Standing Before Love (Myra and Sean) novel Chapter 604

Meanwhile, back in Solaris, the news of Matthias’ return soon traveled to Tony’s ears. However, what surprised Tony was that Heather didn’t come back with him.

Ever since Matthias returned to Solaria, he had been wearing a sulky face every day. His handling of company matters had become increasingly harsh and resolute. Initially, the working atmosphere in Locke Group was rather relaxed. However, due to the sudden change in Matthias’ mood, the atmosphere of the entire company became gloomy too.

Nikolai had already expected this to happen. He was in a state of shock when Matthias had asked him to book him a flight back home. After that, he couldn’t reach the latter by phone at all. He also never replied to his messages, even when Nikolai had sent them through various channels.

As such, Nikolai guessed that Matthias had a fight with Heather. Even then, he still bought two flight tickets just in case. Alas, Matthias still came back alone toward the end. From that moment, Nikolai knew things had gotten serious when he picked Matthias up from the airport.

Matthias’ face was scaringly stiff. At that time, Nikolai wanted to bring up some relaxing topics to ease the tension, but the latter had started a serious conversation before he could speak up.

“Any recent updates from Locke Group?” Matthias asked Nikolai in a stern manner.

“It’s very complicated. I’m afraid I can’t explain it to you right now,” Nikolai answered awkwardly. He felt pressured being asked such a question right after they met.

“Just summarize it. You don’t have to go through the details.” Matthias insisted Nikolai give him a summary. This was truly a difficult task for Nikolai as he wouldn’t be able to summarize everything within such a short time.

Matthias fixated his eyes on Nikolai, who quietly lowered his head after receiving the pressure from Matthias’ gaze. Matthias narrowed his eyes as he was annoyed seeing Nikolai’s reaction. “Nikolai, have you forgotten my command to you?” Matthias questioned him angrily.

Nikolai lowered his head even more. Indeed, he hadn’t taken Matthias’ exhortation to heart. All this while, he had obviously been relying on Matthias with the perception that the latter would have everything handled even if some issues occurred.

Although he had perceived Matthias’ intention to let him deal with things independently, Nikolai didn’t want to officially do things on his own. Matthias, however, had a totally opposite reaction toward this action of his, resulting in Nikolai being extremely flustered.

All this while, Nikolai had been obediently carrying out tasks according to Matthias’ orders, and he had lost the ability to think independently. Now that Matthias suddenly requested him to do so, there was no way he could do that.

“Lift up your head. You’re getting more irresponsible,” Matthias rebuked disappointedly. He hadn’t lectured Nikolai in a long while, so Nikolai felt like he was being thrown into hell hearing Matthias’ strict remarks.

“Where’s Lara?” Matthias was surprised to not see Lara. By right, she should be the one coming to pick him up.

“She has some matters to attend to in the company,” Nikolai answered guiltily. He didn’t even dare to lift his head to look at Matthias.

“What happened in the company?” Matthias didn’t expect to receive this kind of news right after stepping back into the country, which made him even fretful.

“Some people are stirring up trouble in the company, so Lara is resolving it.” Truth was, Nikolai couldn’t handle the situation at all, so he pushed it to Lara. Even Nikolai himself thought he was such a failure as a man.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” Matthias was even more irritated, growing more disappointed in Nikolai’s actions.

“Lara didn’t want you to worry, so she asked me not to tell you,” Nikolai mumbled timidly. He had truly pissed Matthias off this time, and he didn’t even know how to respond to him.

“Did you think you would be able to hide such matters from me?” Matthias really wanted to crack Nikolai’s brain to take a look at what was in it.

Nikolai stuttered, for he was truly at a loss for words. Matthias’ words actually made him uncomfortable, making Nikolai reflect upon his own problems. Lately, he had indeed spent too much energy on some issues even though he was aware Locke Group was in a critical period.

“Your heart has not been about work at all recently. I have no idea what exactly happened to you, but you shouldn’t let it affect your performance at work.” Matthias realized his words were a little too harsh just now, so he adjusted his tone as he didn’t want to be too fierce with Nikolai.

To think about it, Matthias actually regretted dragging Nikolai into the business circle because the latter was an emotional and artistic person to begin with. As such, Matthias was thinking if he should have a talk with Nikolai. Back then, he thought what he did was for Nikolai’s benefit, but now it seemed like he might be wrong.

The two of them quickly arrived back at the company, and it just so happened that Matthias caught Lara looking all anxious. As such, he quickly walked over to her. He knew all the people who were causing trouble were the mid-level managers in the company. By right, they should be a rational group of staff, so why did they come to cause a scene at the director’s office?

The calm look on their faces subsided a little when they saw Matthias. On the other hand, Matthias glared coldly at them while wearing a half-smile.

“Don’t you all have tasks to complete today?” Matthias’ voice was cold. His mood was already unpleasant to begin with, yet this group of people still wanted to cause trouble at this point in time.

“Director Locke,” one of them who seemed to be the leader greeted Matthias politely.