Page 216 of DATE
Botticelli had once talked to him about such matters, and now, they were happening so vividly.
"Love isn't something you can learn, Leonardo." There was both pity and envy in his eyes, and his tone was rather complex.
"You can only feel it and experience it, like a wind you cannot avoid."
As Da Vinci rolled around on his bed hugging his pillow, he finally realized the truth of that feeling.
It turned out that these things were entirely different from the poetic, passionate descriptions in love poems.
He had once thought that love was like a drunken stupor—two people madly and irrationally infatuated with each other, then greedily and wildly enjoying one another, just like the men and women he had seen, indistinguishable from one another.
But now, alone as if guarding an isolated island in the courtyard, he only felt more unease, anxiety, and longing.
The feeling of longing was like an inescapable net.
He began to dream of her frequently.
Sometimes, he would dream of her sitting on a bench in the garden, holding a large bouquet of roses in her arms.
Other times, he would dream of Hedy standing outside the bedroom window, teasing a white cat with a smile on her face.
Hedy...
As he fell into a deep sleep at midnight, he suddenly heard a sound.
It seemed as though the bed curtains were being lifted, and a familiar figure appeared beside him.
It was you...
He could even recognize her footsteps.
"You... you're back?" Leonardo sat up, confused, instinctively wanting to apologize.
Damn it, he had been a bit angry earlier—shouldn't he be questioning her properly?
Why did she leave so suddenly?
Didn't you say you would always stay by my side?
No letters after such a long time, you liar.
But as he looked at her, he could only surrender and apologize by lowering his head. "Hedy... I didn’t mean to deny you earlier."
"In the future, let's talk things through before making any decisions. Don’t leave for so long without coming back, okay?"
She smiled softly and slowly sat beside him.
Perhaps it was the closeness that made him feel awkward and restless, yet deep down, he felt a strange sense of joy and pleasure.
It was as if he had suddenly been soothed.
She still cared about him, didn’t she?
"Hedy..." he murmured her name, watching as the moonlight draped over her like a delicate veil.
She was so beautiful that he could stare at her motionless all night long.
In her light blue eyes, a tender expression appeared, and her cool hand suddenly rested on his cheek.
