Regardless of what Heather said now, Myra wouldn’t listen to any of it. Heather couldn’t think of a better countermeasure. She had imagined this sort of situation happening before, but she never thought through how to face it.
“I don’t want to see you.” Looking at Heather’s indifferent expression, Myra couldn’t see the slightest bit of sincerity. It didn’t look like she was remorseful at all.
Myra regretted having met Heather. No matter what Heather did now, it would all be misinterpreted in her eyes. Their friendship had ultimately been jeopardized.
All along, Heather never liked to give explanations, but she already did her best to explain things to Myra. It didn’t look like Myra wanted an explanation from her at this point. Nonetheless, what could she do? She was completely at fault.
She maintained eye contact with Myra for quite some time. It was the first time Myra looked this tough in front of her. Her mouth opened slightly; the words had reached her mouth, but she couldn’t speak them out loud.
While they were locked in a stalemate, Myra was the first to turn around. When she called Heather over this time, she held onto a thread of hope and probably didn’t think things would turn out this way.
It was Heather’s fault for abusing her trust. This came as such a heavy blow to Myra that she couldn’t bring herself to look at Heather in the face. She always thought that Heather was only a conniving person to outsiders, but it turned out that she herself had gotten caught up in her schemes. Heather’s selfishness could make one’s blood boil.
“I can still—”
Heather’s words got cut off right away. Standing with her back straight, Myra was cold and distant. “What else are you using me for?” Myra didn’t even want to look at Heather while she spoke without a trace of warmth in her voice.
Heather wasn’t able to proudly claim that she had never taken advantage of Myra before. A while ago, she planned to mend the relationship between the Langston and Hart Families through Myra. If that counted as taking advantage of someone, then Heather had used Myra many, many times.
“You really took full advantage of me. It looks like I’m quite valuable to you, seeing as you stayed friends with me for so many years.” Myra’s words were filled with ridicule. Even though she was sad, she had to say a few things to hurt Heather. She really couldn’t help herself.
Now that they had come to this point, Heather was forced to reflect on herself. She was starting to hate herself more for ending up as a cold-blooded ace business person who was blinded by greed.
If she had even the slightest bit of repentance back then, perhaps they wouldn’t have come to this. Myra’s right. I am selfish, yet I can’t admit it, and I’m even defending myself with excuses. I have to face my dark side head-on. After all, things that had already happened can’t be treated as though they never had.
“I admit that I was selfish, and I understand if you don’t want to forgive me. I just hope you’ll give me another chance to make up for my wrongdoings.” Heather gave an earnest plea. Apart from making up for her mistakes now, there wasn’t a better way.
“No need. Haven’t you done enough of that all these years? Thinking about it now, every time you did something that made you feel sorry for me, you would always treat me a lot better. I felt grateful each time and always thought about giving back to you twice as much. I didn’t think there was a better friend than you in this world. But I only just realized that you never treated me as one.” Myra couldn’t accept this contrast. Before Tony showed up in her life, the person she depended on and trusted the most was Heather.
Their friendship felt like a joke now. Even at this moment, Myra couldn’t bring herself to say anything mean to Heather. The words were just stuck in her throat, unable to be said out loud.
Heather lowered her head dejectedly. There is no point in trying to explain further. This time, Myra isn’t going to forgive me so easily. From the outside, her silhouette looked very desolate.
“Leave, and don’t come back again.” Myra spoke lightly, but the weight of these words made Heather’s heart sink.
After Myra was done, she left the living room. They didn’t even have a cup of tea to drink. Myra was absolutely resolute this time. Once Myra was gone, Heather left the house by herself; it felt like the strength had drained from her body, and she had to use all her energy to open the door.
At this moment, she wasn’t expecting to see Matthias outside the house. He had found information on Leon and driven to Myra’s house to wait for Heather.
Coming out of the villa, Heather saw his car parked in clear view outside, but she simply walked past his car in low spirits, as though she hadn’t seen a thing.
Getting out of the car, he grabbed Heather and said, “Get in my car.” He still felt uneasy about showing up in front of Myra’s house so hastily.
Heather allowed herself to be pulled into the car. Once she was in the passenger seat, she didn’t fasten her seatbelt, which triggered the car safety alarm that started to annoy Matthias.
After driving a distance away from the villa, he stopped the car and helped fasten her seatbelt for her. He was saddened to see the bleak look in her eyes, but he didn’t know what had happened to her.
“What’s wrong?” His gentle voice also failed to bring Heather back to her senses. It looked like she had lost her soul and was a mere wandering spirit.
“Get me out of Bradfort City.” She didn’t want to stay here anymore. Her emotions were a wreck.
“Where do you want to go?” He was rather taken aback. Why does she want to leave Bradfort City all of a sudden? Something isn’t right about her. Did she and Myra get into a fight?
Thinking about how the both of them used to be so close to each other that they were practically one person, he wondered what conflict they could’ve had that made Heather look this dejected. It pained him just to see her that way.
“Don’t ask me any questions. Just be with me, okay?” The ‘okay’ she said at the end sounded so weak that he couldn’t bear to say no to her.
Hence, he gave her a firm nod. He was willing to spend his whole life with her. No matter what had happened to her, he was her pillar to rely on at this moment.
After that, the two stopped talking. Heather stared blankly ahead while Matthias focused on driving. Neither of them knew where their destination was, and they just drove aimlessly.
The only thought he had in mind was driving out of Bradfort City, and the rest could be discussed later. Heather became vulnerable so suddenly that he also felt the pain.
A long while later, they finally drove out of Bradfort City. That was when he brought up Leon to her, but she only gave him an indifferent murmur in response and did not make another sound.
“We’re about to reach a fork in the road. Should we go left or right?” He asked for her opinion as he didn’t know where they were headed either. Currently, it somehow felt like they were eloping together.
“Right,” she replied with one simple remark. Seeing her listless appearance, he felt like taking her to see a doctor badly.
“It’s so cold out. Why don’t we go south instead?” He treated this hasty journey as a trip. Since it was their trip, he figured they should go somewhere with a beautiful view.
He already had a place in mind—he wanted to go to Soville. However, Soville was so far away, so it wasn’t practical to drive there, and it was much more reasonable to take a plane.
“Okay.” Without the slightest suspense, Heather lost her own judgment and went with anything he said. He couldn’t bear to see her this way. How much longer will this situation go on for?
“Should we go to Soville?” he continued asking. Roselake in Soville was a suitable place for a trip during winter. There wasn’t any smog there, nor was the winter dry and cold like it was in the north.
“I want to go abroad.” She didn’t even want to stay in the country and wanted to go somewhere further away. The further she could be from Bradfort City, the better.
Heather didn’t think she would become an escapee one day—someone who was trying to escape from reality—but Myra’s words were still ringing in her head, and she couldn’t forgive herself. Her mind was in such a mess that it was impossible for her to think straight.
“Do you want to go to Northern Europe or the United States?” He followed up on her statement.
“Northern Europe.” She was only resorting to mechanical judgments now.
“Let’s go to Norway, then.” He immediately thought of a new location to go to.
“Okay,” she murmured and did not go on to say more.
“I’ll drive to the airport. We’ll take a flight there.” He had been driving for a long time now and was slightly worn out. Moreover, the sky was also getting dark.
When she didn’t answer him, he assumed that she agreed. Turning on the navigation system, he wanted to find the closest airport to them. They might have to transfer flights on their way to Norway. He never got to appreciate the scenery in Northern Europe, but he would get the chance to now with Heather.
Upon making the hasty decision, neither of them seemed to remember that Heather’s company was going to open for business on New Year’s Day. At the moment, starting a business was the last thing on her mind.
Another core member of the company, Leon, was also facing a complicated situation. It was going to be difficult for the company to open for business on New Year’s Day. Presently, the only people concerned about starting a business was Paige and her father. They weren’t aware of what had happened and were still set on preparing for the opening of the business.
Without realizing, Heather might have to let Paige and her father down again as she was not in the right state of mind to attend to company matters. Furthermore, she was even doubting whether she was fit to be a business person. She was truly tired and weary now.
She had only lived through less than half of her life, but she was already wavering. She was not fit to be a business person anymore. The more concerned she was about this, the more she wasn’t able to make hard-hearted decisions. Perhaps she couldn’t be a good person nor a good businesswoman.
“Matthias, am I a failure?” she asked suddenly. They were still a long distance away from the airport, but she felt like they had been on the road for a long time; it was as though half a century had passed by.
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?” He looked at her quizzically. The current Heather no longer had the energetic spirit and confidence from before. Who knew there would come a day when she would also grow inferior?
This made him extremely astonished. It seemed like she had been doubting herself all this while, and he could only watch on helplessly from the side.
“Forget it. I don’t want to know the answer.” She went limp in her seat, as though she had used up all her strength.
“You’re always outstanding and extraordinary to me. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I hope you can pull yourself together soon,” he encouraged. Seeing her this way, he couldn’t be happy himself either.
“I’m not fit to be a businesswoman, nor do I qualify as a decent human being. I know I have many flaws, but I don’t know how to fix them,” she repented.
