Standing before Love

In order to prevent Matthias from doing anything embarrassing, Evan quickly lugged him away. Meanwhile, Ether appeared reluctant to see him go. Seeing that, Evan was displeased, as he didn’t expect that Matthias could win her heart so easily. He had heard that Ether was an icy beauty, and she had hardly taken a liking to any man. Therefore, it had never crossed his mind that she’d fall for Matthias.

Unfortunately, she was Ether, and not Heather, after all. Matthias loved Heather and no one else. Evan shot a pitiful glance at Ether, who had just lost her love crush. At that instant, he recalled the woman he had fallen in love with at first glance in the past. The person who fell in love first in any relationship was destined to get hurt. Love was the unfairest thing in this world, as it wasn’t an exchange of equal values. Perhaps one might think that they had given all they had, but to the other party, it was nothing more than trouble.

Evan supported Matthias’ weight with difficulty. Although Matthias looked thin, he was quite heavy when he was drunk. Evan recalled reading from a book that a drunk person’s weight was two times heavier than when they were sober. Now, he could totally relate to what he had read. He was a frail man himself, so it took him a lot of effort to bring Matthias back to his home. If it weren’t because Matthias was still somewhat conscious, both of them would have slept over in Caliph Nightclub.

Looking around this familiar place, Matthias shook his head. “Is this my home?” He appeared doubtful, as everything around him was both familiar and strange to him.

“Mr. President, this is your room.” Evan directly threw him onto the bed as he was exhausted.

At that instant, Matthias felt the world around him spinning. Martial artists could never get drunk. He always remembered that because no one knew what would happen if a martial artist got intoxicated, so he had never allowed himself to get drunk.

However, he had accidentally become inebriated on this day. Moreover, the sunlight outside was dazzling, so he wasn’t sure whether it was daytime or nighttime now. Upon getting out of the bed in a wobbly manner, he stared fixedly at Evan and put on a faint smile. He looked vastly different from his usual self.

“Evan, I’m not drunk.” Matthias insisted that he was sober. He was walking in a staggering manner now, so it was apparent that he was far from sober.

“President, it’s late now. You should get some sleep.” As Evan spoke, he pressed a button on a remote control, after which the room turned dim, as though they had fallen into complete darkness.

“I don’t want to sleep. I need wine.” Matthias was already befuddled. However, he still wanted more wine to continue drinking.

It was the first time Evan dealt with Matthias when the latter was drunk as he looked at him with a headache. Nevertheless, he had no better way to handle him.

Inside the dark room, Matthias searched around with his hands. Then, he fell into Evan’s embrace and caressed his face.

“Heather, don’t leave me, and don’t get married to another man.” Matthias finally uttered the truth after he got intoxicated, while Evan listened to him in shock.

He found it hard to believe that things had come to such an irreversible point. Although Heather was willful, she couldn’t possibly have agreed to marry someone else on a whim. Initially, he thought that it wouldn’t take long before they would make up again. However, it seemed that he was mistaken, as they were indeed going separate ways.

“Heather, what else do you want me to do? Why do you doubt my love for you?” Matthias asked sorrowfully. He had the urge to pry open her head and see what was on her mind.

“I have never doubted your love. Sleep now, will you?” Evan was coaxing him like a mother trying to put her son to sleep.

“I don’t want to sleep. I only want you.” Matthias was behaving like a kid who couldn’t get his candy. He couldn’t stop himself from missing Heather.

“Alright, alright. I’m yours.” Evan squeezed out the words. It was quite nauseating to say such things, but he had to put up with it for Matthias’ sake.

“You’re lying. You don’t need me anymore. You doubt my love for you. You don’t love me anymore. You’ve fallen in love with someone else,” Matthias uttered in an interrogative manner. He wanted Heather to come back to him, but it was practically impossible.

“No. You’re the one I love.” Evan quickly got into character and persuaded himself that he was Heather. Otherwise, he couldn’t have said those things.

Nevertheless, Matthias pushed him away. “No, you’re not Heather. You’re lying to me.”

It was said that force was mutual. Due to the fact that Matthias had exerted too much force earlier, he had also fallen to the ground. Evan got to his feet and looked down at him in the darkness as he was torn between tears and laughter. Now, it seemed that Matthias needed consolation from a woman.

Evan was considering whether he should call Ether to come over, as he really couldn’t deal with Matthias anymore. Furthermore, Matthias had said that Heather was going to get married to someone else, so he should probably change his target.

After getting out of the room, Evan was still apprehensive, for he reckoned what he was about to do would make Matthias enraged when the latter sobered up. Matthias wasn’t just his best friend, but also his boss, so he wasn’t sure whether he should make this kind of decision on Matthias’ behalf.

After giving it a thought, he decided to take the risk. Even if Matthias wanted to fire him afterward, he would accept his fate. He didn’t want Matthias to be troubled by his love affairs again, as he just wanted him to be happy.

Following that, he dialed the number of Caliph Nightclub. “I’m looking for your boss. Tell him to speak to me,” he demanded.

Fortunately, the other party didn’t dawdle and called out to his boss. Over the phone, Evan said to the boss, “I want Ether to come over to my place.”

The boss recognized his voice and knew that the latter was an important customer, but it wasn’t right to let their workers accompany their customers outside the nightclub. In a dilemma, the boss replied, “I’m sure you know our rules. This is basically against it.”

Evan uttered lightly, “Just tell me the price.” A matter couldn’t be considered a problem if it could be solved with money.

The boss fell into a tight spot. It was true that businessmen were after profit, but once the rules were broken, it would be difficult for them to run their business.

“Why don’t you tell Ether to speak to me? I’ll invite her to the villa as a friend, and it’s up to her whether she’ll agree to it.” Evan believed that Ether would agree to it as he recalled her gaze before they left.

“Alright, then.” The boss then told Ether to come over.

Over the phone, Evan uttered to her, “Ether, my president needs someone to keep him company now. Are you willing to come over?” He directly told her his intention, as he believed that she knew what to do.

“Okay.” Ether only replied to him with one word, and the problem was solved.

Evan put on a satisfied smile and decided to let Ether deal with Matthias. As a man, it was inappropriate for him to do such a thing. Moreover, Heather was all Matthias thought about now. Given Ether’s similar body shape and temperament to those of Heather, she could probably pass as the latter. Now, Evan hoped that Matthias would embrace Ether and vent out all his longing.

He could never do such a thing, as it was quite weird for him to make out with another man. In order to save his reputation, he thought it’d be better to tell Ether to come over. Moreover, she didn’t look like a loose woman, so she probably wouldn’t seize the chance to take away Matthias’ virginity.

With this thought in mind, Evan put on a wicked smile, as he had been waiting for the day when Matthias lost his virginity. Matthias was almost thirty, but he was still a virgin. Anyone would have thought that he might be practicing some kind of martial arts that required him to stay as a virgin.

Soon, Ether arrived at the villa, and Evan personally welcomed her in. Without any small talk, they got straight to the main point.

“I’m sorry for making you come over.” Evan thought that he should explain to her what happened.

“How is he now?” Ether was worried about Matthias. It was the first time she saw someone being able to chug down so much wine in one go. He had even mixed different kinds of wine together, so she was worried that he might be suffering from alcohol poisoning. Now, she couldn’t wait to see him.

“Don’t worry. My president is a heavy drinker, and he had never gotten drunk before prior to this. The reason he’s even intoxicated today is that he’s in a bad mood. I’ll briefly tell you what happened. The woman my president loves is going to marry someone else, and that woman’s body shape and temperament are similar to yours. So, I hope that you’ll give him some consolation,” Evan said in a solemn manner, thinking that there was nothing wrong with what he had just uttered.

Unexpectedly, Ether started blushing upon hearing that. She hung her head low and questioned in a small voice, “What do you think I am?” She thought that Evan had regarded her as a slut and wanted her to bed Matthias.

“Hey, please don’t get me wrong! I just want you to console him with words. It’s not what you think!” Evan quickly waved his hands. “My president is an upright man, so he’ll never do anything inappropriate to you.” Now, he was more worried that Ether might do something to his friend.

Ether nodded, as she had seen how restrained Matthias was. It was the first time she saw such an upright man. For some reason, she felt her heart throbbing at the sight of his serious-looking face. Perhaps it was because Matthias was different from other men, so she was hoping to meet him again. However, she didn’t expect that the chance would come so soon.

Then, Evan brought her to Matthias’ room and said to her in a hushed voice, “I’ve added some special effects in the room, so it’s pitch dark now. Can you see in the dark?”

After Evan teased her, she felt less anxious now. “There’s no problem,” she replied in a serious manner.

“Good luck, then,” Evan said with a grin and opened the door. It was indeed very dark inside the room. He then pushed her into the room and lightly closed the door. Seeing how dark it was around her, she was less nervous instead. At the same time, she could hear Matthias breathe.

“Heather,” he called out.

This time, Ether could hear clearly that the woman he loved was called Heather. Her name was indeed similar to hers. Then, she recalled what Evan had said and realized that she was just a replacement. Despite that, she didn’t think it was a humiliation for her. That was because she could see Matthias again, so she was pretty joyful. Perhaps she had fallen in love with him at first sight without her realizing it.

She only found out about Matthias’ name just now. Although she had no idea how Heather would call him, at this moment, she just wanted to call him Matthias.