After Divorce, Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant-Chapter 113 A Trip To The Old Flowery.

"Shit!" Leonica hissed and staggered back, swinging her hand in a bid to get rid of the burning sensation that the coffee had caused when it poured on her blouse, as well as her hand.

"Leonica, are you okay?" Anastasia was quick to rush to her side, checking on her even before the culprit could utter a word.

And when he finally did, both head snapped his way. "Ms. Romero, are you alright?"

Leonica squinted her eyes at the familiar male. Stuart Reeds, forced a smile, the gesture coming off as a twitch rather than the actual action.

"I’m sorry, I wasn’t minding where I was going, hope you aren’t hurt?" He asked, the tone of his voice carrying a hint of nervousness.

"I’m fine, it was an accident." Leonica answered, ignoring the look of confusion she was getting from Anastasia who was beside her.

Stuart watched as she tried, but failed, grumbling underneath her breath about how she now needed to go home to get a change of cloth.

"Perhaps, I could offer some assistance." He offered, gesturing towards the stain on her chest with handkerchief.

Leonica’s hand stopped moving and her eyes slowly lifted, her gaze locking with his. He smiled once more, this one having an eerie feeling to it.

"I’m fine," She repeated. "It’s not a big deal."

"But, it looks like a big deal."

"Leonica already said she was fine."

Stuart’s eyes snapped to the other female in the hall, his lips pressed into a thin when he spotted Anastasia giving him a deathly look.

He cleared his throat and stuffed the handkerchief he had pulled out back into his pocket. "Of course." He nodded. "I should be on my way, excuse me." He said, giving a respectful bow before walking off.

“Who’s that?” Anastasia asked once he had turned the corner.

“A new employee.” Leonica answered, still trying to brush the wet feeling off her dress. “Shit,” She cursed when the back of her palm stung.

“Stop.” Anastasia scolded, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her away.

“Where are we going?”

“The cafeteria. There should be a first aid box there.”

“For coffee?”

“You have a blister, idiot.”

“It’s just a small one.”

“I swear to god, if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna pour another cup of coffee on you.”

*~*

“Is the pain gone?” Anastasia asked for the third time and Leonica had to stop herself from groaning.

“Annie, it’s been a good half an hour since the accident, the pain is long gone.” She said, finally standing up from the chair Anastasia had forced her to seat in for close to an hour.

She looked around while stretching her limbs, scanning the cafeteria. It was the first time she had been down there in ages, but even so, everything looked the same, as if it hasn’t been ages since she last came down here.

"So, about that man." Anastasia’s voice had her looking back, arching a brow in confusion. "The one upstairs who had bumped into you," She emphasized.

"Ah, Reeds?"

"Whoever he is. What’s he’s deal?" When Leonica bent her head to the side, she added. "His vibe, it was all..."

"... Off." Leonica completed her friend’s sentence. She would have smiled and joked about how entwined their intuitions were, if the situation didn’t demand for a more serious tone.

"I know. Known since the first time we met." She explained.

"And you didn’t say anything?" Anastasia asked. "Do anything?"

"I wish I could, but I don’t have any proof to back up my gut feeling and I don’t want to fire the wrong person." She said.

The moment those words left her mouth, somewhere in her purse, she heard her phone ring out loud.

Anastasia watched her fish the device out before she sassed. "Oh, but now you know where to find your phone."

Leonica sent her an eyes smile before she focused her attention on the device’s screen, her expression dropping a little bit when she saw the call was from Gabriel.

She looked up and sighed, knowing exactly why he was calling, and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to be able to avoid his calls after wrapping herself up in that web of lie yesterday.

"I need to take this for a few seconds," She said, turning to leave.

Anastasia waved her off. "Sure, sure. You go do whatever you want, just leave me here, by myself."

"Annie," Leonica whined, but Anastasia sent her an innocent look. With a sigh, she turned back and walked a couple of foots away from where the sassy noirette was seating.

Pressing the answer icon, she placed the phone near her ear. "Gabriel." She greeted.

"Leonica." Came the sound of his voice through the other line filling her ear and her mind instantly and sending her nerves tingling. "I was starting to wonder if you had bailed on me." He said.

Leonica took a moment to curse his retentive memory. Why does he have to remember everything. She silently snorted, well, not everything.

"Bail on you and miss out on our appointment today? I think not." She sarcastically said.

Gabriel detected the tone in her voice and chuckled. "Well, aren’t you excited."

"Ecstatic." She retorted, shifting her weight onto her other leg and glancing over her shoulder.

Anastasia still sat in her chair, Aid box’s content sprawled out on the table. When she noticed her best friend’s stare, she stuck her tongue out playfully, clearly still bitter over the fact that Leonica had answered her phone now, but not when she had called half of the day yesterday.

"So, where is it that you intend to meet me?" Gabriel’s question snapped her out of her staring contest with her best friend. "My house?" He added in as if answering the question for her.

If she had been with him on the other end, she could have seen the way his face scrunched up at the title ’MY’ house. ’Our’ house was a more familiar term to his lips.

"No," She was quick to say. "Not your house."

"Okay, name your place."

At his question, Leonica thought. She racked her brain, searching for a place that meant something to Gabriel. A place that didn’t have any memory of Angelina.

She found a place, recalling the blissful memories like they were just yesterday.

The small feeling of Bliss those memories had brought were swept up by the recollection that those times had only lasted a brief period and Gabriel later turned into someone even Lila couldn’t recognize.

“I have a places in mind,” She spoke up, earning a hum from the other end to indicate that he was still following along. “The old flowery, down by the riverside. Let’s meet in front.” She started and glances at her watch, trying to tell a free time from now and all her packed hours. “By Five?”

That was seven hours and twenty five minutes from now. Waiting for his answer, Leonica wished he would say that he had something coming up at that time.

“Alright.” Bubble busted. When she wanted to groan internally, Gabriel spoke up again, except this time around, there was something hidden in his voice that instantly made Leonica serious. “Leonica, yesterday...” He paused, hesitating, something Leonica wasn’t yet used to.

“Yes?” She asked.

“No, it’s nothing.” He quickly said and something told her that that part of the conversation had ended, even before it began.

She accepted it with a nod, even though he couldn’t see it. Glancing behind once again, she found Anastasia gathering the aid box’s contents and shoving them in, obviously ready to leave.

“So, five?” She asked.

“Sure.”

“Good, and uh, don’t be late.”

“I never am.” Gabriel said. She could almost feel his smirk from her own end.

With that settled, the line went dead and Leonica clutched the device between her finger, silently praying that the day slowed down from here on out.

*~*

It was five o’clock In the evening when Gabriel stepped out of his car, taking a good look at his surrounding. The area, the atmosphere, it all seemed... Familiar, yet forgotten.

His eyes darted from the green field of grass, to the trees, and then to the river. He didn’t recall much, but his mind told him that this was a place he had come often, yet never enough.

His eyes shifted to the small wooden building right up the road. Flowers and plants of various kind decorated the outside walls, entangling themselves around the building like it was their very source of life.

The door was open and from the inside, he could see that the interior was equally decorated with flowers and people were walking about, picking out flowers for occasions.

Taking a guess, Gabriel decided that the old flowery was most probably a popular tourist spot.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants, he made his way to the front entrance, his eyes not missing a beat.

He took note of each person that walked in and out, and how some of the older folk seemed to give him strange looks, like they knew him, yet didn’t at the same time.

Gabriel walked right through the entrance, his eyes scanning the room.

In the middle of the store was a wooden table with a wide selection of flowers and bouquets. Along the walls, stood shelves holding potted plants.

On the side, was a desk and Gabriel’s eyes went there, only to find a teenage boy sitting, tapping away on his laptop, ignoring the customers.

“You want some flowers buddy?” The teenager asked when he noticed Gabriel, chewing annoyingly on the gum in his mouth.

Gabriel looked away for a split second, a little taken back by the boy’s rude tone.

“I’m looking for a lady.” He replied.

The boy rolled his eyes, clearly not liking the idea of helping people. “Everyone here is looking for a lady. You see one, grab her, and pay at the counter. Duh.”

Gabriel arched his brows, a little shocked that the boy was so unprofessional.

“Is that how you speak to customers?”

The teenaged boy looked up, a smug expression on his face. “It’s not how I speak, it’s how I talk. And the only customer that matters is the one who pays. So, if you’re not paying, you’re not a customer.”

Gabriel opened his mouth, about to speak, when someone beat him to it.

“Well, with that attitude of yours, no one’s gonna be a customer.”

Both men turned around and were met with Leonica. She stood by the door, hand folded across her chest, but that was barely able to hide the blue and green flower print gown that adorned her figure.

The dress had puff short sleeves and a square cut neckline, showing off her neck and collarbone. Her hair was done in a high ponytail, a single curl falling out of place, and her lips were glossy and pink.

She looked... Elegant, not like the Leonica that Gabriel was used to seeing.

The Leonica he’s known for these past few days wore dresses that stood out less, he had began to believe that the only colors in her closet were black and white and she barely wore make up. Nothing fancy even though she could buy out an entire clothing brand if she wished to.

It seemed like his body had grown accustomed to seeing her dress that way, that seeing her all dolled up like this, he wasn’t able to get his mouth to work.

Leonica looked at him, noticing the way his eyes seemed to linger a second too long on her attire. “I said in front, not inside.” She said, pointing towards the front entrance.

Gabriel was snapped out of his trance like state my the sound of her voice.

“Right.” He nodded, clearing his throat and walking past her and out of the shop.

Leonica sighed, but instead of following Gabriel, she walked into the flowery, picked the first bouquet of flowers the caught her eyes and placed the money on the counter.

“I’d learn some manners if I were you, kid.” She said, not caring to see the boy’s reaction, but the sound of his voice as he stuttered out a ‘Thank you, have a nice day, Ma’am’, was good enough for her.

Outside, Gabriel leaned against his car, his eyes fixed on the flowery, waiting for Leonica to walk out, which she did a few minutes later, holding a bunch of colorful flowers.

“You bought those? What for?” He asked as she walked past him and his car.

She neared the river’s sandy shores, stopped for a brief moment to kick off the heels she was wearing and after carrying them in her hands, continued down the sand.

“A memorial,” She simply answered.

Gabriel’s brows furrowed. A memorial? Who? Why? And where? His eyes darted around, searching for anything that resembled a tombstone or a memorial.

But he saw nothing, only a vast sea of water, flowing peacefully with the wind blowing softly.

He watched as Leonica walked up to a tree. It was a tree that was different from the others, its bark a shade of light brown while the rest was a dark, almost black shade.

From where he stood, Gabriel could see a name craved into the tree.

Pablo.

Who’s Pablo? He thought as he watched as Leonica knelt down and placed the flowers near the base of the tree, her eyes closing for a few seconds as she said a brief prayer and then turned back to face him.

Gabriel’s eyes scanned her face. She looked different, like a child who had lost something, something dear to her.

She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulder. For the first time, Gabriel saw what Leonica actually looked like without the look of hostility or alertness on her face.

“Gabriel, meet Pablo, our bestest best friend.”