Leandro held Jessica in his arms while she laid her head on his chest and cried her eyes out. She could not control herself from crying when Alexander treated her that way. Sure, it was not the first time he hurt her but it hurts her every single time. Because when they got together the first time, she had fell in love with him and wished only good to him. While he only used her to get an heir out of her. But when they got to know that Jessica cannot get conceived, Alexander's plan had gone down the drain and he began to seek pleasure outside and left Jessica to grieve on her own for her inability to reproduce children.
Jessica moved away from Leandro's chest and looked at the mess that her makeup had made on his shirt. What she did not realise was that her face was smudged as well.
"I am really sorry, Leandro. I did not mean to ruin your shirt," she tried to wipe his shirt.
Leandro chuckled at her kindness and he held hand and spoke, "Relax, Sweetheart. It does not really matter. I just feel bad about not punching on the bastard's face."
She shook her head, "No. No. Don't do it please."
"Do you still love him?" Leandro could not believe that Jessica was still defending her ex-husband.
"No. I don't. I just don't want you to ruin your reputation because of him. He is not worth it," she said it with genuine concern towards Leandro's career.
He shook his head and squeezed her hands tightly, "Not at all. Even if my reputation is ruined it will be all be fine as long as he learns his lesson."
Leandro then took her to his car and made her sit and moved towards the driver's seat.
He drove the car into the drive way and drove silently for some time in between glancing at Jessica who was busy staring outside the window, deeply immersed in her thoughts. She wondered how her day went from all happy to sad with just the presence of Alexander.
"Can I ask you something?" Leandro broke the silence. Jessica turned to him and nodded her head as a yes. But she was quite nervous on the inside.
"You can choose to not answer too," he said to make her less nervous. She simply nodded her head.
"Why did you stay with him for so long even after knowing his true character?"
Jessica knew the answer to it but she did not know if that would make her dumb. But nevertheless, she decided to be honest with Leandro, "I loved him."
"I loved him, at one point of my life. And I just could not throw away everything easily. I was too attached and cared about him."
"You know that he is not worthy of it," Leandro made his point.
Jessica nodded her head, "But, I feel like I am one of the reasons he became like that."
Leandro was more than curious to know about it, "Why do you think so?"
"Some time into our marriage, we wanted to have kids. I was excited about becoming a mother. He had huge expectation about having kids with me. But it was all shattered when my gynaecologist told us that I am infertile and cannot even produce eggs to have kids through surrogacy or something."
Leandro's heart broke at this point. He felt extremely bad for Jessica and felt angered at Alexander. How can he blame her for this? It is not her doing? It is her health condition and how was she to be blamed for it?
"So, things between us did not go well from then on. We did try a lot of treatments but nothing worked."
Leandro pulled the over the curb and looked at her, "Do not blame yourself."
Jessica did not reply anything and simply stated at Leandro.
He repeated his words, "Do not blame yourself for it. It is not your fault. And if he did not understand you through your pain then he did not love you at all. So don't blame yourself."
Jessica's heart aches from listening to Leandro's words. He was young yet so knowledgeable. He knew life better than most of the people Jessica has ever come across with in her life. He did not have to be said things twice and he did not have to be explained everything. He could just read Jessica just by looking at her eyes.
Fresh tears had made its way into Jessica's eyes. Leandro leaned down and held her close enough for her to place her head on his shoulder. He did not drive until she had calmed down.
When he noticed that she was quite calm, he asked her, "Do you want to eat ice cream?"
She chuckled at the words. Ice cream was her all time favourite dessert and her partner in tears.
"Yes, please," she said making Leandro smile at her.
He drove to the nearby ice cream parlor and got her inside the place. Since it was pretty late, there were very few customers.
Leandro and Jessica ordered their choice of ice creams and sat down at a table.
"I am going to the restroom," she said to him and walked away. She knew by now that she had to make her face a little presentable and did not want the look from anyone else which the guy at the counter had given because of her smudged makeup. Anyone who saw her now would think that she had a break up and make up with Leandro.
By the time she came back to the table, the ice creams were served and Leandro was looking at his phone. She took her seat and Leandro locked his phone and gave his attention to her.
They began to have their ice creams in silence. Leandro looked at her and got an idea in his mind. He pulled her chair close to his making her jump out of fright.
"That scared me, Leandro," she said, slightly pouting.
He chuckled at her and took a spoon full of his ice cream and put it in front of her mouth signaling her to eat it.
She continued to pout and took the ice cream in her mouth. It disappeared in her mouth in a quick second. Leandro continued to feed her. It was basically Jessica eating her ice cream and also Leandro's.
"Don't you like ice cream?" she asked him with doubt.
"No," he replied and continued to feed her. She felt bad for agreeing for ice cream.
"I am sorry. I did not know that you did not like ice cream,"
"Stop being sorry for everything. I was the one who proposed for ice cream. And I don't mind feeding you ice cream even if I don't like it."
His words silenced her for the rest of their time at the ice cream parlor. He fed her full and wiped her lips with tissue and held her hand and went to his car. She followed him like a little kitten.
They reached Jessica's home after a long drive and Leandro helped her to get out of the car. She was fiddling with her dress wondering how to say goodbye to him. Is it ok for her to give him a hug and kiss on his cheek? Would he be ok with that?
Her thoughts came to an halt when Leandro pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly. She took a few seconds to analyze what was happening and then hugged him back. He leaned back only enough to place a kiss on her forehead.
"I will see you tomorrow at my office," he said and she nodded her head and placed a sweet peck on his cheek before going inside her home.