A Matter of Wife and Love by Mila

All of a sudden, Bria swung her arm in Amelie’s direction and hit Amelie on her hand. Amelie was taken by surprise,

and her phone slipped out of her fingers. “What happened, Bria?” Amelie turned to check on Bria first.

Bria simply shrugged before scratching the back of her head. The young girl looked like she didn’t know how she

had bumped into her mother either. “Let me carry her,” Amelie said as she glanced at Leo. Leo handed the child

over without saying much. Then, he bent down to pick Amelie’s phone up for her. “Here you go,” he said.

Amelie nodded in appreciation before she took the phone from him and chucked it into her handbag. Soon enough,

the bus arrived at their destination. The teacher directed all the children into the nursing home, and the dean of the

nursing home delegated some cleaning duties to all of the parents and their children.

Even though Bria’s leg was injured, she insisted on being a part of the activity. Amelie hesitated for a while before

she went to the toolshed and approached one of the staff members there. “Can you give us some cleaning tools?”

she asked.

“Sure.” The staff member handed Amelie some tools, and her eyes lit up with admiration when she saw Bria.

“You’re still helping out even though you’re injured, huh? That’s so nice of you,” the staff commented. Bria simply

responded with a shy smile.

“How many sets of tools will you need?” the staff member asked.

Amelie hesitated for a while. “You can give me two sets,” she finally said.

“Three, please.” A man’s deep voice came from behind Amelie right after she finished speaking. Amelie was

shocked when she turned to see Leo standing behind her. She had assumed that Leo was just there to spend time

with Bria and that he wasn’t going to take part in any cleaning activities. Leo, on the other hand, didn’t seem to

realize the look of surprise on Amelie’s face. He extended his long arm over her and took the tools on her behalf.

“Let’s go,” Leo said as he walked toward Bria and headed off with her. Amelie was left speechless for a while. She

eventually hurried after them. The three of them were sent to a flat and cooling piece of land outdoors, where

there was a layer of tree leaves scattered all over the ground. “Let’s sweep all of the leaves toward the middle

first,” Leo suggested after looking at their surroundings.

Both Amelie and Bria nodded before they got to work. Bria was wheelchair-bound so she couldn’t move around

much, but she was still earnest as she swept up all the leaves in her area. She giggled to herself as she worked on

her task. Meanwhile, Amelie stole a few glances at Leo while they worked. She was genuinely curious—she had

never seen Leo clean up after himself in her whole life, and she was nearly convinced that Leo didn’t even know

how to hold a broom.

However, to her surprise, he was dedicated to his task. He even seemed to work the broom with ease. He had

taken his suit off and rolled his sleeves up. His posture was upright, and his arms looked strong as he swept the

leaves—he looked like he had walked out of an oil painting. “Mommy’s checking Daddy out. Hehe…” Bria giggled

with her hand covering her mouth.

Amelie blushed before she quickly lowered her head to focus on sweeping the leaves. A married couple with their

twin boys were cleaning up the area beside them, and the two boys were extremely naughty. They were fooling

around, and their parents had to shout at them every now and then. The twins’ parents shook their heads helplessly

as they sent envious glances in Bria’s direction. They wished their children would be as focused as Bria.

Right then, the twin boys ran in Bria’s direction with two shovels that they had found somewhere. They both stuck

the shovels into a thick pile of leaves before they sent the leaves and a few rocks flying into the air. Amelie saw the

rocks flying in Bria’s direction, and she instinctively threw herself over Bria. Amelie could hear the rocks knocking

against one another as they flew up into the sky, and she could already imagine how much it was going to hurt

when they landed on her back.

Thud! Thud! A few consecutive sounds came from behind Amelie. She let out a soft grunt, but to her surprise, she

didn’t actually feel any pain from the rocks hitting her back. All she felt was a looming figure above her. Amelie

turned a little to notice the man’s long legs behind hers. When she spun around, she realized that Leo had

protected her with his own body. The thuds didn’t come from the rocks striking her back, but when the rocks struck

Leo!

Amelie froze when she realized what just happened. This is the second time Leo has saved me today. Doesn’t he

hate me? Why does he… Does he remember who I am now? Amelie parted her lips to question him when the twin

boys’ parents rushed over. “Are you guys okay?” The parents wore apologetic and remorseful looks on their faces,

and they kept apologizing to Amelie.

Amelie dusted off some dirt on her shirt before she glanced in Leo’s direction. He had already walked off with his

head hung low as if he were contemplating something. He showed no intention of responding to the twins’ parents.

“We’re okay.” Amelie had no choice but to answer on Leo’s behalf. Despite so, the parents insisted on dragging

their sons over to apologize to the victims of their mischief.

The children were scheduled to give a few performances to the old folks after they were done cleaning the place

up. The elderlies chuckled with excitement as they shuffled over to watch the performances. Bria handed the

flowers that she had prepared to the elderlies while Amelie followed along to wheel Bria around. Amelie wore a

faint smile on her face as she moved through the crowd.

Every now and then, Amelie would look up to glance in Leo’s direction, and she would realize that Leo was staring

at them as well. For some reason, she could sense that Leo was acting in a rather odd manner. He was being

especially silent. Could it be because he’s too bored?

After all the activities, the dean requested that every family plant a tree up in the hills to commemorate their visit.

The pathway up the hills was rather rocky, and Bria’s wheelchair couldn’t be brought up. Bria urged Leo and Amelie

to go ahead without her. “Take your time! You don’t have to rush back to me.” Bria had already made friends with a

few of the elderlies in the nursing home, and the elderlies were all circling around her.

Amelie shook her head with a smile when she saw how naturally and effortlessly Bria had blended in with all the old

people around her. Leo glanced at Bria as well. He realized how different Bria seemed in comparison to the way she

acted back when she was in the Alston Family, and his gaze darkened at that thought.

Amelie didn’t see any reason to stay close to Leo once Bria was out of their sight. She kept her distance, and she

stood far, far away while Leo dug a hole for the plant. Leo was efficient with his movements, but he stayed in his

spot after he was done with his digging. Amelie didn’t know how long he was going to stay there, so she simply

walked over to him before placing the seedling into the hole.

She was about to take the shovel from him to cover the hole up, but he dodged her hand before he started filling

the hole himself. She eyed him speechlessly before she got to her feet to head down the hill. “Do you hate me that

much?” the man’s icy voice came from behind her all of a sudden.

Amelie turned around with a puzzled look on her face. She had intended to head down the hills because she didn’t

want to bother him. “You shouldn’t make it so obvious in front of Bria’s classmates. Her classmates might look down

on her if they find out that we’re divorced. They were just discriminating against her earlier this morning,” Leo

uttered.

Amelie had no idea what had happened earlier that day, so she widened her eyes in surprise. She had intended to

ask him more about the incident, but he had pressed his lips tightly together and looked away. Amelie shook her

head helplessly before she made her way back to the man and took a seat at the curb. She watched as he slowly

filled the hole up. He seemed to move slower than before, and the hole was barely filled even after a long while. He

kept pressing the soil down to make it more compact, but this seemed like a pointless move in Amelie’s eyes.

“Are you… staying in Quinn Town?” Leo asked all of a sudden.

Amelie was taken aback by his sudden question, and her head shot up in surprise as she glared at him. She didn’t

understand why he was asking such a question, so she didn’t know how to respond to him. After a while, Leo looked

up and met her gaze. There was a mysterious look in his eyes that she couldn’t seem to understand.

Earlier, Leo had noticed a faint scent on Amelie when he was protecting her and Bria from the rocks. Even though

the scent wasn’t strong, it caught Leo’s attention as it was a familiar smell to him. He was reminded of how Big

Eyes smelled. Even though Amelie’s scent was covered by the smell of milk, Leo’s other senses had become

heightened after he lost his eyesight. He could still pick up the special scent on her.

Leo couldn’t believe it at first, but he was reminded of what Bria once mentioned—that Amelie was from Quinn

Town. “What is it? Is it a secret?” Leo further questioned Amelie when he saw how silent she was. Amelie let out a

bitter laugh. I’m the only one who cares for him, and I’m the only one who genuinely values him. I even donated my

cornea to him. Yet, he doesn’t even know where I’m from.

“Yeah. I’m from Quinn Town.” Amelie nodded as she generously revealed the truth. “In fact, we’ve known each

other for a while.”

“We have?” Leo’s eyes widened as he stared at her. For some reason, Amelie felt a weight on her chest. She hadn’t

intended to further pursue this matter, but at that moment, she desperately felt the need for an answer. She looked

into Leo’s eyes. “Have you really forgotten about it? Back in the hospital in Quinn Town…”

“Leony.” A crisp and clear voice interrupted their conversation.