As they couldn’t think of anywhere to go, both Heather and Myra remained quiet. Upon seeing their reaction, Tony continued to speak, “Since we are in the eastern suburbs, we might as well drop by at the newly opened hot spring resort.”
The word ‘hot spring’ sounded especially tempting under such weather, so both Myra and Heather agreed to it. There was a new high-end hot spring resort in the eastern suburbs. It had just begun its operation not long ago, but Tony somehow knew about this place although he had been abroad when the resort started its business.
It seemed like he still cared about Bradfort City despite not being physically present in the city; he paid attention to everything that happened in the city, no matter how big or small it was. This showed that he didn’t really let himself loose during the honeymoon trip, which explained why he insisted on sticking to the original plan. Although he was not physically in Bradfort City, he still knew the city like the back of his hand.
After arriving at their destination, Tony’s tall and sturdy figure alighted from the car. He opened the door for Myra while Heather got down on her own on the other side. After all, she was single and did not have a man to treat her as nicely.
Heather followed Myra and Tony from behind. Spending time with the two lovebirds for too long actually made her unconsciously long for romance. Tony placed an arm around Myra’s waist and slowed down his steps to match with her pace. Behind them, Heather lowered her gaze, wondering if there would be a day for her to have a man to pamper her too.
When they were walking up the stairs, Tony’s thin lips were pressed into a hard line. He paid extra attention to Myra as a pregnant woman must not slip.
Heather slowed down her steps behind them as well; her figure seemed strong yet fragile alone. They entered the hot spring resort one after another, but before they even arrived at the actual hot springs, they were shrouded in fog that made the place seem dreamy.
The hot spring resort adopted a vintage style in its design. Heather noticed that there were screens everywhere to partition the space. The clothing provided by the resort to the customers to wear when soaking themselves in the hot springs was not swimwear but vintage style bathrobes. The staff stressed that the nice-looking bathrobes had great water-proofing abilities despite not being tightly fitted. They recommended not wearing undergarments when soaking in their hot springs; just wearing the bathrobes provided by them would do.
The bathrobes were designed to resemble a yukata, and wearing undergarments underneath them would easily wet the undergarments. As the bathrobes provided in this high-end resort were all designed for single use only, they were all brand new. The customers were free to leave with the bathrobes or they could just discard them. Therefore, the practices were pretty hygienic.
Moreover, the cleanliness of the hot spring was guaranteed, and even pregnant women could use the facilities without any worries. Of course, a temperature too high would have negative effects on the baby, so they also had a special zone for pregnant women.
The special zone had a much lower water temperature. As Myra was in the middle stage of pregnancy, soaking herself in a hot spring was actually beneficial to her body. Her tired body required some release to relax her tensed and exhausted muscles.
However, to Heather’s surprise, she actually bumped into Matthias here and met his gaze midair. It’s such a small world, she thought.
Before Myra went abroad, she had come across the news about Heather and Matthias, so she had pestered Heather for an explanation. If it was not for their sudden encounter with Matthias, she would have forgotten about this. However, she still remembered the unpleasant incident between Locke Group and Hart Group, which made her feel wary of him.
Matthias was equally surprised to see them. Bumping into Heather was not surprising, but the sight of Myra and Tony behind her was. The four of them had changed into the bathrobes given. Heather was wearing a red bathrobe, while Tony chose to wear a black one, which was his favorite color, and Myra had a white one on her.
On the other hand, Matthias was wearing a dark blue bathrobe. They bumped into one another in the small corridor, and the three of them looked at Matthias at once. Tony appraised him and found that the latter was much leaner than him; Myra, on the other hand, stared at Matthias with a complex look in her eyes.
This was not the first time she met him, but when she saw him this time, an image of the past popped up in her head—it was a teenage boy in a white shirt. When she squinted her eyes in an attempt to take a proper look at his face, she found that she couldn’t see his face clearly.
It was as if Matthias’ face matched the teenage boy with a blurred face from her memory. She tried her best to recall the face of the boy, but her efforts were in vain.
When Matthias took notice of the hint of sorrow in Myra’s eyes, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. It was as though there was a force driving him to do so, and he didn’t know what was wrong with himself. Even if Heather was on the verge of skinning him alive with her gaze, he still found it hard to avert his intent gaze.
It made Heather disappointed. Matthias claimed that he had let go of the past and even confessed his feelings to her, but in the end, he still ironically ate his words the moment he saw Myra.
Tony noticed the unusualness as well, so he glared at Matthias in anger. This was the first time anyone had the guts to stare at his wife so brazenly.
Without hesitation, he led Myra away, leaving Heather and Matthias rooted to their spots. After a long while, Heather made herself move forward. She whispered to him when brushing past him, “Stop lying to yourself. The person you like is not me.” This time, she was certain that Matthias was still in love with Myra, and she would perceive his crazy behavior in the past as nothing but his wicked pranks.
Matthias extended his hand to grab her but retracted it midway—he had no right to stop her.
“You are as childish as a high schooler who made a bet with his peers to chase a girl.” With that, Myra hastily left. What she said was not an uncommon occurrence in high school, but it was a childish act that she especially despised. After giving careful thought to his past actions, one would find them of little difference.
Green veins slightly popped up on Matthias’ hands, but he was not able to give any proper explanations for his earlier actions. It was as if there was a spell that glued his gaze on her.
He had noticed a glimmer of hope in Myra’s eyes, as if she could remember him at the next instant. However, it was all for nothing, and he even hurt Heather. Despondently, he thought to himself, I’m the worst.
In the interim, Myra soaked herself in the warm water of the hot spring and even dipped her head under the water. However, Tony pulled her head up. He suspected that her unusual behavior had something to do with Matthias, which worsened his impression of the man.
When Heather arrived, she happened to witness this scene. Myra’s gaze was so piercing that it shocked her. She was the one who separated Myra and Matthias back then. If Myra recalled everything… Heather couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen.
Soon, Myra looked to the side, and Tony took notice of the trace of hatred in her eyes. He was clueless about the agony in her heart. Amidst the fragments of memories, she seemed to hear a male voice repeating himself, “It was Heather who caused us to be apart; it was Heather who ruined our relationship.”
She had no idea where these pieces of memories came from. Though she seemed impassive on the surface, she was actually suffering on the inside. Heather inched toward Myra as she also noticed the latter’s hostility toward her, making her exchange glances with Tony.
“Myra, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Heather’s voice was unbelievably gentle; Tony had never seen this gentle side of her.
“I’ll leave Myra to you for now. I’ll be right back.” He had to go and look for Matthias to find out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Matthias was soaking in the hot spring in the VIP private room by himself, unaware of Tony’s arrival until the latter approached him.
When Tony noticed the distant look in Matthias’ eyes, which was pretty similar to Myra’s, the puzzlement in his heart grew.
“Who exactly are you?” Tony asked directly.
His question snapped Matthias back to his senses. Matthias looked up at Tony, who seemed as if he was going to throw his fist at his face at any time.
“An illegitimate child of the Langston Family and the Director of Langston Group,” he replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, which also served as a reminder to Tony that he couldn’t possibly tell the latter about their past.
If Tony really wanted to know, he had to investigate the matter on his own. Matthias used to regard Tony as someone who got in the way of his relationship with Myra, but now, Tony annoyed him more than he used to. Hence, he felt that he did nothing wrong by attacking Hart Group, be it due to private or business reasons.
“Why did Langston Group provoke Hart Group?” Tony threw him his second question.
“Because Hart Group is the best corporation in Bradfort City. If Langston Group would like to take its place, we have to start off by taking down the leader.” Matthias continued to answer Tony’s question honestly.
“You knew Myra before this?” Though it was a question, Tony’s tone was adamant. Since Matthias had long known Heather, it would be quite likely for him to know Myra as well.
“Hah!” Matthias chuckled and said nothing, which made Tony really want to break his set of neat white teeth.
“This is my private area for now. Director Hart, please leave,” Matthias unabashedly said to Tony, but his expression remained unchanged.
Tony narrowed his eyes, exuding a menacing aura. Matthias had really angered him this time. He had never been enraged by their business competitors—even if unscrupulous means had been used. However, when Myra was involved, he swore that he would never let things slide.
“Myra is my wife. You’d better keep that in mind.” After saying that, Tony rose up from the hot spring and looked down at Matthias from his height.
Matthias remained quiet, coldly watching Tony as the latter left. After that, he immersed his whole body into the warm water that smelled like sulfur. Things were moving in an unpredictable direction.
When Tony returned to Myra and Heather’s side, Myra’s emotion had stabilized. Thus, he intended to take her away but was stopped by Heather.
“Myra seemed exhausted. The resort provides a place for customers to rest, so you can just carry her there later,” Heather murmured as Myra almost dozed off.
“What do you know about Matthias?” He gave off an intimidating air. A hint of fluster flashed across Heather’s eyes, and her hesitation confirmed his suspicion that she indeed knew something that he didn’t
“Why mention Matthias all of a sudden?” she asked as she avoided his gaze.
“There is something dangerous about him. I don’t know what was his purpose for targeting Hart Group. I suspect that he was actually targeting me instead,” Tony enunciated. He could feel Matthias’ hostility. This inexplicable hostility gave him a headache, so he was eager to find out the truth.
“Targeting Hart Group is the same as targeting you and vice versa.” Heather’s words sounded confusing. She knew that Tony must have realized that something was off, but he was, in fact, the person she could never talk to about the past.
