How was it possible that a man could be so good-looking? There were plenty of handsome and attractive men around Heather, but no one had attracted her the way Matthias did.
Thinking that she might not be able to see this tender, attractive face of his in the future made her feel horrible. What a greedy woman she was; did she desire to own the whole world? Unfortunately, his world would have nothing to do with her soon. She didn’t have the guts to open her eyes wide as it would be harder to let him go after seeing him clearly.
On the other hand, Matthias had been keeping her company by her bedside all this while. He had even turned off his phone so that he could take care of her without any distractions. Besides, he wouldn’t want any potential noise to disturb her.
If it wasn’t fated that they met, it must be a sin. The strong wind was blowing outside the window. As she listened to the sound, she was getting more and more anxious. The weather outside sounded as bad as she felt right now.
As the day passed, here came the night. Even then, he didn’t seem to have the intention to leave. On the extra bed in the ward lay Matthias who had himself crouched up into a ball. It must be his first time sleeping in such an awkward position.
Throughout the whole time, she had been awake as she couldn’t fall asleep. Even though her body was truly tired, she just couldn’t rest in peace. With him by her side, she felt even more uneasy. By midnight, guilt and self-consciousness had devoured her whole.
Meanwhile, he was sleeping soundly on the extra bed in the ward. He must have been very tired lately since there had been so much going on at Locke Group. Moreover, it was a special period of time. Therefore, she actually felt sorry for him.
Carefully, she got out of the bed as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake him up. Standing before him, she still couldn’t see him clearly as it was dark. Fortunately, the extra bed was quite short, so she could crouch down by the side.
With her decent night vision, she leaned closer and left a kiss on his forehead gently. Perhaps it wasn’t enough, for she was still thinking of his lips. Tentatively, she planted a kiss on his lips too. She wished that the kiss would leave a mark. If that was the case, she would’ve kissed him all over his body.
Despite locking in her decision, she still couldn’t let go; despite the very out-of-the-line decision she made, she was still being greedy. She was beginning to hate herself more and more because she felt like she was exploiting his love for her even though she knew it wasn’t right. She was about to give herself to someone else, yet she still desired to own his heart.
“People who love each other won’t always be together.” Heather said by his ear sotto voce, “Because there are too many deserters in love.”
It was also something she was telling herself because she was the deserter who took off before she could fall deeper in love. A person as selfish as she was did not deserve love.
After doing all that, she carefully went back to bed. Throughout her actions, he had been asleep. It was better that way; it was better that he didn’t wake up, didn’t hear her conflicting words, and didn’t love a selfish woman like her.
As the ward wasn’t warm, Matthias was woken up by the cold. His first reaction upon waking up was to take a look at Heather, who was lying in the hospital bed. Fortunately, she seemed to be in a deep sleep. He didn’t set the air conditioner to a high temperature as he was worried that she’d feel hot and stuffy.
At this moment, the extra bed that he was on made a squeaking noise. Alarmed, he looked toward her on the bed with a concerned look as he was afraid that he’d wake her up. Though he was happy that she seemed to be in a deep sleep, he was still worried about her condition since she had slept for such a long time.
Hence, he decided to look for a doctor at work as he was concerned about her current condition. Having accompanied her for a whole day yesterday, he had forgotten to ask the doctor regarding the reason for her sickness.
After getting out of the door, he carefully closed it back shut. As soon as he left, her eyes shot wide open. Initially, she had already fallen asleep in a daze, but she was woken up by the noise made when he got up.
Assuming that he went to look for the doctor, she started contemplating what to do next. It wouldn’t be realistic to continue acting like she was asleep. Besides, Leon would be here to visit soon. She just couldn’t bring herself to say mean things to him now.
Yesterday, she had even had a plan plotted when Leon arrived tomorrow. She was going to invite Matthias to their wedding to agitate him further. But after just one night, she had already changed her mind. She wasn’t able to bring herself to be so cruel to Matthias. However, if Leon didn’t make it today, there would be a high chance Matthias might stay by her side until she got discharged.
Now, she had truly hit a bump. She was contemplating whether she should send Leon a message telling him not to come over today. After all, their wedding wasn’t in a rush. She could even follow Robert’s wishes and get engaged with Leon first.
Just yesterday, she was saying confidently that she wanted to get married to Leon and have Robert attend their wedding. Now, she had changed her mind. Alas, women just couldn’t be cruel in front of the man they loved.
At this moment, she felt like she had sunk into a whirlpool, and she was getting deeper and deeper within. With that, her original plan could use a fix. To be frank, she didn’t know what she was thinking either. It seemed that there was still a slight chance to get engaged, but getting married… Heather couldn’t bring herself to think any further.
She was only having such trouble making the decision because she liked him. But before she could come to a conclusion, he had already brought the doctor to her ward. At once, she shut her eyes and slept in a straight position. She was afraid that he’d notice something was off.
The doctor approached the bed to take a look at her complexion before telling him with a troubled look, “Let’s talk outside.” The doctor spoke so softly that even Heather, who wasn’t actually asleep, couldn’t hear it clearly.
When they stepped out of the ward, Matthias looked at the doctor with a worried expression. “How is she right now?” The uneasy look on the doctor’s face made Matthias feel like Heather’s condition was concerning.
“Her complexion seems better than yesterday. However, things are still not looking good. Further assessments are required,” the doctor said with a frown.
“The reason why she fainted can’t be determined yet?” He seemed a little irritated. The doctors in this hospital are so useless!
“There are still some tests arranged for Miss Langston today. When the results are out, we can determine the cause.” The doctor didn’t dare to offend Matthias as he was someone who held a lot of power in Bradfort City.
“Will all the results be out by today?” His tone was so cold that the doctor wouldn’t dare to say no to him.
“We can speed it up,” the doctor spluttered like a yes-man. Truth was, the results of the tests couldn’t be obtained so easily. Nonetheless, Matthias was not someone the doctor could afford to offend. The doctor figured that he could prioritize Heather and let her tests run first.
“I must know why she fainted by today,” he demanded. Obviously, he wasn’t a friendly person. All he did was pressure the doctor consistently. As it was a matter concerning Heather’s health, he was a little irritational. He would even use his authority to get things done if he had to.
“Understood, understood.” The doctor nodded.
Earlier on, the doctor was sleeping in the duty room when Matthias had suddenly barged in. He was completely immodest as he had even threatened the doctor. It was still early in the morning, so the doctor was still a little groggy and blurry. Who knew that he’d be so unlucky to have something like this happen to him? It seemed that today just wasn’t his day.
“Thank you, doctor,” said Matthias without forgetting to fake a polite thanks, sending chills down the doctor’s spine. This only happened because Matthias’ pretentious smile could be a bit scary. No wonder he was called The Smiling Tiger.
All Matthias wanted now was for Heather to be as energetic as she used to be. He was truly worried about her condition. Her health was his only concern at the moment––nothing else mattered.
After the doctor left, he pushed the door to her ward open gently and tentatively. He was still careful not to make any loud noises as he knew that it wasn’t easy to have a good sleeping environment in the hospital.
At this moment, he was trying his best not to wake her up. That was how much he loved her; he loved her so much that he was about to lose himself. Neither did he bother about Locke Group, nor did he bother about other people’s feelings. All he cared about now was Heather alone. Anything or anyone else was not of his concern.
He had never been so stubborn before. For the time being, he had forgotten his identity as the acting president of Locke Group and he was just a normal man who loved Heather boundlessly. Getting back to the cold chair, he looked at her clean, pure face as a satisfied smile adorned his lips.
“Heather, you’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said meaningfully. He wanted to grab her hand so badly, but it felt like there was an invisible wall separating them.
On the other hand, she had heard everything he had said. She initially thought that he had been practicing on how to give her up this whole time but it seemed she was overthinking the situation. Now, she could clearly feel that he loved her more than he did previously. Her fainting was just a small accident, but he was worried as ever. He is just so adorable!
Besides, she knew her own body well. Since she had a bit of going to regular check-ups, she knew she wasn’t facing anything serious as she took disease prevention very seriously.
At this moment, she wanted to open her eyes; she wanted to stare at him; she wanted to talk to him. Why am I so stubborn? She felt like there were two versions of her right now, fighting within her mind. Neither version of herself was going easy on her.
As time passed slowly, both Matthias and Heather suffered. Matthias had to take care of Heather as he was worried that she might not wake up, or wake up anytime soon. Meanwhile, she was acting asleep. As much as she wanted to open her eyes, she was also scared to face him.
The two conflicting people stayed in this stalemate situation for a long time. At this point, Matthias even forgot about being hungry, so he and Heather stayed with empty stomachs together.
Yesterday, the doctor had instructed Matthias to not wake her up, so he listened. That was why he hadn’t left her side ever since. Though he was also worried that she might get hungry, the doctor did say that she was more tired, so deep sleep was what she needed most.
Once again, love was brewing between them. She wished that she could freeze the moment so that he could be by her side until the end of time. If it wasn’t for Leon’s arrival, the peaceful silence between them wouldn’t be broken. Today, he came very early as he didn’t sleep a wink last night.
Since he couldn’t sleep, he stayed awake all night and made his way to the hospital first thing in the morning. After thinking it through for the entire night, he still couldn’t calm himself down. He had a lot to say to her.
What Leon didn’t expect was that Matthias was already by her side before he arrived. If a queue truly mattered, he was actually the one who came first. Nevertheless, Matthias was always one step ahead when there was a chance. It was at this moment that Leon finally understood why he had lost to Matthias.
