I Don’t Want To Be A Wife!

A Very Long Dream

Be interested in who they are as a person and listen to everything they say.

Make them feel appreciated and special.

Smile a lot.

Touch them more often.

Embrace what the other person is most passionate about.

They were all helpful but how can he execute them in real life?

He tried to think about it, he was never in a relationship but he tried to imagine himself in the situation, he wanted to try out this steps but he didn’t know on who, he had no one he wanted to be in love with him, he didn’t have a friend to ask to help him, so he just asked his assistant, who gave him solid information.

“The first three step is great but I am not sure about the fourth one, it feels a bit creepy to do that, as a girl, if someone just starts touching me all of a sudden while smiling, it would just make me want to keep my distance and the fifth one, I am not sure about, a person should have their own interests, not just what the person he likes likes, and as they say, opposites attract, so I think it’s okay, if you are not the same as the person you like.” She said, and Kin took notes and thanked her after, before leaving to pick up Layla.

Layla was back home and ready to execute her plan to make her brothers fall in love with each other, not knowing that they have been over that and that Kin was trying to make Lucas fall for Leonard, which was turning to be a complete failure because neither of them like the other person in the slightest bit, not even as human beings, they despised each other’s existence and couldn’t wait for the other person to disappear from their life, forever.

That was ignored by Kin, who was still hoping for them to eventually turn their hatred towards each other into love, which wasn’t going to happen as far as they were concerned.

“Should we end this game? I can’t stand going on another date with you.”

“As much as I would love that, we can’t, Kin wants us to be together and we can’t just break up without even dating.”

“Then how about you become my fake boyfriend? We will date for a few months, show Kin how bad we are for each other, and eventually break up.”

“That sounds good to me but are you sure?”

“Yes, only if you will become my partner.”

“I knew you would say that.”

“I guess you know me too well.”

“I will become your partner.”

“Yes!”

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course we did."

"Why do you look weird?"

"Weird? We are not weird."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Anyway! Let's go out today, it's been so long since we went out altogether."

"We can't, we are meeting mom and dad in two days, and we need to go to the other house to arrange it because someone forgot to tell their parents they moved. We need to contact the butlers and maids to arrange for their return."

"I already did and since they have been taking care of the house for the whole month we weren't there, we don't need to go today, the head butler can take care of everything."

"I am not sure, don't we need to assist them and tell them what to do?"

"There is no need to do that; let's just go out and have fun like rich kids, we have that privilege."

"But I have a job and I can't skip a day."

"Then let's go out tomorrow, it's Saturday and we can spend the whole together."

"We can even plan what to do like that."

"But....."

"Please?"

"Pretty please?"

"Okay okay, stop with the puppy eyes."

"Yes!"

"I have to get ready now."

"Ok, and we will make you breakfast."

"Thank you."

"Lu, are you keeping a secret from me?"

“We can talk more tomorrow.” Lin smiled sweetly at him, reassuring him with the smile that it won’t be the last time they talked to each other, Leonard nodded with a light blush, being embarrassed with how his emotions were shown on his face, he was known to have a cold expression and people found out hard to read him, so what changed when he was around Lin?

Leonard said goodbye to his house and stared at the wall for a couple of minutes, not knowing that this particular activity would become a habit for him this night and each time he meets Lin. When he finished staring at the wall, he smiled and thought: ‘He can change me.

Lin woke up the next day, feeling refreshed and relaxed, he slowly got off of the bed and went to the bathroom, washing his face and brushing his teeth, and once he got out, he noticed that Layla wasn’t there, he was sleepy earlier so he didn’t pay attention to the paper sitting on the nightstand, but now he did and he went to check it out.

What was written in it was that she left to go meet a friend and will come back by lunchtime, she told him not to worry about her and to enjoy his time with his friend.

“Oh yeah, I am supposed to hang out with Leonard, agh.” Lin rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, to see if Leonard sent him any messages, after their phone conversation yesterday, which consisted of hey and goodnight, neither of them bothered to send another message, or at least that’s what Lin thought, because apparently, Leonard sent him ten text messages, an hour ago, which were different types of greetings.

Lin laughed out loud, thinking about Leonard sitting in front of his phone, wondering what type of message to send and ending up sending all of them, he could picture his face clearly without any problems, a nervous look on his face, biting his nails and moving his foot up and down fast, the habit he noticed he had, each time their conversation stopped yesterday, it was kind of jarring seeing him like that, he felt as if he was a shy high school student who was trying to make friends for the first time in his life.

Anyway; there was no time to think about how adorable Leonard is, he had to reply.

Hello Lin

Lin walked downstairs and opened the fridge, to look for something to make for breakfast and since there was only a few eggs and tomatoes, he decided to make some scrambled egg with tomatoes with orange juice, but before he could start cooking, Leonard replied to him, so he decided to let the cooking for now and sit down to reply.

How are you? Leonard

I am good, you? Lin

I am alright

Do you want to go out for breakfast? Leonard

Hmm Lin

Please say yes Leonard

Okay, then I will meet you at your house, to give you your car back and we can decide where to go Lin

No, you can keep it until your car gets repaired and I will not accept a no Leonard

Alright, then where do you want to meet? Lin

Choose a cafe and tell me their location Leonard

Let’s go to my favorite place, Caramel Crush! Lin

Okay, I will meet you there in half an hour Leonard

Fine with me, see ya Lin

See ya, Leonard

Leonard didn’t know what that meant but since Lin wrote it, he figured why not write it as well? Talking about Lin, he had to get ready, so that he won’t be late since he doesn’t even know where the place is and has to google it to find out, which will take a while.

“Which is better?” Leonard stood in front of the mirror with two suits in his hands, putting each one in his body and wondering which one is better, he didn’t know what to choose or if he should even wear a suit, what do people wear on dates?

The best way to know was to google it and find out, and thank goodness he did, it was not a suit at all, it said to wear jeans and a button-down shirt, which he didn’t have so he quickly got his wallet and phone, left the house and rushed to his car, to go to a clothing store and find something proper to wear for his date, which will be in twenty minutes, he needs to hurry up!

Leonard panicked, once he heard Lin’s words, did he just get caught staring at him? Did he catch him watching him and smiling? But he wasn’t staring at him for that long, he only stared at him for a few seconds because he was driving and he had to focus on the road, plus, Lin did it first! He was the one who stared at him for half an hour or so, making him nervous and almost reacting.

But wait, maybe he wasn’t talking about the staring thing, maybe he was talking about something else he has done, he didn’t know if he should be happy about that or worry about it, but he can think about that later, he has been for way too long and Lin is getting suspicious of him.

Leonard took a deep breath and said: “Doing what?”

“Being with me, asking me out on a ‘date’,” Lin responded and Leonard was glad it wasn’t about the staring thing until he proceeded what he said, the realization hit him and he stopped worrying about the staring and became serious, turning for a brief second to look at Lin and tell him the real reason behind his actions.

“I want to change.” Leonard wanted to be honest with Lin because if he truly hoped for a change, he doesn’t need any lies to be present in the relationship they will be having, he knew that no relationship succeeded with lies, he learned it from his parents and he doesn’t want to go through problems because, on a certain day he was too scared to say something, it’s always better to say the truth.

“Change? What do you mean by change?” Lin didn’t get what Leonard said, why would he want to change, he had a perfect life, perfect face and body, why would he need to change anything?

“I want to be a social person and interact with people more.” Leonard expressed his desire and Lin still couldn’t understand him, after all, he was the man who made Layla sad so he doesn’t believe anything he said or would say because his brain is wired to hate Leonard and anything he says or do.

Though his heart was a different story, he felt bad for him and wanted to help him, but his brain kept saying what kind of person Leonard was, based on the book and stopped him from trying to help, proceeding to act cold and uncaring, pretending not to give a damn, saying: “Then do it.”

“I can’t, I don’t know how to.”

“What makes you think that I know how? I don’t have any friends nor a lover, the only person in my life is La....my roommate.”

“And I have no one, I am all alone.”

“That’s your problem, not mine, so leave me alone and go find someone else.”

“But I want you.”

“And I don’t!”

“Why?”

“We are strangers! I don’t know you and you don’t know me and it will be better if it stays that way.”

“But I want us to be more than just strangers.”

“And I don’t! You are bad! You made her sad and killed her, I don’t want to be near someone like you!”

“Are you talking about Layla? She is the one who broke up with me and I never did anything to her.”

“And that’s your problem! You never did anything and when you did, you destroyed everything, and because of what? Because of a girl that appeared in your life in two months, Layla deserved better than you and you can go drown in your money if that’s what you want.”

“That’s not what I want! I want to have someone in my life and people who care about me for me and not for my money.”

“Then get rid of it, if you do that, I would believe you and help you gain friends.”

“Okay, I will.” Leonard calmly said then stopped the car, having reached the amusement park; they didn’t get down though, Lin asked him to take him home and he obliged, doing so in complete silence until they reached the house, Lin asked him to take back his car and delete phone number but Leonard protested, only accepting to take back the car and not delete his phone number, claiming that he will contact him again when gets rid of his wealth, Lin only nodding and not believing him because what person would get rid of his money to have friends?

Well, Leonard does, because a week later, while Lin was preparing lunch, he saw the news about Leonard Yuhi giving away his wealth and all of his money to the different associations, donating all of it to multiple causes, and handing over all of his business to one of his employees, and they were having an interview with that employee, who told them that his boss saw potential in him.

Lin put down all that he had in his hands and sat down on the couch, listening to the interview.

“The boss told me that he trusts me to lead the company and I will do my best to exceed his expectations.”

“Do you know why he made this decision?”

“He said that someone told him that they won’t be with him unless he does this, I didn’t believe him at first but seeing how serious he looked, I believed him.”

“Where is Mr. Leonard right now?”

“Giving away his homes and cars to our most hardworking employees.”

“Are you sure about this information?”

“Yes, because I got one too.”

“Oh, I wish I worked here, ha-ha.”

“Everyone does.” The lucky employee laughed as well, glad that he worked here for as long as he did and gave it his all, he did his best and it was noticed by the boss, which made him believe that the world was fair indeed, after he endured all the bullying and mistreatment, his coworkers and higher-ranked employees taking advantage of him, he finally escaped all of that and was now the big boss, he considered himself the luckiest man alive because indeed he was and it was all thanks to his boss, he would remember this for life and will try to repay him by not disappointing him and trying his hardest to make his company as successful as possible.

“Does this mean Mr. Leonard is no longer the youngest billionaire in the country?” The interviewer was curious, it wasn’t in the cards, but as a fan of Leonard and a dreamer of being his future wife, she wondered what will happen to Leonard from now on and she wanted to see if the employee knew anything about it.

“Technically no but he still is the only successor of the Yuhi’s family, and after disturbing his wealth, they are the richest family in the country so he is still the richest man in the country, maybe not the number one billionaire but still in the top five at least.”

Everyone in the company knew about Leonard’s situation, so after he gave away everything he had, speculations started coming out on what was going to happen to Leonard’s title as the richest man in the country and the youngest billionaire alive and the one the employee said was one of them.

“He did not....”

“Who did what?”

A week ago, when Lin came back home, after the failed date, he found Layla sitting in the living room, in front of a black screen, just staring blankly at it, as if she was waiting for someone, waiting for him; once she heard his steps coming her way, she turned to look at him coldly, asking him where he was, him simply replying that he was with a friend.

“Who is this friend of yours?” Layla asked him, staring at him with cold eyes, ones he have never seen before, even when they had fights or disagreed on something, she never acted this way, it seemed like he was in real trouble this time.

“The one I told you about, Leo,” Lin answered and his answer made Layla angrier, so he was hiding the fact that he met her ex from her? Why? Why would he do that? Are they doing something behind her back? And Leo, is he the same one who came to their home the other day?

“Oh, so you gave him a nickname?” Layla got up furiously and looked at Lin, feeling betrayed, he had never given her a nickname in the two years they were together, even though when he told her his real name, she immediately gave him a nickname; she didn’t know that Lin didn’t give Leonard a nickname, he was just trying to hide the truth from her, without directly lying to her, which only backfired and made things worse for him.

“What?” Lin exclaimed, knowing that at this point he can’t hide it anymore, but he was still trying to hide it for as long as he can, which was two seconds at most.

“It’s Leonard, isn’t he? You are meeting him behind my back.” Layla knew and he now knew that she knew, which made things more complicated.

“What do you mean by that? I just didn’t want to mention his name in front of you since I thought you would hurt because of it.” Lin tried to explain but for Layla, it only seemed as if he was making up excuses and hiding the fact that he just didn’t want her to know.

“I am more hurt than you were meeting him without telling me.” Layla’s angry expression changed to a sad one and it was as if her puppy’s eyes were down and she was pouting, making Lin sign and approach her.

“It’s not that big of a deal, I only met him today and I am not meeting him again anytime soon, so rest assured.” Lin patted her head and she immediately hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest and taking in his scent, which was slightly mixed with a strong cologne, she could smell a faint of a mint scent on him, Leonard favorite scent.

Some of Leonard’s perfume rubbed off on him when he left the car since Leonard hugged him before he left, saying that it will make the dog happy, he said it sarcastically and he didn’t understand what he means with it, they don’t have a dog or even a pet, neither of them is ready for that responsibility yet but since he felt for his harsh words, he left him to give him a two-minute hug and then entered the house.

“Promise me you won’t meet him.” Layla pouted and looked up, to see his face, while her arms were still wrapped around his waist, begging him with her eyes to make the promise, that he was sure that he was going to break so he couldn’t.

“I promise I will tell you if I meet him.” Lin changed the promise and made it, his heart telling him that it’s the better option, sensing that he would be meeting Leonard in the future, more than once or twice.

“Can’t you promise me what I said?” Layla said, quivering her lips and giving him puppy eyes, but he wasn’t going to fall for it this time.

“No, because I am not going to run away if he comes facing me.”

“But you will try, right? For me?” Layla was frowning and pouting as hard as she could, to convince Lin to agree to her statement and he did.

“I will so stop frowning, you will get wrinkles.” Lin put his finger in the middle of Layla’s eyebrows to stop her from frowning and it did, Layla smiled and the frown disappeared in mere milliseconds.

“I don’t have a problem if I do because I have you.”

“What about your future husband? What would he think?”

“I don’t care, if he doesn’t like me with wrinkles, he doesn’t deserve me.”

“You are right.” Lin nodded and thought of a saying: ‘if you don’t like me at my worst then you don’t deserve me at my best.’

“I am impressed.” Lin said, being completely honest; he was impressed with how Leonard was willing to give everything he had to work hard to accomplish for years, just to be social and have more friends, it was innocent in a way, completely contradicting what was previously said about him in the story, so maybe he should stop relying on the story’s information and start looking at Leonard for who he truly was because this world was real too, it’s not just a book anymore, it’s where he was going to spend the rest of his life.

“By what?” Leonard curiously asked, not seeing anything impressive with what he did from the last time he saw Lin, what changed? Was it giving away his wealth? Because that’s not that impressive, anyone would have done it to live a better life.

Actually no, people wouldn’t have done it, many would have preferred the money over the social life and having friends, but he doesn’t, money can burn in hell for all he cares, it never brought him any good anyway, it didn’t help him in anything other than making him momentarily happy.

“By your seriousness, I didn’t believe you at first when you said that you wanted to change and when I told you to get rid of your wealth, I didn’t expect you to do it, so sorry for doubting you.” Lin felt extremely bad for making fun of Leonard inside of his head and calling him a rich kid that would never be able to let go of the golden spoon that fed him, but when he rethought everything in the house and on the way here, he decided to help Leonard make many friends and become a social butterfly.

“It’s fine, anyone would feel the same if a rich man comes knocking on your door and tells you to change him,” Leonard said, making fun of himself, he felt stupid for what he did, he should have done it in a better way but he still doesn’t know how he would have done that, so he needed to find out.

“I see you learned some common sense.” Lin laughed lightly, reminded of the day Leonard came to his door, it was one weird day.

“Yes, that was thanks to my acquaintance.” Leonard talked to Mark all week, he got his number after his second visit and Mark didn’t stop texting him ever since, talking to him about random stuff and even video calling him, to show off his fiancé and introduce them to each other; he didn’t know why he did that, since they weren’t friends, or were they, friends? What was the definition of friends anyway?

“Sure, they aren’t your friend? If you are close enough to them that they teach you about common sense, I think they are more than an acquaintance.”

“You think so? I will ask him later.” Leonard never thought of Mark as a friend. After all, he thought that Mark only spoke to him, because he felt obliged to as a*****e owner, but maybe that wasn’t the case? Maybe he already had a friend, that he doesn’t know about.

“Okay, remember that friends are just people who you talk to and become closer to as time goes on, don’t complicate it for yourself.”

“Does that mean we are friends?” Leonard thought about it and came up to a conclusion, that made him have a huge smile.

“Yes, kind of.” Lin couldn’t say no to that so he agreed, they were going to be friends, for now.

“Thank you!” Leonard

“For what?” Lin

“For being my friend.” Leonard

“You are really cute.” Lin said under his breath and Leonard didn’t hear him.

“What?”

“What is your friend's goal, how many do you want to have?” Lin immediately changed the subject and made it about having friends again, the main topic, for why they met today.

“Three? If I can become their friend then I will try my hardest!” Leonard just wanted to have people around him, he didn’t care for how much they were or who they were, if they were willing to be his friends then he would be the best friend they could ever have!

“Okay, so the best way to gain friends is by being at crowded places like schools and workplaces, oh by the way, what are you going to do from now on? You quit your job after all.” If he hasn’t told him to quit, maybe they would have no problems with this step, but that wasn’t the case, Leonard had no job and no way of contacting anyone so that would raise a problem.

“I don’t know, I am still thinking about it.” Leonard

“Do you have a dream job? Did you ever dream of becoming something?” Lin

“Not really, it was all about making money since I was young and even if I had a dream job, I don’t remember it.” Leonard

Ever since he was young, it was never about what he wanted, it was about what they wanted from him and what he had to achieve, he had no time to dream, he had to make their dreams a reality and when he escaped making his dream true, he forgot what he was even dreaming about and ended up becoming what they wanted him to be.

“Was there something you liked to do as a child?” Lin shouldn’t be saying this, since he had no idea what he wanted to do, he was still in college back in his world and now he was suddenly someone past 25 and he needed to survive in society, luckily for him, he had Layla, but for how long?

“Hmm, baking with my mom, when I was younger, I really liked sweets and even though my grandmother and father didn’t like it and would scold my mom for making and feeding me sweets, she would come to my room and take me to the kitchen so that we can make sweets together, she would always smile while we are doing it and feed me all kind of delicious cakes, those were one of my best memories in life.” Leonard

“Then why don’t you become a baker? I am not sure if you like sweets anymore but if it made you happy when you were young, I am guessing it would do the same now.” Lin

“I will think about it.” Leonard

“Great, anyway, workplaces, you can talk to people there and have conversations with them, but you need to respect the protocol and be careful not to bother them.” Lin

“Noted.” Leonard