The smell of meat made Heather a little hungry, but she remained silent as she watched Matthias flip the rabbit meat with an indifferent expression.
The bag of potato chips she had before this was her dinner. She wasn’t going to eat the rabbit meat Matthias was grilling, so she pretended not to be hungry at all.
“Heather, are you hungry? The food Matthias is grilling smells so good that I can hardly resist it.” Leon gulped. The food in front of him was making his stomach feel increasingly empty.
Heather had no desire to respond to Leon, as certain sensitive topics shouldn’t be brought up. Meanwhile, Matthias continued working quietly on the task at hand.
Seeing that Heather wasn’t going to answer at all, Leon had no choice but to talk to himself while drooling over the rabbit meat. “I’m so hungry. I can’t wait.”
“Just a short while more and you can eat it,” Matthias said from beside him. He was getting a little hungry too.
The three of them exchanged short chatter, so the atmosphere was lively. From time to time, Heather’s gaze would turn toward the rabbit meat that was being grilled.
It was Heather’s first novel experience of barbecuing in the wild, so she actually wanted to try grilling the meat as well.
Noticing the curiosity in Heather’s eyes, Matthias shot her a knowing look, but she simply shifted her gaze disdainfully.
“Are you in a hurry?” Matthias asked Heather curiously.
“I’m not in a hurry at all. You guys take your time barbecuing. I’m going back to the car first.” Heather didn’t want to be nestled with them by the fire anymore, for it painted a bad image of her. She was the distinguished lady of a well-known family in Bradfort City, yet she was being led astray by them.
After Heather left, Matthias and Leon began discussing in low voices, because neither of them understood why Heather suddenly left when she was doing well earlier.
“Matthias, you provoked Heather again.” A sly smile played at the corners of Leon’s lips. Heather truly had no regard for Matthias whatsoever.
Matthias gave Leon a puzzled look. “When did I provoke her? Did I say something wrong?” Matthias couldn’t wrap his head around it. I was just concerned about Heather. Women’s minds are so hard to understand.
“Don’t take it to heart. It’s really hard to guess what Heather’s thinking. You shouldn’t care about this too much.” Leon patted Matthias on the shoulder, as the latter was currently experiencing what he had experienced back then. Of course, Leon’s current situation wasn’t any better.
Looking at Heather, who was in the car, Matthias didn’t even have the mood to taste the delicious food. Without Heather around, it was meaningless for him to do anything.
“Matthias, I think the rabbit meat is cooked!” Leon stared at the greasy grilled rabbit meat while lamenting about his inability to withstand hunger. He felt so hungry, and he wished so badly to taste the delicious food.
“It should be done.” Leon picked up the rabbit meat as soon as Matthias said that.
“Be careful. It’s hot.” Matthias warned Leon, stopping him from doing anything more.
Leon grabbed both ends of the stick with the grilled rabbit in the middle. With a dagger, Matthias removed the burnt parts from the rabbit’s surface.
The rabbit meat was piping hot, but Matthias’ movements were swift as he handled the meat.
Heather opened the car window and watched Matthias and Leon’s antics, envious that they could find happiness in such ordinary things.
Heather couldn’t remember how long it had been since she found joy in the small things in life. Occasionally, she would slow down her rapid pace and contemplate her life.
While she was growing up, happiness was scarce; she didn’t find anything worthy of happiness.
All day long, Heather could feel the novelty and joy Matthias and Leon were experiencing from the outdoor barbecue, but she didn’t have the mood to participate at all.
She found many things to be boring, and nothing could interest her. Inside the car, Heather watched the flames flickering in the distance, and she had the feeling that she was the little match girl watching the cheerful family through the window.
While Matthias ate, he asked Leon, “Has Heather always been like this?” Heather looked disappointed, but he didn’t know how to brighten up her mood.
Leon stuffed his mouth full of rabbit meat, looking blessed. “Just like her namesake plant, Heather lives in solitude. Up till now, I haven’t seen her take up any hobbies.”
It was a rare occurrence for Leon to understand Matthias’ question. Matthias frowned and said, “Just like her namesake plant. That’s a good way to put it. Heather and solitude. She’s really the kind of person who sticks to herself and is unconcerned about everything.”
“Now that you understand this, don’t worry about her temperament anymore. Whatever the case, after you become a married couple in the future, you’ll get used to it,” Leon said to Matthias caringly, causing the latter to find the situation both funny and embarrassing. Leon’s words certainly made him feel a mixture of joy and sorrow.
“In front of Heather, I can’t find any sense of accomplishment, nor do I have any confidence to pursue her.” Matthias confided in Leon, thinking that perhaps Leon could give him a little help. After all, Leon and Heather had known each other for a long time, so he knew her better than Matthias did.
“That’s completely normal. Are you not used to it now, or is it because you can’t let go of your pride?” Leon deliberately lowered his voice when he got to the last part, as if he was afraid that Heather would hear him.
“I have to respect and love myself first before I can love others, so how can I possibly let go of my pride?” Matthias had a baseline when it came to his feelings. He couldn’t shamelessly love Heather, and in his eyes, love shouldn’t be done subserviently.
Leon shoved the last piece of rabbit meat into his mouth, seemingly afraid that Matthias would snatch it away. His chewing was forceful as the grilled rabbit meat was rather chewy.
The two of them were truly unbelievable. They didn’t leave a single bite for Heather, mainly because Leon had eaten most of the meat. Even Matthias only ate a small portion.
“I won’t comment on that, and it wouldn’t be good for me to say much about your affairs either.” Leon didn’t want to get involved in this messy situation. However, Matthias was right; he was a dignified seven-foot-tall man, so he couldn’t possibly let go of his pride just to pursue a woman. If he disregarded his pride, then he would indeed be too spineless.
If Matthias was actually such a spineless man, Heather wouldn’t like him either. Perhaps through every conflict they had, they would start to develop a fondness for each other.
Taking out his handkerchief, Matthias carefully wiped a few wild berries. He planned to give Heather some fruit, as forcibly pulling her over wouldn’t make her happy.
Upon seeing Matthias walking toward her, Heather closed the car window. She put on her earphones, not exactly wanting to bother about him.
Nevertheless, this did nothing to stop Matthias. Matthias knocked on the car window, creating thumping sounds, so Heather had no choice but to lower the car window once more.
“Wild berries for you to replenish your vitamins.” Matthias grabbed a handful of wild berries and spread them out in front of Heather. His gentle smile made him look like a carefree gentleman.
“It’s fine. I don’t like sour food.” Heather rejected Matthias’ kindness, but he grabbed her hand and forced all the wild berries into her hands.
Without a doubt, Heather’s hand wasn’t as big as Matthias’, so a number of wild berries fell from her hand, leaving only half of the bunch laying firmly in Heather’s palm.
Noting the stubborness in Matthias’ gaze, Heather reluctantly withdrew her hand. She noticed that Matthias had wiped the wild berries until they were bright and shiny.
This was a token of Matthias’ regard, so Heather couldn’t refuse. Hence, under his watchful gaze, she picked up a berry and placed it into her mouth.
“Don’t worry. There aren’t any pesticide residues on them.” Matthias flashed her a gentlemanly smile. As he watched Heather eat the wild berries he gave, his mood improved a whole lot.
“I know.” The wild berries turned out to taste good; they were slightly sour but still acceptable.
Heather proceeded to eat a second one. Matthias was more excited than anyone else to see this. It seemed like she didn’t dislike the taste of the berries, which gave him a sense of achievement.
“Do you really have no interest in anything?” Matthias asked boldly.
Heather was eating the berries when Matthias said this, causing her appetite to disappear in an instant.
Is having a lack of interest my fault? Heather didn’t like it when other people posed such questions so directly. Matthias had crossed the line, so her face naturally turned sour.
“What does it have to do with you?” Heather shot Matthias a cold look, thinking that he was being really nosy for not letting go of any of her affairs.
“Don’t be so disgruntled. I want to get along well with you, but I can’t find the right way to do it. You might as well be honest with me and tell me the truth. Open up to me so that I can find a way to make it easier for us to get along well.” Matthias was fed up with the constant ups and downs between the two of them. He didn’t want to touch on topics that Heather disliked; he just wanted to make her happy every day.
“I advise you not to waste your effort,” Heather replied coldly. “Also, I have no intentions of getting along well with you, so you shouldn’t put so much effort into it as it’ll just be in vain.” Every sentence she said was more aggravating than the other. Whenever Matthias tried to make his way into her heart, all of her thorns would spike up.
The cold wind blew against Matthias’ face, but he couldn’t feel the chill, because Heather’s words had frosted his heart.
“Heather, why are you always so hostile toward me?” Matthias was truly puzzled. Why does Heather have to treat me so much more terrible than she treats others? And she’s rarely gentle with me.
“You probably offended me in your previous life,” Heather said without blinking. Sometimes, she would feel bad about her behavior, but she would still hurt Matthias unscrupulously when dealing with him.
“Fine. As long as you’re happy.” Matthias didn’t want to continue talking to her. Heather refused to give in at all, and her heart was utterly frozen, so how was he supposed to get through to her?
Seeing Matthias return looking frustrated, Leon didn’t take pleasure in his misfortune this time. Instead, he looked sympathetically at Matthias, remembering that Heather had also thoroughly hurt him in the past.
“Matthias, you don’t need to care too much about what she says sometimes. She crosses the line at times, when in fact she—”
Without waiting for Leon to finish speaking, Matthias interrupted him. “I’m fine. It’s getting late. We should pack up and go back.” Matthias didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Perhaps one day, he would completely lose his feelings for Heather, and maybe then he wouldn’t be so troubled.
Heather turned away, not wanting to look at Matthias as she knew that she had hurt his pride once again.
In their relationship, the both of them were of equal status. Heather knew she only acted this harshly because she knew that Matthias loved her, but she couldn’t control herself.
“I’m sorry,” Heather whispered as the thought that maybe she should change this personality flaw surfaced in her mind.
