The Billionaire’s Aloof Wife

A sour taste rose from her stomach. Leila lowered her head and swallowed the lump in her throat.

Indeed, Zachary patiently taught her to drive, and Leila learned quickly. Driving was one of the things she took pride in. It was a pity, though. Because she learned to drive, she accidentally killed someone.

If Zachary found out that she was the reason why his mother died, he would probably regret teaching her to drive.

"What are you dawdling for? Get in the car." Zachary said impatiently and tossed the car key to her. He closed his eyes and put his arm on his forehead as he leaned against the seat.

Leila stared at him for a moment before she got into the driver's seat. She squeezed the key and put it inside the keyhole, but her hands were trembling.

She was starting to become queasy. Fear emerged in her eyes, and her gaze blurred with haze. What happened five years ago was replaying in front of her as if it was happening right now.

The raging fire that frantically swallowed her seemed to burn her alive.

'Snap out of your senses! It's long gone. Come on. You can do it!' Even though she comforted herself, her fingers were cold and stiff like icicles.

She fiddled for a long time before finally inserting the key into the keyhole.

Leila sighed in relief, but her body went rigid when she saw Zachary staring at her.

'Damn! I thought he had fallen asleep!' She swore inside her head.

She averted her gaze and started the engine.

"Back then, you were confident in driving and drove smoothly. It never crossed my mind that you'll be afraid of driving now. Tell me, is there anything that doesn't frighten you?"

Leila bit her lips and refused to look at him. But she could feel his heated gaze on her face that almost bore a hole in her skin.

"What made you afraid of driving?" Zachary queried.

"I just don't want to," she muttered.

"Just don't want to? Or because it had something to do with what happened back then?" His eyebrows arched as he looked at Leila's side frame.

"Would you still teach me to drive if you knew something like that would happen?" Her eyelashes trembled as she fought the urge to cry.

'Do you regret it?' she asked inside her mind. Afraid that Zachary would say he did, she didn't dare to ask. If that happened, she didn't know how she would comfort herself.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Zachary's hoarse voice rang again.

Zachary flashed a small smile. "When did I say I regret teaching you? Even if I didn't teach you, you would have learned it when you were eighteen. Moreover, it's a good thing that I taught you because you'll still remember me."

When Leila heard this, her heart skipped a beat as a wave of warmth spread through her veins. She chewed her inside cheek and suppressed her emotions from emerging on the surface.

Zachary pulled out the cigarette case from his pocket, pulled a stick, and lit it.

Caught him red-handed, Leila shot him a look and wanted to stop him from smoking. After all, the man had a sick stomach at that moment. However, no words came out when she opened her mouth to say something.

Coincidentally, Zachary looked at her. Leila was stunned and immediately coughed to mask her embarrassment. Then she turned her head and looked straight ahead, concentrating on driving.

Zachary didn't puff a cigarette. A profound glint flitted into his eyes. He looked at the cigarette in his hand before throwing it out of the window.

After that, neither of them spoke again. Not long after, the two arrive at the Leighton Corporation.

Leila drove to the underground garage and parked the car. She saw Secretary Moore and Zachary's bodyguards were already waiting for them.

She pushed the door open and alighted from the vehicle. Secretary Moore approached her and greeted her with a smile.

"Miss Wright, President. Leighton has an important meeting, so we need to leave now. Later, I'll draft the contract and discuss the terms with you. Do you think it's okay to sign it tomorrow?"

Leila smiled and nodded. "Yes. But Zachary had just drunk a cup of black coffee. He's not feeling well, so I think it's best to send him to the hospital."

"Okay. I'll call the doctor over. Thank you, Miss Wright." Sunshine bowed and got inside the driver's seat.

"Alright."

Zachary glanced at Leila's neck, and his eyes gleamed with displeasure. He felt anger thrumming in his veins, so he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Leila took a couple of steps backward as the car made a U-turn. Sunshine raised her hand and waved at Leila before driving away.

Leila was left in the parking lot, staring at the receding car, and heaved a deep sigh.

She began walking and headed to the Imperial Medical Hospital. It was the hospital where her grandmother stayed when she fell ill until the day she died.

Back then, her grandmother bought it because she was impressed by the hospital's location and medical conditions. Before she died, she bequeathed the hospital to Leila, which wasn't one of the properties under the Wrights.

As luck would have it, no one in the family knew that the Imperial Medical Hospital belonged to Leila. Hence, she was pretty relieved to put her childhood friend there.

When she arrived at the hospital, she went straight to the top floor, where there was only one room—the VVIP ward.

Leila nodded to the bodyguards guarding the door. One of them respectfully opened the door, and Leila went inside.

Shortly after, the hospital's dean rushed to the ward and reported Allen's condition to Leila.

The doctor said Allen's state was not optimistic. His condition was gradually declining, and there was only a slight chance he would wake up.

Leila's fist clenched. She could feel everyone in the room looking at her with pity. She lowered her head and spoke softly, "All of you, get out."

The dean nodded, and they left and closed the door.

Leila sat on the chair next to the bed and stared at the handsome young man lying on the bed.

Allen had been sleeping in this hospital bed since he was twenty. It had been five years since then, and he was now twenty-five. He was in the prime of his life, but there he was, spending his time in the hospital.

Facing her childhood friend, Leila found herself talking about many things that had happened to her in the past five years. The sun had already set, yet her stories went on. She kept talking until her voice had become hoarse.

The moonlight shone on Allen's face, illuminating his delicate features. Leila stared at his face. Then her gaze crawled down to his bony fingers. On his right pinky finger, there was a tail ring.

She let out a long sigh, took off her necklace, and then put the ring next to Allen's finger.

The two fine diamonds in the rings shone brightly under the moonlight, which made her eyes hurt. She blinked and averted her eyes, staring at the window.

A strange wind gusted, and Leila seemed to hear Allen's gentle voice in her ears.

'Leila! Why are you wearing a man's ring?'

The young girl looked at Allen and smiled sweetly. 'This is my engagement ring. When I find someone I love, I'll propose to him with this ring.'

Then the young girl was surprised when she saw Allen also bought the same style of women's ring with all the money he earned from working for three years.

'Why did you buy that?'

'Of course, when a girl proposes to me one day, I can't let her go back empty-handed,' he responded with a dazzling smile.

Leila woke up from her trance and stared at the rings in front of her. She burst into laughter, but tears brimmed through her eyes.

"Allen, we have known each other for eighteen years, and I must say, you've been so good to me. Even though it's painful to think you'll be gone for good, if that happens, you'll be free from heartaches and pain. I'll pray for your soul, so you'll be reborn into a good family. In that lifetime, you'll never be hungry again. No one will ridicule you, and you'll never remember me. Someone like me isn't worth remembering."

After she said that, she wiped her tears and rose from the chair. She went out and gently closed the door.

It was already the dead of night, and only her footsteps echoed in the corridor. Leila headed to the elevator and pressed the ground floor. Shortly after, she stepped out of the elevator and wandered around the deserted street.

Unknowingly, she had reached the mall. She stopped in her tracks, raised her head, and looked at the LCD screen that was displaying today's news outside the mall.

Zachary was clad in a gray business suit, attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a hotel.

As far as Leila knew, the Leightons built that hotel. It was the first six-star hotel in Tesanera City.

Even though she could only see him on the screen, she could feel his imposing and austere aura. His devilishly handsome face was highly eye-catching. Coupled with his smile, Leila was certain most ladies in the city would fall in love with him. Despite that, Zachary's eyes gleamed with the astuteness that businessmen had.

Leila unknowingly watched the news until the end. After the ribbon-cutting, Zachary refused all interviews and brushed past the crowds as he got inside the luxury car.

Subsequently, the news came to a halt as Zachary left.

Leila's forehead scrunched up. She inexplicably felt that Zachary's complexion was pallid, as if he didn't have enough blood.

She abruptly raised her head and saw countless raindrops begin to fall. She walked toward a nearby waiting shed and stayed there as the rain became heavy. The wind blew briskly along with the raindrops, inadvertently hitting her.

At the same time, a black Maybach was parked not far away from her. A pair of green eyes watched as she wiped the raindrops that hit her forehead.

Sunshine followed Zachary's gaze and saw Leila. Her eyes darted back to her boss, and she sighed heavily. Seeing the man's pale complexion, she was reminded of what had happened earlier.

When she was about to call the doctor to have him check on her boss' stomach, Zachary vehemently refused, saying he was fine and the meeting was starting, and thus, she could only give up.

As a result, Zachary collapsed in the backseat as soon as he got into the car after the event.

Sunshine had always been calm and collected, but she was scared out of her wits at that moment. Panic-stricken, she sent him to the nearby hospital. The Leighton Medical Hospital.

She always thought her boss' stomach problem had been cured. It never crossed her mind he would have a relapse, and it was way more severe than before.

The doctor said Zachary needed to recuperate in the hospital for a week. But the moment he woke up, he insisted on leaving the hospital because he still needed to deal with some work he had left at the company.

Since Zachary was determined to leave, they could only obey him.

Never had Sunshine imagined that her uncompromising boss, who insisted on working despite his unwell body, would stop the car so he could stare at the woman in the waiting shed.

She didn't know whether to pity or praise him for admiring someone. She shook her head and sighed.

"Mr. Leighton, do you want me to give Miss Wright an umbrella? It might rain more heavily later."

As if he didn't hear her, Zachary didn't respond. Leila's figure when she left the hospital earlier filled his mind. Of course, he was keenly aware who she was visiting in that hospital. It was Allen, her childhood sweetheart—the orphan rescued by the Wright family.

The people who didn't know him mistook him for Leila's boyfriend.

In fact, he had met Allen before. That man had a gentle temperament, yet he looked straight at him in the eyes. People seldom looked at his eyes because of his background, but that man actually dared and even spoke to him with conviction.

'Mr. Leighton, Lei isn't the type of young lady who would agree to a marriage of convenience because she's looking forward to marrying the man she loves. Moreover, Lei and I have an excellent relationship. Look at this ring on my hand. This is what I'm going to propose to her. We've known each other for so long, and we're meant for each other. So please, Mr. Leighton, stop chasing after her. You don't deserve her.'

Zachary sighed and looked at Leila. "Secretary Moore, ask someone to bring her an umbrella."

Sunshine was stunned. She thought he wouldn't answer. She collected herself and immediately replied, "I understand."

She dialed a string of numbers and gave instructions. After that, the black Maybach moved again.

On the other hand, Leila was surprised when someone gave her an umbrella. Nevertheless, she was grateful and accepted it. Otherwise, she will get sick.

Subsequently, she headed home, but her pants still got soaked because of the heavy rain.

When she arrived at the Wright Villa, Uncle Morris hurriedly gave her a towel. Coincidentally, her stomach growled.

Uncle Morris shook his head and went to the kitchen. When he returned, he gave her a sandwich and a glass of milk.

"Thank you, Uncle Morris." Leila smiled softly.

In the past, Uncle Morris worked as her grandmother's confidant at the Wright Corporation. However, when her grandmother passed away, he stopped working there.

Her grandmother left him a sum of money, but instead of leaving, he stayed with the Wright family as a butler.

Uncle Morris sighed. Initially, he thought the young man from the Leighton family would save Leila from her suffering, but it never crossed his mind that Zachary would instead push her into a darker abyss.

His eyes grew red as tears welled up in his eyes. "Miss, please don't wait for Mr. Leighton or Young Master Allen. Don't hurt yourself."

Leila picked up the glass and gulped down the milk. "Well, Zachary or Allen, I want neither of them."