Nothing Matters, except YOU & Me novel Chapter 701

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.