Standing before Love

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 things at this point in time.

“She’s an employee from my company. It’s normal for us to have interactions occasionally.” Matthias still remained calm although he felt a little unnatural.

Recalling his encounter with Natalie, Matthias knew he was indefensible. Nevertheless, his conscience was clear as he did not cross the line and had improper thoughts toward Natalie. But even so, how was he supposed to explain all these? Would the others believe him? Leon was staring furiously at Matthias as if the latter had done Heather wrong. At the same time, Matthias didn’t know how to bring this about to Leon.

“President Locke, your explanation is very unconvincing. Everyone would agree that a normal staff should not have such interactions with the big boss,” Leon said in dissatisfaction. No matter what Matthias said, he regarded it with contempt.

As such, the two of them were in a stalemate. Matthias did not want to continue explaining as it made him look like he did something wrong. However, Leon got more annoyed seeing Matthias’ response as he had never expected Matthias to be someone like this.

“Don’t forget the purpose of you coming to the hospital.” Matthias reminded Leon of the more serious issue. He did not wish to be questioned further and for Leon to neglect what he was supposed to do.

On the other hand, Leon was extremely dissatisfied with Matthias to the point that he would never want to entrust Heather to Matthias’ care as he’d rather take care of Heather by himself.

“President Locke, you’ve got a bizarre taste,” Leon said in disdain. He had seen the woman before, and Heather was in a completely different league.

“That’s enough.” Matthias couldn’t stand being provoked by Leon again and again. There was a slight change in his expression as he glared coldly at Leon and his tone turned hostile.

None of them were willing to give in. It was only quite a while later did Matthias speak up pensively, “Things between Natalie and I are not like what you’ve imagined. I merely gave her a hand, that’s all.”

Matthias deemed he had done nothing wrong and had no inordinate feelings toward Natalie. Although he had perceived signs of Natalie being interested in him, this wasn’t something within his control.

“Of course you can be upright. After all, you’re now an eligible bachelor, so women will naturally be attracted to you.” Leon continued taunting Matthias and refused to listen to his explanation at all.

In fact, Matthias had expected such an outcome, so he knew his explanation would be in vain and would only make Leon despise him even more. Nonetheless, Matthias understood Leon because if he was in Leon’s shoes, he would be angry too.

After all that had happened, Leon was willing to entrust Heather to Matthias, which showed how much he trusted him. At this moment, Leon probably felt that Matthias had failed to live up to his trust.

Just as the two of them were still arguing, Zayne gradually came around and mumbled in dissatisfaction, “No way you’re bringing me to hell!” It was as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.

Instantly, Matthias and Leon stopped arguing and looked toward Zayne at the same time. It seemed like Zayne’s condition wasn’t critical anymore.

After getting out of the coma, Zayne lifted his head to look at the two men and pondered who they were.

It was only a moment later did Zayne come to a sudden realization. “Why are you guys here?” He had not realized he was in the hospital yet. Staring at the white walls, he took a while to regain his senses and finally realized that he had nearly lost his life.

“Can you still remember what happened?” Matthias quickly walked up to him and asked worriedly.

“I was hit by a car.” The last piece of memory Zayne had was that a car recklessly ran into him. Of course, his body wouldn’t be able to resist the collision with a car.

“Did you see who the driver was?” Matthias interrogated like how an inspector would.

“I can’t remember.” Zayne shook his head. Everything happened within a split second, so he wasn’t able to remember the details clearly. In fact, he had been knocked down even before he could see the driver.

“Seems like we don’t have any clues,” Matthias said in disappointment.

Standing aside quietly, Leon smirked when he saw Matthias’ dejected look.

“Please stop acting like a professional, Detective Locke.” It was obvious that Leon’s words were filled with scorn. He would not let go of any chance to sneer at Matthias.

Zayne looked at Leon in puzzlement as he didn’t understand what Matthias had done to provoke him to the extent that he had to be so mean toward the guy. The atmosphere between the two was extremely intense. What exactly happened between them?

Matthias allowed Leon to continue speaking as he pleased since he did not want to argue. He wasn’t bothered by it, nor did he see the point of doing so.

Meanwhile, Zayne glanced around his surroundings with a blank look. Right now, he couldn’t get up from the bed and could only observe the surroundings with his eyes while lying down.

“I’m a little thirsty. Can you guys get me a cup of hot water please?” Zayne broke the awkward atmosphere.

Hearing that, Matthias immediately took a paper cup from the table beside the bed as he knew there was a water dispenser outside. This VIP ward was empty and patients were not given special care. As such, Matthias thought he should buy some necessities for Zayne.

After Matthias had left, Leon and Zayne were left in the ward alone. The two of them exchanged glances and understood each other immediately. There was a secret between the both of them.

“Leon, did Heather ask you to come take care of me?” Zayne realized his mind was still functioning properly and his thinking capability was still rather good.

“Yeah. Heather was weeping sorrowfully—I’ve not seen her like this before.” Leon recalled the time when Heather called him, he was heartbroken to hear her sob.

“She wept sorrowfully?” Zayne repeated after Leon in disbelief as the description was totally different from the Heather in his memory, and he found it unbelievable. Heather actually wept! Zayne ate his heart out because he was the one lying in the hospital right now. Otherwise, he could have witnessed the rare sight of Heather crying.

“Yeah. I was totally shocked. You know Heather doesn’t cry easily, and I’ve never seen her like this before,” Leon said as he still felt sorry for Heather.

“It seems like me getting injured this time is worthwhile.” Zayne giggled. Not only did he escape from death, Heather was worried about him too, so he thought things were not as bad as it seemed.

“Oh, please.” Leon looked at Zayne in resignation. He couldn’t understand what on earth was in his mind.

Zayne laughed. “I’m just seeking joy in the midst of hardship. It’s rare to have Heather weep for me, so of course, it’s something worth celebrating.”

Leon lifted a brow and didn’t intend to nag Zayne anymore. Since Zayne had said so, he’d rather let him think whatever he pleased. It was unnecessary to be so serious with a patient.

“Enjoy your celebration then,” Leon said nonchalantly and was glad that Zayne was cool about the whole incident.

Zayne chuckled. “Come on, dude, can’t you lose the sarcasm?” He knew Leon was merely giving mean remarks and that deep down, he still cared about him.

Just then, Matthias came in with a cup of hot water and walked up to Zayne. Gazing at Zayne, Matthias thought he should feed him the water.

“Don’t get up.” Matthias saw Zayne attempting to get up arduously.

Zayne stopped his movement as he couldn’t get up no matter how hard he struggled. Resigned, he stared at Matthias like an injured cub.

“I’ll feed you. Take it slow—it’s hot,” Matthias said to Zayne because he couldn’t think of a better way right now.

Zayne blinked and had no choice but to agree to Matthias’ proposal. Matthias wanted to look for a spoon so he could feed Zayne directly from the cup, but he was worried that he would wet the bed sheet. He looked at Leon and wished to command him to run the errand, but he felt like it was just better to stay silent.

Perceiving Matthias’ stare at himself, Leon asked in disdain, “Why are you staring at me? Is there something you need me to do?”

With that, Matthias gave up on the thought of asking Leon for help as he’d rather do it himself. He placed the cup which was filled with hot water on the bedside table and said to Zayne softly, “I’m going to borrow a spoon. Give me a minute.” Matthias was actually very gentle when dealing with a patient.

Of course, Zayne wouldn’t stop him. At least Matthias was taking care of him dedicatedly and it was rare for him to do so.

A moment later, Mathias walked out again. Then, Leon walked over to Zayne and stared down at him from the top.

“I didn’t expect Matthias to be so dedicated when taking care of someone.” Leon was even more certain of his suspicion that there were some private trades between Matthias and Zayne. Otherwise, why would Matthias treat Zayne with such great care?

“Just shoot what you would like to ask. You don’t have to beat around the bush.” Zayne recognized Leon’s true thoughts with merely a glance.

Narrowing his eyes, Leon had no idea how to bring this about to Zayne in such a short time. Nevertheless, he knew Zayne was an experienced and schemeful man, so it was impossible to get any insider information from him.

“Forget about it. There’s nothing that I’d like to know,” Leon said sulkily while thinking of the probability of both Matthias and Zayne being accomplices.

“I’m surprised that you actually suppressed your curiosity.” Zayne was still smiling, but his smile wasn’t one that would infect others.

After all, Zayne was a patient now and he should be given the most respect. As such, it would be inappropriate for Leon to probe a patient.

“Since there’s nothing you’d like to ask me, please help me get some oranges.” Zayne could taste a stench of blood in his throat and wished to alleviate the smell by having some fruits.

Looking at Zayne in resignation, Leon was startled that Zayne was actually craving for some oranges at this moment. However, since the patient had raised the request, how could he turn him down?

“Sure. I’ll buy you whatever you want to eat, but I have to wait for Matthias to be back first because I’m worried about leaving you alone in the ward,” Leon said patiently. This was also an exhortation from Heather.