After classes, Leonardo made a quick visit to the nearest coffee shop. After five shots of espresso, his finger twitching was worse than it's ever been. The worst part – he was trembling on the inside and it wasn't the coffee's fault. Suddenly he had all the energy he needed to finally face Harvey, all the courage to tell him what he thinks and all the stupidity needed to actually do it with no regrets and to be done with it. He was about to arrange the meeting in a cheap restaurant in the suburbs when a blizzard, also known as Brandon, came through the door.
" You forgot to leave your tux at the dry cleaner's so I did it for you. It will be ready in an hour and a half."
" I'm not coming tonight. I have bigger plans." said the painter, drawing a bird on a folded napkin
" You are so not serious. And what would possibly be more important than the gala?" the older man was indeed surprised by Italian's decision. He knew Leo loved the gala, it was one of his favorite things in the world of university life.
" My marriage. I am either going to destroy it or fix it tonight. I'm telling him everything that I know. His cheating, his lies, everything. And I'm coming clean as well. About Elia and about the other things." the desperate look on his face said it all. His eyes were watering and his lips were twitching.
" Meaning, you are going to destroy your marriage, because that's what's going to happen. There is no going back after you tell him. And it's not worth the risk. Get your shit together, Leo, and stop being pathetic. You are not that man. The man I know is strong and independent and stubborn sometimes. After all you've been through, is this really how you gonna surrender?"
On second thought, no, he really wasn't this weak, scared, sorry individual. He refused to be trapped by his circumstances like Lucretia once told him. And he wasn't going to give up now. So he was going to beat Harvey's ass the way he was doing it to all the other people ("Don't play the game, play the man.") because, well, karma's a bitch.
" You are more than right, my friend, and we are going shopping. I am going to buy the most extravagant piece of clothing in this god-damned city and it's on my spouse. And I will take his breath away." Brandon looked at him more confused than glad but Leonardo's expression of content mixed with a bit of sweet devilish mischief was more than enough to convince that whatever the younger man had in mind was ingenious.
It's unnecessary to mention that the painter indeed spent whole lot of money on his outfit and even ridiculous to assume that he wasn't the jewel in the crown of the gala evening. His grace, his elegance, his etiquette wouldn't let anyone suggest that he was once an orphan with bad manners, as poor as a church's mouse.
And when Harvey saw him, bathing in the light of the crystal chandelier, he suddenly remembered why married this man. It wasn't because of his looks, not even because of his brains, it was because he was fascinating in his own way and he could not be compared to anyone or anything. He was the better, smarter half of him. ( And Harvey really had to fight his own ego to admit that someone is better and smarter than him).
He approached slowly and placed his hand on the small of Leo's back.
" You look... I have no words..."
" I must be really looking amazing to make the great Harvey Specter numb."
" Actually, you left me numb quite frequently these days. But today is in a good way."
" Glad to hear that. Now if you don't mind, I would like a glass of champagne." the painter pointed at the waiters at the same time as he heard someone calling " Artista..." behind his back.
He turned around to see a smartly dressed man – tall and lean as a spear getting closer.
He wasn't the one to use profanities especially not in this occasion and certainly not dressed like this but a silent " Oh, shit" escaped his mouth.
After all, the confession that he had planned earlier might needed to happen earlier than he expected.