The sunlight peeked through the tall trees and fought for their entrance via the leaves. Heather raised her eyes and looked out the car window. It was a little shady in the woods and there was even a slight breeze blowing into her car from time to time. She closed the car window and realized that it was getting late.
Looking at the busy figures of Leon and Matthias, she did not have any intention of offering her help.
She missed Myra so much at this time. Clicking into her Messenger, she sent a sticker illustrating a bored expression to Myra. However, even after a long time, there was no response from the other end of the line. Heather guessed that Myra probably did not have her cell phone on hand. After all, they had pinned each other’s contact at the top of their chats. As long as they had their cell phones with them, they would reply to each other in seconds.
Scrolling through her contact list in Messenger, Heather realized that there wasn’t anyone else whom she could chit-chat with other than Myra. Normally, she wasn’t the kind of person who would chit-chat. It just so happened that Myra was an exception.
Heather scrolled through her Stories in boredom. In fact, she rarely used this application whenever she was abroad. If it weren’t for Myra, Heather wouldn’t have used Messenger so frequently upon her return to Solaria because there weren’t many people on her contact list. Thus, there was nothing much to see on her Stories as well.
Wasting time in the wilderness was not something written within Heather’s principle at all. After thinking about it for a moment, she exited the car. There was one thing she had to do, but she needed to obtain Matthias’ permission first.
On the other hand, Matthias and Leon were studying the best way to build a simple stove with stones for their barbecue session later. As she leaned forward, she could see the seriousness on their faces.
“Matthias.” Heather would normally call his given name whenever she was in a good mood. Of course, when she was in a bad mood, she would address him by his name as well, although the tone would be extremely different.
Matthias was talking to Leon when he heard her calling him. Instantly, he turned around and looked at her.
“Yes, Heather?” Matthias raised his gorgeous face and tenderly gazed at her.
At the side, Leon gave Matthias a disgusting glance. Matthias was still exasperated with Heather a second ago and now he was like a toady in the hope of gaining her favor.
“It seems that you’re getting better with your hands-on skills. There’s no need for my help at all.” Heather expressed her intentions as soon as she walked toward them, for she did not want them to misunderstand that she was here to help.
Upon hearing her words, Leon rolled his eyes at her. “Heather, I know you’ve been a pampered princess, so we won’t dare to let you lay your hands on this kind of dirty work.” His words were full of sarcasm.
“True enough, this kind of dirty work is not suitable for girls like me to lay my hands on,” she responded in agreement, not giving in to him at all.
Before she forgot about her initial intention, she pushed him away and met Matthias in the eye as she continued, “I want to open your briefcase.” She was here to inform him rather than seek his permission.
“No problem, you can even have it if you like it that much,” Matthias answered generously. Heather immediately understood the meaning behind his words.
Now that she had informed him, she stopped talking to him. Refusing to waste her time arguing with him, she turned around and walked back to the car. A confused Leon looked at her back with a puzzled expression as he winked at Matthias.
“Did Heather recently suffer from an emotional shock?” Leon asked curiously as soon as Heather left.
At Leon’s words, Matthias shook his head. He didn’t know much about her private life, not even as much as Leon did.
“Aren’t you close with her? You should know better than me.”
Leon curled his lips helplessly. Of course, he knew what was bothering Heather lately, but it was somehow related to Matthias. Therefore, there was no way he could tell the truth.
Upon noticing the brief expression flashing across Leon’s face, Matthias thought that perhaps he had guessed it right. Could it be that Heather was really hiding something from him?
“What’s on Heather’s mind lately?” Matthias asked tentatively, wanting to read Leon’s expression. He knew Leon was not going to tell him the truth anyway.
However, Leon shook his head. “Even if she had something in mind, she wouldn’t tell me.” He was feeling a little embarrassed for not telling the truth. After all, he wanted to be an honest person.
Perhaps there was no way for him to be an honest person in this life. He didn’t want to live in a world of deception, but he always found himself lying. The adult world was filled with many lies.
“Who would she normally talk to when she is bothered then?” Matthias continued to ask, but he couldn’t gather any more hints from Leon’s face.
“Myra. You should know this very well.” Leon felt that Matthias was asking a question with an obvious answer. Almost everyone who knew Heather was aware that she would only share her problems with Myra.
Matthias was not surprised at Leon’s answer. So, it turned out to be Myra and here, Matthias was thinking that it would be someone else. Could it be that Myra was the only one who managed to walk into Heather’s heart since they were young? At the thought of it, he became a little envious of Myra.
With little effort, Myra could convince two defensive people to let their guard down. She had a temperament that no one else had—it was a kind of reassuring aura that had people approaching her without fear. It was like she was the source of warmth that others would instinctively rely on during the cold winter.
A moment later, Matthias quickly changed the subject as he said, “Look, we did a good job.” As he placed the last stone, the construction of the temporary stove finally came to an end.
With his eyes slightly squinted, Leon stared at the pile of stones in front of him. They tried their best to search for stones with a smooth and pretty surface. Now that he looked at the final product, he reckoned that the height of the stove should be high enough to keep the fire within.
It was dangerous to build a fire in a bushy forest during the winter, which was why they had to use stones to enclose a range on the open ground.
They had to make sure the fire did not burn wildly as they wanted to use it within a controllable range. At the same time, the enclosed range should be in moderate size for the fire to burn effectively as they could get the food cooked in the shortest time possible. However, they had to also take into consideration the issue of even cooking.
Matthias and Leon were still not sure what kind of game they could find around here, so they could only make a simple stove for the time being. There could even be a need for slight adjustments after they had actually caught something.
There were two relatively dry stones near them that seemed to be frequently exposed to sunlight. When those stones collided with each other, they could produce the sparks needed for the fire—and it was the flint and steel that they had found.
As for the effectiveness of the flint and steel, it still had to depend on the methods they used. Leon and Matthias used the materials available around them as much as possible based on what they knew.
Perhaps the most ironic part of the story was that none of these men had a lighter with them since neither of them was a smoker.
Because of health reasons, Matthias was never a smoker, nor did he have a tobacco addiction. Leon, on the other hand, had also quit smoking a long time ago as Heather didn’t like anyone who smoked.
In fact, she hated people who smoked around her. She loathed secondhand smoke and the smell of tobacco on men. Because of her sensitivity toward the smell of smoke, she could even detect the faint smell of tobacco on Tony. On the other hand, Matthias did not have it on him at all. Perhaps it was indeed a coincidence of fate.
When Leon used to be a smoker, he would always cause Heather to feel uncomfortable with him getting close to her. Even though he had quit smoking for her later on, she could still remember the time when he reeked of tobacco.
On the contrary, Matthias had always smelled fresh and clean since the first time they met during their teen years. Although he occasionally had a faint smell of herbs on him, it was still a pleasant scent.
Now that they had met again after many years, he was still free from the smell of tobacco that other men would have, which was why she was not so repulsive to him. Truth be told, she liked Matthias’ scent the most as compared to other men.
With only the last piece of potato chips left, Heather looked in the direction of Matthias and Leon, only to discover that they were still in the full swing of their preparations. It seemed that they wouldn’t be done with it anytime soon. Things had not been easy for these two pampered nobles as a result of the picnic.
After noticing her gaze, Matthias looked in her direction and their eyes happened to meet each other. He gently flashed a warm smile at her. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of tit for tat on his face. In embarrassment, she turned her head away.
Coincidentally, she met his eyes and his gentle smile. He was just like a character emerging from a painting; it was so beautiful that it tugged at her heartstrings.
Upon seeing that Heather turned in a panic, Matthias gave an even brighter smile. She was really adorable when she looked like that. However, what he did not know was that her heart pounded like a drum. Ever since she bumped into him, she had come to realize the feeling of having butterflies in her stomach—and it was not the first time that it happened.
Heather hated her heart for being so honest and the fact that Matthias was exceptionally charming. His allure had recently skyrocketed and even surpassed Tony’s popularity to become the most desirable man among the socialites.
Now that Tony and Myra were married, they became the golden couple who were deeply in love and about to welcome their first born soon. Matthias was a different story altogether; although there were many scandals between him and Heather, neither party had confirmed the rumors. Therefore, there was still at least a glimmer of hope for the socialites.
It became extremely boring to stay in the car for the entire time. Thus, Heather decided to come out and get some fresh air while waiting for them to finish their preparation. Soon, Leon and Matthias would have to split ways to hunt separately. Leon had already been eager to have the novel experience ever since Matthias mentioned it back in the hotel.
“Leon, you can go ahead to look for something that you can catch for our barbeque later.” Matthias was about to complete the final touchup and asked Leo to head first. He could already notice Leon’s excitement.
After Leon left, Heather walked over to Matthias. Upon seeing that he did a good job in building the stove, she praised, “Your craftsmanship is not bad.”
“It was all thanks to Leon’s Swiss Army Knife.” Matthias swung the dagger in his hand.
Well, it wasn’t surprising to her at all. She had long known about Leon’s habit to carry a dagger with him. In the past, she used to think that it was his personal preference and hobby. However, when she connected it with the recent explosion at his residence, she suspected that it might be one of his means of self-defense.
Heather even wondered whether he had taken up martial art classes before this. Even though he always behaved in a weak manner, she wanted to know the answer by testing him.
There were just too many suspicious points in Leon and Heather couldn’t help but be more wary the more she thought about it. Looking at her with puzzlement, Matthias wondered why she was spacing out while staring at the dagger.
Just as she was still in a daze, Matthias quickly stepped forward and planted a light kiss on her cheek. As she was stunned, she wasn’t able to react until her face flushed red due to the embarrassment.
Instantly, it caused Heather’s body to stiffen a little. She instinctively raised her hand as she wanted to slap him. However, he had already made his escape from the ‘crime scene’, leaving her standing still in her spot. Heather had always thought only naive women would be caught off guard and encounter a sneak attack. It was only when this happened to her today did she understand how cunning a man could be and the boldness of Matthias.
“I’m going to hunt for some game and fill up my stomach,” he said and left as if he was escaping for his life.
