/
Chapter 142 Living with Black Widow? How Irksome!
TL: Kyous
Leo stopped paying attention to Black, he pointed at Bucky instead and introduced Bucky to Erik.
“He’s Bucky Barnes, El Tech Company’s Chief of Security and my good friend. I’m often not at home and if you have any problem, you can find him straight away.”
“Hello, Uncle Bucky.” Erik timidly greeted Bucky and received a smile in return from Bucky.
Pondering for a bit, Leo pointed at Natasha and said, “She’s Natasha Romanoff, my secretary. The infamous Poisonous Tongue. Remember not to talk with her often.”
Erik was quite polite. Despite Leo saying not to talk with Natasha much, Erik still greeted her, “Hello, Sister Natasha.” Moreover, as if encouraged by Bucky’s smile, his tone this time was much more energized.
“Don’t call her sister. She’s old enough to be your granny!” Seeing that young Erik already knew how to flatter a pretty lady, Leo was somewhat bewildered.
Natasha “didn’t” mind Leo’s words at all, rather, she smiled at Erik and inquired, “Kid, can you tell sister what’s your relationship with Leo?”
“My name is Erik, Uncle Erwin’s distant nephew.” Erik hung his head and whispered, “My parents are gone. Uncle Erwin is the only relative I have now…” Erik introduced himself in accordance with what he and Leo had agreed on.
Natasha bit her lower lip and was embarrassed to question further. She sullenly and silently sat back on the sofa.
“Alright, Erik. There’s still more to life.” Leo stroked Erik’s head. “From now on, you’ll be living here with me. I’ll treat you as my family. There’s a quite spacious empty room. Tidy up the room yourself, you’ll be living there.” Leo pointed at a room next to the toilet that was going to be Erik’s new place.
Out of the blue, Natasha bounced up and pointed at that room, shouting, “That room is not empty, it’s already occupied! There’s another empty room downstairs. He can live there.”
Leo was befuddled by Natasha’s shout. There were only three people living in this house. Ol’ Tom stayed downstairs while Bucky and he stayed upstairs. Why would the room be occupied?!
If one doesn’t understand, then ask!
“The room is occupied by who?”
“Me!” Natasha raised her hand and answered confidently.
“When?!”
“Just now!”
“Aren’t you staying at a hotel? Why did you move in?” Leo was rather baffled, “Also, this is my house. Who allows you to move in?!”
“Cough! Cough!” Bucky feigned coughing twice. “Leo, it’s me who let Natasha move in. You don’t pay her salary and she doesn’t have much savings. She can’t afford to stay at the hotel anymore and is going to be homeless soon. So, I asked her to move in. Since you rarely return to stay, I figured there won’t be any issue…”
‘What? No saving? Homeless? According to the movie I watched in my past life, why didn’t I notice S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have to worry about the cost of accommodation during a mission?! Clearly, this is a conspiracy arranged by that sly fox Fury!’
For sure Natasha was a flea sent by Fury, constantly latching onto Leo’s skin!
He couldn’t beat Natasha. He couldn’t kill Natasha either. And this Natasha was thick-skinned enough to stick to him. Where should one search for this kind of undercover agent? The kind that messes with you all day, and now even freeloading at your house!
With his counterplan failing, Leo felt his guts being ruthlessly punched by his enemy! Now that Natasha had moved in, he felt chasing her out was out of the question! However, he would allow Natasha to get away with nothing. He certainly would make her pay the price.
A lightbulb suddenly lit in his brain and a plan hatched. Leo said, “Natasha, you can live here but you pay a thousand dollars for rent which will be deducted from your salary. So, your salary will be left at four thousand dollars. When you can pay five million back, you’ll be free.”
“Oh.” Natasha shrugged indifferently. This condition was equivalent to no conditions.
Of course, Leo’s condition wasn’t just this. He continued, “Upstairs is Erik’s room, so you need to move downstairs. On top of that, Erik will be eating and living with you, hence he will be in your care. This child is pitiful, you should communicate with him often. When he starts going to school later, matters like homework, parent-teacher conferences, and others will be left to you to deal with.”
Gnashing her teeth, Natasha suddenly wanted to quit. She couldn’t continue this undercover mission! Not only was she going to endure an idiotic boss, but now she had to be a nanny as well?!
Leo seemed to have read her mind, “So? Either you move out or be a good nanny. Which one do you choose?”
Natasha wordlessly and expressionlessly moved her stuff downstairs. Leo was convinced she couldn’t endure and decided to leave, yet out of his expectation, Natasha placed her stuff in the empty room downstairs and returned upstairs.
Furthermore, her personality suddenly had a 180-degree change. Brimming with smiles, she began caring for Erik. All kinds of nice and playful words were in her mouth and Erik was soon conquered by her. Erik’s gloomy face was radiating sunshine for once. Finally, with one hand pulling the suitcase and another holding Erik’s hand, Natasha entered the room and helped Erik to tidy up the room.
During the entire process, Leo was gaping his mouth. It was until Natasha disappeared into the room did Leo shut his mouth.
“Natasha had received all sorts of training. Ranging from a soldier, computer expert, chef, ballet dancer, caretaker, and so on, she can do it all.” Bucky cracked the nuts while explaining to Leo as though it was a normal matter.
“Regardless, I’m often not home. In fact, I was preparing to let you take care of this child. Having Natasha here is even better, both of you can take care of him.”
Leo suddenly chuckled and approached Bucky’s side, asking softly, “By the way, why did you let Natasha move in? Is there any ulterior motive? Did my suggestion from last time move your heart? This kind of woman, it’s a gain if you marry her. Different kinds of play every day, you won’t feel bored at all!”
“What the hell are you talking about?! I’ve told you before, she and I are just purely a teacher-student relationship. Stop spouting nonsense!” Bucky explained earnestly, “Also, a friendly reminder, Natasha’s hearing is quite good. She probably can hear what you said just now. Maybe she’s standing at the door and glaring at you right now.”
Abruptly turning his head around, Leo saw Natasha was indeed standing at the door and glaring at him. Because of Fury’s setup, he always believed Natasha was a hot potato and rather troublesome at that.
Nonetheless, speaking ill of someone behind them was bad, not to mention being caught red-handed. Thus, Leo was quite embarrassed, “Done tidying up?”
“Yes, do you want to inspect it?” Natasha gritted her teeth.
Leo secretly praised her nanny skill and said, “No, there’s no need. Since the room is tidied, let’s go grab some food. My treat. Erik has been complaining about being hungry, we can’t starve the kid.”
Bucky also stood up to smooth the atmosphere, “Yeah, it’s getting late. We should go and eat first. There’s a diner west of here and their steak is delicious. Ol’ Tom and I frequent there. Today we’ll go and try together.”
Natasha nodded and held Erik who just came out, leading him downstairs first.
Watching Natasha’s disappearing figure, Leo reckoned he couldn’t remain at this house for long. In his past life, he remembered a thread discussing how it would feel like to live together with Black Widow.
All Leo wanted to say right now was, “I wanna leave home.”