Meanwhile, as the sky grew increasingly dark, the lights on the rooftop of the Locke Residence lit up one after another. Matthias had made a special effort to install decorative lamps of various colors on the rooftop when he invited Heather for a candlelight dinner last time, and these lamps looked very beautiful when they were all lit up.
Before they realized it, Heather and Matthias had stayed on the rooftop for such a long time. It was already late, and she was wondering when she should head back.
Just then, Matthias said to her, “I just hired a chef from France yesterday. You must try the authentic French cuisine today.” He saw through her eagerness to go back.
“I don’t like French cuisine,” Heather replied unceremoniously. She had never been polite to Matthias anyway.
“I don’t like French cuisine either, but this chef is amazingly good at making French delicacies. You must try it,” he suggested.
Heather smiled, for she could tell that Matthias was trying to use this excuse to persuade her to stay. However, she was really planning to go home. “It’s getting late.”
Matthias looked at Heather in disappointment as he didn’t want her to go back. They had been together all the time, but he felt that this wasn’t enough. Such a strange feeling blurred his concept of time.
“Let’s have a simple dinner then,” Heather said to Matthias since she didn’t want to disappoint him.
Upon hearing her words, Matthias was naturally delighted. He smiled a hearty smile like a kid who finally got their hands on the toy they liked.
“You’re smiling like an idiot.” Heather looked at Matthias with disapproval. In actual fact, it was easy to make Matthias happy—it was for Heather, at the very least.
“I just want to stay a while longer with you.” Matthias had made himself clear previously. Now that he had nothing to be shy of, he simply said whatever he should.
“Would you still fall in love with me if we start all over again?” Heather asked Matthias while resting her chin in her hand. Will we meet if we can start all over again? she thought to herself.
Matthias covered Heather’s eyes with his hand. “I’d profess my love to you sooner if we could start all over again.” Not only would he still fall in love with her, but he would also profess his love to her sooner if they could start all over again.
Heather pushed Matthias’ hand away as she didn’t like other people treating her like this. If it were someone else, she would have knocked them to the ground by now. “Don’t keep sweet-talking me. An overbearing woman like me is never likable in men’s eyes,” she said in self-deprecation. Men might be misled by her appearance at first, but they would normally leave her once they got to know her thoroughly.
“I don’t like women that are too weak. I like domineering women; only such a woman can stand by my side and enjoy the view of the beautiful world with me,” Matthias replied in disapproval. If there were criteria for love, Heather happened to fulfill all of his requirements.
“Don’t keep saying nice things,” Heather said with a frown, though she almost burst with joy upon hearing what Matthias said. Women liked to hear honeyed words, after all.
“I can’t stop saying pickup lines when I look at you.” Matthias had recently become good at saying such cheesy phrases. He said a pickup line after another, making it hard for Heather to defend herself against his advances.
“Do you have liquor?” Heather suddenly changed the subject, and Matthias was rather surprised when she mentioned liquor for no reason. “I drank normal liquor a few days ago, and only then did I know that good liquor tastes so different,” she explained. She recalled the liquor that she and Leon bought that night and didn’t finish after a night of drinking. She was really averse to the liquor’s taste deep down inside, and she later came around to the idea that some things couldn’t be changed.
“Rumor has it that you only drink good liquor,” Matthias said in surprise. He had opened a liquor bottle worth one million expressly for Heather last time, yet she turned her nose up at it.
“People have to change, after all.” The previous attempt to change herself was unsuccessful, but she had taken a big step in that direction at the very least.
“You can change whatever you want, but you mustn’t do a disservice to your taste buds.” Matthias believed that one could make do with everything else except for what they ate and drank. His belief was similar to Heather’s, for they both insisted on having good food and drinks.
“In that case, do you have good liquor to serve me with?” Heather asked with a smile.
Matthias nodded. “Of course I do. I have whatever kind of liquor you want to drink.” He had gotten a lot of good liquor from Nikolai lately, so he had been brooding about not having someone to drink these with him.
On the other hand, Evan threw Matthias and Heather a disapproving glance from the side. They were a pair of drunkards; Evan didn’t like drinking, nor did he like a partner that was addicted to alcohol. Therefore, he was totally uninterested in what they were talking about.
“Do you have spirits?” Heather raised her eyebrows at Matthias. She hadn’t drunk spirits for a long time, for everyone drank either red wine or imported wine while discussing things overseas.
“I do.” Matthias seldom drank spirits as well, but he kept a few good bottles of spirits at home for decoration.
“Let’s drink something different today,” Heather suggested with great interest. One could tell that she was in high spirits today.
“I’ll drink with you to the very end,” Matthias agreed readily. He was even willing to drink poisonous wine as long as he had Heather keeping him company.
“Let’s get as drunk as a lord then.” Heather wasn’t petty either, so she would drink since she had initiated it.
Not only did Evan fade completely into the background, but he would also be reduced to a liquor-serving waiter later. He thought there was nothing he couldn’t do at Matthias’ place, and he was determined to find time to ask Matthias for a pay raise since it was tiring to work all year long without rest. He looked at Matthias resentfully. Meanwhile, Matthias only had eyes for Heather and wouldn’t even hesitate to sell him out ever since he fell in love with her. It was said that buddies were like one’s arms and legs while women were replaceable, but what happened in Matthias’ case was quite the opposite—he could even use his buddy to please his woman. “Here’s the liquor you want.” Evan tossed the liquor in front of them with a reluctant expression.
Matthias didn’t expect Evan to still be so angry. Now that Heather hadn’t mentioned the subject of dancing again, he thought he had a lucky escape, so why would Evan still take this to heart? However, he had indeed offended Evan today, so he decided to pour the liquor himself instead of arguing with him.
Heather sniffed as the fragrant smell of liquor wafted out from the bottle, and her mouth curved in a charming smile. One should enjoy all the pleasure that life afforded, and liquor was a good thing. She glanced at Matthias from time to time while playing with the wine glass in her hand.
Matthias raised his eyebrows at her as if to challenge her. “Don’t get drunk. This liquor has a high alcohol content.”
“Don’t worry,” Heather replied confidently. “It’s hard to say who will get drunk first.”
It seemed that Heather wouldn’t stop until she got drunk with Matthias, and Matthias was happy with this. It would be great if Heather became so drunk that she couldn’t go back to the Langston Residence. After they toasted each other, Heather finished the liquor in her glass in one gulp, and Matthias couldn’t help but clap his hands. “This is extraordinary.” Then, he finished his drink in one gulp as well.
This liquor was so strong that one could get hospitalized after drinking it, and Evan couldn’t sense what was so good about this liquor as he almost got drunk just by sniffing at it. Ancient people described good liquor as the ambrosia of the immortals, but Evan hadn’t drunk a bottle of good liquor that could convince him completely of its goodness so far.
Soon, the bottle of liquor was almost emptied. A scarlet blush crept over Heather’s face, and Matthias couldn’t help but lean toward her. Not only did he try to reach out to touch her alluring face, he even wanted to kiss her.
Heather dodged Matthias, and both of them tottered a little. “This liquor is really good.” Heather looked regretfully at the already emptied bottle of liquor. They had drunk too fast and finished the liquor soon after they tasted it.
“It’s too bad that we can’t enjoy ourselves to our hearts’ content since there’s only a bottle of it,” Matthias agreed.
“In that case, we’ll just drink the other liquors.” Heather didn’t want to stop like this since she was finally in the mood for a drink.
As for the cuisine prepared by the French chef, they only ate a few mouthfuls of it casually. How could they care about whether the dishes were delicious or not when all they could taste was the liquor?
Evan pondered over what to do with these two drunkards later. It was easy to scoop Heather up in his arms and carry her away, but Matthias was very tall, so Evan considered dragging him away instead.
Just then, Matthias ordered Evan, “Get us another bottle of liquor, Evan.”
“May I ask what kind of liquor you need, sir?” There was a specialized wine cellar storing all kinds of alcohol in the villa’s basement, and Evan didn’t know what kind of alcohol Matthias wanted.
“Brandy,” Heather answered in Matthias’ place.
Evan had to worry about them when they asked for a bottle of spirits. It’d be strange if they didn’t get drunk this time, for they had asked for brandy after finishing the spirits stored in the cellar.
Matthias nodded in agreement, though. “Brandy would be nice. Get us some ice as well.” Matthias liked spirits, and it was a great pleasure to drink with Heather.
Heather could hold her liquor as well as a man did. Now that she finally met her match, she naturally had to have a drinking contest with Matthias.
“I’m afraid that you won’t be able to go back to the Langston Residence when you’re this drunk,” Matthias said provocatively. As he was half-drunk and half-sober, he couldn’t help saying what was on his mind.
“Grandpa won’t be worried since I’m at your place.” Heather smiled. She looked extremely charming under the influence of alcohol.
“Would you be worried then?” A scarlet blush crept over Matthias’ fair face as well.
“No, I won’t,” Heather replied boldly. The more she drank, the more outspoken she was.
When Evan came up, Heather and Matthias were talking about Bradfort City’s stock market. It seemed that the two of them always had a lot to talk about, and ordinary people couldn’t follow their trains of thought since they jumped from one subject to another.
“Bradfort City’s stock market is in a slump this year. I guess it won’t take long before the stock market crashes.” Heather inevitably elaborated a little when she talked about the stock market.
“That depends on how the stock traders will play with the shares.” Matthias wasn’t very interested in the stock market. After all, the Locke Family didn’t care about these since it had bigger ambitions.
“Traders,” Heather repeated with a half-smile. “They can’t pull any tricks. The stock market crash is already destined to happen.” Meanwhile, she was planning to make a fortune from it.
“What are your plans?” Matthias asked curiously.
“I like surfing in the stock market.” Heather liked playing with shares, and this was especially so at such a moment where it was more interesting to play.
“It seems that it won’t be long before the Langston Family shows what they can do in the stock market,” Matthias responded curiously. It was quite interesting when he thought about it.
“No. It’ll be me, not the Langston Family.” This was Heather’s personal hobby, so the Langston Family wouldn’t be involved. Heather had a wide range of hobbies, and she liked to have a hand in many things.
“You’re speaking in such a way that even I’m itching to have a go.” Matthias wanted to play with Heather as well.
“Don’t do that. I like to play alone.” Heather turned down Matthias’ proposal for a collaboration since it was freer to be alone in the stock market.
“All right, it’s fine as long as you’re happy.” Matthias was terribly busy recently because of the Locke Group and the Hart Group’s affairs, so it was difficult for him to find time to invest in the stock market.
