Who would’ve thought that one could also encounter something like this at a book bar? Matthias couldn’t recall the appearance of that girl at all. Was the ordinary-looking girl really so special like what Heather said?
Seeing the doubt in Matthias’s eyes, Heather could tell that he doubted her words, but she didn’t want to explain any further—it would naturally become clearer when they met afterward.
“Isn’t that ‘Fables and Fairy Tales’?” Matthias pointed to the book on the shelf and said with a faint smile. Heather only cared about what happened before, and forgot to take the book that was just right beside her.
Immediately, he picked it up. He raised the book and began going through it; he seemed to be in a good mood, completely putting what happened earlier at the back of his mind.
“Bring it to me,” Heather demanded, stretching her hand out. How could he read the book all by himself knowing that it’s what I want? This is not fair, she thought.
“Don’t be stingy. Let me take a look first.” Matthias had only heard of this book, but hadn’t really had the chance to read it yet.
However, this had interrupted Heather’s reading plans. She had always wanted to read this book, and now that Matthias got to it first, it made her a little anxious.
As a matter of fact, Matthias was just teasing Heather. After all, he didn’t have the slightest interest in fairy tales. Seeing that Heather was beginning to feel upset, he quickly handed the book over to her.
He was the one who offered to bring her here to read, so how could he bring himself to interrupt her from reading? After he had returned the book to her, the upset look on Heather’s face disappeared. Deep down, he knew that this was precisely what was annoying about him. The unhappiness between them could be avoided if only he stopped challenging her patience. After all, there was no benefit to this, and it would only make her unhappy as a result.
Moments later, they found a more secluded place. Since they visited the bar during a weekday, it was rather empty even though it was clear that there was a bustling shopping mall just right outside.
The sound insulation of Aoki Book Bar was very good; the only source of sound here was probably from the main door. Overall, there were a few people sitting sporadically, and they were all reading attentively. It seemed that they came here at this time purposely to read, and there were not many who could calm their minds down to read nowadays.
Admiring Heather’s attentive expression as she read, Matthias found that her brows would slightly knit up from time to time while reading, and this seemed to mean that she was too engrossed in reading. Matthias loved the way she frowned; it was as if the novel’s storyline could easily affect her emotions.
Matthias couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Heather,” he called in a gentle voice, full of affection.
Heather raised her head and blinked at him with confusion as her eyes were a little uncomfortable from staring at her book. Matthias rarely saw Heather like this. He wanted to reach out to touch her, but he was afraid that she would feel annoyed, so he forcefully suppressed it.
“Aren’t you here to read?” Heather glanced at him contemptuously, feeling that she had been caught in one of his little tricks again.
“Just looking at you is enough for me,” Matthias said, like a fool who had fallen in love. Heather finally realized why he brought her here and immediately regretted that she came here with him at all.
There was a lovely fragrance spreading in the room, and Heather continued to focus on her book, ignoring Matthias. She felt that he was acting quite differently from how she remembered him. At this point, she wished he was the old and sarcastic him, rather than this man who was acting strangely.
“Matthias, you are getting stranger by the day,” Heather said with her head lowered as she read the book in her hand, not even looking at Matthias.
“You don’t like it?” Matthias had suppressed the dark side of his personality for Heather, but she found him unusual instead. Why are women so difficult to please? he thought.
“Stop bothering me. I’m reading.” Heather didn’t want to continue discussing this with Matthias any more—she didn’t want to waste such a tranquil time that was meant for reading.
Although Aoki Book Bar did seem like such a commercialized place, it was already doing a little better than other book bars, because at least it provided people a space to read quietly here.
To be honest, Matthias didn’t know why he continued to pursue this difficult woman. When Heather could finally learn to be gentle with him, it was probably then that she would deem him important in her heart.
Seeing that Heather had stopped looking at him, Matthias decided to look for a book to read too. Otherwise, his gaze would only fixate on her.
Recently, whenever Matthias had free time to himself, his head would instantly be filled with thoughts of Heather. This state of his had been going on for a long time, and he was clueless if it would improve or worsen.
As Matthias was deep in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice that a pair of eyes had locked onto him as soon as he stepped into the book bar with Heather a while ago. The gaze had been inadvertently looking at him.
Matthias was ignorant and oblivious, and even the sensitive Heather didn’t notice it. There was no trace of what that person was doing, and they were out in the open as they were protected by their identity.
After going through the books on the shelf, Matthias felt he couldn’t take any interest in them. The only book that he had read completely recently was one of Heather’s works.
Finally making his decision, he picked up an ordinary-looking comic book, and when he went over to sit opposite Heather, she looked surprised at his choice of reading material.
“Isn’t this a children’s comic book? Are you trying to satisfy your inner child?” Heather felt that Matthias had always liked doing things the unusual way. Why is he always trying to do such strange things? she thought to herself.
In fact, Matthias was doing this entirely to attract her attention, and as expected, Heather really took the initiative to speak to him.
“You are no better.” Matthias continued to read the interesting comic book in his hands, finding pleasure in it.
Hearing that, Heather wanted to defend herself, but after thinking about it, she realized that she would be falling into his trap if she did. After all, she had basically got his tricks all figured out.
She knew his strange behavior was probably to attract her attention, so she intended to continue reading her book while ignoring him. Just let him entertain himself, then, she thought.
Heather read really quickly and soon finished half of the book. Feeling as if someone was staring at the pair of them, she immediately raised her head and glanced around the book bar but couldn’t find anyone suspicious. However, she was certain that it was not merely an illusion.
Matthias, one the other hand, had soon finished his comic book as well. As he was getting bored, he noticed that Heather, who was opposite him, seemed to have noticed something unusual; she had a vigilant expression on her face, as if something dangerous was about to break out in the crowd.
“Cough, cough…” Matthias let out a dry cough to attract Heather’s attention.
“Did you notice anything unusual?” Heather asked mysteriously.
“Nope. Not at all.” Whenever he was with her, she was the only thing he could see, so it was apparent that he wouldn’t notice anything strange about his surroundings.
Why does it feel like this man is getting dumber by the day? Heather thought. At this point, she really wanted to ask someone else to confirm her suspicions.
“Let’s get out of here now.” Heather didn’t want to stay here any longer, for the feeling of something dangerous looming nearby made her feel uneasy.
“Sure,” Matthias answered right away.
When the both of them were checking out at the front desk, Heather stared deeply at the girl there; the more she looked at her, the stranger she found her to be. That girl didn’t look at Matthias at all but only kept looking at her and smiling, which creeped Heather out.
Something is definitely up, Heather thought to herself. She could be sure that this girl was paying attention to Matthias and was purposely avoiding looking at him directly, which just made her intentions all the more obvious.
Heather even began to wonder if the strange gaze a while ago came from this girl. All in all, she became more and more curious about this girl, and within her grew a great desire to find out about her true identity as soon as possible.
After they had left the book bar, Matthias, too, noticed the strangeness in the air. After all, Heather was staring at that girl really intently, so he reckoned that girl might have been weirded out. What was even more strange was that that girl kept her composure even after being stared down by Heather that way.
“Why did you seem to be quite hostile toward her?” Matthias asked tentatively. He wasn’t sure what exactly Heather’s look meant.
“The better way to put it is, she was the one being hostile to me.” Heather could finally be sure that this girl held hostility for her, though she couldn’t quite grasp the reason for it.
“Could she be jealous of your beauty?” Matthias said jokingly, trying to ease the situation.
“She might be my competitor.” Heather couldn’t think of a better explanation to this. After all, she herself was now doing well in Bradfort City, and almost everyone important in the industry knew of her.
“Interesting.” Matthias couldn’t help but admire the courage of this girl, who was bold enough to challenge someone like Heather. It seemed that she might have a few tricks up her sleeves.
“I bet she had just returned from studying abroad.” Heather had never seen this person before, so her guess was only reasonable.
“Well, as we all know, those are dangerous creatures,” Matthias responded casually, whereupon Heather shot him a glare. She knew he was just trying to provoke her.
“So then, what are your plans? If you want to find out about her, I can always get it done for you.” Matthias offered to help. As long as there was anything that he could help Heather with, he would naturally do his very best.
“No need for that. If I find out anything about her in advance, it would be a whole lot less exciting the next time we meet again.” Heather was not in a hurry to dig for the truth for the time being. In fact, she was excited to finally meet her opponent.
“It must not be easy to be your opponent,” Matthias said. In fact, he was also saying this to himself. Heather never treated her rivals softly, and he was afraid that one day, they would have to stand on opposite sides.
“I can tell that being your opponent is much worse.” Heather seemed to understand Matthias’s implication, and she too, didn’t want to ever go against him.
The phone rang untimely, and it was Leon, so Heather quickly answered it. In comparison, Matthias could tell that he wasn’t as important as Leon was to Heather.
It always took her a while to answer his calls every time he called. This difference in treatment really disappointed him.
“Okay, I’ll go over now,” Heather said to Leon on the phone; it seemed that something urgent had happened.
“I’ll send you there.” Matthias didn’t ask Heather exactly what was going on. If he went on to ask her what happened and delayed more of her time, he would only annoy her even more.
Matthias felt that he could better understand Heather’s thoughts now, and he immediately recalled that it hadn’t been easy for him to have come this far. This was definitely a result of his unending practice. However, he felt that he still had a long way to go to find out about Heather’s quirks, and he could only try his best to do just what made her happy.
“We have to reach Belrose Avenue in half an hour.”
At this time, there should be no traffic on the road, but it was still a long way to Belrose Avenue. Half an hour wasn’t impossible, but it wouldn’t be easy.
“Okay.” Matthias believed in his driving skills, and since Heather had asked, of course he had to make it happen!
Deep down, he was hoping that it would be smooth along the way. Otherwise, he’d have no other choice but to drive at full speed.
