Separated only by a door, Heather leaned against it. She felt like all her energy was sucked out at once. Just as she said, she was not that fond of Matthias. When faced with a dilemma, she had abandoned him without hesitation.
“Go away!” Robert spat the two words arduously. He didn’t want Heather to continue speaking. In addition, he didn’t want his health to affect Heather’s future.
“Grandpa, I’d like to get married. Will you come and give me your blessing?” Heather had made up her mind. At this moment, she wasn’t asking for his consent; she was informing him about her plan.
“Heather, who are you marrying?” Robert’s voice was tinged with anxiety. He didn’t know what Heather’s plan was, and he couldn’t allow her to mess around.
“It’s someone whom you’ve met before, Grandpa. We’ve known each other for many years and we know each other well. He will bring me happiness.” Heather couldn’t think of another suitable candidate now. All she needed was someone whom she could marry.
“Heather, I don’t want to see you being like this.” Robert was drained by the conversation with Heather today. Heather’s current state made him even more anxious. He knew what was on her mind, and because of that, he had all the more reason to stop Heather from acting irrationally.
“I really plan to marry him. I’ve met his parents last night,” Heather said calmly as if the matter had nothing to do with her.
Robert didn’t believe this kind of coincidence at all, and he thought Heather was lying to him. He attempted to get down from the bed, but he couldn’t even muster the slightest bit of strength to leave it.
“I’m not lying to you, Grandpa. Initially, his grandfather planned to come over to propose the marriage, but I turned him down because I thought we’re progressing too fast. I spent the entire night yesterday thinking about how to bring this up to you. You won’t be angry at me, will you, Grandpa?” Heather said in a casual tone, which made Robert even more uneasy.
“Heather, what exactly happened between you and Matthias?” If truth be told, Robert had already accepted Matthias as his grandson-in-law, so he was confused by Heather’s sudden change of plan. He hadn’t even figured out who the ‘he’ Heather was referring to. He guessed it was Leon, but thought that was unlikely because Heather had said that it was impossible between her and Leon.
“Grandpa, Matthias and I are not suitable for each other at all. These past few days got me thinking. I’ve realized the one that truly suits me was right by my side all this while. I don’t want to make the same mistake of letting him go again.” Heather had made up her mind to marry Leon as if she had been enchanted. She deemed that would be the perfect outcome for everyone.
“Are you referring to Leon?” Robert probed. According to Heather’s description, he couldn’t think of any other man besides Leon.
“Yes, Grandpa. You’ve met him, and you like him too.” Heather recalled Robert’s praise toward Leon back then, so she believed that Robert would like Leon as his grandson-in-law too.
“Heather, you should marry someone whom you love, not someone whom I like.” Robert’s mind was clear. He would be happy with that person as long as Heather was happy because she would only be truly happy when she married someone she loved.
“Who says I don’t like Leon, Grandpa? We’re fond of each other. It’s just, we took some time to affirm our feelings.” Heather indeed had feelings toward Leon in the past, so now, she just had to recollect those feelings.
“Heather, please don’t make me worry.” Robert was still convinced that Heather was bluffing him. He knew her well—she wouldn’t possibly be in an ambiguous relationship with Matthias, but at the same time, have feelings toward Leon out of the blue.
“Don’t worry about me, Grandpa. You should come to my wedding with a joyful heart.” Heather wiped off the tears at the corner of her eyes. Since she had already made up her mind, she figured she shouldn’t hesitate any longer.
But how could Robert possibly be happy? With his face darkened, he was dying to open the door at this moment and have a good talk with Heather. However, he couldn’t stand up at all, for he was already a disabled man now.
“Heather, do you want to drive me mad?” Robert retorted in annoyance. He was annoyed at his disability; he was annoyed at Heather’s nonsense.
“Grandpa, aren’t you happy for me that I’ve found a decent man?” This time, Heather even lied to herself to self-affirm that she would be happy being married to Leon just to persuade Robert to be glad for her.
“Heather, I know you did this out of filial piety, but I’m not happy at all seeing you compromising.” Robert still deemed that Heather was compromising her happiness. She had already suffered enough throughout the years, and Robert thought he had no right to make Heather compromise again just for his sake.
“Grandpa, I’m really not making this decision because of you. I know what is good for me when it comes to my marriage. You should know that my parents have disliked me ever since I was young because as a woman, I’m not qualified to inherit Langston Group. They had an unequal marriage, which caused me to fear marriage even more. You know me––I would never simply marry anyone. However, the person whom I’m willing to marry has appeared, so I think I should hold onto him. You wouldn’t want to see me being alone the whole lifetime either, would you?” Heather even managed to persuade herself with these words, so she was confident that Robert would be persuaded too.
What followed next was a moment of silence as Robert was at a loss for words to refute Heather. Perhaps what she said was true. Robert recalled the day when Leon came to visit Langston Residence, his eyes were filled with affection when he stared at Heather while Heather didn’t seem to dislike him either. Just as Heather said, Leon was the one who could bring happiness to her.
As such, Robert remained silent for a while. Heather thought it would be meaningless for her to continue waiting on, so she said to Robert from the outside, “Rest well, Grandpa. I’m going to my room now.”
Robert sighed as he heard the footsteps of Heather leaving. This time, he was perplexed too. He had perceived everything Heather had done, but sometimes even he couldn’t understand her real thoughts.
After walking some distance away, Heather turned to look at the closed door and felt depressed all of a sudden because she knew Robert couldn’t possibly open the door and walk out again this time around.
She was reminded of Robert’s strong figure when she was still a kid. At that time, Robert was like a mountain to her; but now, he was old and weak. Heather had an indescribable feeling as at this moment itself, she had to mature up because she was about to lose her shield. In the past, whenever she had issues that couldn’t be resolved, she could just go home and tell Robert about it, and things would work out, but now, she had lost this privilege.
Heather didn’t feel like going back to her room. She didn’t even feel like staying in the house—she wanted to go out. If she continued staying in Langston Residence, Heather felt like she would go crazy. If one day Robert wasn’t around anymore, it would be meaningless for her to come back to the residence.
In fact, Heather had thought of this possibility in the past too, but she didn’t expect it to happen this fast. Staring helplessly at the floor, Heather did not know where to go.
She shook her head as her vision became blurry. She felt like her head was splitting and she hated herself to the core. Everything that had happened today was like a punishment to her. Feeling like she had brought misfortune to those around her, Heather blamed herself for everything.
With a loud thud, Heather collapsed onto the ground. Hearing the ruckus upstairs, the butler lifted his head only to see Heather lying on the ground. Without thinking, he quickly ran upstairs in a fluster.
When he approached Heather, he was appalled when he saw Heather lying on the floor with her eyes closed. She had always been in the pink of health, but this time, she actually passed out at the stairway today. The butler didn’t even dare to walk up to touch her.
What should I do? The butler was at a loss. He couldn’t let Robert know about this. Panic-stricken, he took out his phone from his pocket and called the ambulance.
The butler’s voice quivered on the phone as he reported their address while the doctor pacified him. After hanging up, the butler carefully held up Heather’s upper body, worrying that any careless act of his would harm her.
“Miss Heather,” the butler called out cautiously.
However, Heather had completely lost her consciousness, and it didn’t help at all when the butler pressed her philtrum. As such, the butler began to panic. Other than Robert, the person whom he cared about the most in the Langston Family was Heather, and he was distressed to see Heather in such a state.
“Miss Heather, what happened? Please wake up,” the butler called Heather’s name non-stop. He was worried sick seeing her pale countenance.
The other servants started to become nervous too. They gathered at the stairway and surrounded the scene, which made the butler even more vexed.
“Don’t gather around here. Miss Heather needs some fresh air. Go out and check if the ambulance is here,” the butler commanded the servants. He didn’t want to make a big scene lest Robert became alarmed.
However, it would take a while for the ambulance to arrive. Because of this, the butler was like a cat on hot bricks. Worrying that Robert would hear the noises, he pondered if he should move Heather downstairs first.
“Do any of you have medical knowledge?” the butler asked the servants as he didn’t dare to act recklessly.
“I’ve learned some before, sir.” One of the servants who looked relatively young stood out. He didn’t strike out of the crowd as he had an average appearance.
“Is it possible to move Miss Heather downstairs now?” the butler asked the servant.
“Yes, but we have to be very careful,” the servant answered timidly. He was an honest man who wasn’t good at using high-sounding words.
“Come and give me a hand then. Let’s carefully move Miss Heather downstairs.” The butler felt if they continued staying on the second floor, Robert would soon notice the incident.
The other servants surrounded Heather lest she would bump around while the two shifted Heather to the first floor. In no time, Heather was placed on the soft couch, which was much more comfortable than the cold floor.
Looking at the time, the butler figured that the ambulance would arrive soon. However, he was worried that the sound of the ambulance might alarm Robert. At this thought, the butler decided to go upstairs and stay by Robert’s side. He had to think of a way to make Robert fall asleep so that the latter wouldn’t hear the ambulance.
