As the cold breeze brushed against Lara, she shrunk her neck upon feeling the chilly sensation. When Nikolai saw that, he took off his coat and put it over her.
“The weather’s so weird! Maybe we shouldn’t stay too long out here.” Having given up his coat, Nikolai was prone to the assault of the cold.
“Yeah.” Although she was reluctant to leave, it wouldn’t be wise to stay out any longer.
“If you like it here, we can come over anytime we want, Lara.” Nikolai saw her reluctance and smiled at the woman, offering to keep her company the next time they came.
Since having company was indeed welcomed, Lara nodded her head in agreement, feeling Nikolai was getting more and more pleasant. Now that she had the opportunity to assiduously observe him, she realized that he was rather outstanding. In fact, she wondered why she had never seen him in such a light before.
“Don’t stare at me like that. You’re making me self-conscious.” Nikolai got curious about what she was peering at and touched his own face. There’s nothing on my face!
Lara shook her head and laughed. “What’s with that? Are you afraid that I’d fall for you?” Upon hearing her charming laugh, Nikolai’s heart started to palpitate uncontrollably.
Nonetheless, he regained his composure and hastily defended by saying, “No! Of course not!” Feeling as though she was toying with him, he couldn’t look her straight in the eyes.
“Let’s go!” The moment Lara smiled, Nikolai felt like his entire world had brightened up.
Although he wanted to hold her hand, he didn’t have the courage to do so—he withdrew his arm before he could fully extend it. Just like how he didn’t dare to admit his feelings for Heather openly, he couldn’t bear any indecent thoughts toward Lara, and he disdained himself for being so cowardly.
However, he was not the only coward—Matthias was the same, for he was troubled by his inability to make a rational decision. As he clutched the note in his hand, he suspected that he had truly gone insane for being so indecisive.
Despite having a clear answer in his heart, he couldn’t find a reason to convince himself. Perhaps that was the reason why he had been living so dully all this while.
Not wanting things to continue this way, he quickly turned his car around. Since he wished to see Ether and no one could stop him from doing so, why would he burden himself with more doubts?
As the car sped forward, Matthias tossed away every single thought of Heather in his mind, refusing to be such a pathetic man. Judging by Heather’s character, she would surely abhor someone with such a petty mindset; only a man who could afford to stand by her side deserved to be with her.
Nonetheless, he wasn’t aware that every single movement of his was being observed by a certain someone, and him going for Ether was precisely what the person wanted.
The anonymous person was dying to stir up more drama between Heather and Matthias, for it would make everything much more fun. After getting someone to follow Matthias in secret, it seemed like it had been a fruitful decision. When Heather sees these pictures…
The person smirked subtly, eager to sabotage the couple’s relationship. Bradford City is getting more and more interesting right now!
Meanwhile, Matthias was immersed in his own world. He had always been sensitive to being trailed, but he failed to notice the stalker this time.
Since Ether feared that her family would find out about her rather shameful job, she worked far away from home. Although they were needy, her elders were educated enough to disallow her from partaking in such a disgraceful line of work.
After driving for more than 30 minutes, Matthias finally arrived at Ether’s home and parked his car at a spacious spot. To be exact, he had arrived at the suburbs of Bradfort City—one that was impoverished rather than renovated and breathtaking. Needless to say, it was a joke to the people residing in the city.
After getting out of his car, Matthias adjusted his collars. Such a place was one he rarely visited. Back when he was still under his mother’s care, they weren’t poor enough to live in a poorly developed area, so he was quite unfamiliar with the situation in front of him.
As he stared at the disorganized apartments, Matthias was visibly speechless. In fact, trying to figure out which block Ether lived in was a perplexing puzzle.
Instead of unnecessarily racking his brains, he thought it would be more efficient to ask the people nearby. When he saw a mother-daughter duo walking his way, he went over and asked them for directions.
“Good day,” Matthias politely greeted.
As it was a rarity for a fine man like such to appear in that area, the mother and her daughter were simultaneously captivated by Matthias’ appearance. They were so baffled that they even forgot what to say to him, but the mother tactfully regained her senses first.
“Good day to you too.” She grinned in a bashful manner, stunned by his handsomeness.
“Could you perhaps point me to block 21?” Since the buildings weren’t numbered in order, Matthias was visibly confused. Indeed, it was a pain in the bum to navigate oneself in such a complex area.
“We happen to live there as well! Why don’t you come with us?” The mischievous little girl offered assistance as she ogled at Matthias, for she was charmed by the man’s idol-like appeal!
At that, Matthias revealed a smirk as he nodded. How could he not realize that it was his manliness that triggered the duo’s enthusiasm?
Since the path was rather bewildering, it would have taken him a long time to locate block 21. Fortunately, he had bumped into the mother-daughter duo. As he followed them, Matthias kept quiet along the way, looking amiable yet prideful at the same time.
The girl thought of various pick-up lines to use on him as they led Matthias to the block, but she swallowed her words since she didn’t know what to say to him. After all, the outstanding man behind her was so intimidating that she couldn’t bear it, and she became rather clumsy in his presence.
Soon enough, they were almost at their destination. The girl became nervous, but she knew that she shouldn’t be fantasizing about such scenarios since she could never be on Matthias’ level. In the end, she remained silent as the latter took his leave.
“Thank you for bringing me here. I shall take my leave now,” Matthias said as he walked toward the elevator, clueless to the fact that he had unintentionally wavered the youthful heart of a young girl.
From what he remembered, Ether lived in unit 703. Soon enough, he located the unit and knocked on the door.
After some time, an old woman opened the door. She gazed at Matthias’ unfamiliar face while the latter merely revealed a courteous smile.
“Good day, madam. I’m here for Ether.” It was not until he blurted the sentence did he remember that he hadn’t gotten Ether’s real name.
As things got awkward, the old woman expectedly glowered at him and asked, “Who’s Ether?”
Instantly, Matthias regretted not having asked the clubhouse owner for Ether’s real name. How should he explain himself to the old woman now?
Fortunately, when he heard Ether’s voice from inside the house, he tactfully claimed, “I’m here for your granddaughter, madam. I heard her speaking just now.”
The old woman glowered at him cautiously, thinking that he was probably one of the scoundrels in the area given his odd words.
Evidently, the old woman wasn’t easy to deal with. As they stared at each other, a series of footsteps neared them.
“Who is it, Nana?” As Ether’s voice got closer, she eventually showed herself and was surprised to see Matthias at her door. There was even a tinge of pleasure on her face, for she never expected him to find her place.
When he saw her, the man smiled slightly as she subconsciously yelled, “Why are you here, Director Locke?”
“I’m here to tell you that I reject your resignation.” His beam suddenly turned into a sly grin.
Upon listening to their conversation, the old lady realized what was happening. She assumed that Matthias was Ether’s superior, so she immediately welcomed him in with utmost enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, the young girl’s heart fluttered since she hadn’t expected those words, wondering if Matthias had a little change of heart toward her.
As he sat straight up on Ether’s home couch, he swept his eyes around the room, estimating the unit to be about a hundred square feet; such a tiny unit was able to contain four separate rooms.
Evidently, the space in the house was truly limited and the structure of the family was rather complicated since both of Ether’s paternal and maternal grandmothers were there.
Since it was still working hours, her parents weren’t home; school hadn’t ended yet, so the kids were absent as well.
Right now, only Ether and her grandmothers were home. The two senile ladies chatted animatedly with Matthias about their homely matters, and the latter would respond politely. Throughout the entire time, Ether couldn’t find an opportunity to interrupt the conversation. When his eyes met hers occasionally, both of them were visibly helpless.
Since she didn’t want her elders to bother the man any further, Ether came up with an excuse to take Matthias out of the house. Although she was still dwelling on the pleasure that she received from his visit, she felt somewhat embarrassed after calming herself down.
Undoubtedly, Ether was conscious of how impoverished her home and family were—that was why she was reluctant to let him overstay. Besides, she felt that she looked rather old-fashioned with her house clothes on.
I look hideous right now!
However, Matthias never saw her that way. In fact, he preferred her current appearance since it reminded him of Heather. Even though they were far off in terms of looks and temperament, he could surprisingly detect Heather’s scent on Ether.
As they walked along the alley, Ether lowered her head as she was too bashful to look at the man beside her, fearing that he’d judge her. Although she wanted to run away from him so that he wouldn’t see her ungodly appearance, she couldn’t withdraw herself from his charm.
“I’m sorry for coming without notice,” Matthias gently uttered, briefly comforting her trembling heart.
“How did you know about my resignation?” With her head even lowered, she was simultaneously stupefied yet honored by his sudden apology.
“I went to the club.” His tender timbre intoxicated her.
It was only then that Matthias had gotten to know her true name, Natalia Wright. It had nothing to do with ‘Ether’, though.
“You went to the club…” Natalia was too embarrassed to continue, for she felt that she’d appear rather narcissistic.
“I went to look for you,” he answered directly, knowing what she meant to say.
“About last time, I hope you don’t take it to heart. You didn’t do anything wrong that night.” Natalia assumed that he was still dwelling on that night’s incident.
Matthias wanted to deny her words as he stared at her, but he couldn’t say anything despite opening his mouth. Was he supposed to tell her that he decided to come and see her on a whim?!
