Standing Before Love (Myra and Sean) novel Chapter 700

With that, Matthias watched as Lara turned around and left. Deep down, he knew Lara bore no ill intent and was well aware that she was being taken advantage of. However, he didn’t know why she would act this way and fall in love with him so painstakingly.

There were many secrets he noticed yet didn’t know well about, but he chose not to look into it because the truth behind such things were often too trivial for him to put his mind into.

When Nikolai saw Lara walking out of Matthias’ office with her face full of tears, he was instantly reminded of the time she had just started working for their boss.

When he saw how her tears fell so profusely, he hurried over to comfort her, certain that Matthias must have rebuked her.

“Did the president scold you, Lara?” Nikolai was clueless about what happened inside earlier, and he just wanted to cheer her up.

“No, he didn’t.” Despite her attempt to hold back her tears, they wouldn’t stop dripping down. Perhaps she wasn’t as strong as she imagined herself to be.

“Why are you sobbing so much then, you crybaby?” asked Nikolai in a calm voice, attempting to distract Lara from her sadness.

“That’s because I’m leaving. From now on, you’ll be the only secretary and assistant. You’re now responsible for everything, happy?” Lara responded with a chuckle as she beamed and wept at the same time—it was hideous.

“What? Don’t say that!” Nikolai was dismayed. Naturally, he didn’t believe that she was actually leaving.

“I’m serious. Anyway, I’ll be going. Be well, Nikolai,” she said. As she patted his shoulder like a senile woman, she realized that she felt rather attached to him.

While she stared at his face, she noticed that his appearance sort of resembled Matthias’. In fact, they even had similar qualities.

Perhaps Nikolai isn’t that bad… Lara thought to herself as she looked at him with tears streaming down her face.

Meanwhile, Nikolai panicked instantly since he didn’t know how to console her. Moreover, he couldn’t tell if Lara had resigned on her own initiative or if Matthias had fired her.

When she saw how nervous he was, Lara felt slightly comforted by it. She proceeded to ask, “Can you give me a hug? This might be our last time seeing each other.”

It was only before her departure did she understand that what she felt toward Matthias was merely infatuation, and she had been slowly noticing Nikolai’s subtleties.

Not only that, she even felt a tinge of adoration for the latter. Thanks to Matthias’ words, she was finally relieved from her secret crush of many years.

Perhaps she had truly failed in winning him over. After adoring him for so long, all she received was her crush’s disdain. As such, the more she thought about it, the harder she cried. Meanwhile, Nikolai grew flustered since he felt rather embarrassed when getting close to a female, let alone going in for an embrace.

“Don’t cry.” He held her tight in his arms. Since he had also gotten used to her presence, the man had also grown attached to her.

Since he assumed that they were going to work under Matthias’ wings for a long time, he could feel the emptiness in his heart when Lara announced her leave.

After embracing each other for quite some time, they were rather unwilling to let each other go. Words like colleagues, friends, and lovers could no longer describe what they felt about each other.

Following that, Lara looked at the items that were neatly arranged on her desk. The sight of it was rather pleasant, but she had no intention of bringing any of those objects with her because she wanted to leave as she came. She had come empty-handed, so there was no point in taking these things along with her.

“I’m not taking any of these, Nikolai. If the president finds them irritating, please discard them on my behalf. I came into the company empty-handed, and I intend to leave that way,” she said while wiping her tears. She then urged herself to be stronger, unlike the young girl who constantly wept when she first joined the Locke Group. How embarrassing of her!

Back then, she would always cry after being reprimanded by Matthias. As she reminisced about her time in the company, she felt like her career was a dream. However, it felt rather pitiful that she had been awakened from it.

“There must be some kind of misunderstanding. I’ll try talking to him.” No matter how stupid Nikolai was, he could tell it was Matthias who fired Lara.

“There isn’t, and nothing is meant to stay forever. I’ll be leaving now. Good luck.” Although she still had much to say to him, she eventually stopped herself from saying those words.

After having betrayed and deceived Matthias, she had lost her right to care about him. Although she had predicted this to happen, she never imagined that he’d show her tenderness at the final moment, allowing her to retain her last bit of honor.

The harder it was to obtain someone’s heart, the deeper Lara would fall for that person. Knowing that, she couldn’t help thinking she was a masochist. Moreover, she even remembered that she used to complain to Nikolai about how problematic and ambiguous Matthias was, but little did she know, she fell for him for the very same reason.

And so, she had admired him for a long time. There were many instances where she’d go back on her own words, and she would hate herself for it. Even Nikolai had figured out her feelings for Matthias, but the latter remained unwavered as ever. Needless to say, it was a disastrous romance.

As Nikolai watched Lara taking every step further, he knew that the woman was wiping her tears off with her sleeves. After all, she was but a young lady.

All these years, he had been observing Lara’s behavior in front of Matthias; he could tell that she had feelings for him. As such, he couldn’t help but wonder if her feelings toward Matthias had been the reason he fired her.