falsely accused you. Regardless, you’ve already gotten everything you wanted. Me, and the halo of the Hawthorne family—they are both yours."
"I don’t care about any of that," she enunciated clearly. "Kian, whether you believe me or not, I simply don’t care."
She thought, "I can’t say anything more. It’s not time to lay all my cards on the table yet." Turning around, she sat in front of the mirror and began applying her skincare products.
Kian stood behind her with his arms crossed. "What a great show of ’not caring,’" he remarked coldly. "Before the wedding, who was the one writing out the invitations by hand, one by one, until she developed tenosynovitis?"
Leah’s hand paused as she lowered her long eyelashes. "It was me. But there’s no need for you to bring up the past. I will never do something like that again."
In the beginning, she truly had held expectations for their marriage. Having lost her parents at the age of twelve, she had always yearned to build a small family of her own. She once believed that if she married the man she loved, her parents in heaven would finally be at ease.
Now, her only prayer was that her uncle could live for a few more years.