As he was being mocked by Heather, Zayne innocently looked at her. Sure enough, those who quietly smile at others would not end up well. He cleared his throat and decided to regain his power. “If you are willing to be my assistant, it’s most welcomed,” he retorted since he would not lose to anyone in the realm of teasing.
Heather shifted her gaze to Leon. “I’m afraid the assistant you are looking for is someone like Leon.” In an instant, he was pulled into the conversation again, even though he only wanted to be a bystander.
He immediately clarified his position. Of course I have to stand on the same line as Heather! “I’m not interested in being your assistant, Zayne.”
Zayne angrily eyed Leon. He could not believe that Leon had actually betrayed their ‘revolutionary friendship’.
Since that was the case, he decided it was time for them to head home. “Anyway, we have already found out what we needed. You guys can leave now.” He was also exhausted at this hour and he would not allow the investigation to affect his sleep.
Upon hearing that, Heather and Leon rose from the couch one after another. Sure enough, it was no longer early, so they could not continue to stay here and delay Zayne’s sleep. The both of them also had to sleep earlier to ensure that they had enough energy to attend the party radiantly the next day.
“In that case, we’ll be leaving first,” she told Zayne after she plastered a smile on her face, which humiliated him once again.
He even wondered whether he had a masochistic inclination. Otherwise, why would I miss this woman who likes to torture me?
After leaving Zayne’s place, Leon quickly followed behind Heather. It was a rare occasion for him to remain this quiet as he felt surreal after meeting Zayne today.
The relationship between Heather and Zayne was also worth contemplating. Leon shot a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. Even though she had an impassive expression, he felt that there were some stories between her and Zayne.
If it had been in the past, he would have definitely asked her, but he remained silent today. After all, I haven’t obtained her forgiveness. I don’t have the right to ask about her private matters.
“Leon, I have something to ask you.” Heather broke the silence by opening her mouth with a hesitant expression on her face.
“What is it, Heather?” Leon returned her smile after seeing her hesitation.
Looking at the front gate not far away from them, she replied, “Let’s speak in the car.” Her tentativeness made him feel even more curious about the content of her upcoming question.
They did not just casually walk in the neighborhood as they looked around their surroundings vigilantly, worried that they could have been followed. They felt that perhaps they would be able to catch the person following them with this method.
They did not find anyone suspicious along the way, but they themselves became the suspects as the security guard continued to stare at them.
After exiting the main gate, they simultaneously heaved a sigh of relief and exchanged gazes with each other. It was a peculiar feeling as their peaceful lives in the past had now disappeared.
Heather did not know when her enemies had exactly begun to plan their attack. Was it before I returned to Bradfort City, or after? Why can’t I discover the truth even after I have exercised so much effort? Yet, day after day has passed just like that.
The sound of the door being opened had yanked her back to reality. She quickly entered the car—this time, it was the front passenger seat. She believed that Leon knew where they were going next.
The car slowly moved as she coldly looked out of the window. The night was immensely dark, so she wanted to have a look at the moon tonight.
After noticing that she almost forgot what she wanted to say before, Leon kindly reminded her, “Heather, what was the question that you wanted to ask earlier?” He assumed that it was an important question that she found difficult to voice out.
Heather turned around to look at him. She did not know how to broach the subject to him, because the question had already appeared in her head numerous times. Her suspicions were getting wilder and she needed to talk to someone about it.
“What are you thinking, Heather?” He called her name again. He saw that her eyes were dazed and she did not have any reaction at all.
Gently biting her lower lips, she answered, “Based on your understanding of Zayne, do you believe that it would take him so long to solve this case?” They did not make any progress for quite a while now, so her suspicions were directed at Zayne.
Leon seemed to be suddenly jolted awake by her question. He had never thought about it before, but since Heather had pointed it out, he began to carefully think about it.
Seeing that he remained silent after a long time, she thought that he silently agreed to her assumption. She turned her head around again and looked at the blurry scene outside her window. She felt surreal, as though she was in a dream.
After seriously giving it a thought, Leon opened his mouth. “Heather, perhaps Zayne’s abilities did not shine completely, but I believe that he is not our enemy.”
Heather curiously looked at him, not knowing from where he had arrived at this conclusion. “This kidnapping case is a constant torture to me. Both you and Zayne should be very clear about this point. Yet, he was unwilling to use his abilities to the maximum. This selfish act of his sounds extremely irresponsible to me.”
He could hear that she was suppressing her emotions. Although she did not voice out any vicious remarks about Zayne, it was apparent that she was unhappy with him.
Leon could understand her emotions, but he knew that it was not right for her to doubt her friend just because she wanted to save Myra so much. He felt that Heather had strayed away from rationality for quite sometime now.
“Heather, doubting him for no good reason will ruin another friendship of yours. I think you should cherish your friendship with Zayne and that you should trust him.” He logically analyzed the situation for her. He did not want her to stray away anymore and he could not accept her irrational behavior at this moment either.
“I know; I know about all these, but who can I believe now? I don’t have anyone whom I can trust right now,” she replied with a muted pain in her voice. It was difficult to build trust, yet it was incredibly easy to destroy it.
“Heather, I already know that you don’t trust me anymore and you don’t even trust your own family, but I believe in Zayne.” Leon had trusted Zayne for no reason. Leon did not believe a man with that completely black irises would be their enemy.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked him to come here.” Back then, Heather thought that the case would be successfully resolved as soon as she asked for his help. She did not expect for it to come to a standstill.
She had seen Zayne’s capabilities before, so his excuse was not enough to convince her. Just because he is short of an assistant, he is not able to unleash his true potential? This is such a weak excuse!
“Even my family and close friends would lie to me, let alone Zayne. I can’t even trust Matthias now.” Heather suddenly felt pathetic that she could not even trust the man she loved and her social circle was facing a trust crisis right now.
Her trust was being slowly corroded just like a black hole in the universe that would suck in all the surrounding matter. Defense naturally appeared within her and she tried to shield herself against the entire world. Now, she was fighting everyone alone.
“Heather, we are both business people. If you are unwilling to trust your relationships, you can trust that profit is the only thing that will unite people. When people face common profits, they will be even more bonded. Trust will build up again in the face of mutual profits.” Leon did not know how to console her, so he used the common way of working together in the business field.
“You’re wrong. Mutual benefit is an unfaithful b*tch who would rely on anyone on the side with greater benefits.” She did not believe in having the same profits. Even for people who had mutual benefits, the group could also be disbanded at any time.
After seeing Heather’s reaction, he had no idea how he could console her. It seemed like there were some slight changes that were slowly corroding her world and he could not do anything about it.
“Heather, in this case, do you still have anyone or anything you could trust in this world?” Leon’s eyes flashed earnestly. He was worried that she could become mentally unstable and eventually destroy herself.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure about it and I hate myself even more. I also hate everything that is happening right now.” With a pair of hopeless eyes, Heather thought, What should I do?
He was quite positive that her mental health had further deteriorated. He already knew that she had some issues before this and it was the main reason why she chose to privately study psychology.
The huge blows that came one after another had an immense impact on her. Leon was worried that she was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. She’s such an outstanding person, but she would also push herself so much that she would become insane.
“Look at me, Heather.” He stretched out with his hands and grabbed her arms. When he saw her behaving like that, he was in pain as he felt sorry for her.
“I don’t want to. I’m very confused right now. In my eyes, this world seems surreal and fake.” Heather’s behavior was becoming even more abnormal.
Leon then tightly held her arms and he shook her non-stop. “Heather, don’t be controlled by your inner demons,” he said worriedly. He even parked the car by the road after seeing her like this.
Now he had both of his hands free, he turned her head toward him and stared into her blank eyes fixedly.
“Heather, there’s nothing that could bring you down. Don’t make me look down on you.” Leon remembered the year when Heather was trying to heal on her own while everyone thought of her as cruel and heartless.
At that time, her eyes would be terrifying vacant and it was him who found her. He felt immensely sorry for her and he did not expect that she had this side to her behind the scenes.
“Leon, I think I’ve lost myself.” Heather was usually confident. However, more often than not, confident people felt strongly inferior deep down.
“Don’t think about it too much, Heather. You are here right now and everything will be over soon.” Leon tried to cheer her up, not wanting her to continue being depressed.
“I can’t get over it. As soon as I make the wrong decision, I might regret it for the rest of my life.” The past few months were enough to carve away all her confidence and power.
She thought that she would finally be able to unleash her capabilities in Bradfort City, but it seemed like she had overestimated herself. She felt that she did not accomplish anything and had disappointed many people instead.
“Heather, you are not related to the incident where Myra was kidnapped at all. Don’t lock yourself up with your own moral judgement.” Leon could not understand why Heather had cared about Myra so much that she would take the blame for Myra’s kidnapping.
“Not moral judgement. I was the one who let her down as I made too many mistakes. She is my best friend who accompanied me through my toughest time.” With that, she remembered how Myra was like a glimmer of light in her life that shone through her back then.
“Heather, you actually love her, don’t you?” He could not explain it anymore as he felt that Heather’s love for Myra had already surpassed the friendship zone. It seemed more like romance to him.
However, Heather shook her head. “I don’t like women.” Leon would never understand her. Back when her relationship with Myra was at its worst, Myra was maliciously kidnapped even before she could even apologize and make amends. As such, it gave rise to a huge guilt within Heather.
Her guilt was so strong that it almost ruined her. She wanted to quickly save Myra and apologize to her earnestly. However, she was worried that she was unable to save Myra every night and the despair increased as each day went by.
