Chapter 240: Indulging In Her Illusion (part one)

Leena also couldn't rest. She twitched her nose and rested her chin on her hands and looked for a thousand times at her phone in the long night, but it laid silent and still on the table in front of her, dead as a brick.

It was already one in the morning, and she wondered if he would still come back home. What was she supposed to do with all the food that she had made for him if he wouldn't? She thought that maybe something unexpected had come up, and that he couldn't leave it undone. But even if that was true, he still could have at least called her and told her that he would be running late, rather than make her wait for him for the whole night. Although Leena was not really in love with Kevin, he was, after all, her husband, and even if they were just friends, she still would worry about him when he didn't return home in the middle of the night.

Leena sighed and reached for her phone. 'Fine, ' she thought, 'If you doesn't call, then I will. Don't blame me if I interrupt you from something important, because I already gave you the chance to call.'

Kevin was about to go to bed when his phone started to buzz, and after he saw the name on the screen, he hit his head in remorse. 'Damn it! She must be really mad at me, ' he thought. He had forgotten to call Leena because he had been busy for the whole day.

"Hello..." he answered, but Leena snapped at him before he could utter any other word.

"Kevin, it's me. I didn't mean to interrupt your work, but I just got a little worried. You know, it's actually quite late, and em... anyway, I just want to call and make sure that everything is okay." Leena was afraid that her late call would irritate him, and she hurried to explain her intention beforehand. She wanted to tell Kevin that she knew he was busy and that she totally understood him. She also was upset because she was thinking about why he hadn't called her.

"I'm sorry, Leena, " he said, "There are some preparations that need to be done before the military exercises, and I've already arrived in H City. I'm sorry that I forgot to call you. It was a long day. Are you worried about me?" Kevin was touched by Leena's words. He thought that she would cry or blame him for bailing on her, but instead she apologized for interrupting his work. He felt like a tornado swept all over his heart.

"I see! So you're already in H City. That's fine. I just wanted to know if you'll come back home tonight or not... Well, since you're busy, I won't keep you any longer on the phone. Goodnight!" Leena didn't feel the least sad or frustrated. Maybe that was because she didn't have strong feelings towards Kevin, at least not yet. She wasn't bothered by his neglect on her.

"Hello? Leena?" She had hung up before he could explain himself. Kevin gazed with a blank stare at his phone, and slightly shook his head. He thought, 'She's surely a lot like me; we're definitely the same kind of people. Oh, I really should have called her!' Kevin had been so focused on the work that for a moment he had actually forgot that he was a married man, with a family to care about. His wife was still young and fragile, and she needed all of his attention, caring and love.

After the call, Leena put all the food into the fridge. It was too late, and she had already waited too long and lost all of her appetite. Her heart ached while she put the food away, and she paused for a short moment, trying to figure out what was the vague feeling that had just flashed through her mind.

She could almost hear her heart beating. The house was quiet, maybe too quiet, but hadn't she been longing for this solitude all along? Why did she get bored so soon? She hadn't been with Kevin for that long, but she had grown used to his company. He certainly had changed her in more ways than she was aware of. It was not a good sign to have such a depressing thought.

After she cleaned the kitchen, Leena went back to the bedroom and opened her laptop, trying to drive Kevin out of her mind by resuming her routine. She checked her inbox for new emails and again stared at the message she had received from her mentor.

Leena bit her lower lip, and hesitated for a while, and then decided to say yes to his invitation. After all, it was a great opportunity for her. She had nothing important to do here anyway. Leena tried to talk herself into the idea of how fabulous the trip would actually be. She thought, 'I'm just going back to France for a while! No biggie!' She would never give up on her career for her lover, let alone for a man who was more of a stranger to her. Paris was the center of everything that had to do with fashion, and she thought that it would be ridiculous if she, as a fashion designer, never went back there again.

Leena then logged in her QQ account, and dozens of unread messages immediately popped up on the screen. Almost all of them were from her friends, and she frowned as she slid the cursor browsing through the list. All of a sudden, a new friend request caught her eye because of the account name, 'Military Soul'. That was interesting, and Leena confirmed the request immediately, without any hesitation. She had many friends on QQ, but none of them were related to the military in any way. She wasn't sure whether her new friend was a real soldier or not, bbut it didn't matter. She thought that she could delete him any time if he ever bothered her.

Leena then click on the personal information page. She didn't understand. The account was open only two days ago? There was nothing else useful there, and Leena only found out that the account belonged to a man. It seemed that she had met a rookie, because he didn't even have a Qzone, but she still could have fun, if that was indeed the case. She then noticed that he was offline, but it all made sense, because a real soldier was in bed, and nowhere near a computer at that late hour of the night. Leena then forgot about her ner friend and kept browsing the websites that she was fancied the most. She deliberately ignored her other messages, because she knew there were probably more saucy jokes about her and Kevin. Lying in the bed like an idle kitten, Leena decided not to think about anything that would disturb her peace of mind and just have fun instead.