The car sped along the highway. As it passed through a tunnel, Heather’s face appeared vaguely before Matthias’s eyes. Matthias hated such a hallucination, so he sped up the car and quickly passed through the tunnel. The lights inside made him feel very uncomfortable, and he felt sick as scenes about Heather kept popping up in his mind. He tried his best to shake off such a state of mind since there were many other things he needed to accomplish. Hence, he couldn’t be completely under Heather’s control since now wasn’t the right time to be wrapped up in a relationship.
There wasn’t much distance left between Matthias and Caliph Nightclub after he passed through the tunnel, and he tried his best to recognize the signs around him as Caliph Nightclub was hidden among them. As his car slowly drove in, he found the nightclub with his sharp eyes. Then, he parked his car in front of it with a half-smile. Who would’ve thought this was such a place by looking from the outside? The place looked ordinary, and it was a pretty good disguise.
He stopped his car and gracefully got out of it with his face devoid of expression. Then, he pushed open the door to the nightclub right away. The front desk receptionists were still the same people as before, and they recognized him because he had an outstanding air about him. With a face so stony that no one could guess what was on his mind, he told the front desk receptionists about the reason for his visit. However, they looked at him with troubled expressions because the request he made was against the rules.
“Tell your boss to come out and meet me.” Matthias could tell that they were in a difficult situation. Indeed, it was useless to talk to the small fries about such things. He didn’t like making things difficult for ordinary people, and he even often took care of their feelings. Sometimes, he felt he was incredibly gentle, yet he was unwilling to show such tenderness to profit-seeking businesspeople in the business world—he felt that he had a lasting hatred for the rich in his bones.
Since it was Matthias, the nightclub’s owner came out without any hesitation. Matthias looked at the owner and asked him, “Can we find somewhere quiet to discuss things?” He had always been well-mannered, and the owner naturally had no reason to turn him down when his features softened.
The owner then led Matthias to his private space; he lived at the nightclub most of the time because the place often had emergencies he needed to personally deal with. “Please have a seat, Director Locke.” The owner had a shy smile on his face.
Only then did Matthias get to see the owner’s face clearly. They merely came across each other last time, and only this time did Matthias find that the nightclub’s owner’s face showed signs of aging together with pure shyness similar to a high schooler’s. Such a discovery surprised him, for few middle-aged people could retain such shyness. What a strange person he is, he thought to himself. “Is Ether here?” he asked straightforwardly.
Meanwhile, the owner looked at Matthias in a troubled manner. “You probably don’t know this, but she’s already quit her job.”
No wonder the front desk receptionists had that look on their faces, Matthias thought to himself. It seemed like they were unaware of Ether’s resignation and merely thought that Ether wasn’t here today for some personal reasons. “She quit her job?” he asked in bafflement. Indeed, this answer caught him by surprise.
However, the owner was very surprised too, for he thought Ether quit her job so easily because she had become acquainted with Matthias. After all, he knew Ether’s family situation very well, and she needed this high-paying job. However, it seemed that he had misunderstood her.
As he looked at the strained expression on the owner’s face, Matthias asked again, “I need her address.” He believed the owner knew where she lived.
The latter looked at him; when he saw how serious Matthias appeared to be, he guessed what had happened between him and Ether. This was a profound mystery, but he readily gave Ether’s address to Matthias—the man had an aura about him that made him look commanding even though he didn’t look angry, so the owner didn’t dare to lie to him. Besides, he thought Matthias could even help her out.
Unlike other owners who bore no conscience, this nightclub owner still maintained his morals. Matthias discovered this after several rounds of conversation, though he wasn’t interested to know too much about the story behind it. He gave the owner a nod and said politely, “Thank you.” Naturally, it gave people a sense of kindness.
The owner smiled a smile of gratification as he watched Matthias leave this small space of a few square meters. Perhaps because he was used to seeing those garishly and frivolously dressed dandies, he couldn’t help feeling a little excited at the sight of an exception like Matthias.
Meanwhile, Matthias looked at the small note in his hand with Ether’s address written on it. As he stood in front of the car, he hesitated for a bit. He had gone beyond reason by suddenly rushing to the clubhouse, so he thought he must have gone crazy since he wanted to go to Ether’s house as well. Upon thinking of her resignation, he had to connect it with himself. Would Ether have quit her job so quickly if it weren’t for him?
He then looked at the envelope he was holding, which was some form of compensation that the owner wanted to give Ether. In other words, the owner entrusted him with the task of delivering this to Ether during his visit. It seems like I already have a reason to go to Ether’s house, he thought to himself with a relieved expression. In reality, he could easily find out Ether’s bank account number and transfer the money to her directly by remittance. In an instant, a reason that necessitated the visit became far-fetched.
Matthias got into his car as he was considering this. He wasn’t prepared to actually meet Ether, not to mention that Ether hadn’t prepared herself for this either. Such a scene had been portrayed too many times in novels and TV dramas, but Matthias didn’t think he was the prince who fell in love with Cinderella. Therefore, his reasoning made him unable to start up his car and go to Ether’s house.
Still, he couldn’t throw away the note he was clutching in his hand, though he had tossed the envelope containing the money onto the passenger seat. Deep down inside, he was in an unusual dilemma. He slowly started up his car, and he had to be on the road no matter what choice he would make.
Meanwhile, Nikolai and Lara had stopped in a field in the countryside and were regretting that they didn’t drive a cross-country vehicle over. “The wilderness?” Nikolai asked while looking at Lara in bafflement. He didn’t expect Lara’s secret garden to look like this.
“What’s the problem? Do you not like it?” Lara stared fixedly at him. She couldn’t guarantee his safety if he dared to give any wrong answers.
Nikolai could tell the threat in Lara’s eyes, so he waved his hand. “No, I like this place very much.” Even the smile on his lips became hypocritical.
“It seems that you don’t like this place. I regret sharing my secret garden with you,” Lara said in annoyance.
It was winter, and flowers had withered in Lara’s secret garden. Only some wildflowers that could survive hardships were scattered here and there, and even the thick growths of grass were in low spirits. The place was overgrown with dead greenery, and it looked as though they could be destroyed by wildfire at any time. Lara felt somewhat sad as she looked at her secret garden. As it turned out, she hadn’t been here for a long time, and the garden had withered.
Upon seeing Lara’s sad eyes, Nikolai felt embarrassed instead; he felt the need to comfort her. “Cheer up, Lara. This place is really beautiful.” He instantly felt he lacked the ability to describe things, and he disliked himself inwardly for that.
“Really?” Lara cast Nikolai a disdainful look as she didn’t find what was beautiful about this place. She almost forgot that she had not been here for half a year; this was not because she had nothing to be sad over, but merely because she was unusually busy. “You know that I was born and raised in Bradfort City, Nikolai. I visit Bradfort City every year, but do you know how happy I was when President Locke said he wanted to develop a business in Bradfort City and moved the Locke Group’s headquarters here?” She closed her eyes. This way, she would be much closer to her secret garden and could often come here. However, things hadn’t gone according to plan. Despite such a close distance, she had never been here even once. Lara was thoroughly disappointed with herself. When she moved back to Bradfort City at that time, she thought she was back to her home ground. Unfortunately, she was wrong. Not only did she lose Matthias here, she also lost those past joys.
“I remember that. You chuckled like a cat that sneakily caught a fish back then, but I never saw you chuckling like that again afterward.” Nikolai reminisced about the past with Lara. Before arriving in Bradfort City, they had been an unbeatable trio. It seemed like they shouldn’t have come here, and Nikolai knew that the changes in their relationship had been caused by the woman named Heather. He would never deny Heather’s charm, but he still regretted the changes in their relationship very much.
“Have you decided what to do in the future, Nikolai?” Lara asked him. She didn’t know where her new starting point was.
“Perhaps we can team up and start a business,” Nikolai suggested jokingly. This wasn’t the first time he had such thoughts; he thought about this possibility during the days when he had a secret crush on Heather, but he didn’t think of being together with Lara back then.
“It sounds like a nice idea.” Lara laughed, but tears accidentally streamed down her cheeks.
“Why don’t we imagine how we’d divide up the labor and work together in the future right now?” This was better than what Nikolai had imagined, for he still had Lara keeping him company at the very least. He became increasingly doubtful of his capabilities after working under Matthias for a long time. He didn’t know where his limits were, nor did he know if he’d be able to make some achievements after leaving Matthias. Starting a business was the best way to prove oneself. As Nikolai looked at Lara beside him at this moment, he strengthened his resolve even further.
“Why should we discuss something boring like work in my secret garden?” Lara disagreed with him. She had just regained her freedom, so why would she trap herself in the workplace again?
“Okay, let’s talk about something interesting then,” Nikolai suggested. In reality, he didn’t know what was interesting.
“In that case, we might as well travel together.” The days in Bradfort City made Lara feel very oppressed. In particular, she felt as though she was living on the edge of a blade recently, so traveling might be able to get her to relax temporarily.
“In that case, may I ask where you would like to travel, Miss Locke?” Nikolai hadn’t backpacked for a long time, so the idea of traveling together sounded really nice to him.
Lara was seriously considering the idea of traveling. “We need to find a place where we both like. Why don’t we reduce the scope first? The entire world is too big of a scope.”
“In that case, we’ll just travel within Solaria,” said Nikolai, suggesting an area that sounded much smaller compared to the globe.
“Great. Let’s visit the south then.” Lara smiled innocently, for she liked that place.
……
As the young pair continued to chatter, the secret garden would be disturbed…
