Love My Friends with Benefits

Chapter 43: His Tenderness

I spat out my water.

Disgusted, May shrunk away from me. "Ew, you're gross."

I ignored her and stuffed another bite of food into my mouth.

"Speaking of pregnancies..." May looked at me seriously. "You and Leonard used protection, right?"

...

Startled, I choked on my food.

May patted me on the back, looking dazed. "I even thought that you were all hung up on him because

you were pregnant with his child or something." Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

"What nonsense!"

I caught my breath and glared at her. "He might not be afraid of STDs, but I am!"

May let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know."

I lowered my head and continued eating. The strong flavours made me tear up.

In fact, I wasn't telling May the truth. It was true that we'd used protection, but it wasn't because I

wanted to. Leonard was the one who'd insisted.

In hindsight, right from the start, I'd probably been nothing more than a fling to him.

Moreover, the Nell family probably wouldn't let him off the hook if he'd got himself an illegitimate child.

I felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of this.

...

After dinner, May and I returned to her place.

I gave her a recap of what had happened over the past few days. Of course, I'd omitted my deal with

Leonard. I just told her that he'd broken into my house at night and warned me not to disturb him and

Phoebe.

When I was done, she asked impatiently, "Don't tell me the dude's really in love with your stepsister?"

I shook my head without hesitation. "How's that possible?"

"Why not?" May's eyes shone with excitement. "Think about it, Queena! He's repeatedly warned you off

of causing trouble for the two of them. Don't you think that he really wants to marry her?"

I didn't know how to answer her. Perhaps Leonard really did love Phoebe.

I probably looked like I'd swallowed a fly. May watched me for a while, then changed the topic and said,

"How'd Leonard get into your house?"

I shook my head. "Beats me."

May gave it some thought and said, "You need to change your locks. The ones you have now are

obviously not doing the job."

Under May's urging, I borrowed her computer and spent a few thousand dollars on an electronic lock. If

not for the commission I'd got from the deal with Austin's company, this would've been a severe blow to

my wallet.

I stayed at May's place until the lock was delivered and installed.

Over the next few days, none of the Jones family showed up at the hospital. I took the chance to spend

my time with Grandma.

Aunt Nancy didn't bring up my relationship with Leonard, but there was something that I couldn't

discern in her eyes whenever she looked at me.

On the sixth day, the lock was finally delivered.

I brought it to the hospital with me. I'd just stepped into the ICU when someone ran into me.

They ran right into my shoulder wound and I almost blacked out from the pain. It took all of my

willpower not to cry out.

"Oh, my god!"

That person let out a dainty cry and fell to the floor exaggeratedly.

It was Phoebe.

Leonard stepped forward and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

He didn't even look at me.

I didn't know whether to rejoice or be upset.

When Phoebe got to her feet, tears were already flowing down her cheeks. She looked at me and said

hesitantly, "Leonard, don't... don't blame Queena."

My heart sank. I ignored Phoebe and turned around subconsciously to see whether Bell or Gail was

nearby.

I didn't stand a chance against the three of them.

I hadn't forgotten how Bell had assaulted me at the Jones family.

At this time, Aunt Nancy came in with a hot water bottle in hand. She glared at Phoebe and slammed

the bottle on the table.

Leonard gave me a cold smile. "Miss. Jones, don't you know that you should apologise when you've

run into someone?"

He actually wanted me to apologise?

My anger surged. Clutching my shoulder, I retorted, "Indeed, I don't. I'm not as well-mannered as your

fiancée is. Then again, she didn't apologise to me either."

Phoebe's eyes shone with a glimmer of delight. She wiped her tears away and stood between me and

Leonard. "It's fine, Leonard. Queena isn't completely at fault here."

What she'd said was "not completely at fault", not "not to blame".

Since we were kids, she'd loved pulling these tricks.

...

Leonard fell silent, his gaze landing on my shoulder.

I noticed him frown slightly.

"Alright." Aunt Nancy started to shoo them. "Phoebe, that's enough from you. You've seen how your

grandmother's doing, so get going."

Phoebe bit her lip and said hesitantly, "But I'm still worried..."

"She needs to rest!" Aunt Nancy barked impatiently.

...

Phoebe seemed to be shocked into silence at Aunt Nancy's voice and stood there, stunned.

Leonard wrapped an arm around her and smiled pleasantly. "Phoebe's just worried about her

grandmother."

How affectionate he sounded.

Inexplicably, I felt irritated. I walked over to Grandma's side and poured out a glass of hot water before

putting it aside to let it cool down.

The doctor said that Grandma could only drink warm water, so I'd been doing this for the past few days.

Aunt Nancy didn't soften her stance at Leonard's pleasantries. "If you were really worried about her,

Phoebe, you'd be here every day to take care of her as Queena's been doing."

Leonard pursed his lips and didn't respond.

Phoebe teared up again, looking like she was going to burst into tears any second. "I... I've been really

busy recently..."

Leonard wrapped an arm around her waist and said comfortingly, "It's alright, don't cry."

Aunt Nancy let out a sneer. "You have time to go on dates, but you don't have time to come see your

grandmother?"

Phoebe's expression turned ugly.

It was only then that I realised that Leonard couldn't see her face from this angle.

Phoebe insisted on staying here, despite Aunt Nancy's mockery. Left with no choice, she turned to

Leonard. "Mr. Nell, my mother might be a little agitated when she sees you. Please leave, and take

Phoebe with you."

I let out a sigh of relief at the finality of her words.

Leonard was such an arrogant man that he wouldn't be able to handle being spoken to like that. He'd

leave this time, right?

Unfortunately, he shook his head. "Phoebe said that she has something to tell her grandmother."

Phoebe nodded, looking obedient. "Aunt Nancy, I'll just wait here. I won't disturb Grandma."

At this point, Aunt Nancy was out of ideas. She could only icily say, "Whatever."