It was already 3.00AM by the time Matthias arrived home at his villa. He had come up with numerous excuses to stay around at the Langston Residence, and Heather could only comply with his wishes since she didn’t want to disturb the Langstons—after all, they were already soundly asleep. Still, she made a miscalculation, for Robert called her to his study early in the morning.
Heather had scrubbed herself down last night and sprayed perfume on herself, but there was still a faint smell of alcohol on her. Robert’s nose was very sensitive to the smell of it, so he smelled the alcohol on her at once. However, he was completely absorbed in his drawing, so he didn’t even look up when he saw her.
Heather felt somewhat nervous. She didn’t know why Robert had purposely called her over, and the tense atmosphere made her feel that this wasn’t a good thing. Heather, who always had a strong intuition, braced herself for Robert’s lecture and silently huddled in a corner.
“You reek of alcohol.” There was a hint of displeasure in Robert’s voice.
Heather sniffed at one of her sleeves, but she couldn’t smell any alcohol at all since she could only smell her perfume. Grandpa has such a keen sense of smell, she thought to herself. Having no other alternative, she could only lower her head in silence. At this moment, she’d better listen quietly as Robert gave her a talking-to.
“Why don’t you say anything?” The inexplicable seriousness in Robert’s words rendered her speechless. However, Robert didn’t stop talking because of this. He continued, “Matthias was the one who sent you back at around 1.00AM last night.”
Grandpa even knows about this! Heather thought to herself. As she looked at Robert with a helpless expression, she felt as though she had been caught red-handed while doing something bad. “Didn’t you want me to see more of Matthias, Grandpa?” She immediately shifted the blame onto Robert.
“I didn’t ask you two to see each other and get drunk in the middle of the night,” Robert replied in displeasure. He was filled with anger when he heard from the butler this morning about what had happened last night. He thought that Matthias was a steady young man, but he never expected him to do such inappropriate things. Now, he had to reconsider his decision of handing Heather over to Matthias.
“No amount of booze is enough when you’re drinking with a close friend, Grandpa.” Heather hurriedly made an excuse for herself. After all, she inherited her fondness for alcohol from Robert.
“How could a lady drink so much alcohol?” Robert replied disapprovingly as he didn’t like Heather to drink.
“Gender doesn’t matter in the business world. How could one refrain from drinking if they want to get things done?” Heather tried to reason with Robert. However, she never drank alcohol while engaging in social engagements overseas.
“That’s the old way of doing things. Times are different now, and one must know when to stop drinking,” Robert chided Heather as he couldn’t understand why she couldn’t wrap her head around this.
Heather immediately went along with what Robert said. “That’s true. Nowadays, I’ve been drinking much less alcohol than before.”
Robert’s poor health had been caused by his drinking habits. He used to be an alcoholic back then, but he forcibly gave up drinking to live a few years longer. He had forbidden members of his family to drink since then, so he would never easily allow them to drink. However, Heather was addicted to alcohol, so she would have a few drinks even when there was nothing troubling her.
Heather had been drinking surreptitiously before, but she was too careless last night. According to her guess, the butler probably spotted her. He had been working beside Robert for so many years, and it probably took only a sniff for him to know how much alcohol she had drunk. She felt sorry for Matthias in secret; she had caused him to be misunderstood and lowered his image a lot in Robert’s mind.
Just then, Robert said sternly, “I’ll never let you marry a drunkard.”
Right now, Matthias had become a drunkard in Robert’s mind. At the thought of this, Heather suppressed the urge to laugh; she thought that Matthias would probably have never imagined such a scene. “I just had a few more drinks than usual last night, Grandpa. Both Matthias and I aren’t drunkards.” She began to juggle with her words again.
However, Robert didn’t want to listen to Heather’s explanation at all, for he only believed his eyes and ears. “This bad habit of yours isn’t regulated in the first place. Now that Matthias is involved with you, you’ll never be short of excuses for drinking,” he reproached in displeasure as he really took this matter to heart.
“Just be rest assured, Grandpa. I promise you that such a thing will never happen again.” Heather had to find a way to calm Robert down as soon as possible. After all, Robert was in ill health, so she didn’t want to upset him. Robert was now paying more and more attention to health issues, but had he forgotten that few who dwelled in the business world could stay healthy? However, Heather didn’t know how to reason with Robert, for she would displease him further if she argued with him. Now that there was no better way, she could only go along with his wishes. She had always kept this in mind previously, but she simply forgot herself last night.
Robert then gave Heather another lecture on health, to which she responded by nodding and saying yes repeatedly. She just wanted him to stop his lecture as soon as possible since he always trotted out one argument after another while dressing people down.
At last, Robert softened his attitude and was willing to let Heather off the hook. However, Matthias gave her a call just then. Her grandfather shot her a look, clearly indicating that he wanted to know who was calling her.
Heather immediately hung up the phone and said to Robert, “It’s a misdial.”
How could Robert not see through Heather’s petty lies, though? He could tell that the phone call was from Matthias. Soon, Heather’s cell phone rang again. Robert stared at her as he wanted to see how she was going to explain herself.
Heather directly hung up the phone as quickly as possible, wishing that Matthias wouldn’t call her again. Just then, Robert said quietly, “That phone call was from Matthias.” His tone of voice was almost affirmative.
“No, it really was a misdial.” Heather switched off her cell phone right away. She was almost pissed at Matthias as he called her at this very moment.
“Hand me your cell phone,” Robert ordered Heather.
Heather had just switched off her cell phone; what would she say if she handed Robert her cell phone at this moment? She felt like crying, but she could only switch her cell phone back on.
As he looked into Heather’s eyes, Robert extended his hand and signaled her to hand over her cell phone.
Heather put the cell phone that she had just switched on in Robert’s hand. She deleted the call logs which Matthias had made, but how could Robert be fooled by such a simple trick? “Why isn’t the misdialed call from earlier recorded here?” He tossed Heather’s cell phone onto the desk.
Now that Heather was in a tight spot, she simply didn’t answer Robert. This is really vexing, and it’s all Matthias’ fault—that stupid teammate, she thought to herself.
“In that case, let’s just wait and see if the person will call again.” Robert placed the cell phone on the desk with a flicker of wisdom in his eyes.
Robert was older and more experienced. Heather couldn’t hide anything in front of him, so she only hoped that Matthias would know when to stop and stop calling her. However, reality was cruel, for her prayer was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She looked at it angrily, and she only hoped that her cell phone would explode on the spot right now.
As Robert picked up the cell phone unhurriedly, Heather tensed up all over. Right now, there was still a slim chance that the person calling wasn’t Matthias. However, Robert answered the phone and said to the person on the other end of the line, “Is that you, Matthias?”
Matthias didn’t expect to hear Robert’s voice over the phone. He looked at his cell phone in puzzlement while wondering why Heather’s cell phone would be in Robert’s hand. “Hi, Old Master Langston,” he greeted politely at once.
Robert still exchanged greetings with Matthias on the surface without leaving any traces. On the other hand, Heather felt increasingly anxious as she feared that Matthias’ words might make Robert unhappy. As she studied Robert’s expression carefully, she only hoped that he wouldn’t get angry. However, it seemed that Robert was having a pleasant chat with Matthias, and she secretly complained to herself, What a sly old fox Grandpa is.
“Are you calling so early in the morning to ask for Heather, Matthias?” Robert asked while knowing the answer as Heather guessed what he and Matthias were talking about.
Matthias took the opportunity to ask Robert, “Yeah. Where is Heather?”
“Heather drank a lot last night, and she hasn’t sobered up right now,” Robert lied through his teeth, and his words were full of sarcasm.
“Ah!” Matthias didn’t doubt what Robert said, though. He didn’t expect that Heather’s capacity for liquor wasn’t as good as it appeared to be. Indeed, the aftereffects of drinking different kinds of alcohol last night were strong, but the aftereffects shouldn’t be so strong as to prevent Heather from getting up early. Matthias thought she could hold her liquor better than he did since she looked totally unaffected by last night’s drinking session.
“I wonder who Heather was drinking so much alcohol with last night. The person didn’t care at all about the fact that she’s a lady.” Robert’s remark was aimed specifically at Matthias.
Upon hearing Robert’s words, Matthias felt very ashamed. He had always thought that Heather was incapable of nothing; he even pledged to protect her last night, yet it was his fault that she had become like this.
Just then, Robert added, “You mustn’t be the one with whom Heather drank so much alcohol. I know that you care about her more than anyone else does.”
His remark made Matthias feel extremely ashamed, and even Heather was nervous for Matthias’s sake. After some thought, she went up right away, snatched her cell phone from Robert, and hung up directly. Then, she immediately switched off her cell phone lest Matthias called again.
When he saw what Heather had done, Robert felt deeply uncomfortable—she actually disobeyed him for the sake of a man.
“This matter isn’t Matthias’ fault, Grandpa. It’s me who insisted on drinking, and he only drank with me because he wanted me to be happy. Don’t blame him unjustly, okay?” Heather explained in resignation. She worried that Matthias would die of shame if she continued to let Robert speak to him.
“This doesn’t justify your disobedience to me.” Now, Robert wanted to talk to Heather about her improper actions from earlier.
“I’m sorry. I was too anxious just now,” Heather apologized.
“How dare you treat me like this for Matthias’ sake?” Robert felt bitter as he had to hand over the granddaughter that he had raised himself to someone else. Naturally, he was extremely reluctant to part with Heather. To be honest, he was quite fond of Matthias, but he was reluctant to part with his granddaughter whenever it occurred to him that she would marry into someone else’s family. Because of that, he began to find fault with his future grandson-in-law.
“Don’t be angry, Grandpa. It was my fault, but I don’t want you to do Matthias an injustice.” Heather unknowingly provoked Robert further as she kept defending Matthias.
“Get out. I don’t want to see you.” Robert’s lordliness took over again. The older this old man became, the more childish he acted. Hence, he couldn’t forgive Heather right now.
