Chapter 665
Standing Before Love
Before he left, Leon dialed 911 in kindness on behalf of the person who was sprawled on the ground.
He knew that the person would not reveal anything unnecessarily once he regained consciousness.
Occasionally, Leon hated those reporters who tend to make up stories. It was at that moment when he tightly clenched the negative of a photo with his hands while having an ugly expression on his face.
There were some secrets that should not exist in this world. Meanwhile, he tucked the negative into his pocket and decided that he would find an appropriate spot to destroy it.
He drove his car to meet Heather at their designated meeting point. It had been ages since heâd last gone to that place. In fact, he quite liked that location because there were plenty of beautiful women there.
As soon as Leon hastily pushed open the door, he noticed Heather waiting for him at a spot next to the window; the rays of sunlight splashed on her face and she looked quite exquisite to the extent that he found it quite surreal.
He gradually made his way toward her. His footsteps were light and he seemed to be quite wary of disturbing her peace. However, she had an exceptionally good sense of hearing that couldnât be beaten by anyone else. Sheâd actually noticed him first but pretended not to see him because she was curious to find out what he was trying to play at.
At this moment, Leon stopped in his tracks and Heather was quite perplexed by his actions. He kept a distance from her without moving forward or backward, making it an odd scene.
She maintained her gesture of looking outside the window. Well, letâs see what he is trying to do! He didnât take any further actions, which made her confused as to whether she should take the initiative to greet him to break the ice.
âSir, are you ready to order?â The waitressâs voice rang out and disrupted the silent moment between the two.
Meanwhile, Heather stifled a laugh. As for Leon, he awkwardly shuffled over and greeted her after the perfect moment was suddenly disrupted.
âHeather, did you notice me from the start?â he grumbled with a downcast face as he made his way to stand in front of her. There was no longer any sign of his previous ferocious attitude.
Leon was keen to maintain a perfect image in front of Heather even if that meant behaving silly and comical. He was okay with it since he didnât want to reveal his dark side to her.
âWhy did you sit down on the other table?â Heather frowned, but she was actually trying hard to stifle her laughter.
âYou were quite dazzling from that angle and you looked like a fairy from the skies,â Leon answered with a silly smile.
Meanwhile, Heather turned her head in the other direction and it was as if she hadnât heard what he said. Without saying anything, she quietly changed the topic. âIs everything all sorted for tomorrowâs dinner party?â She was reluctant to discuss anything irrelevant with Leon. After all, he had a glib tongue and she didnât want to give him the opportunity to lull her.
Meanwhile, Leon stared at her innocently. âIâm quite blank about the details of the dinner party, so I need your help to sort things out.â He threw the ball into her court.
âIâm supposed to sort things out?!â At this moment, Heatherâs expression soured as she felt like he was joking around with her.
âActually, Heather, Iâm really nervous around the old man and I always stutter around him.â He acted pitiful as he mentioned those words.
Heather felt that he was starting to exaggerate his words. She couldnât imagine Leon being so anxious to the point where he would stutter his words. In the end, under her suspicious gaze, he had no choice but to reply frankly, âActually, I donât even want to talk to the old man. Could you please handle him on my behalf during the dinner party?â
So, thatâs his plan for that day! She gave him a cold smile. âYou better deal with your family members by yourself! Donât tell me youâre going to act dumb on that day and get me to speak on your behalf the whole time?!â
Upon hearing her words, Leon smiled awkwardly. âI know! I know, but are you actually going to leave me by myself?! I find myself with a massive headache as soon as they pop into my mind!â He continued to wear a pitiful front to gain Heatherâs sympathy.
Unfortunately, she did not have the slightest sympathy at all for him right now. In fact, she was quite tempted to teach him a lesson, but then she was aware that there were other more important things to deal with.
âThen, do you know them well? How should we handle this bunch of people by then? Donât tell me you havenât had a plan in your mind?!â she interrogated Leon. He seems to have already given up!
Meanwhile, he looked at Heather abashedly. âI havenât considered all these. I just thought I would deal with the situation spontaneously. I donât even know what sort of questions that bunch of A-holes would ask.â He was quite indignant upon touching on his family members. Indeed, there was no love lost between him and his family.
âAre you actually sincere in working together?!â Heather looked at Leon angrily. Sheâd initially planned to control her emotions but unexpectedly, he had behaved as such.
She was quite angered by his lackadaisical attitude. I really donât know whatâs on his mind. Itâs such an important family dinner, but he didnât even plan for it and actually wanted to just wing it?! How naïve!
âSo, you donât know anything about them. Does that mean you have no idea what theyâre going to talk about?â Heather seemed to have caught the gist of things.
Meanwhile, Leon awkwardly looked at her. He felt quite mortified to admit it, so he forcefully smiled.
âYes, I donât even recognize some of them. I canât even prepare for anything.â
It was exactly as she had predicted. This is troublesome! âHow about their details? Have you prepared their personal details?â She held onto the last shred of hope.
âI donât have their details. All of their details are encrypted and I havenât been successful in accessing them.â His words dashed her hope once again. Since heâd said so, then it looked like there was no way of preparing for it then.
âIâm guessing we can only wing it tomorrow?â Heather asked in a stiff manner. She had the feeling that they were treating everything as childâs play. Our situation right now sounds like a joke!
âYes,.â Leon nodded his head with discomfiture. In fact, it was quite mortifying to mention it out loud.
âWhat youâre intending to say is that we will have to wage a battle tomorrow without any armor at all,â
Heather self-mockingly exclaimed. It was at this moment that she kind of regretted her decision to work with him. Can I change my mind and break this deal?!
Meanwhile, Leonâs handsome face immediately scrunched up and he looked especially pitiful.
âHeather, do you remember when we first joined forces with each other? We were unbeatable in school! Iâm sure we will safely get through this too!â He tried to comfort her, but she didnât feel any better at all.
She gave a slight smile and snorted, âHehe.â The words he spoke did not provide any comfort or relief whatsoever. âPreviously, we operated a company by simulation, but Iâm supposed to meet your family members as your partner now. Are these even comparable?!â
At that instance, Leon was completely at a loss for words. He knew that whatever he said, Heather would have a comeback waiting for him and he was almost convinced by her words. To put it simply, he hadnât realized the extent of the problem.
âI would like to confirm something. Are you quite confident that we will safely get through everything tomorrow?â Heather couldnât see a hint of anxiety on Leonâs face. He seemed to be quite composed and confident in himself.
âYeah. I feel quite safe with you around. I trust that the old man will like you very much.â Leon placed both of his hands under his chin. He himself had tremendously liked her, so he was quite sure that there wouldnât be anyone in this world who would dislike her.
When one was infatuated with the other, one would be under the impression that the whole world felt the same way too. However, in actual fact, it was impossible to be liked by everyone. After all, one could never have the same appeal as money.
âMy guess is that he will find it quite hard for him to like me. Your family would naturally want your bride to be from a similar background so that both of your families would be well-matched with each other.
Do you think our families are of similar background?â Heather revealed a realistic problem.
âA similar background?â Leon had never considered this problem in depth. He found her quite outstanding, so he assumed that his grandpa would surely like someone who was outstanding.
âYea. You need to understand that your family is descended from European nobility. Think of the high-
quality education youâve received since you were a kid. Therefore, your other half definitely has to be someone of a similar social background and not someone like me, who hails from a corporate family background.â She wasnât sure whether he had carefully considered this problem over the years from dating other women.
âWell, who do you reckon has a similar background with my family?â Leon couldnât help but question her. To him, it wasnât necessary to consider so much while getting together with someone.
His question had managed to stump Heather and she wondered, What sort of woman would be a good match for Leon? She realized that it was quite hard to answer this. After all, she wasnât quite sure of his family background and the actual power they possessed.
It looked like he wasnât actually trying to call a bluff. After some hesitation, she replied, âYou should ask your grandpa for the definition. All I can tell you is that it definitely wouldnât be a family like mine.â
Heather wasnât trying to belittle her family, but the two families were vastly different from each other. If they decided to get married, then it would be very likely that both families might not approve of each other.
âThe old man has never explicitly mentioned this to me, but Iâve previously talked about you in front of him and he was full of praise for you.â Leon recalled the pastâheâd always mentioned Heather in front of his grandfatherâand Dave had liked her very much back then. Dave couldnât stop praising her and had even instructed him to learn from her.
âFull of praise? Was that because of my results or because of my talent at doing business?â Heather could immediately tell that heâd solely praised her because she had great results.
âHeather! You must be more confident in yourself. Even if youâre not a good catch for me, you shouldnât belittle yourself this way too!â Leon mentioned quite solemnly and he didnât seem like he was trying to crack a joke.
Meanwhile, she glared furiously at him. We havenât even discussed much and heâs already back to being naughty. At this moment, her expression turned solemn. Heâs behaving more insolently just because Iâve allowed him to.
âIâm not the least bit interested in you at all,â Heather coldly replied. Meanwhile, Leon merely smiled at her, but in fact, he was quite hurt by her disdain.
âI know! I know! Youâre attracted to someone like Matthias!â He brought up Matthiasâ name. Most of the time, he envied Matthias for successfully gaining her affections.
After all, many had tried to win her heart but failed to do so. This was also despite Matthias and Heatherâs horrible initial encounter. Somehow, relationships were quite amazing in this sense where it could boggle oneâs mind. Two people who were initially opposing each other had ended up falling for each other. On the contrary, Leon, whoâd been deeply attracted to Heather ever since he knew her, was unable to gain her affections. He didnât know what went wrong. In fact, for a period of time, heâd sensed that she had responded to his affections and started to fall for him too. Why is it so hard to have a breakthrough in our relationship?
âDonât mention anything else to me.â While Heather was dealing with business, she refused to talk about anything unrelated to it. Furthermore, she didnât want to talk about Matthias because she had maintained her reservations against him.
Besides, she didnât want to talk about him with Leon. Upon Matthiasâ name being mentioned, she couldnât help but feel guilt. She knew that she shouldnât have done anything that would hurt his feelings, so she was quite disappointed with herself.
Leon immediately fell silent when he saw Heatherâs sudden darkened expression. He knew he would be courting trouble if he even dared to tease her right now. âHeather, thereâs really no point in discussing the family dinner tomorrow night. Why donât we talk about how the headlines should be reported?â Originally, the news was supposed to be released for todayâs headlines, but it had been delayed. If it was further delayed, then it would definitely raise suspicions of fabrication during tomorrowâs dinner.
âI reckon thereâs no use in creating a topic or scandalous news at this point. I mean, we are already walking on a tightrope. It would seem quite intentional if the news broke right before the family dinner.â
Heather disagreed with the suggestion of using a piece of sensational news to prove that she was in a relationship with Leon. It would seem overly intentional and could trigger suspicions.
âThen, whatâs your plan?â Obviously, he was agreeable to all of her suggestions.
âI donât have anything in mind. Weâll have to think on our feet tomorrow,â Heather rebuked Leon with his own words.
Meanwhile, he pursed his lips in response. Indeed, thereâs nothing we can do for the moment.
Suddenly, both of them found themselves in an awkward state. They stared at each other in speechlessness without knowing what to say to the other party.
âSoâ¦â Leon paused before he spoke.