Robert always wanted to find a chance for Heather and Matthias to be alone together, but her hostility toward the latter didn’t seem to be easing. Even though Robert was already showing dissatisfaction toward her attitude, she showed no signs of stopping.
“Grandpa, I’m really hungry. When are we having lunch?” she asked none too gently.
Robert looked at the time. “Wait for another 40 minutes.” Our family usually has our meals very punctually and she should know what time we are having lunch, so why did she ask me this question?
“Looks like it’s about time for lunch. Director Locke, should you be heading back now?” By the looks of it, Heather wanted to drive Matthias away from the house, but he didn’t seem to mind it and he still had a warm smile on his face.
Seeing the young man rendered speechless after Heather’s awkward response, Robert quickly provided a platform for him to step down. “Director Locke, why don’t you stay and have lunch with us?”
Matthias immediately looked at him with gratitude while nodding his head. “Thank you, Old Master Langston. I heard that the chefs of the Langston Family make very delicious food, and I’m honored to be able to taste it myself today.”
As for Heather, she was staring at Robert with displeasure, but he ignored her gaze and continued conversing with Matthias happily. I can’t believe Grandpa asked him to have lunch with us. This is unacceptable! It’s so obvious that he wants to please Matthias.
Suddenly, she was not excited for lunch at all. Initially, her stomach was rumbling hungrily but now, she did not have the appetite to eat. However, it wouldn’t be wise of her to refute Robert’s invitation. I’ll just have to do what he says. It’s not like I never had lunch with Matthias before.
“Then you should eat more later on,” she muttered gloomily. He is obviously going against me. The more I refuse to see him, the more times he tries to show up in front of me.
On the other hand, Matthias still kept the polite smile on his face as he didn’t mind Heather’s dark looks. “I will.” However, the more polite he was to her, the more she felt that he had something up his sleeve.
Looking at the banter going on between the two of them, Robert reminisced about his youthful past and the girl he liked at that time, who was also as energetic as these two. The two of them are probably able to argue with each other in spite of the people around because there is some affection for each other. They are more like a quarrelsome couple.
…
Looking at the delicious meal on the table, Heather found her stomach growling but with Matthias here, she was in no mood to eat at all. However, Matthias pretended to not know about it as he glanced at her from time to time with a smile on his face, as if he was positively ecstatic.
Therefore, she immediately lowered her head because she felt that it was better for her to eat than look at him. She also chose to ignore the conversation going on between him and her grandfather. They are definitely discussing the collaboration between the Langston and Locke Group.
However, Robert wanted to know more about Matthias, so he started chatting with the latter about his hobbies. This made Heather prick up her ears curiously. There’s something wrong with Grandpa today. It seems like he cares a lot about Matthias!
The fragrance of the dishes lingered in the air and at the moment, she felt that the scent of the food was simply heavenly. After all, one would instantly gobble down anything when they were hungry.
Nonetheless, everytime Heather’s eyes landed on Matthias, the food on her plate would somehow lose its taste, so she specifically avoided his eyes. Today, Matthias subconsciously looked at her from time to time, but she only saw his gentle eyes as a sugar-coated axe. She felt that his gaze was rather penetrating so whenever he stared at her, she would glare at him viciously. However, he thought that her looks were adorable, and he even wanted to tousle her wavy hair that she had blow-dried not too long ago.
Looking at their interactions, Robert suddenly felt that he shouldn’t be here. Looks like I need to create more chances for the two of them to be together alone. And so, he came up with a plan on how to do so. Since the atmosphere at the dining table was still pleasant, he simply found an excuse. “There is an exhibition at the National Art Gallery this evening and the curator gave me two tickets, asking me to attend.” At this point, he paused on purpose.
Heather immediately narrowed her eyes as she could sense that he was up to something. Grandpa definitely mentioned this on purpose.
As for Matthias, he was looking at Robert with a smile while waiting for him to continue because he didn’t think too much about his words.
“Grandpa, are you asking me to attend the exhibition with you?” Heather followed up on his words. It doesn’t seem like he is planning to continue speaking, so he is probably waiting for me to speak first.
Sure enough, the moment she opened her mouth, Robert instantly smiled joyously.
“My body isn’t in the best condition lately but I don’t want to disappoint the curator,” he explained slowly. “Heather, the curator is Mr. Henriksen and he often visited us when you were a kid. Do you still remember?” Robert began to involve other people in the conversation as he did all he could to create opportunities for the two of them to be alone together.
“I do,” she answered coldly. I think I can probably guess what he is doing, but why is he so desperate to put me together with Matthias?
“I can’t very well disappoint him, can I?” And so, Robert began to put on an act by pretending to be aggrieved.
“Your health is more important and I’m sure that Mr. Henriksen will understand,” Heather replied to him indifferently, ignoring his act.
“That won’t do. Heather, can you please attend the exhibition on my behalf? I’m sure Mr. Henriksen will be happy to see you.” It was only then that he finally revealed his true intentions, and it made her rather resigned. I knew that it couldn’t be that simple.
“I’m not interested in the art exhibition at all,” she announced firmly. Since I know it’s a trap, I won’t be stupid enough to jump right into it.
Meanwhile, Matthias was watching everything silently since it wouldn’t be wise of him to say anything. However, he didn’t expect that Robert was doing all this just to get him and Heather to go on a date.
“You must go! A while ago, Mr. Henriksen kept on asking after you, so I initially planned to bring you along and call upon him,” Robert explained to her righteously, as if it would be wrong for her not to go.
However, Heather continued to reject him ruthlessly. “I can visit Mr. Henriksen but I don’t want to attend the exhibition!”
Even though Robert didn’t expect her to be this stubborn, he was much more stubborn than her and he was confident in his ability to convince her to visit the art gallery. And so, he ordered the butler next to him, “Give me the tickets.”
Upon hearing that, Heather stared at the plate in front of her with disgust. This time, she had completely lost her appetite and to make matters worse, her grandfather wasn’t done with her. Not long after, the butler came over with the two tickets. The moment she saw the two tickets, her smile instantly turned cold. I knew it!
While receiving the tickets, Robert gave Matthias a warm smile and suddenly, Heather knew that she was in trouble. Everything is going the way I fear.
“Matthias, do you like art galleries?” This time, Robert called him ‘Matthias’ instead of ‘Director Locke’. Even though Matthias felt uncomfortable about it, Heather was the one who cringed the most.
Matthias glanced at her and he noticed her vicious look. It was almost as if she couldn’t wait to tear him apart. Then, he nodded his head awkwardly while smiling brightly.
“Since you like it, why don’t you accompany Heather to the art gallery this evening?” Finally, Robert revealed his true intentions, causing Heather to almost blow a gasket.
She always tried to avoid Matthias but now, her own grandfather was actually creating chances for them to be alone together.
“Do I really have the honor?” Matthias seemed pleased about it.
“No.” Immediately, she cut off his words, showing her dissatisfaction with him.
However, as an elder of the family, Robert ordered her, “Nonsense! Let Matthias accompany you to the art gallery.”
After giving Matthias a glare, Heather turned to stare Robert with dissatisfaction. In the end, she chose to not say a word. At this point, everything I say is wrong, so what’s the point of even talking?
At first, she wanted to delay things but surprisingly, Robert was quick enough to ask them to leave. The exhibition starts at 3 PM but it’s now only 1.30 PM. Isn’t it a bit too early?
She also wanted to drive herself to the art gallery, but even that was taken away from her by Robert as he ordered her to sit right next to Matthias on the passenger seat.
While sitting in the passenger seat, she put on a cold expression, as if Matthias owed her millions. He, on the other hand, tried to ease the atmosphere between them.
“Why didn’t you come yesterday?” However, the moment he opened his mouth, the atmosphere became even more tense.
Meanwhile, Heather was looking out the window as she ignored everything he said. I’ve already explained to him yesterday, so I don’t need to explain it all over again for him today.
“Are you going to keep avoiding me?” he asked again but this time, he was enraged by her attitude. Somehow, she can always infuriate me easily. I sometimes wonder why I even like her! Is it because I like to be infuriated and abused by her?
“You can treat today as a date. If you have anything to say, just say it,” she reluctantly replied to him. I was wrong to miss our date yesterday. Since there’s no turning back now, I’ll just repay him with this date today.
“But will you even listen?” He looked into her eyes, wanting to know what she was actually thinking about as his desire was tearing him apart.
“You can say anything you want. Just ignore me,” she answered impatiently.
“What I want to say is related to you, so I don’t want you to just be a listener. I want your response.” At this point, Matthias could no longer conceal the emotion and pain in his eyes.
“I can’t give any response.” Heather had a faint feeling that she knew what he wanted to say, but she didn’t dare to hear it from him. Therefore, she could only be a reluctant listener without giving him any answers.
“Heather, please stop pretending to be foolish. Don’t you know why I’m doing this?” he murmured, an obvious pain in his voice. Why do I always fail to get the person I love? Everything that he ever wanted in life was out of his reach, so he really hoped that Heather would understand his feelings. However, she cruelly refused to give him any response.
“How would I know, Matthias? Is it because you hate me? Or is it because you want to exact your revenge? Do you see me as your enemy or what?” Heather kept on telling herself that he was just doing everything he could to torture her. Therefore, she couldn’t bring herself to believe in his sudden sign of weakness.
