Love's Change of Heart

Leanna consciously remained silent on their way back. Only a jerk like Aidan could come up with such a bullsh*t theory with such confidence, she thought.

When they arrived home, she whispered, "President Pearson, I'm going upstairs to sleep."

Aidan coldly mumbled, "Uh-huh," as if he didn't want to say a word more than necessary.

This is what this jerk truly is, thought Leanna. After returning to her room, she securely locked the door, took a change of clothes, and entered the bathroom. Having gone to so many places with Aidan without taking a nap after lunch, she couldn't wait to take a shower and throw herself onto the bed at once right now.

To her great dismay, however, just as she was halfway through her shower, the light over her head suddenly went out. A few seconds later, the water became ice-cold as well. She immediately turned off the shower and felt for her towel in the dark to wrap her hair with it. After slowly putting on her clothes, she opened the window and looked outside.

As she had expected, the entire street had a power failure.

Underwood Lane was not only an old street; its electric cables were old, too. The street had power outages from time to time, but the power failures usually happened during the day, causing little impact. And besides, the power failures were fixed soon afterward.

This was the first power outage that happened at night since Leanna moved in here. She came out of the bathroom. After stumbling around for a while, she finally got hold of her cell phone on the desk. She turned on her phone's flashlight and slowly went downstairs, recalling how Naomi had told her that the candles were in the cupboard in the living room.

However, after finding the candles, she realized something even more embarrassing: she didn't have a lighter. She searched everywhere she could, but there was still no sign of a lighter. After turning around to look at the pitch-black door, she let out a sigh, as if resigning herself to her fate. "President Pearson, are you still awake?"

A few seconds later, the door opened, and Aidan looked at her indifferently. "What's the matter?"

"I… The power is out. Do you have a lighter? I want to borrow it to light the candles."

Aidan asked snappishly, "Haven't you been sleepy for a long time? Why don't you go to sleep now that the power is out? What else do you want to do?"

Leanna was rendered speechless. Still, she said good-temperedly in an imploring manner, "I have to boil some water to wash my hair. There are still foams on my hair that I haven't washed away."

"How are you gonna boil some water?"

"Ms. Fletcher has a coal stove at home. I noticed it last time, and it's probably still usable."

Aidan pursed his lips. "Where is it?"

Leanna replied, "It's probably in the kitchen, but I can't remember where it is. I have to search for it." She paused for a moment. Then, without forgetting her purpose in speaking to him, she asked, "By the way, President Pearson, could you lend me your lighter?"

"Nope."

Leanna was rendered speechless. How dare he want to marry me again with such an attitude? Just go to hell, you jerk!

Aidan left his room and took a candle from her before heading straight for the kitchen. By the time she caught up to him, the candle was already lit and placed on the rack, its tiny flame flickering in the wind.

Aidan took the coal stove out of the pile of junk. After darting a look at Leanna, he said in displeasure, "What are you doing in here?"

"I—"

"Just wait outside."

With the help of the burning candle on the rack, Leanna lit the few candles in her hands. Before she left, she kindheartedly left another candle for Aidan.

After getting into the yard, she put the remaining candles on the stone table. Then, she rubbed her hands and looked up at the sky.

The moon seemed even brighter and more distant without the city's lights.

Soon after that, Leanna heard some noise in the kitchen, but she didn't see Aidan come out for a long time. After restraining herself for a moment, she couldn't help but ask, "President Pearson, do you not know how to use it?"

After a few seconds of silence, a voice rang in the kitchen. "Shut up!"

"Okay."

Leanna waited for ten more minutes before seeing Aidan come out carrying the coal stove that didn't suit him in every way. After putting a pot of water on the coal stove, he crouched down on one knee and looked at her. "What else do you want? Just say it in one go."

Leanna blinked her eyes. "I'm hungry."

Aidan was at a loss for words.

Leanna feared that he would say something like, "Are you a hog or something? You've had so much for dinner." After all, he had repeatedly described her as some kind of animal tonight. She muttered, "Pregnant women get hungry very quickly. And besides, I'm not saying that on my own initiative."

"So is it my fault, then?" Aidan took out his phone without bothering to talk to her.

Seeing that he was going to dial Jonathan's number, Leanna quickly said, "No, no, no, don't do that, President Pearson. I only said that without thinking. Let's not bother Mr. Stoll at such a late hour."

Aidan put down his phone and stared quietly at her with his black eyes. "What do you want, then?"

Leanna made a presumptuous request. "There are some snacks in my room… Could you get them for me, President Pearson?" She'd have gone to get the snacks by herself if it hadn't been inconvenient for her to do so during the power failure.

Aidan stood up. "Give me a minute."

Leanna responded to his indifference with a smile. "Thank you, President Pearson. They're in a small basket on my desk. Just take a few of them as you please."

On the second floor, Leanna's desk was just under the window. Faint moonlight shone quietly and softly on the desk, allowing Aidan to spot the basket full of snacks at a glance. As he wasn't interested at all in choosing from the snacks, he picked up the entire basket. However, as soon as he turned around and walked a few steps, he stepped on something. Consequently, he took a step back and crouched down.