"He's interesting, right?" Alice asked.
Jasper nodded at his mate's question, adding, "And he's unique. I don't feel any deep effect from my empathy around him. On the contrary, the moment I get closer, I feel calm. I can still use my ability, but it doesn't profoundly affect my emotions when I'm near him."
Alice was surprised but nodded, delivering a shock to both Jasper and the man in question. "And by the look of it, he knows his way around cars and engines. He will definitely get along with Rose."
As he heard her, Jasper looked back with a surprised face. "Don't tell me..."
Alice nodded with a big smile. "Yup, that's him! Rosalie's mate. But... well, I'll tell you all later."
As they kept chatting, Leo remained still, his eyes wide in surprise and his movement frozen. He was taking in every word thanks to his Unhuman Senses. After a few seconds, he started to chuckle. 'Well, that's a big surprise, and a happy one at that,' he thought, excitement bubbling up.
After a moment, he sighed internally. "Well, let's hope that her character is different than the movie."
In his past life, although he wasn't a fan of the Twilight movie series, he had always liked the character of Rosalie Hale—not necessarily as a romantic interest, but as a strong-willed figure who survived and strived despite all the tragedy she faced. He honestly didn't like her bossy and jealous interactions with Bella in the source material, but that was something that could potentially be fixed.
"....Ah! This is bad! She's going to kill me after seeing what I did to her car!?"
Snapping back to reality at Alice's sudden shriek, Leo looked over to find her clutching her head and panicking.
Jasper looked at his girlfriend and shook his head. "You know, I told you to stop in the middle of the road, but you didn't, and you kept using it like nothing. So, yeah, you should bear the consequence."
Alice sighed before remembering something, looking at Leo and nodding.
Leo pulled his car forward and attached the tow cable to the back of his vehicle and the front of the couple's car. He started to 'drag' the car and, as they drove, introduced himself and started talking with Alice and Jasper until the pixie asked playfully, "Hey, Leo, can you help us fix this car? We'll pay, of course."
Jasper looked at his girlfriend for a moment before looking at Leo, waiting for an answer.
Leo sighed. "I don't know what you're thinking, but the whole engine needs a remake from scratch. And just from the first look, I don't even know the condition of the inner parts. Add to that the special components, and it will take time just to find them, as they are mostly customized parts. Honestly, I really feel sorry for you."
Both Alice and Jasper looked puzzled at the last part, so he smiled and explained: "From the look of the engine... or what is left of it, the owner of the car worked on it piece by piece. Hell, most of the system is extremely rare and hard to find and work with. You need time, money, and passion to customize a car like that. That kind of devotion is only found in people who genuinely love cars, and honestly, if that was my car..."
He looked at them with a smile that made them shiver. "I would probably end up beating the person responsible half to death, even if it was my brother."
Alice looked away with a nervous expression before breaking. "But you can do it?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah, and I'd love to work on a car like that, but I won't. It's rude to play with the engine of someone's baby."
He paused, seeing Alice pouting her cheeks. He was about to say something but stopped thanks to a mechanical voice inside the car.
[Sir, you have a call]
This surprised both Alice and Jasper, but Leo answered casually, "Who?"
The voice replied,
[It is Mr. Jonson.]
Jonson was a detective friend of his late father and the man who had helped him the most during his New York days. Stopping the car, he picked up his phone and looked at his companions. "I'll take this call real quick."
Getting out and accepting the call, he said, "Hello, how are you, Uncle?"
On the other side of the phone, a middle-aged man answered,
' I am great. How is life in Forks?
Leo smiled. "Good, I like the calm atmosphere here."
The man let out a sigh.
'Good to hear that. And from the noise around you, you are finally leaving your cave?'
Leo sighed. "Well, it's not like I can close myself off from the outside forever. None of them would want that. Anyway, what's the call for?"
Jonson sighed.
'Well, I′m actually at Forks Air port. I have something for you here, but Idon′t have your address.'
Leo was surprised for a second. "What? You're in Forks? At least tell me before you came! Anyway, I'll come to pick you up. Can you wait?"
Jonson answered,
'Sure, I won′t be leaving here until night anyway.'
Ending the call, he got back to the car with a wary smile. "Looks like I need to send you home."
They gave him fake surprised faces, as they had heard everything due to his (Leo's) phone conversation.
Jasper asked, "Everything okay?"
'Leo nodded. "Yeah, just a friend of the family has something to hand over, so I have to head to the airport to meet him. So, where are you going?"
They both looked at each other before Alice pouted. "And here I thought you would help your friend, hmph." She looked away from Leo and Jasper.
Leo looked at Jasper with a face that clearly asked, "Is she always like that?" Jasper could only sigh at that, making Leo do the same in response.
After a moment of thinking about the car, 'Well, since she will be my mate, why not?' he decided.
Starting the car, he looked at Alice with a smile. "Since I like your character, and my instinct is telling me to help, I will do you a great favor."
As he said this, he started to head back toward his home. Upon arriving, he opened the garage and drove inside.
The moment they got out, Alice and Jasper were shocked, as Leo had renovated the garage over the past couple of months, transforming it to his liking into a giant, high-tech car workshop.
As they were looking around, Leo threw a card to Alice. "Catch."
Noticing the card, Alice caught it as he continued to walk toward the house door. "That card is the key to this garage. Also, 'Alfred'."
Atyourservice,Sir,
the AI's voice answered.
Looking at Alice and Jasper, who were searching for the source of the voice, he smiled. "That's my AI butler. If anything is needed, just ask him."
Alice was confused before noticing something. "Wait, you want me to have Rose work on the car here?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah."
Alice looked happy, but after a second, she calmed down as Jasper asked, "Is it okay to let someone use your garage? Especially someone you just met?"
Leo looked at him in surprise and then started to laugh. "NO, no. If it's anyone else, I will break their legs if I found them inside here without my permission, and they can only dream of working here. And also, Alfred is keeping an eye, so no problem."
At that, Alice and Jasper looked even more puzzled, but he continued, "This time is the first, actually, and for two reasons. First, the owner of that car has some skill, and second... my instinct told me so."
As he said this, his inner thought was, 'And I can flex to my future wife, so why not?'
His answer surprised them, but Alice looked like she had frozen for a second before laughing and jumping at him with a hug. "Then it's settled! You can leave your garage under our care. We'll be here until you do your business."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "You're quite the truster, aren't you? And is it okay to hug me in front of your boyfriend?" Although he knew that she saw the future, he didn't intend to make it known to others.
She smiled at him, saying, "That's because my instinct told me you will be akin to a big brother to me."
He smiled and flicked her forehead. "Don't make jokes about something that helped me earn millions."
Leaving this bomb, he started to head toward his car in front of the shocked eyes of the couple.