In the below freezing temperature at night, Heather was sleeping in a separate bed as Matthias in a standard room they had booked. Matthias didn’t dare to act rashly this time around and maintained a distance from her. She had given him a slight warning during the day, so he knew how far to go.
Because Iceland had an abundance of geothermal energy, the temperature inside the hotel was ideal, and Heather soon fell asleep. On the other hand, Matthias was still unable to fall asleep. Looking at Heather, who was a short distance away, he let out a satisfied smile.
The way she looked while she was asleep looked extremely harmless. She had lost the aggression she normally had, and her sleeping posture was also more carefree.
Occasionally, she would knit her brows together. He didn’t know what she was dreaming about, but it didn’t seem like a pleasant dream. At the thought of driving in the car with her during the day, and how they even fought over a map, he realized that he liked this feeling that they were not that different from a couple now.
He didn’t know how long this would go on for, but he knew that once they returned to the country, they wouldn’t be flirting with each other like this anymore. They had work to attend to back home and couldn’t do as they pleased like they did in Iceland.
He noticed that, despite having a heavy weight on her mind, she was still all smiles. She was smiling a lot more than when she did in Bradfort City, as if being in Bradfort City stripped away the most basic part of being human.
Perhaps because Matthias’s gaze was too piercing, Heather suddenly opened her eyes in the middle of her sleep, and the two ended up looking at each other. She blinked at him while he smiled awkwardly back at her. Since she had suddenly woken up from her sleep, this scene felt a little horrific.
“Morning.” She was befuddled from being in such a deep sleep that she thought it was already morning.
Matthias chuckled. She’s too adorable! Earlier, he had been worried about clearing the awkwardness, but her abrupt remark got rid of it in an instant.
“It’s 2.00AM,” he replied softly. A frown appeared on her forehead as she took a look at the time on her phone.
It’s still so early. Closing her eyes again, she decided to go back to sleep. She was in such a daze that she thought it was already 8.00AM or 9.00AM.
He wanted to talk to her a bit more, but she was sound asleep again. I guess she truly tired herself out during the day.
She still looked alert in the Jeep, but as soon as they arrived at the hotel, she became listless. No matter how good her physical condition was, she wouldn’t be able to withstand this sort of torment.
As time went on, he wasn’t able to stay up any longer either. Yawning, he thought, I should probably go to sleep now. While he was asleep, Heather suddenly opened her eyes and looked in his direction. When she woke up earlier, she had actually lost her desire for sleep.
Now, he was asleep, but she was awake. It wasn’t easy trying to fall back to sleep quietly. She remembered that she went to bed at 9.00PM and had slept for five hours before waking up. It was an awkward time, and it was also still nighttime.
When she looked at the time again, it was only 2.30AM. Gripping the phone in her hand, she considered ways to fall back asleep.
She didn’t have any entertainment apps on her phone, so it wouldn’t be possible for her to play some games even if she wanted to or listen to music.
Since she knew what she needed, she only had business apps and work apps on her phone. At this hour, however, all these apps were useless to her. She didn’t want to read the news either.
Being in this foreign country, she wanted to be at her most relaxed state. Putting her phone aside, she knew that Myra wouldn’t message her anymore, so the Messenger app had also become meaningless and dull.
She had set a special alert tone for Leon so that in the future, she would see his messages as soon as possible. This honor used to be given to Myra.
I wonder how things are going with Leon back home. I should message him. Opening her Messenger, however, she didn’t see any messages from him. It seems like he hasn’t found anything yet.
She wasn’t in the mood to message him anymore. Even though she wanted to get out of bed, she was worried that it would wake Matthias up, so she continued to stay in bed.
Time was ticking by. She could feel the time slowly pass by, and soon, it was 3.30AM. Finally, she was able to feel slightly sleepy. But when she closed her eyes, the time when Myra scolded her rushed into her mind.
From start to end, she couldn’t dismiss it from her mind. She thought about it for a long time, but she still couldn’t look past it. Despite telling herself not to think about it anymore, her mind wouldn’t listen.
By the time she fell asleep, it was already 4.00AM. This time, both of them slept for a long time. It was already 10.00AM when Matthias woke up, and she was still sound asleep.
He looked at her oddly. She’s been sleeping for too long! It’s been more than 12 hours. He contemplated whether he should wake her up since it wasn’t healthy to sleep for so long.
According to scientific research, people were more susceptible to death from sleeping for too long rather than too little. It was clear that sleeping for too long was harmful to the body.
Getting out of bed, he walked over to Heather and reached out to touch her cheek. The fine and delicate touch made it hard for him to move his hand away. Before he could tell her to wake up, she was awoken by his touch.
Hence, he quickly pulled his hand back, whereupon Heather squinted her eyes like an elegant-looking cat. Seeing the guilty look on his face, she had to hold back her laughter. It looked like he already knew that his action had invaded her personal space.
“Director Locke, I didn’t know you liked doing these subtle acts,” she mocked. He was truly such a handful that it left her at a loss for what to do.
Why didn’t I realize that this was who he was? She didn’t even get to sleep properly. These few days, she had witnessed his clingy side.
“I wanted to wake you up. It’s not good to sleep for too long.” He tried to hide his uneasiness, but she was so forthright that he couldn’t get out of it.
“Well, I must thank you, then,” she said as she got up in bed. Her attitude was extremely bewitching. She had a natural coquettish demeanor that couldn’t be learned.
Because she didn’t need to put on makeup, she also spent a shorter time getting ready. After a simple washing up, they left the room one after the other.
…
The air quality in Iceland was good. In comparison to their home country, it didn’t have any smog, so they were able to breathe freely. In Bradfort City, smog days were getting more frequent, and the situation was also slowly deteriorating. Bradfort City really needed to rectify and reform its environment.
Breathing in the fresh air in Iceland, Heather was in a good mood as she stood side-by-side with Matthias. They left the car behind in the parking lot of the hotel today and decided to walk around neighboring areas.
The northern lights only appeared by chance, so she decided to have zero expectations. Since they were already in Iceland, they should take a good look around.
Currently, she was standing to his right. There were a few times when he wanted to hold her hand, but he gave up in the end. After all, she still minded these things, and he didn’t want to be too presumptuous. Since he had already persisted until now, he didn’t mind waiting a bit longer.
Meanwhile, the weather was still great. They hadn’t seen snow yet since coming to Iceland. Heather liked it when it snowed, so much so that she wouldn’t mind going outside while it was snowing to look at the snowscape.
The sun was shining even brighter today than it was yesterday. After checking the weather report, she was a little disappointed to find that it wasn’t going to snow over the next few days.
When the breeze blew past them, the hair on her forehead would get lifted up, and she would lower her head from time to time with her blushed cheeks. It reminded Matthias of the lyrics from a song: ‘The gentleness when you lower your head, especially, makes you look like a bashful water lotus unable to overcome the cool wind.’
Heather was beautiful just staying still, and she was shockingly beautiful when she was in action. He liked her appearance. It felt as if God had made her just for him.
“I like this weather, this temperature, and the moist feeling in the air.” He tried to find a topic to talk about.
“I’d much prefer to see the snowscape,” she said with regret. It was such a shame that it wasn’t going to snow this week.
She thought that upon arriving in Iceland, a mountain of ice and snow would await her, but she only felt cold and did not see any snowscapes. It felt like the cold had also disappeared over these few days. The warm weather now was appropriate for the aged.
“Perhaps there’s no snow in this city we came to. I looked at the weather report and found out that it is snowing heavily in a nearby city.” He had also taken notice. After all, she had already mentioned it, and he was still thinking of a way to win her favor.
“We’re not going anywhere else. I want to see the northern lights even more. I can always wait to see snowscapes.” She was confident that this city would be covered with a layer of snow sooner or later.
When they arrived at a river basin, she quickened her pace, and he followed closely behind her. There wasn’t any ice on the surface of the river. It looked like the fine weather had melted the river.
The both of them walked alongside the river bank. The temperature by the river was slightly lower, and even the wind that blew through felt colder. Taking off his coat, he immediately draped it over her.
She noticed that he was wearing light clothing and wanted to refuse his good intention, but he pressed on her hand. “I’m not cold. You’re only wearing a few layers.”
Before leaving, Heather didn’t put on too many layers of clothing because she didn’t like the clothes she bought at the mall yesterday. Even when he urged her to put on more clothes, she didn’t want to. The temperature by the river bank now was a few degrees lower, and he didn’t want her to catch a cold during this trip.
“You’re wearing such light clothing. Don’t act tough; I don’t want to take care of a sick person,” she uttered. She wanted to shake off his hand, but his hand was so strong that she couldn’t move under his grasp.
“I’m not that weak.” He declined. Being able to withstand cold and heat, he surpassed the average person when it came to physical fitness.
“I’m not that weak either.” She didn’t like how he saw her as a weak woman. She was nimble. Despite being weaker in strength, her physical condition was a lot better than that of most women.
“If you persist, then we’ll go somewhere else.” He was very stubborn. Both of them were equally strong-willed.
“Okay.” She didn’t want to keep arguing with him. Besides, she wasn’t the one who was going to be cold.
Thus, she went off with his coat in ease. She looked completely fine on the outside, but Matthias, who did not have a coat on, looked rather underdressed.
“Sometimes when I look at you, I really can’t tell that you’re a martial artist.” She was suddenly changing the subject to something else.
Looking down at her, he said, “I can’t tell that you’re that nimble either.” If he really made a move on her—unless he used one dominating move that would destroy her—she wouldn’t necessarily be at a complete disadvantage.
“Do you want to demonstrate?” she suggested all of a sudden while her eyes brightened up like a curious child’s.
