Standing before Love

As far as she could remember, Nikolai was always a bashful one; she had never seen him so fearless, but was that a good thing? Despite feeling a little touched, she thought that it wasn’t right for him to behave as such right now.

Nikolai immediately hung up on her, and Lara didn’t know if she should leave or wait for him right now. She tried phoning him again but he didn’t pick up the call, and that made her somewhat anxious.

The waiting process seemed like an eternity, and the minutes Lara spent waiting for him felt like years instead. Nikolai was still nowhere to be found, but looking for him wasn’t a choice since she was afraid she might miss him.

Eventually, Lara headed to the elevator and waited for the man. If he were to look for her at the underground parking lot, he would have to reach there by the elevator. Hence, she patiently anticipated his arrival.

The display indicated that the elevator had reached the third floor, which meant that it was only a matter of seconds before the elevator shaft would reach the second basement where Lara was anxiously waiting for Nikolai.

She stared at the indicator, wondering if the man was on it. As it descended from the 2nd floor to the 1st, it felt as though the elevator doors would open up any second now.

One of the elevators opened with a ding, but it wasn’t the one she had been waiting for. Lara grew frustrated upon that, for it was the most nervous she had ever been.

In fact, it felt as though she was back to her first day at the company; she was a newbie, and she didn’t know where to put her eyes when she first met Matthias.

The doors of the elevator she had been anticipating finally opened shortly after, but she was disappointed with the absence of Nikolai. That particular elevator was reserved for the board of directors, but both Lara and Nikolai often used it to avoid the crowded public elevator.

Much to her surprise, Nikolai wasn’t on it. As she grinned helplessly, she couldn’t tell which elevator he’d be coming out of.

Another set of elevator doors opened within seconds, and Lara glanced inside curiously. Sadly, there was still no sign of Nikolai. By right, he should have been down here quite some time ago. With that, she racked her brains while trying to figure out which route he’d taken.

When she recalled how Nikolai would often render her speechless, Lara grew more frustrated that she completely forgot about her sadness—all she could think about was him. Moreover, she felt even more perturbed when she thought about his relationship with Matthias.

Although Lara was rather dissatisfied with the latter, she just wanted him to be well despite everything. When she saw how he had lost both of his trusty aids in one day, she felt compelled to ask Nikolai to return. After all, she knew how important he was to Matthias.

Although Nikolai was probably a strand of hair to the Locke Group, he was very important to Matthias! Since a long time ago, Lara had noticed how Matthias would entrust his greatest wishes with Nikolai. Thus, he couldn’t afford to lose the latter. At the very least, now was not the time for his departure.

Perhaps Nikolai was also aware of how awkward Matthias’ current position was in Locke Group. It was at such times that Matthias was left with no one to trust.

After all, Nikolai was probably the only person in the entire company whom Matthias believed in the most. Now that he was leaving, Lara felt utterly sorry for her boss.

While she was lost in thought, Nikolai walked out of the elevator. He looked visibly stunned, for he couldn’t recall what he had just said to Matthias. Never would he have expected himself to be so ‘heroic’ in front of the Locke Group’s president.

Just then, he walked past Lara. If she hadn’t regained her senses, they would’ve missed each other.

“Nikolai.” She rushed up to him.

When he heard that, the man turned around stiffly.

“Lara.” He was surprised to see her appearing from behind.

“You’re really the biggest idiot in the world, Nikolai!” the woman rebuked without holding back.

Since she had already cried her eyes out, she didn’t have any energy left to get infuriated. She hadn’t been such a softie in a long while. When he saw that, Nikolai felt a trace of ache in his heart, thinking what he said to Matthias wasn’t that much after all.

“I’m sorry. I was being reckless.” He had no idea why he even apologized.

“Why can’t you see it? Not only is he your cousin, he also made you grow as a person. How could you just abandon him like that? Who’s the heartless one now?” She painstakingly lectured Nikolai for his rash actions, for she felt obliged to awaken his senses.

If it weren’t for her greed, such a thing wouldn’t have happened. Since she still cared about her own image in front of Nikolai, she didn’t dare to reveal the truth while convincing him to return.

At the same time, she knew all this mess was rooted from her selfishness, though she didn’t want her true colors—her cunningness and cowardice—to be known to the man in front of her.

“I can’t stand his attitude, and I don’t want to continue working for such an evil man.” Nikolai thought of himself as the protagonist in a story, but he was blind to the mess he had unintentionally caused.

“How long have you been working for him? You should be trusting his qualities by now! Why are you associating him with such words?” She couldn’t help but defend Matthias. If she couldn’t even blame Matthias herself, how could she allow someone else to do the same?

“Tell me, then. Why did he fire you for no good reason? After your effort all these years, does he not see it? How could he even bear to fire you? What a monster!” Nikolai defended her.

“That’s because I was wrong.” Although she didn’t want the misunderstanding to persist, she couldn’t bring herself to explain everything in detail.

Then, Lara made a depressed look, and it was not until a while later that she calmly raised her head. “Look, I did something unforgivable. In fact, getting fired was mercy, not punishment.”

As he gazed at her in disbelief, Nikolai hadn’t understood the message in her words, thinking they were all nonsensical.

“Enlighten me, then. What did you do wrong? What is it that is so unforgivable?” he asked, wanting to see things clearly.

If Lara couldn’t answer him, it would mean that she was defending Matthias—that was what Nikolai thought, at the very least. In fact, he was aware of the whole secret admiration that had been going on, but looking at how despicable he was just pained him.

“Don’t ask any further. Right now, you’re mistakenly blaming him. The fault is mine, and I do not wish it to get in the way of the two of you,” she explained as she stared into his eyes, feeling guilty if what she said became reality.

“You’re still defending him! Do you even have a sense of pride?” Nikolai grew more frustrated at Lara. Why would the woman, who always had such a sharp tongue, become such a scaredy cat? Why was she saying words that went against her own will when it came to anything that pertained to Matthias?

When she heard that, Lara was slightly irked. Since she hadn’t expected him to be so arrogant, she didn’t know how to proceed with the conversation.

“Indeed, I don’t have a sense of pride. In your eyes, I’m just a shameless sell-out who wants to grab the attention of the director, right?” As she looked into his eyes, she was aggravated by Nikolai’s invasive comments.

Meanwhile, Nikolai felt discomforted by her glare, and he had no idea why his concern for Lara had been turned into mockery. Despite having realized his mistake, he couldn’t figure out why everything had turned this sour.

“I’m sorry, I was triggered. I shouldn’t have said those things about you, but never have I ever once thought you that way. Don’t be mad at me. I’ll admit that I was going overboard,” Nikolai hastily apologized. As if he had returned to his original self, the tenderness and friendliness he once possessed surged in his eyes.

Seeing that, Lara could no longer rebuke him. After all, she was the one at fault. Besides, it was only because of her that he treated Matthias this way. Deep down, she knew that Nikolai had nothing but respect for Matthias and she was wrong to have sabotaged their brotherhood.

“No, you should be apologizing to the president.” Lara hoped that Nikolai would let this slide along with the anger he had toward Matthias.

He had initially calmed himself down, but Nikolai became discontented when he heard that. As he glanced at Lara, he felt a gush of dissatisfaction in his heart.

“I’ve no reason to apologize to him. I did nothing wrong.” Nikolai wanted to halt the argument about the matter as he had no idea what was going on in her mind.

“You’re really persistent, aren’t you?” Lara said as she could see that he didn’t want to dwell on the discussion any longer.

Tactful as she was, Lara felt that it was meaningless to debate any further. Furthermore, she was aware that she was easily irritated right now. Thus, it was better for her to calm down before making any more decisions.

“It looks like you didn’t drive to work today.” Lara went off on a tangent.

If it weren’t for her reminder, Nikolai would have forgotten about not driving. Thanks to that, he realized he had nowhere to go.

“Yeah,” he replied calmly. It seemed like as long as his conflict with Matthias wasn’t mentioned, he wouldn’t be enraged.

“Follow me, then. I’ll bring you somewhere nice.” There was a secret garden she kept to herself where she would relieve her stress whenever she was perturbed. The sight and fragrance of the flowers and plants never failed to ease her tension.

Having no other choice, Nikolai agreed and followed after her. Seeing how his mood had changed, he felt somewhat odd.

As they were walking, he observed Lara as the latter paced in front of him. Judging by her swaying posture, her figure looked quite stunning even though she was wrapped in a working outfit. In fact, she probably looked even livelier than that.

Just then, Lara pulled the car door open and entered from the passenger’s side. Meanwhile, Nikolai took over driving duty and hopped into the driver’s seat instead. From the side, Lara appeared rather glamorous as opposed to her front view where she seemed amiable, though that wasn’t necessarily the case.

Most accurately depicting her true qualities was her side view, and he favored it very much. From her outline to her silhouette, everything from the side captivated him.

“To be honest, Lara, your face is really alluring,” Nikolai suddenly blurted out. Perhaps Lara wasn’t the uncompetitive woman he had imagined her to be.

“What?” She was baffled by his sudden praise.

“I’m complimenting you. You look prettier from the side than from the front.” Nikolai proceeded to make himself comfortable on the seat, looking as though he had never been this relaxed for a long time.

“What are you on about? Is this your first day seeing me?” Lara proceeded to peek at Nikolai, feeling that his somewhat youthful face didn’t match his mature age.

“Yeah. I’ve always thought that you’ve grown into a strong, impeccable woman, but after seeing how you cried earlier, it seems like you’re still a little girl after all.” Nikolai turned his face to her before giving Lara a tender smile.

At that moment, her heart skipped a bit. She quickly turned to the windshield, too bashful to look at the man beside her. As the sunlight fell on half of Nikolai’s face, he was rather pleasant to look at—even his smile flaunted the mightiness of a prince.