You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 732 Bitterness

After removing her heavy makeup, Valerie picked up another brush to reapply a light makeup on her face.

"If I remember correctly, I have already told you about Leon's true identity. Can you continue pretending that you don't know about it?" He has no choice but to hide who he really is."

Hearing the justification as to why Leon had to hide his identity, Michelle started to feel relieved as though a thorn in her throat had finally been plucked.

'I knew Leon wouldn't lie without a good reason.'

She chuckled and kept her head down, trying to hide her joy from Valerie.

Meanwhile, Valerie continued to keep up her pretense. "So don't be angry with him. He treats you as—"

"Oh, no, no. I'm not angry." Michelle looked up at her and waved her hands. Under the luminescent light of the dressing room, her eyes were clean and pure.

Valerie felt slightly annoyed that Michelle interrupted her. But more than that, she was stunned by Michelle's reaction to what she had said.

'Why is she not angry with Leon for lying to her?'

Valerie couldn't help but snort in disgust. 'How can such a hypocritical person exist?'

Behind her fake smile, Valerie gritted her teeth. "It's okay. If you're, just let it out. You don't have to keep it to yourself. When the time comes that Leon chooses to reveal his identity to you, I'll ask him to apologize."

"That's very kind of you, but he doesn't have to apologize. I'm really not angry with him." Michelle continued to explain, trying to convince Valerie that she was telling the truth. "I believe Leon has his own reasons to do so. I won't be mad at him for that. Yes, at first I was angry. But hearing what you told me changed how I felt about it."

When Valerie realized that she had helped them solve their misunderstanding, she looked flabbergasted.

This wasn't her intention at all!

She never expected Michelle to react so maturely about it. Feeling slightly defeated, Valerie pressed her lips and ground her teeth harder. Michelle squinted her eyes at her and flashed a wide smile. "Thank you for telling me this. You're so kind."

Her words, although they sounded sweet, felt like insults thrown at Valerie. Valerie felt as though Michelle was deliberately making fun of her.

Even her sweet smile made Valerie feel bitter. For a moment, she wanted to stay away from her as far as possible.

"I'm ready. Let's go. Let's not keep them waiting for too long outside." Valerie stood up, took her coat and bag, and left.

"Okay." Michelle followed her from behind. Her legs were almost skipping from joy.

Meanwhile, Valerie's face looked glum. Her high-heeled shoes made a crisp sound every time she took a step, as though she wanted to pierce the floor.

When they arrived at the door, Valerie stopped. She turned around to Michelle and asked, "I'm curious. Why aren't you angry with him? If someone lied to me, I'd be angry."

Michelle paused for a while and reflected. "If someone lied to me, I'd also be angry. But I'd ask first why they did it. If they had a good reason, I wouldn't get mad."

Valerie tilted her head. "So you think Leon is telling you a white lie?"

"Yes." Michelle giggled and nodded.

As she looked at Michelle's silly look, Valerie was too disgusted with her to continue arguing. She turned around and continued walking.

Leon, Bryant, Michelle, and Valerie went to have dinner together. The whole time, Michelle immersed herself with her food. She didn't want to look up since Valerie was sitting next to her. It also didn't help that Leon kept looking in the direction where they were sitting.

If Michelle saw them making lovey-dovey eyes at each other, her heart might not be able to take it.

While looking down at her food, she saw Leon's hand gently passing a tissue towards Valerie out of the corner of her eye.

With only a thin piece of tissue separating their fingers, she felt as though their hands would interlock with each other in the next second.

Her jealousy for Valerie turned into a bottomless appetite as she kept on eating non-stop, even though she felt the food tasted kind of bland. After a while, she heard Valerie's voice and saw her hand holding a tissue. "Michelle, wipe your mouth and eat slowly."

Her concern made Michelle feel ashamed.

Valerie was such a nice person, yet she continued to harbor her jealousy towards her instead of wishing them their happiness.

Leon was a gentle and handsome man, while Valerie was a kind-hearted and beautiful woman. They were a perfect match for each other.

Once they were done eating, Leon and the others drove Michelle back to the club.

As soon as she got back to her room, she fell asleep almost immediately.

When she woke up, she felt rejuvenated. She put all of her energy into training, which made the whole team panic.

Michelle was working hard while they were being lazy. This made them feel guilty.

Just like that, she was able to motivate the entire team.

Since Michelle had devoted all of her attention to her career, she had almost lost contact with Leon. But she considered it as a silver lining. That way, she wouldn't hear about what was happening between him and Valerie, and wouldn't feel upset.

For a while, she thought she would live her life peacefully for the foreseeable future.

However, this tranquility didn't last long. Out of nowhere, Valerie contacted her.

It was on a weekend morning. The sun was shining brightly while a cold wind swept the air. Michelle was wearing a sweater, but after thinking about it, she added another layer of coat.

Meanwhile, Valerie looked like royalty with her magnificent clothes. When they stood by each other side by side, Michelle really felt as though she was a child.

Michelle looked at the other woman in curiosity. "What do you want from me?"

Valerie didn't answer her question, and asked, "Have you been too busy to contact Leon recently?"

Michelle nodded. However, she still didn't understand why she was asking her this.

"No wonder! I hear him talking about you every day. I'm so annoyed." A bitter smile appeared on Valerie's face, as though she was complaining to Michelle.

"Leon loves his sister so much. Nina isn't in Lexingport City, so he's treating you as his sister. He wanted to contact you, but he didn't. He was afraid..." Valerie paused deliberately and observed Michelle's reaction. Then, she continued, "He was afraid that it might cause some misunderstandings. After all, you are not his biological sister."

Slowly, the discomfort crept up in Michelle's face. Seeing this, Valerie picked up her coffee and took a sip, hiding her sly smile behind the cup.

Meanwhile, Michelle kept quiet as she rubbed her fingers.

"He cares about you very much. I often hear him call the people in your club and ask what's happening with you. I just recently found out that he has invested in your club," Valerie said. Michelle's eyes widened as she slowly looked up to Valerie.

'Wait, Leon has invested in my club?

When did he do it?

And how much did he invest?'

"It seems that you didn't know about it. We normally don't invest in the e-sports industry since our main focus is the medical industry. But Leon..." Valerie sighed helplessly. "I really don't know what to say." Before Michelle could say anything, she asked another question. "By the way, you like strawberries very much, right?"

Michelle licked her lips and smiled. "Yes, they're very delicious. Do you like strawberries too?"

"Not really..." Valerie looked at her apologetically, then pretended to be angry. "I'm still mad at him. Whenever Leon has time, he goes to see his strawberry farm instead of spending time with me. He told me that he had those strawberries planted for you.

Leon's really good to you. He's been watching you from afar and always thinks about you. If I hadn't known that he treats you as his sister, I would've been very jealous of you." Valerie chuckled slightly. Although she pretended to be jolly, there was a thinly-veiled look of contempt lurking beneath her eyes.

Michelle felt this, and her heart skipped a beat. "Leon only sees me as his sister. Please don't misunderstand," she explained to her defensively.

"Don't be nervous. I'm not blaming you, though I am a little jealous." Valerie tried to play it cool, but deep inside, her blood was boiling in anger.

Every day, all that Leon could talk about was Michelle, which pissed Valerie off so much. He kept telling her how he and Michelle got along so well. He even had the audacity to ask her if there was any way for her to help them be together.

'You wanna be together? Humph, how's that possible?

It'll be better if both of you are separated.'

Valerie flashed a faint smile. "Do you know why I broke up with him? I know you and Wynn are good friends. Has he mentioned it to you?"

Michelle remembered what Wynn had told her and summarized it for Valerie. "You didn't like Leon at the beginning. Later on, he let you go and wished you to be happy with the person you liked." Valerie tilted her head. "Is that what he told you? He really doesn't know a lot. Well, I don't blame him. After all, he's just an outsider. It's impossible for him to know the fullest extent of my relationship with Leon. You see, I fell in love with Leon after he took me to live with him in his caste. Wynn didn't tell you this part of the story, right?" She looked at Michelle's expression and acted as though she was offended. Anne forbade anyone from mentioning the story that Leon trapped Valerie in the castle. No matter how bold Wynn was, he could never dare to disobey the queen's orders.

It was clear that Wynn hadn't told Michelle about it.

Michelle shook her head.

Valerie flashed a smug smile but kept it hidden behind her cup of coffee again as she took another sip. "I've been in love with Leon for a long time. If not, I wouldn't have lived with him in the castle. The reason why we broke up was that I thought he didn't love me as much as he loved his sister. I didn't want to be jealous of his sister. I just wanted Leon to spend more time with me since I was feeling ignored."

She lied. The real reason why they broke up was that she didn't want her freedom to be restricted. Back then, Leon was a paranoid person that she grew afraid of him.

To make her lie more believable, she mixed it with some truth. Leon really did prioritize Nina over everything else.

Michelle frowned and didn't understand Valerie's jealousy towards Nina. 'If she was Leon's girlfriend, shouldn't she be nice to Nini?

So that way, Nini would also be nice to her.

Isn't that what's best for everyone? How could it be so complicated?'

"But after I left, I learned that Leon had been looking for me this entire time. I realized that he really did care about me. Now, I don't want to be separated from him for any other reason. Do you understand what I mean, Michelle?" Valerie looked deeply into her eyes.

When Michelle saw Valerie's pleading eyes, she became even more perplexed.

'Why is she telling me all this?'

She had a vague idea, but she didn't have the courage to even think about it.

Michelle's throat tightened and she asked, "What do you mean?"

"You have greatly influenced our life. If you were Leon's biological sister, it'd be fine. But you're not. I can't stand him mentioning the name of another woman in front of me."

Valerie spoke the words that had been trapped in Michelle's throat.

Michelle hadn't touched the coffee in front of her ever since they came to the cafe. Before she could even drink it, a bitter feeling had already invaded her tongue.☐☐☐☐