All of a sudden, what was lovely weather turned into a massive downpour. Resting her arms on the window frame, Heather stared out of the window. As soon as they got to their seats, the unanticipated rain came storming.
She observed the scurrying pedestrians outside the window and thought that the storm was unusual, given how it wasn’t reported in the weather forecast. There were only a few passersby who put up their umbrellas calmly. The messy scenery was indeed more captivating than the lifelessness inside the store.
The unconcerned trio appeared particularly picturesque in this gloomy weather as they relaxed in the shop. Heather casually traced circles on the rim of her cup, looking especially elegant from the side—a view that stunned Leon, who was sitting opposite her.
On the other hand, Myra looked extremely serene. An entirely different aesthetic, but no way lesser than that of Heather’s. Perhaps, thanks to the contrast in their personalities, this duo was able to stick around each other for so long.
No one dared to make a sound as they did not want to disturb the peace. Occasionally, Heather would giggle to herself, seeing how even the gregarious Leon stopped talking.
Suddenly, Myra’s phone vibrated. After checking who it was from, she immediately answered the call. The call was from Tony, who had just got out of his car as his driver put an umbrella up high above him.
“You can see us by the window once you’re at the entrance,” Myra informed him. At Tony’s speedy arrival, she failed to hold back her sweet smile.
He hung up and pushed open the tea place’s door as he ordered his driver, “Don’t wait for me. You may get off work now.”
As it was raining outside, the driver was confused by the unprecedented fact that Tony asked him to leave. Regardless, he tactfully heeded his order and kept his questions to himself as he handed Tony the umbrella. While on his way earlier, Tony got worried that the rain would persist, so he intentionally bought two umbrellas.
After all, Myra and Heather would eventually split up to go home. If the storm went on, the umbrellas would prove useful. Initially, Tony intended to have his driver wait for them, but he couldn’t determine how long the duo would hang around. Therefore, he decided to dismiss the driver, intending to personally drive home later.
After placing the umbrellas at the counter, Tony slowly walked toward Myra. The moment the door was pushed open, he immediately spotted her. How smart of the girls to pick such a convenient spot!
However, something else intrigued him—the man facing Myra, who had his back to him. Before that, Tony had assumed it would only be the two of them and he did not expect the attendance of another man.
It was obviously not Matthias judging from the man’s figure, so Tony didn’t particularly mind his presence. He walked straight toward the group and as he was approaching them, he intimately called out, “Myra.”
Suddenly, both Myra and Leon turned to look at Tony in unison. This was Leon’s first time seeing the man in the flesh despite knowing him very well thanks to the documents.
Meanwhile, Heather gave him a welcoming smile. Although she was known to admire Tony, the sight of it was somewhat surreal. As it was rare for her to eye someone that way, almost like there was a trace of respect in her gaze, Leon got slightly jealous about the fact that she had never looked at him the same way despite having been friends for so long.
Finding no other available seat, Tony decidedly sat beside Leon, and it just so happened to be directly opposite Myra. While Tony and Myra were exchanging lovey-dovey looks, the remaining singles enviously shot each other a knowing look.
Recalling what Heather had mentioned about Myra and Tony’s relationship, Leon felt a little envious. It was indeed a precious occurrence for such an influential man to wholeheartedly commit to a woman.
While drooling over the fact that Tony was able to find a woman to devote himself to, Leon started fantasizing about the idea of “eternal love”.
Nonetheless, love was never that simple. After having met so many women, among the ones he could and couldn’t have been with, Leon had never found one that could tie him down.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t feel such a sensation even from Heather. While he longed for a partner to spend his life with, he was not willing to forgo his personal freedom—something that he would not hesitate to give up a relationship for.
“Nice to meet you.” Leon took the initiative to greet Tony as he extended his hand out for a shake.
Tony shook Leon’s hand in return and they interacted courteously. “Likewise.” The former then decided to forgive Leon for interrupting his ogle toward Myra.
“After having heard about you for so long, I’ve finally got to meet you in person!” Tilting his head, Leon smirked as he continued to introduce himself. “I’m Heather’s junior, Leon.” He pointed at Heather while he spoke, to which she responded with an embarrassed look on her face.
For some reason, Heather didn’t know why Leon was behaving so excitedly. The man was on cloud nine when he first met Myra, and now even more so when facing Tony. Is there really a need to be this ecstatic?
After looking at Leon, Tony turned to Heather and a rare smirk made its way onto his apathetic face. He then briefly introduced himself. “I’m Tony, Myra’s husband.”
Seeing how Tony wasn’t hostile toward the unexpected man, Myra hinted something at him with her eyes, to which he had a sudden epiphany.
Meanwhile, Heather, who was feeling rather awkward, remembered something bitter when Tony arrived. Although it seemed like he wasn’t going to pursue the matter between her and Matthias any further, she acknowledged that his vexation toward Matthias was no less intense, and that made her wonder what he would do to get back at the latter.
The peaceful environment shattered and the quartet did not have any more exchanges, which made Heather visibly uncomfortable. Perhaps Myra and Tony didn’t sense her uneasiness but Leon, who understood her very well, recognized it as he caught the minor twitches in her eyes.
However, it was possible that Heather purposefully displayed it to signal something to Leon because, at that moment, it was impossible for anyone other than him to suggest departure. Hence, Leon was most suitable to propose it.
As the thoughtful man that he was, he attempted to come up with an excuse to leave the place as he subconsciously looked at the couple.
Finishing the cup of coffee in his hand, Leon turned to Heather and inquired, “Heather, Paige just sent a text asking what time we’ll arrive at the office.” Like a master deceiver, he spat the question without a change in expression, and the couple wasn’t at all suspicious toward his utterance.
Picking up on his act, Heather played along and exclaimed, “Oh—I almost forgot about that! Tell her we’ll be there very soon.”
Leon clicked into Messenger and immediately lowered his gaze to his phone and pretended to text Paige, as if he was actually replying to her.
Heather then took the opportunity to inform Myra about her leave. After whispering to each other for a moment, they joyfully stated their goodbyes. Getting up from her seat, Heather deliberately waved at Tony and announced, “We’ll get going, then. Be sure to drive safe later!”
Tony, too, responded with a jerk of his head. “Don’t worry, I know what to do. It’s still drizzling outside and I left an extra umbrella for you at the counter. Don’t forget to take it.”
Leon thanked him swiftly. Touched by Tony’s gesture, the former thought that he was quite a kind, discerning man, one worthy to befriend.
Heather smiled and nodded at Tony. She realized that she would discover a new trait of his each time she met him, and she felt relieved that Myra had found herself a fine man.
Watching as Heather and Leon left, Tony moved to sit beside Myra. It seemed like he did not have the intention to go home as he asked for Myra’s opinion.
“Where are we going next?”
Thanks to the synergy they had between them, at Tony’s question, Myra understood that he intended to hang around some more.
“Anywhere you want,” she murmured, knowing he already had a plan in mind.
“Since I don’t always get off work early, let’s go watch a movie.” In truth, Tony was somewhat relieved that Heather and Leon left early as he was eagerly anticipating some alone time with Myra.
“Don’t reserve the entire theater or I’ll feel spooked if we’re the only people inside.” Recalling the time when Tony booked an entire theater for her, Myra felt rather bland. Instead, she preferred to be in a space filled with people, which would give her the joy of being in a cinema.
“We’re not going to the cinema,” he claimed with a mysterious smirk. Tony, who was often apathetic to others, would always morph into a colorful man when he was around Myra.
Despite that, his resistance to watch a movie among a crowd hadn’t changed. Since Myra got pregnant, he became even more wary and he disallowed her to visit places that were crammed with people.
“There’s a private theater not far from here, so it’ll be just you and me.” Prior to that, Tony had already made the reservation and the only thing left to do was to bring Myra over.
“Alright.” In addition to his desire to give her the best in everything, Myra knew that what Tony did was solely out of concern, so she did not object.
When it came to matters of such kind, although there were differences in their mindsets, both of them would compromise as they understood there was no need to make a big fuss over such trivial matters.
And so, the couple half-embraced each other under the umbrella. Fearing that Myra would get drenched in rain, Tony tilted the umbrella to cover more of her. As the weather had been strangely unpredictable that year where it poured more than usual during fall, storms had been difficult to anticipate.
Since the theater was only a few dozen yards away, driving the car would be troublesome; thus, they decided to go on foot. As they trudged along the walkway, they could smell the scent of soil under the rain.
Myra, who always enjoyed walking in the rain, giggled like a child while Tony assiduously guided her in his arms, not wanting even a droplet to fall upon her.
“I’m not a child, Tony. Don’t be so tense!” she murmured as she aimed to loosen up her husband, whose face had become unintentionally stiff as he looked at others.
Witnessing how the other pedestrians passed them by so hurriedly, Tony got significantly cautious as he dreaded that they would splash stains onto her from stepping on the water puddles.
Tony pampered Myra to no end, and he had been taking good care of her, not letting her return to the Stark Group. Fortunately, the group had been back on track so there wasn’t anything that worried her.
Although the Locke Group was often antagonistic toward the Hart Group, they drew the line at offending the Stark Group. Besides, with the Hart Group backing the Stark Group, developments had been smooth and no other corporations would dare to trouble the latter.
“Tony, do you think Heather and Leon are a good match?” Myra quizzed out of nowhere. Since she had achieved such a sense of happiness, it was natural for her to wish a similar bliss upon her bestie.
As Tony was focusing on the path and the people around them, he didn’t pay much attention to her question.
Indeed, Leon’s appearance was truly one in a million, even more astounding than that of himself. Nonetheless, mischief and spontaneity were still burning brightly in Leon’s gaze, unlike what a mature man should possess.
“I don’t think Heather’s into dating someone younger than her,” Tony responded vaguely. After pondering about it, he would assume Heather to be interested in a man like Matthias.
