Standing before Love

As the dearest younger sister of the successor of the Langley family and a popular celebrity, Estelle had always been high-profile and fearless.

Myra’s weariness was greatly relieved the moment she saw Estelle, and she walked up to her, wearing a faint smile. “Hey, you’re actually covering up yourself today. I thought you usually desire to be recognized by everyone.”

Estelle’s back was facing the door but she knew Myra was here after hearing her voice, so she turned around at once to glare at Myra. Thereafter, she remembered that she was wearing a pair of sunglasses and Myra wouldn’t be able to see her expression, and so she took off her sunglasses and gave her another glare. “Cut it! What on earth is going on? Sean was a bundle of nerves when he called me today, saying that you’ve moved out?”

“Mm-hmm.” Myra looked unaffected as she summoned a waiter and ordered a glass of lemon juice for each of them. Then, she lifted her head to meet her friend’s gaze and smiled. “What? You always wanted me to leave Sean, didn’t you? Why are you getting so worked up now that I’ve moved out?”

Seeing that Myra looked unaffected, Estelle furrowed her brows. No one would know Myra’s affection toward Sean better than her. Ever since university days, Myra had devoted almost all her youth and passion toward the man and she knew how crazy Myra was about him. As such, Estelle was even more worried when she saw Myra’s indifferent reaction. Taking a deep breath, Estelle said, “I heard that Lyla is back.”

“Yeah.” Myra still sounded nonchalant, and it seemed like she was neither upset nor depressed.

Estelle pursed her lips even harder. “What attitude is this? Don’t tell me that you’re going to give way to her just because she’s back now!”

“What else can I do?” Myra lifted her head to meet Estelle’s eyes which were filled with concern and anxiety. Feeling touched, she softened her tone. “Actually, I have to give way regardless of whether she comes back or not. You’re aware of this too—Sean does not love me at all… and I also want to start afresh.”

Estelle could not perceive a tinge of sadness in Myra’s calm voice. Grabbing her hair, she grumbled in frustration, “Before this, I couldn’t wait to see you divorce Sean, but now… Myra, I can’t accept it.”

Turning aside to look at the passers-by through the window, Myra mumbled, “Even so, there’s nothing that I can do.”

Sean’s murmur from last night after he was drunk was still bashing her heart like hail. Myra knew that she could only let it go no matter how unfair it was because Sean had never gotten over that woman.

“It’s great that you want to start afresh!” Estelle couldn’t bear to see Myra in this state, so she quickly struck the table to pull Myra’s wandering mind back. “Initially, Sean still asked me to persuade you to return to the Chase Family, but you have no idea how elated I was when I received the news that you’ve moved out from the family. This time, you must not be softhearted again. Don’t be silly and don’t pack your luggage to go back again just because that old lady cried. You know very well that those tears are crocodile tears.”

“I won’t be able to go back anymore…” Myra muttered, then gave Estelle a smile. “It’s so rare that we get to hang out, so let’s stop talking about this matter. I heard that Charles is zealously arranging blind dates for you recently?”

“Don’t even talk about that!” Estelle was depressed the moment Myra brought the topic up. “I’m such a decent woman, yet that pr*ck Shawn didn’t even spare me a glance. He even despicably involved my brother in this matter. He must have said something to Charles; otherwise, why would Charles force me to go for blind dates in haste?”

Myra was stunned, but she chuckled the next second. “Don’t tell me that you’re getting serious about Deputy Mayor Hart?!”

Truth be told, Estelle was never serious about any men unless doomsday was near.

“But I concur with Charles’ decision,” Myra continued before Estelle could respond. “Estelle, Deputy Mayor Hart is not like those men who have courted you before. Let me put it this way. It’s better to not mess around with this man, otherwise, I’m afraid you won’t be able to shake him off in the future.”

“Who says that I’m going to shake him off after messing around with him?” Estelle was slightly displeased as she gulped down a mouthful of lemon juice resentfully. “I’m really being serious this time! But it turns out that no one believes me…”

“That’s because you have too many criminal records,” Myra teased her. But out of the blue, her smile was frozen as her gaze was fixed at one spot.

“What’s gotten into you?” Seeing Myra’s unexpected reaction, Estelle followed Myra’s gaze. However, she saw nothing but a street full of neon lights.

“Nothing.” Myra took a deep breath. Since I’ve decided to let it go, I should stop caring about it. Just as she was about to continue with the previous topic, Estelle suddenly interrupted her, “By the way, I’ve forgotten to ask you one thing! I heard that last night at Old Master Hart’s banquet, you and the successor of Hart Group—I’m referring to the fourth younger brother of Shawn—were acting rather intimate?”

Myra was stunned.

“So it’s true?!” At first, Estelle didn’t believe the rumors, but her eyes lit up at once after seeing Myra’s reaction. “You’re really something, Myra! You even managed to hook up with Shawn’s younger brother, Tony Hart, who is a powerful and eligible bachelor in Bradfort City!”

Myra frowned and felt resigned. “Quit your nonsense. I accidentally drank some nasty stuff last night and Director Hart merely helped me out of kindness.”

“I seriously don’t think Tony Hart is such a kind man. Everyone in Bradfort City knows how hostile he is, and there are plenty of women out there who wish to gain his help, so why did he only help you out of everyone?” Estelle felt like she had grasped some clues, so she moved closer to Myra and blurted, “Come clean or I shall grill you!”

Estelle then reached out her hands slyly toward Myra and acted as if she was going to tickle her.

“Estelle!”

All of a sudden, Myra recalled Tony’s frigid look when he was looking down at her today. In fact, last night, she already made it clear to Tony that they would not have any ambiguous relationship in the future. Myra took a deep breath as she dismissed her thoughts. “Our relationship is really not what you think it is.”

After hitting the brake forcefully, Sean didn’t even bother to grab his blazer and got out of the car immediately to run toward the bar beside the street. The music in the bar was deafening. In fact, Sean was feeling under the weather today due to the hangover.

He had coldly turned down Lyla’s request when he received her call, but her soft sob, pitiful tone and tipsy confession had been lingering in his heart ever since then. Later, he had even vaguely overheard that there were some men who were attempting to harass her!

Boiling with rage, Sean told himself that he merely came here out of conscience, and that he was forced to come because he knew that she might be taken away by those gangsters otherwise.

Pushing his way through the crowd where people were jiving to the music, Sean finally found the drunk woman at a corner of the bar. There was another stout man beside her who looked extremely disgusting with his sparse hair on his exposed belly. The man was about to grab Lyla when Sean approached them.

At once, Sean’s hand shot out and forcefully broke that man’s arm in the blink of an eye. With a horrifying sound of bone snapping, the man’s arm hung limply next to him while his miserable wail was drowned out by the noise in the pub.