Chapter 3

Early the next morning, I walked out of the kitchen carrying the breakfast I'd made and ran into Mira, who was just coming out of the master bedroom.

She stammered out an explanation.

"Liam didn't sleep well last night. I stayed with him in the second half of the night."

I looked at her oddly.

Wasn't this her daily routine lately?

Why was she explaining herself to me?

I nodded blandly and was about to walk past her.

Just as I lifted my foot, I heard Mira's delighted voice.

"Leo, I knew it. I'm still the most important person to you."

"These pork buns are my favorite."

I swatted away her reaching hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Doesn't Liam have a terrible reaction whenever he smells meat?"

"This is specially prepared for Anna."

With that, I walked past her without hesitation toward the living room.

I loved eating meat, but once Liam moved in, I was stripped of the right to eat meat at home.

It even got to the point where after I ate lamb spine hot pot outside and had a bit of the smell on me, he would make a huge fuss.

Liam was like he had a tracking device—he could always smell meat on me.

He would yell at me, then immediately cover his nose and dramatically go to the bathroom to run the water at full blast.

But later I kept seeing him ordering meat snacks online.

When I brought it up, Mira just said, "He's a patient. Why are you arguing with him?"

I shook my head, clearing away these unhappy memories.

I walked into the living room and saw Anna, who had been happily greeting me, suddenly become cautious again.

I turned around and realized Mira had been following me the whole time.

"Leo, thank you so much for all you've done!"

"I'm so useless. If only my legs weren't injured!"

"You stayed up all night watching over me, and now you're making me breakfast. I really..."

Seeing her somewhat guilty expression, I hurried forward to comfort her.

"How could that be? I did all this willingly."

"And your legs—you got injured saving that child. Because of you, he survived that traffic accident."

I was about to continue when Mira behind me exploded.

"Didn't we agree I'd sleep in the study and you'd stay in the living room?"

"Leo, you actually spent the entire night in the guest room watching over her?"

As her words landed, I noticed Anna lower her head.

Anger immediately surged through me.

"Mira, her leg is uncomfortable. Of course I need to watch over her."

"Isn't that the same reasoning as you watching over Liam?"

Mira froze, instinctively arguing:

"It's not the same..."

"How is it not the same!"

I cut her off.

"I don't care about you caring for Liam, so don't care about me caring for Anna."

At those words, Mira instantly fell silent.

She stood there, seemingly lost in thought.

I didn't have time to deal with her. I carried the plate over to Anna.

"Anna, this is from your favorite place. It's definitely delicious."

Anna finally broke into a smile.

"Thank you, Leo."

But Mira snatched it away.

"What do you mean, 'Leo'?"

"What gives you the right to eat what my husband bought?"

"What gives you the right to call my husband that?"

Anna murmured, "But he is my Leo..."

I looked at Mira, exasperated. "What's wrong with you?"

Liam called out again from inside.

Mira surprisingly remained unmoved again, her eyes fixed firmly on me, showing no sign of backing down easily.

In the tense standoff, Liam walked out with red eyes.