Duke! I miss you so much too!" said Leena loudly as she completely ignored her brother's sarcastic criticism. Who cared about what he said? All that was important to her was that he was her brother and she loved him too. She hurriedly let go of Belinda and jumped to Duke's arms. She was smiling broadly as she squeezed her brother tight. There was contentment in her eyes and she couldn't be happier at that moment.
"Hum! Do you miss me? I don't think so. Would you even come home to see me tonight if I didn't give you the final order?" Duke said indifferently. He seemed to have made up his mind of staying angry with Leena for a while. He wanted to teach her a lesson.
Fine. It's all my fault. Would you forgive me this time, brother? Just take a look at my eyes, please. Do you see how sincerely I am trying to apologize to you?" She looked up at Duke straightly and instantly had an eye to eye contact with him. She gave him a poor puppy stare and blinked a couple of times. She acted like a poor and wrongly treated girl. It was so obvious that she was acting to get her brother's sympathy but the question was, would it work on Duke?
Haha! So that's what you're calling sincere? Who would believe you, Leena?" Belinda interrupted mockingly. She couldn't help but laugh out loud upon seeing Leena's cute face. Belinda knew that she should be helping Leena as her sister-in-law. However, she chose to peel off her disguise instead. It seemed that Leena's act was not gaining any results anyway, or maybe not for Belinda at least. Leena had made herself look cute but not pitiful. So her effort to soothe Duke was at least partly in vain and the result was not even ideal.
"Oh my God! Belinda come on! Aren't you my sister-in-law? You are supposed to help me out here. Where'd you get the heart to make things even worse for me? Which side are you on?" Leena pouted unhappily as she spoke in a resentful voice. The fact that Belinda wasn't helping her was bad enough. However, Belinda's truth-telling had just made things worse. How she wished to zip her sister-in-law's overly honest mouth! She really wanted to make up with Duke but nothing seemed to be working on her way. 'What a terrible world! No one loves me anymore and no one is helping me. Even Belinda is making fun of me now. Where's the love, guys?' thought Leena disappointedly.
"Okay, fine! Just keep on. I promise I won't say a single word from now on. Let's see if your brother will listen to you and forgive you. After all, he has been thinking and talking about his baby sister every day. He was worried if you were eating enough and if you were dressing up correctly. It's not easy to stop him from caring about you. Moreover, it is even harder to stop him from being mad at you because of your nonchalant attitude to his love. You haven't come back to see your brother for a long time. You didn't even give him a call. My girl, let me send you my condolences beforehand, you will die under his fury this time," Belinda said and then shook her head. The relationship between Leena and Duke was hopeless. There were even times when Belinda found it hard to stand Duke's sister-complex. He was just over-concern, over-protective and overreacting about his little sister. It was still a surprise to Belinda after marrying Duke for so long that he could always have this much care for his sister. Nonetheless, Duke was also a living contradiction. He might have missed Leena like mad but never had he once initiated a phone call to Leena either. He just kept waiting for his little sister to call. This was how their issue started. It was bothering her to see Leena and Duke this way. If only she could do something about it.
"My dear brother, Duke, Mr. Cold, Mr. Handsome, Mr. Gorgeous, look at my face. My face has become slimmer because I have been missing you for so long." Leena pathetically tried a bit more to win his brother's heart. This was her last resort on mending Duke's vulnerable and broken heart. She couldn't think of anything else to do anymore. She was praying for Duke to look at her when Lloyd suddenly sprayed and coughed out the tea he had just drunk, which suddenly alarmed everyone.
Dad, are you all right?" asked Belinda anxiously. She urgently pulled out a piece of tissue-towel and handed it to Lloyd. She was worried that there might be something wrong with his health.
"Ahem! Don't worry. I'm fine," replied Lloyd as he coughed badly to choke the water out. He had been trying so hard to suppress his laughter when he was done. He was half smirking and half smiling when he threw a glare to his unpredictable daughter. Hadn't she just told him that she had gained weight? She even said that her face was rounder than before! How did her face turn slimmer in just a matter of minutes? Didn't her face slim down too fast? What did her daughter do while talking with her brother? Eating diet pills? Having liposuction?
Of course, Leena knew why her father had sprayed out the tea. What she just said had contradicted what she had said to her father earlier. These were both jokes anyway and no one should take them too seriously. Thus, she kept blinking at Lloyd to signal him to shut up. Belinda had already slipped, she couldn't afford for her Dad to do the same thing. It was lucky though that Lloyd regained his posture in an instant and stopped himself from laughing. Leena knew that Duke wasn't really mad at the moment. However, she was also aware that it would be impossible to soothe Mr. Cold's anger once he got serious. Leena really didn't want that.
Meanwhile, Claire was left frozen on her spot as she could only look at Leena with a blank stare. She felt like she was getting less and less familiar with her sister-in-law tonight. The Leena who was with her now wasn't the same Leena she had known. Was this the real Leena? It was only then that Claire thought of how much she never really tried to learn about Leena. Leena could act so freely and casually before her family and intimate friends, whom she loved and cared about. She could be cunning sometimes, but also smart. She was sweet but a little evil. Sometimes she was naughty and mischievous; sometimes she was simple and pure; sometimes she was sophisticated and intelligent. She could be both artful and artless. She was a contradiction, a ball where everything blended perfectly, which was impossible for anyone else to do. Nonetheless, it was this side of Leena that had confused Claire the most tonight. She would really need to contemplate about this.