Heather woke up early during her first day at work. It had been a while since she had done that. Langston Group operated according to regular office hours nine to five, so she wanted to get there early to finish the project. That way, she could leave the company as soon as possible.Because Heather and Matthias had come into close collaboration, she figured she could secure Matthias’s help. Considering his relationship with Blake, the latter might just listen to him.She never knew Matthias could come in handy at a time like this. Nonetheless, she had her own agenda. As a person who worked in the field of business, she had her own methods. After all, using people, being used by people, as well as using each other, were common phenomena among individuals like them.With the passage of time, Heather had gradually come to shed her anxiety regarding her methods, as she realized she would inevitably have to step over someone else if she was aiming for the top.When she got to the company,
Silence hung heavy in the air of the meeting room. Upon witnessing such a reaction from everybody else, Heather gave them a faint smile that immediately thawed out the chilly look on her face. Lighting up the enclosed space in everybody’s heart, her smile was as bright as the sun. It was so enticing that those people could hardly avert their gaze from her.“Allow me to start by introducing myself. My name is Heather Langston. Heather, otherwise known as Calluna vulgaris, derived its name from the Greek word ‘kallunein’, which means to beautify, or sweep clean. Incidentally, I came with the intention to improve things by purging those that are unnecessary.” As she spoke, she glanced at the two people. All eight of her team members present in the room knew what she meant to imply during her self introduction.“When I was studying in Italy, I had been managing the Langston Group’s branch company in Europe. Today is my first day in the headquarters of Langston Group. To be frank, the head
Relief washed over Heather when she finally left the company. When she realized there would be plenty of other occasions that would require her to put on a mask, she couldn’t help but feel a little deflated.On the other hand, Matthias seemed relatively unfazed, as if what happened was nothing at all. When Heather stole glances at him, she noticed he seemed rather cute. She couldn’t help but be reminded of how he looked when he was a teenager, during which he seemed malnourished. After a few years, he had become a man with a sturdy build, and it gave her an odd feeling that she couldn’t explain. It was as if he had become an entirely different person altogether.“What would you like to eat?” Matthias inquired in a gentlemanly manner.“Thai cuisine,” Heather replied offhandedly. After a morning’s work, she didn’t have much appetite.Then, she followed behind Matthias without a care in where they were actually going. He seemed familiar with the place. In fact, he might be even more fami
Tony stood tall and proud as the breeze blew his bangs. His handsome features were warm and alluring. When he turned slightly to face Myra, he was wearing a refreshing smile that was as stunning as the gods from ancient myths.“Before we go on our world trip, you have to marry me.” Tony was wearing that look when he stared into Myra’s eyes, which she found irresistible.They had been engaged for a while, so they had been thinking of marriage. To be more precise, Myra was planning to hold the ceremony after she gave birth to the baby. When she observed her belly, she noticed it was bulging slightly, so she was worried she might not look good in a wedding dress.Upon noticing her hesitation, Tony arched his brow. Things don’t seem to be progressing as smoothly as expected.“Tony, I won’t look good in a wedding dress now.” Myra was visibly dejected. If she didn’t get held up by matters pertaining to Stark Group, she wouldn’t mind getting married sooner.“You definitely will. Myra, you lo
Compared to Tony’s immaculate preparations, Matthias could only soldier on. In order to ask Heather out during Valentine’s Day, he had to prepare a special gift. While hanging around in a shop, he wondered what Heather might like.Myra would know that best. Bored, Matthias scanned through the array of gifts in front of him. Even though the colorful items were pleasing to the eye, he wasn’t sure if Heather would like them.The shop owner was a middle-aged woman. Aware of Matthias’ distress, she took it on herself to make an inquiry. “Sir, you must have come in search of a gift for your girlfriend!” The fact that she got it right at first glance was proof of her shrewdness.Meanwhile, Matthias kept a straight face while nodding stiffly. It was his first time ever doing something like this, so he was uncomfortable with it. All the while, he was all tensed up as if he were dealing with a dire task.“Here we have all kinds of gifts. What does your girlfriend like?” The lady pressed on, as
Matthias chose and sent the flowers out during his break time, so he assumed that the flowers would have reached Heather’s office by then. I’m sure most women wouldn’t say no to flowers. It might be a rather traditional gift, but I believe it’s customary to gift flowers to one’s girlfriend during celebrations like this.Heather had been kept busy the whole day. She was finishing up her work when a young man arrived at her office with a parcel in his arms. The young man broke into a smile when Heather held the door open for him. He was always polite to his customers, but he was especially friendly that day when he saw how pretty his female customer was. “Hello. This is a gift for you. I’ll need you to sign this,” he uttered politely.She simply took a glance at the rectangular-shaped parcel that was still in his arms without showing any intention of taking it from him. He began to feel rather awkward under her scrutiny, and he couldn’t seem to tell what was going on in her mind. “Who s
Matthias felt oddly ashamed of himself as he lowered his cutleries. He watched helplessly as Nikolai stormed off. It seems like Nikolai really treats Heather differently. I’ve always thought that he didn’t know anything about romantic relationships, but I guess that was just because he hadn’t met the right person at the right time. It worries me to see him so deeply infatuated with Heather though. Who would have thought that it would be love at first sight for Nikolai?He reminds me of how I had felt when I first fell in love with Myra after seeing her gentle and warm smile. Love is such an unpredictable thing. Who knows if he’ll spend the rest of his life longing for a girl, or if he’ll be able to get over his feelings before that?Heather lowered her cutleries when she saw how worried Matthias seemed. Any spark of romance that they shared a while ago was completely gone after Nikolai’s sudden appearance. They both exchanged glances with one another, and neither of them looked like t
While there were some who were sad, others were happy. On the night of Valentine’s Day, Myra and Tony spent the entire night clinging together, whispering sweet nothings to each other. They had been through so many twists and turns, and it had been a long time since they last enjoyed such a peaceful moment. As they immersed themselves in this moment, they held each other, embracing the beauty of it.“I want Heather to be my maid of honor,” Myra suggested.Taking in the smell of her, Tony appeared intoxicated, and he tightened his hand on her chest. He hugged her tightly, as though he had the whole world in his arms, and he began to smell the scent from her hair again.“Mmh,” he murmured softly. Right now, he would agree to anything she said.“Knock it off.” She moaned for a bit while his hands started to stray around her body. This guy is always fooling around! she thought, feeling somewhat annoyed.“There’s no rush about the wedding. Let’s not speak about the details today. Let’s spe
(Final Chapter)However, before Myra could digest the incidents, a knock on the door emerged again. Zayne’s eyes lit up at once as he reckoned it was most probably Jason this time.Sure enough, Jason appeared in front of them with injuries. Leon found Jason rather unfamiliar as it was natural for one to not remember a driver’s appearance.“You’re finally here, Jason!” Heather exclaimed in surprise upon seeing him as she had waited for him for a long time.“Zayne Lee.” With a cold look, Jason walked up to Zayne and tilted his head to look at him. “Stop acting. I know you’re not injured.”Zayne stared at Jason awkwardly as he had not expected to be seen through by Jason so easily. Meanwhile, the others glanced toward Zayne in shock.“Congratulations. Your plan to lure the enemy out has succeeded. Now, I can tell you with certainty that the mastermind behind all these is Caleb Moriarty.” It was very rare for Jason to spit out such a long sentence.The others were not surprised upon heari
Since the situation had escalated to this point, they could only fight to their death, and Matthias was prepared for the battle. Even though the opponent was one of the top killers in the world, it was not an issue at all for Matthias to protect himself. However, it would be an arduous task to protect Zayne, the patient, at the same time.Matthias decided to be the vanguard and asked Leon to stay by Zayne’s side while he guarded the door vigilantly. They didn’t know when the killer would discover them, so Matthias had to guard the door well.Meanwhile, Heather kept increasing the fare’s price to the driver, hoping that she would be able to find Jason as soon as possible. Looking at the GPS, she became more flustered when they got closer to the destination. She was perturbed as the truth was about to be revealed, and she was all the more anxious at the thought of the critical situation in the hospital. Even if she successfully found Jason now, there was not enough time to rush back to
Since when has Leon become this caring? Lying on the bed, Zayne really wished to turn to lie on his side. Due to the anesthetics, he didn’t feel much pain; he just felt uncomfortable because he couldn’t stretch his body. Nevertheless, he wasn’t hoping for anyone to understand his feelings at this moment. He attempted to move his body as he was worried if he had actually become handicapped.Leon glanced at Zayne in puzzlement, wondering what he was struggling about. Zayne didn’t seem to be in a good situation, but Leon had no idea how to help him. The two of them faced each other while Leon stared at Zayne with an inquiring look, but he still couldn’t understand what was on Zayne’s mind.It was only until Matthias came into the ward did the standstill between the two come to an end. Leon stood up and stared at Matthias. At that moment, all three of them were at a loss for words as an awkward atmosphere arose in the ward.Alas, Leon spoke up and broke the ice. “I’m going to buy oranges
The atmosphere surrounding the two men was extremely intense. Matthias didn’t want to cause more trouble at this moment, so he took a few steps back and attempted to keep a distance away from Leon.Leon understood Matthias’ intention. He smirked and said in a sarcastic manner, “President Locke, I heard you’ve been keeping a woman recently.”Matthias freaked out upon hearing his words. So Leon’s actually mad because of this. Matthias couldn’t think of an appropriate explanation. Staring at Leon’s eyes, he knew Leon might not buy his words even if he explained them to him.“You actually believed those rumors?” Matthias said justly. He didn’t intend to explain the details to Leon, nor did he want to be maligned.“I’ve seen you and the woman together with my own eyes.” If it wasn’t that Leon had seen it himself, he wouldn’t be this suspicious of Matthias.Matthias looked at Leon in resignation. It seems like he’s really concerned about Heather’s matters—he’s still bothered about these thi
Heather walked toward the main road while pondering. Judging by the traffic of the cars that were passing by on the busy road, she had a feeling it would be very hard for her to get a cab at this moment. Hence, she was starting to get a headache just by staring at the noisy street.She reckoned no drivers would be willing to accept a booking at times like these but she still decided to give it a try—only now did she suddenly realize the importance of owning a car.But alas, the fastest way she could think of was to increase the offer price. She believed there would definitely be drivers who were willing to accept her booking as long as she offered a price that was high enough. However, she worried that the cabs were too far away.True enough, when Heather opened the ride-hailing app, there were no drivers around the area. She wished she could get a driver by offering a huge stack of money, but sometimes, there were situations that even money couldn’t solve.When a driver finally accep
Ever since he stepped foot in Bradfort City, Zayne had nothing but problem after problem piled on his plate. This time, he looked for trouble himself. Matthias’ situation was already far beyond what Zayne could handle, and Jason knew that the latter was barely holding on.After Matthias had left, Jason descended into worry. He looked at Zayne, his face a little on the pale side. Neither brother had managed to reach an agreement. Jason completely did not approve of what Zayne was doing, and the conflict between them could blow up at any moment.The atmosphere was loaded like a powder keg. Both men’s expressions were tense, and it seemed as though things would break down the next second. Jason moved and took a step forward, whereas Zayne curled his hands into fists. The situation was both awkward and tense.Jason continued to march forward. Zayne could find no reason to make him stay, so he helplessly watched as Jason left the room. He looked at his younger brother, his lips faintly qui
Anger was still anger in the end, and Heather wasn’t someone who would cling to someone unreasonably either. She knew that Leon wouldn’t have hung up on her so easily, and it seemed that he was extremely tired.After her call with Leon ended, Zayne texted her. She played the video clip that he had sent to her, but she wasn’t sure how to react to it. Not only that, Heather didn’t know how he had managed to get his hands on this firsthand information—the venue in the clip was where the Locke Group’s board of directors were currently at.Heather took notice of Matthias in an instant. When she saw him there all by himself, she suddenly felt that he needed to be protected as well. Sometimes, she really couldn’t get a handle on him as her heart ached for Matthias.However, Heather couldn’t bring herself to examine her conscience even though she could sense that Matthias was under a lot of pressure. She had only watched a few seconds of the video clip, but her heartstrings were already being
At that moment, any further exchange would simply be pointless. The day had barely started, yet it was already so disastrous. The next hours would be even more so.The more Zayne wanted her to admit it, the more resistant she was to do so. With a stiff face, she responded, “It’s his personal affairs. Why should I care?”When he heard her bold words, Zayne had a hard time holding back his laugh, for he was astounded by how persistent she was. Heather was so reluctant to admit it, so he didn’t want to pursue the matter any further. Since she felt that way, he shall have it her way.“What’s your plan today?” As he went off on a tangent, Zayne started to chatter casually. Heather felt that there had to be an underlying meaning behind his words, so she shot him a deadly glare.On the other hand, Zayne stared at her calmly, and he thought her petite look was extremely adorable. She must be dwelling on nonsense again!“Other than locking myself in here, what else can I possibly plan for? I l
In the freezing night, Matthias stared at the mansion in front of him with not a trace of anger. Since it belonged to the Lockes, it will no longer mean anything to him from now on. Should I say goodbye?Ever since Evan left, the residence had been especially quiet at night. Having lost his attachment to the mansion, he coldly gazed at the building as if the entire area only had one residence.Despite his desire to walk in, he stopped himself outside the home. After all, he was now truly alone after pushing everyone else away.At this moment, he sensed a fragrance of blossoms wafting in the air. He tried to locate the source but to no avail. Surprisingly, such a subtle aroma somehow matched the winter so well. As he took in the scent, he was reminded of the countless incidents, wondering when they would finally end.What surprised him was the fact that the family head had yet to look for him since he left the Locke Group, and that made him feel rather peaceful as the head seemed to ha