Love's Change of Heart

Naomi took the thermos from her, though nobody knew whether she believed her or not. "Just leave it to me. Go upstairs for a rest."

Leanna hadn't slept well yesterday, so she felt somewhat sleepy at this moment. Consequently, she went upstairs with a yawn and slept until six in the evening.

The last rays of the setting sun filled the sky on the distant horizon. When she came downstairs, she found that Naomi wasn't in her room. She went to the house next door to take a look, only to find that Wendy wasn't there as well. Not only that, but they weren't the only ones missing. It was time to make dinner, but the surrounding houses were very quiet, with no sound coming from them.

As the last glow of sunset faded in the distance, the lights along the street came on one by one, illuminating the ripples on the surface of the river.

It's perhaps difficult to find another serene old street that has existed for as many years as this one, thought Leanna. Just as she was in a sort of trance, Wendy appeared behind her and patted her on the shoulder. "You're up, Leanna?"

Leanna came to her senses. "Hey, Ms. Shaffer."

Wendy said, "Let's go."

Leanna was baffled. "Where are we going?"

"Oh, right, you don't know this yet." Wendy clapped a hand to her forehead. Then, she explained, "Well, now that the project to build the resort hotel has more or less been finalized, everyone's moving away one after another. It's hard to tell when we'll meet again, so we decided to have dinner together again for one last time. I dragged Naomi to help with the preparation this afternoon. Now that everyone's almost here, I came back to call you."

With that, she dragged Leanna to the community hall.

Meant for public use, the community hall was the place for festive gatherings by the surrounding neighbors, but there had never been full attendance at these gatherings due to all kinds of reasons. Perhaps because this would be their last meeting, there was surprisingly full attendance this time.

Underwood Lane's residents were mostly middle-aged men and women like Naomi and Wendy, who had reached a certain age but were unwilling to live with their children. Apart from these people, there were also young tenants like Leanna and Harry. Despite their age gap, they got along very well. It'd be more apt to describe them as a big reconstituted family than as landlords and tenants.

This evening, these middle-aged residents showed off their cooking skills by each making one of their specialties, resulting in a sumptuous feast with dozens of dishes on the round table.

Wendy showed Leanna to her seat. "Come on, Leanna, sit here."

Those seated at this table were all her familiar neighbors, including Wendy and Naomi. However, the seat on her left was empty.

…

The meeting for Underwood Lane's acquisition lasted a full afternoon until darkness fell. After everyone else had left, Aidan sat in his seat while massaging his temples in discomfort.

Jonathan came over and asked, "President Pearson, do you need painkillers?"

Aidan put down his hand and stood up, saying impassively, "Never mind. Let's go out and get something to eat."

Meanwhile, Harry and some of his superiors in his department were still waiting for the elevator at the elevator lobby. One of the superiors said, "It's time for dinner. Let's have dinner before we go back."

The other superiors agreed, but Harry replied with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, everyone, but I probably have to excuse myself today." He told them briefly about the gathering organized by his neighborhood.

The revamp of Underwood Lane into a resort hotel was a big project that carried great importance for Harry's department as well. Therefore, upon hearing his words, his superiors immediately replied, "Is that so? Well, in that case, we can't hold you up today no matter what."

"Please give our regards to the neighbors when you go back, Harry."

"By the way, Harry, will Leanna be present at the gathering?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, she will."

His superior patted him on the shoulder and said encouragingly, "Well, that's nice. This is a great opportunity. You've got to seize it."

Harry felt somewhat shy, but he nodded heavily nonetheless. "I'll do my best."

Little did they notice that before they realized it, someone had been standing quietly behind them with glacial eyes.

After leaving the hotel and saying goodbye to his superiors, Harry stood at the intersection to hail a taxi. However, as soon as he put up his hand, a black Maybach slowly pulled up in front of him, baffling him.

The car window rolled down to reveal the man's stony features. He said, "Mr. Mills."

Harry exclaimed in surprise, "President Pearson?"

Aidan asked apathetically, "Where are you going, Mr. Mills? Let me give you a ride."

Overwhelmed by the unexpected offer, Harry quickly refused, "No, no, no, President Pearson, please don't bother. I'll hail a—"

"Get in the car."

Harry was lost for words. Not daring to refuse the man again, he opened the car door and bent down to get in.

It was extremely quiet in the car, and Harry was breathless with extreme nervousness. He had met with Aidan very often over the past few days due to work-related reasons. However, his superiors were the ones who talked to the latter most of the time, whereas he was only in charge of fetching documents, running errands, and doing other kinds of odd jobs. Therefore, he had never faced the latter alone as he was doing right now.

He had long heard of Aidan. The Pearson Group was a huge family business with a solid foundation, but Aidan wasn't a wealthy playboy who only knew to eat, drink, and be merry. Not only had the Pearson Group's share price doubled since he took over the company, but it had swiftly expanded its market abroad, resulting in soaring annual profits. Rumor had it that Aidan was decisive and merciless to the point that even the Pearson Group's chairman feared him, which only proved how capable he was.