Having locked eyes with Heather for a while, Matthias closed the distance between them. Those tired eyes that were staring at her made her feel uncomfortable. She hadn’t expected that he would appear before her in such a way. Looking in another direction, she knew she shouldn’t be feeling sorry for him, yet she couldn’t help it.
“You don’t even dare to look at me now?” Angered, he looked at her as he continued to ask himself why he was here. Did he come to be her laughing stock?
“If there’s nothing, I’m leaving.” She was oblivious as to where his anger was coming from. She could not understand his feelings, and she was failing to distinguish when he was telling the truth and when he was not.
“I’m here to ask you to abide by the contract,” he suddenly said as he pulled out a bunch of pictures from his pocket.
Taking a glance at the pictures he was showing her, she saw Leon captured in those pictures immediately. As expected, he was here because of Leon.
“He’s my friend,” she said coldly without taking the pictures.
“Don’t you want to take a look? They’ll be the photos on the front page of newspapers and magazines tomorrow.” He seemed stubborn as he said those words. Furrowing her brow, she thought to herself, Why is he putting me in a difficult spot again?
“I’m not interested. I’m just collaborating with him. Do I have to report that to you too?” She shot him a cold gaze.
The more he behaved this way, the more it angered Heather, which in turn only made her hate him more. Moreover, she didn’t have any intentions to explain to him in the first place.
In spite of the contract between them, he had been behaving like he was her true boyfriend. It was irking her a lot, and what she loathed more was his mood swings. That was why his actions were not convincing at all.
Everytime she recalled how Matthias had liked Myra for such a long time and didn’t get to be together in the end because of a series of misfortunes, Heather would remind herself that she could not fall for him.
On top of that, he was probably mentally ill! A person like him would not be her choice of partner. That was what she kept repeating to herself to persuade herself.
“It seems like the contract doesn’t really restrict you.” As he spoke, he pulled out the contract. Out of instinct, she frowned as she wondered what he was up to now.
The next moment, he was angrily tearing the contract into pieces before throwing them into the air. Some paper shreds landed on her face, yet she remained expressionless.
No matter what it was that he would do, she would not be fazed. She had been competing with him for quite some time, so she already more or less knew his modus operandi—he wouldn’t do what most people would usually do. In other words, nobody could predict what his next step was. Looking at Heather’s composed expression, it fueled his anger even more. He really hated her expressionless face sometimes.
“Since the contract doesn’t restrict you, it can be torn. But you… I will be sure to make you pay for what you did.” He stiffly turned around as he could not bear to see her happy. It only felt right if her life was a havoc.
“Do you hate me so much?” After a few moments of silence, she finally voiced out. He must be still not letting go of what happened years ago.
It was her wrongdoings back then, and now she had to pay. It was only fair. With that thought, she smiled to herself with disdain.
“All the pain I’m going through now is caused by you,” he said word by word. It included the pain of losing Myra, and the pain he was feeling right now that was caused by her.
“Yes, it’s all because of me. You are not worthy of Myra. You didn’t back then, and you still don’t now.” She was pushing all the buttons that would irritate and trigger him. Myra deserved better. Matthias had his own problems in the first place, so it was good that Myra did not end up getting married to him.
“Shut up!” Clutching onto her wrist tightly, he seemed like he was raging with fire.
“In your eyes, I’m always a class below everyone else. People like me don’t deserve love. Is that it?” He glared at her as fury filled his eyes. He hated being looked down on, and he hated it more when it was Heather who looked down on him.
“No. Why would you be a class lower than everyone else? You’re Director Locke who’s at the top. Obviously, you’re a class higher than all of us,” she said in a mocking tone, disdain evident in her voice.
Without a word about the pain, she stared back at him stubbornly. He was already using half of his strength as he squeezed her wrist. Typically, even a grown man could not bear with such pain, yet there she was, not even wincing one bit.
“Do you know how much I hate your eyes? I want to gouge them out so badly.” He pointed at her eyes as he spoke. He loathed the gaze she was using to look at him. He loathed them to his bones.
“If you’re scared of being looked at by me, you can always look away,” she retorted effortlessly. She didn’t want to show him that she was struggling. What he was doing right now was really low, and she hated him for that.
“Don’t you think that you can fool me like you did back then.” He released his clutch on her wrist, and a dark shade of red could be seen on the spot he had forcefully held on.
Taking on all his anger, she bore with his hatred as it was payback from him. Henceforth, she would be at ease, and she could do whatever she wanted then.
“I’ve already paid back whatever I owed you. If you’re still not satisfied, there’s nothing else I can do,” she said in an exhausted tone. She really did not want to go against him. Must she be enemies with him?
“You couldn’t even abide by a simple contract, yet you say you’ve paid me back.” He scoffed. He shouldn’t have listened to her words.
“Change is good. I don’t want to pretend to be a couple with you anymore.” As usual, she didn’t show any expression when she said that. Back then, she signed the contract as she was persuaded and threatened into it. She didn’t want to be his pawn, and she didn’t want to be restricted by a contract anymore.
“How about you teach me how to take revenge?” Giving her a mocking smile, he didn’t expect that she would still try to negotiate with him on this matter. He must admit that he was wrong about her.
“What do you want? I can give it to you.” Staring intensely into his eyes, she was determined to fulfill his wish as long as it was something she could do. All he had to do was to name it.
“I want you. Can you give me that?” As he spoke, he took a step forward, closing the distance between them.
Hearing that, Heather felt speechless. She did not know what he meant by that.
Seeing how she stayed quiet, he simply pulled her into an embrace and said domineeringly before she could resist, “If you don’t want to be a fake couple with me, why not we become a true couple instead?”
At once, she paused her movements. He had lost it. How could he say that? It was beginning to scare her.
“Impossible,” she deadpanned. He was hugging her so tightly that it was hard for her to breathe.
“You can’t reject me.” Now that he finally said those words, he wouldn’t allow her to reject him.
“Us? Together? Do you want us to torture each other?” she said coldly while she was still held against his chest. It was impossible that she would agree to such a crazy proposal.
“Even if we would torture each other, I still want to have you.” As if he had no control, the words that left his mouth surprised himself too.
“You’re so childish.” Trying her best to calm herself down, she reminded herself that she didn’t want such a selfish confession from him, if it could even be considered a confession at all.
“Heather, you’re the one who said you would give me what I wanted, so give yourself to me.” This time, he was exceptionally persistent.
“True couples are together because of love, but is there love between us? How could we be considered a true couple without love?” Heather bombarded him with a few questions of her own as she tried to calm herself down before replying to him. She was afraid that she would agree to his proposal if she was emotional.
“You took away my relationship from me. All I want is to take it back. Don’t you think you should give it back to me?” he said with a serious face. How could he think of a relationship as a trade?
“God is the one who took away your relationship.” She thought that his current words and actions were childish. He was acting like a kid who was trying to steal another kid’s candy just because he didn’t get some.
“It’s you, and it’s unrelated to God. I don’t want to hear about fate or mistakes. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have broken up with Myra. The person by her side now would be me.” He was still hung up on Myra, but in fact, even he himself could no longer tell if it was because he loved her.
“Even if Myra and you became each other’s first love, do you think you would end up marrying her? How many first relationships end up being forever? You’re just not the right person for her. Even if you did get together with her back then, there was a chance that you might have broken up.” Heather was trying to reason with him as he was beginning to be irrational. If this argument went on, she no longer had to go home as it would be time to go to work already.
“Once I’m set on someone, I will not easily change my mind,” he made a solemn vow. There were countless times where he had imagined that he would be having kids with Myra already by now if he was together with her back then.
At once, Heather mocked him. “You will not easily change your mind, huh? Then what are you doing right now? You’re asking to be in a relationship with me, but you still can’t get over Myra.” She felt that Matthias’ words were so ironic. Despite saying how he couldn’t forget about Myra, he wouldn’t let go of Heather either.
He did not pause before he said those words to Heather. No matter what his motives were, she was not going to comply with him.
“You shut up.” It rendered him speechless. That was when he finally registered what he had done—he had asked Heather to be with him. He must be possessed.
“People like you do not deserve love. I will not let you be together with anyone else as you have no right to like anyone, much less be loved by anyone,” he exclaimed as he tried to mask his humiliation with anger. Heather was the reason why he was like a walking dead today, so he would not let her end up with someone else too.
“Maybe I should try having a normal relationship with someone else,” she mumbled against his chest. He was hugging her so tightly that it was almost suffocating her. It only fueled her desire to trigger him more.
