Standing before Love

Ether contained her anxiety and muttered, “Matthias.”

Matthias heard a woman calling for him in a confused state. He couldn’t tell who it was, yet he hoped it was Heather. For some reason, he still had some sense of rationality despite being intoxicated. In fact, he had a feeling that the person calling his name wasn’t the woman he loved. After all, Matthias still remembered that Heather was currently at the hospital. He desperately wanted to visit her, but he had no courage to do so.

After fumbling around for a bit, Ether eventually got to Matthias. In the dark room, she felt the need to take the initiative this time to do what she once desired to.

When Matthias previously walked away from her, she thought that was the end for the both of them. From then on, she regretted being a coward and for not taking the opportunity when they were both alone.

“It’s me, Ether.” Nonetheless, she couldn’t bring herself to lie since she was Ether and not Heather. At that moment, she was truly envious of that woman—she had Matthias’ unconditional love, after all.

“Heather? Is that you?” he asked, not having an ‘Ether’ in his mind. He only knew and loved Heather.

“Yes. I’ve come to see you,” she answered calmly. Since Evan had not provided her with much information on Heather, she didn’t know how to pose as the other woman.

“It’s too dark in here. I can’t see you.” Despite trying his best to look for Heather, Matthias couldn’t see anything even though he was eager to catch sight of the woman’s face.

“I can see you.” Now that she finally stood face-to-face with him, Ether simply peered at him as she longed for his attention.

Matthias opened his eyes wide, but it didn’t help much in terms of sight. It was pitch-black in front of him, and he couldn’t even feel the warmth of the person there.

Meanwhile, Ether timidly extended her hand to touch him. However, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was being too greedy by hoping to initiate some skinship with him.

Suddenly, a pair of warm hands placed themselves on Matthias’ arms. He felt that something wasn’t right, for Heather’s palms were just like her personality—freezing cold.

“It’s me, Heather.” Ether had no other choice but to deceive him, so she became the woman Matthias loved.

“Heather.” As if he had really seen her, he instantly went for a hug, pulling her firmly into his embrace. After resting his chin on her forehead, he smugly muttered, “This must be a dream, right? It’s so unreal to have you in my arms.”

At that moment, Ether was indulging in the cosiness of Matthias’ arms, and she had no intention of pulling away. She never expected Matthias’ passion for Heather to be so miserable and excruciating to this state. Nonetheless, she feared that she’d drown in his snuggle, so she unconsciously pushed him away and removed herself from his beguiling embrace. She continued to pose as Heather and painfully apologized, “I’m sorry for hurting you this bad.”

“Don’t apologize to me—I’m willing to go through hell for your sake. How could you ever doubt my feelings for you, though? I love you so much, but what did I do to deserve your suspicion? You’re even getting married to Leon.” Matthias spoke like a kid who had been wrongly punished. Since he needed another comforting hug, he shoved Ether against his chest once more.

When she heard that, she couldn’t help feeling unjust for Matthias. “I’m sorry, Matthias. I never realized the pain I’ve caused you.” He really loves this Heather, so why would she mistreat him this way?

From Ether’s perspective, Matthias was merely troubled by his one-sided romance. However, she had no idea about the complex experiences Heather and Matthias shared. Since she was clueless about what really happened between them, she was depressed after seeing the man’s state.

“I’m not scared of being hurt. I’m only scared that you’ll leave me,” he answered while hugging her so tightly. In fact, it was almost as though he wanted to engulf the woman into his body.

How he wished to be able to merge with Heather! If that was the case, she would never leave him. In truth, there were even times when he was desperate enough to feel jealous of the body parts that comprised Heather’s figure.

He was so desirous that he was willing to become a mole on her body—he could be her eyes, her ears, or even her nose. Above all, he longed to be something she would die without. Although he was extremely resistant to split up with her, he could no longer pursue her.

Despite reaching the point of no return with Heather, Matthias refused to put down his pride and beg for forgiveness. He never anticipated falling so deep in love that he had become so pathetic to crawl out of it. Even with every single cell of his brain, he couldn’t figure out what it was about himself that she loathed so much.

With Heather not revealing anything to him, he got frustrated trying to work out what was wrong with himself. Thinking that everything could be solved by talking, he couldn’t make out why she had to make things this difficult for him.

“Heather, if we were to start over, we wouldn’t be in such a mess, would we?” As he looked at Ether, he voiced a question he wished to know the answer to. In his mind, he was continuously contemplating if it was indeed his failing start with her that led to such turmoil. Meanwhile, he never once considered his family a factor to the ruin.

“We’re not in a mess, Matthias. I love you, and you love me. We’ll stay together for eternity,” Ether tenderly comforted the devastated Matthias.

“Together for eternity…” Matthias mumbled in dismay as he couldn’t believe that such words were coming from Heather herself. I must be dreaming… This is all a dream!

“Yes, I will love you forever until death do us part.” Since she had no experience in dating, Ether could only spit some cliche lines.

“I’ll love you forever too.” Matthias wanted to love her and spoil her for the rest of their lives.

Up until now, everything he had done was for the sake of Heather’s future. Knowing there were barriers between the two of them, he would work even harder to secure a future with her.

After calming Matthias down, Ether helped him to bed while he grabbed her hand, not wanting to let her go. She wordlessly sat beside him at an arm’s length to keep her distance, but Matthias soon dragged her into his arms.

As such, that was her first time sleeping with a man. Since she was overpowered by Matthias, she found it hard to breathe. Meanwhile, the man wrapped his arms around Ether with overwhelming strength, showing the intensity of his affection for her through the vigor he put in his arms.

Right then, Ether was in ecstasy and agony at the same time—she felt happy since she got to snuggle with the man she liked, but she was in agony because she had been mistaken for another woman by the very same man.

While she was in his embrace, she wished that time could stop so that she’d be able to stay this way forever and feel the warmth of his body. Thanks to her excellent night vision, she could somewhat make out Matthias’ silhouette. Then, she forcefully pulled out her hand and brushed her finger across his face.

“You’re very good-looking, Matthias.” Ether was amazed by her crush, and she found him more appealing the more she ogled at him. How in the world could anyone look this good?

Before she realized it, she had already fallen asleep. When Matthias eventually woke up, she was still sleeping as well. He woke up to a room filled with darkness and a hangover, having no idea whether it was day or night.

As he felt some weight on his chest, Matthias heard a feminine groan when he tried to get up. It seemed like he’d heard this voice before, so he hastily sat straight up and searched for the remote control.

Since he couldn’t remember where he had placed it, he nervously switched the bedside lamp on and discovered a sleeping Ether, who also jolted wide awake after being seen.

As he scanned his own outfit, Matthias couldn’t recall changing into his pajamas—there wasn’t even a minor trace of memory. Meanwhile, Ether donned a red dress and appeared rather alluring under the shade of the lamp.

He patted his head and clutched his collars, not being able to remember a single thing. Matthias remained speechless for a while, and he finally figured who had called Ether over after putting some thought into it.

“I’m sorry, I…” Matthias didn’t know whether he had done anything inappropriate.

“You didn’t do anything,” Ether muttered with a blush. Other than being hugged to sleep, nothing happened between the two. In fact, she was rather eager to surrender herself to him, but there was no telling if he would want that to happen.

“Evan had you over, right?” he asked, almost certain that it was the brat’s doing.

As she lowered her head, Ether made a guilty face. Meanwhile, the man beside her hadn’t a single clue how horrifying his face was. With such an intimidating expression, no one would dare to look into his eyes. Likewise, Ether was currently shocked to her core.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized like a child who had made a mistake.

“It’s not your fault; it’s just one of Evan’s pranks.” Matthias didn’t know how to explain it to her, and he felt that he couldn’t justify his actions either.

When she raised her head and exhibited an expression that was about to burst into tears, Matthias felt even more awkward. With that, he was troubled by the complicated nature of women, for he wondered why she was crying even though he had done nothing to her.

Although he wanted to fly into a rage, he had no way of venting his anger—certainly not toward Ether when he knew that Evan was the one pulling the strings. No matter how he thought about it, he had hugged the woman to sleep and taken advantage of her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” Since she had never expected him to be this furious, she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Matthias stared at her in frustration since he was bad at consoling women. Other than putting himself down to comfort Heather, he couldn’t do the same with anyone else.

“I’m really sorry…” As she apologized non-stop, Ether got up in a panic. When he saw how pitiable she was, he felt slightly sorry.

Under the lamp light where he could barely see her, she definitely possessed some minor resemblance to Heather. When he noticed that, he figured that was probably the reason why Evan sent her over.

Hence, that was more of a reason for him not to get mad at Ether. Instead, Evan should be the one to be blamed for making such a decision. Matthias was not one to bring problems upon himself, let alone woman issues. Since Evan had the audacity to send a woman to bed with him, there was no way he would let this pass easily.

“I’ll take my leave now,” said Ether. She was utterly distressed with her head lowered and tears in her eyes.

Unlike the gentle Matthias she had slept with, the man in front of her right now was completely different. Feeling extremely shameful by this, she decided not to linger around and immediately left.

After pulling the door open, Ether quickly rushed out. Meanwhile, Evan, who was supervising his subordinates’ clean-up in the living room, remained a casual face. In fact, it seemed like he wasn’t worried about what was coming his way.

Without even putting on her shoes, Ether covered her face as she left the room. When she got to the living room, Evan looked at her in confusion. He approached the woman and was about to ask her what happened when she sped up her pace and completely ignored the butler.