You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 791 Three Years Ago

No one really knew why Michelle suddenly went abroad to study. It has always been a mystery to her friends.

Now that Emma mentioned it again, everyone's eyes turned to Michelle.

Michelle pressed her lips together tightly. She took a few moments to think, shaking her head gently. She sighed and kept her eyes down.

"Before leaving, I had spent my whole life in this country. I wanted to go out and see the world."

She then smiled and looked up at them. "I wanted to learn photography abroad. I needed some direction in my life. I couldn't take it easy forever, you know."

The reason sounded convincing, but Emma didn't believe her all. Suspicious, she looked at Michelle and asked, "But why did it have to be photography? You could have studied something else."

"Hmm..." After hesitating for a moment, Michelle took a quick look at Leon before speaking. "You know, I've always wanted to capture the beauty of the world that surrounds me. The sights, the people, the happenings, I want to capture all of those. But Leon told me that I wasn't any good at photography, so he suggested that I study it seriously. Since I really did love photography, I took his advice and studied it abroad."

Michelle's eyes shone like the reflection of bright stars on a clear lake. There was a sense of peace and serenity in her eyes as she reminisced about the years past.

Emma nodded and kept silent.

However, Leon wasn't going to stop there. He wanted to know the truth no matter what.

After Emma and James left, Michelle got out of bed. She then poured herself some water into a glass.

With the glass of water in her hand, Michelle sat down on the sofa beside the bed. Still a bit weak, she hobbled a bit as she sat down and spilled some water onto the back of her hand. While drying her hand with a towel, she noticed a shadow cast over her.

With his hands on the armrest of the sofa, Leon bent down towards her. The usual warmth of his face was nowhere to be found.

Although he was close enough for her to feel his breath on her forehead, it seemed as if there was a great distance between the two of them.

Leon didn't speak.

The deafening silence in the room made Michelle uneasy. Her grip on the glass tightened because of how nervous she was. In a low voice, she called to him, "Leon..."

Every time he heard her say his name in a tender voice, his heart softened. Just her voice was enough to disarm him.

"Michelle, don't you have anything to tell me? Please tell me the truth. I'll give you three seconds to think about it."

"What?" The pressure was too much for her, so she turned her eyes away from him. However, the long silence in the room was too intense for her. She couldn't take it anymore. Finally, she gave in and said, "Leon, it's been seven years since the two of you broke up. But didn't you get back together three years ago?"

"No, we didn't. Come on, look me in the eye," Leon said to her.

Michelle raised her head and look at him.

"I didn't rekindle my relationship with her. I never thought about doing that. Believe me," Leon assured her earnestly.

Michelle's tears suddenly fell unbidden. Like a floodgate of emotions opening, the tears rolled down her cheeks. Leon panicked and took out a handkerchief to wipe her face.

"Hey, why are you crying? Hush now," he said gently, trying to comfort her.

"Leon, I'm crying because of how stupid I was."

Sobbing, she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his solid chest.

She looked at the glass of water in her hand and saw the faint reflection of her face.

"It's just that I thought you and Valerie got back together. Even though I treasured every moment I had with you, I felt that it was wrong for me to stick around because you were in a relationship. I just didn't want to cause any trouble for you."

As she spoke, tears kept streaming down her face.

Her voice choked with sobs.

"That time, I knew that being around you wasn't right. But at the same time, it made me miserable that I couldn't contact you.

I didn't want to go abroad, but it was the only way." Michelle rubbed her head on his belly as she cried. As he put one hand on the back of her head, Leon felt a fire burning inside of him.

She continued, "Leon, I didn't want to go abroad at all. I never wanted to leave you. I was miserable that I couldn't see you. I missed you so much every single day. There wasn't a day that passed by without me thinking of you. I didn't have anyone to cook breakfast for. I didn't want to do it for anyone else but you."

Listening to her words, Leon felt very sorry for her. He gently ran his fingers through her hair to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Michelle. If only I had told you about my true feelings sooner, we wouldn't have been separated. You wouldn't have had to go through all of this," he said sincerely.

Thinking of all those lonely days without him, Michelle cried even harder. Her sobs filled her ears, muffling Leon's voice. She couldn't hear what he was saying. At that moment, she was too overwhelmed by her emotions.

"Leon, leaving you was very painful. But since I couldn't let you know that I was going to leave, I went to see you in secret," she whispered.

"Huh? You went to see me? But where?" Putting his hands on her cheeks, Leon gently lifted her head so he could see her eyes. Her eyes were red and watery, and her lips trembled softly from her sobbing. Seeing her like this, Leon felt heartbroken.

"I went to the LC Hotel. The day that I went there, I saw you and Valerie coming out of the hotel together."

After Michelle finished speaking, a teardrop spilled from the corner of her eye. Every teardrop she shed was like a cut to his heart.

Gently, he guided her head back to his chest. His clothes were now wet with her tears, but he didn't mind at all.

"I'm sorry." Leon caressed her head. "Seeing that must have been very painful for you, right? I'm very sorry you had to go through that. If I were in your shoes at that moment, I would've been very hurt as well." "Yes, it was quite painful,"

Michelle mumbled. Her voice sounded coarser from all her crying, and she was totally exhausted by now.

But she didn't want to let go. She never wanted to feel the emptiness she felt when she went away three years ago.

For all those years spent away from him, she felt that there was a deep unfillable void in her heart.

Rubbing the back of her head with his hand, Leon held her tighter in his embrace. "I didn't get back with Valerie. Although you saw us together at the hotel, we weren't living together.

At that time, the C Mansion was still under construction. I didn't buy a house either, so I had to live in a hotel in the meantime. Wynn and I shared one suite, while she and Bryant shared another. But this was al my fault. I shouldn't have hidden this from you, Michelle. I'm really sorry."

With tears in his eyes, Leon looked down at the beautiful woman in his arms. She was the love of his life. In a coarse voice, he whispered, "Forgive me, Michelle."

Michelle shook her head.

With her head on his chest, she felt him sigh.

"So when you saw Valerie and me at the hotel, it convinced you to go away even more, didn't it?"

Michelle nodded. "I was afraid that I was going to ruin your relationship with her. But I never knew that you two weren't together that time. I should have asked you about it. I shouldn't have believed what others told me. I regret it so much."

"I regret it, too. I should have confessed my feelings to you sooner," Leon said softly.

Stunned, Michelle looked up to him.

'Leon told me that he regrets not telling me earlier. But how much earlier could it have been?' she wondered.

With a smile, he gently patted her head with one hand. "I fell in love with you three years ago. And now, I'm still madly in love with you.

Michelle, you love me, and the feeling is mutual."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐