Eyes Meet

Chapter 22 - Part 2

I knew Leon back then but we weren't close. I could barely remember if we ever had a conversation together. The things that I knew about him was from Melissa only. I knew him just because she used to tell me her childhood stories with her brother. That was all.

I began to eat my food, pretending that I didn't focus on what they were talking about. I wished I could pretend for real, it would definitely make my life a lot easier but I just couldn't.

"Thank you, Leon, for coming here" Dad said.

I was actually impressed by dad's voice. I hadn't heard dad being this chatty since we left Korea years ago. He sounded like he was so happy now. I guessed he had been missing this guy he called son.

"That's fine, Mr. Pearce. I wanted to since I received your call last week"

I knew it. It was dad who reached out to him first. There was no way these Maas siblings were going to make the first move. They didn't care to.

"I troubled you to come here all the way from Seoul"

"You should have called earlier. I am so sorry to hear about your wife" Leon took a sip of his coffee. "She's getting better, right?"

"Yes, just waiting to start the first chemotherapy"

Both of them were back to being silent, continuing to eat as I heard the sounds of the cutlery in contact with the plate.

"Mr. Pearce?" Leon called my dad after minutes of minding his own food. "I am still waiting,"

I bet dad was as confused as me with that question. I couldn't hide to frown a little.

"What?"

"Just ask me already"

"Ask what, Leon?" Dad sounded so baffled as the younger man started to giggle.

He took another sip of his drink, making a louder slurp sound this time.

"Come on, Mr. Pearce" He laughed this time as if he was so entertained by my dad's confusion. "You know you really want to,"

Dad sighed as I heard he put his cutlery back on the table. I just gave an ear on it since I was so curious about what Leon was talking about; dad really wanted to ask something?

"How's Mel doing?"

Leon laughed again, putting pressure on the table. "I knew it! You wanted to ask about her so bad since I arrived"

"It's not-"

"Your favourite is fine," Leon interrupted dad's speech, continuing to tease him.

"You both are my favourites" Dad defended himself.

"Ugh, come on! Everyone knows you love her more than me" Leon stopped his teasing as he continued to eat. "Melissa is just very busy now," He went back to the original question. "I mean, she has always been busy since high school but now it's even worse"

I almost gulped when I heard that. Did he say that the high school Melissa wasn't busy enough? She rarely had free time to even breathe back then. I didn't want to imagine how busy she could be now when she had became an adult with much heavier responsibilities.

"What about her eating?"

I heard Leon sigh and it caught my attention almost immediately.

"She just fired another chef yesterday. I swear to God, not even a stock market drop can make her angry so bad" He continued with his complaint about his sister. "She will lose her mind every time she eats. That's why I have stopped eating at home"