face and wondered what was making her so happy.
Heather handed Matthias an orange that she had just peeled. “Do you eat oranges, Matty?”
Matthias didn’t like to eat oranges at all, though. However, Heather peeled the orange for him herself.
Naturally, he couldn’t turn down her offer, so he immediately took the orange, which wasn’t whole, from
her.
Meanwhile, Heather added, “Forgive me for stealing a few orange slices.”
Matthias couldn’t understand why Heather was so polite since he wouldn’t mind it if she sneaked the
orange whole. He then put the orange into his mouth under her stare, only to frown slightly when he
realized how sour the orange was. He tried hard not to lose control of himself. How could there be such
a sour fruit in the world? he thought to himself. He was amused and annoyed as Heather gave him the
orange simply because it tasted so sour. Looking at the smug smile on Heather’s face across from him,
he felt really helpless. Since when did Heather become so mischievous?
Heather didn’t forget to rub salt into the wound by asking, “Is it delicious?”
“Yes, it is,” Matthias answered reluctantly.
Heather then produced another orange in her hand without Matthias noticing. This is bad, Matthias
thought to himself as his pupils dilated slightly. As he had expected, she enthusiastically handed the
orange to him. “It seems that you like to eat oranges. I’ll let you eat this as well.”
Feeling as though he had seen the smile of a demon, Matthias tried his best to control his emotions. If
it were someone else who did this, he would probably have broken the person’s neck. However, it was
Heather who did this, so he had no choice other than to indulge her.
There was a trace of hesitation in Matthias’ eyes when he took the orange from Heather. This time, he
decided to stuff the entire orange in his mouth directly. If it weren’t for the fact that the orange was too
large, he would have swallowed it whole. However, when he bit into the orange, he was surprised to
discover that this orange was unusually sweet.
Matthias’s expression eased a lot, and Heather watched the changes in his expression with great
interest. This is really interesting, she thought to himself. “Life is like these oranges. One would have no
idea whether what happens next is sweet or not, and whether the road they take in the future is bumpy
or smooth.”
“You’re cut out to be a philosopher,” Matthias said to Heather. Heather often exuded the air of an
educator unknowingly, so he wondered if she wanted to be a teacher.
However, Heather answered, “A person whose life is full of ups and downs is more cut out to be a
philosopher, and I don’t want my life to be full of that.” She just wanted to live her life in peace. Her life
felt so long to her that she already felt exhausted, so she hoped that the next path she took in life would
be smooth. Even now, she couldn’t trust Matthias wholeheartedly. Matthias had been pledging his
loyalty to her and trying to convince her to let her guard down, but the more he did so, the more she
kept her guard up.
“So what if all the oranges on this plate are sour? Is there anyone who has such a rough life?” Matthias
asked in reply. Was there someone whose life was full of nothing else but misery?
Matthias had heard that one could only enjoy so much happiness in their life. Once all the happiness in
one’s life was used up, all that followed would be agony. Therefore, one must slowly enjoy their
happiness in life bit by bit.
However, was it true in real life that the highs and lows of everyone’s life were similar? In the eyes of
others, a man of position enjoyed unparalleled fame and was immensely enviable, but did those at the
top really feel comfortable in their position? For example, Heather and Matthias rarely felt happy, and
the rare happiness was like bubbles that would burst upon being touched. Furthermore, they had to be
careful when they encountered happiness. They feared that they would carelessly let happiness slip
through their fingers and that their happiness was too vulnerable, so they didn’t dare to make big
moves. Both Heather and Matthias wondered if this was what life was or if they were the only ones
living such lives.
The wind on the rooftop was getting stronger, but none of them was willing to suggest that they leave
the rooftop; it was as if they were isolated in a world where there was no one else but them when they
were on the rooftop. Even the air between them was filled with the scent of each other, and Heather
was eager to put worldly affairs out of her mind as she just wanted to hold Matthias’s gaze. “What do
you want to do when everything is over, Matty?” She hadn’t made up her mind on what she would do,
so she wanted to hear what Matthias was going to say.
Matthias tapped the round table with his index finger. “How about being a scientist?” He recalled his
dream about flying in space. He was always interested in high and new technology, after all.
Heather snorted with laughter. “In that case, I think it’s better if you continue to be Director Locke.” She
couldn’t imagine Matthias working in a laboratory while wearing a white uniform.
“Can’t I be a scientist with my cleverness?” Matthias asked with a serious expression while pointing at
his head. He seemed to be very displeased by Heather’s ridicule.
“You lack the air of a mad scientist,” Heather replied mercilessly.
Upon hearing Heather’s words, Matthias gritted his teeth in anger; only Heather dared to speak to him
in such a way. “I’m preparing a laboratory. I’ll make what I want to study a reality with my own hard
work,” he declared solemnly. Actually, he had left himself a way out a long time ago.
“Actually, I wish I didn’t mind how big your plan is. I don’t want to take advantage of you in every
possible way either,” Heather suddenly said. Indeed, she approached Matthias previously with the
intent of taking advantage of him.
“At last, you admit that you’ve been taking advantage of me,” Matthias replied nonchalantly as if such a
thing wasn’t a big deal to him. He had long been aware of Heather’s tricks; it was just that he didn’t
want to lose the opportunity to get closer to her, so he wouldn’t grudge a thing even though he knew
deep down inside that she had been taking advantage of him.
“I’ve been exploiting you. Do you really not care about it?” Heather looked at Matthias unblinkingly. She
really didn’t know what his bottom line was and why he was so kind to her.
“I’m willing to act as your stepping stone as long as I can be together with you,” Matthias replied
stoically. There weren’t so many things to fuss over in this world. At the very least, plans were not
indispensable between lovers; this was especially the case when one of the lovers was deeply in love
while the other was still indecisive. At this moment, there was nothing fair to speak of.
“You don’t have to be so humble. I don’t want to see you acting this way.” Heather felt very ashamed,
but she couldn’t make any changes. She couldn’t stop herself from taking advantage of Matthias. After
all, how could she not take advantage of him when she could even do so to Myra, her closest friend?
Heather felt that she was the vilest loser, but she had to do so for the Langston Family’s sake; she was
only too eager to use everything she had to help the Langston Family. She finally understood what
Robert thought—no matter how weak the Langston Family was, she didn’t want to see the family wither
away with her own eyes.
“I’m not humbling myself. If I thought I was humble when I first saw you, I think I’m worthy enough of
you right now.” Matthias no longer wanted to hide the truth from Heather. He fell in love with her at first
sight and loved her ever since, but he was unwilling to admit it. Not only that, he even kept convincing
himself that he loved Myra instead. It was ridiculous that he had actually lied to himself for so many
years and even tried to revive an old dream. He tortured Heather in the beginning, only to look for an
excuse to get involved with her. If he really loved Myra, he should have striven to win Myra’s heart
instead of wasting his efforts on Heather. As Matthias recalled his past, he thought that he had been
ridiculous enough, so he didn’t want to escape from his past anymore. Instead, he wanted to restore
the truth about his past. He loved Heather, and he loved no one else but her the whole time.
Heather felt that she had discovered a big secret. She looked at Matthias without moving as if he would
say something that he found difficult to talk about.
“I have loved you all along. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, you’re the only person who I’d
fall in love with the moment I set eyes on you,” Matthias said slowly. He understood how his heart beat
for Heather and how deeply he loved her.
“Did you fall in love with me right from the beginning?” Heather asked while pointing at herself. She
found it hard to believe Matthias’ words, for he was deeply hostile to her back then and had tried to
steal Myra away from her. Heather didn’t have someone whom she could open her heart to back then,
and Myra was such a special presence, so how could she allow anyone to steal Myra away from her?
At the time, she was like an immature kid who wanted to have all the good stuff to herself, treating her
friend as her own property.
“That’s right—I love you the whole time. I behaved like that at first only because I felt inferior. I thought I
wasn’t worthy of you, so I kept hypnotizing myself into believing that Myra was the woman I loved,”
Matthias confessed. Now that he had poured out everything, he felt much more relieved.
Heather’s mind was in turmoil as she recalled Matthias’ thin and frail appearance back then. The
unmemorable Matthias back then had now grown up into a dauntless man as if it was a dream!