Falling For My Ex's Uncle - Chapter 375: Chapter 375

Sophina and I went home straightaway. The farce between those two fellows downstairs had wasted a lot of my time.
Sophina noticed that I didn't say anything. When the elevator doors opened, she asked tentatively, "Laurel, are you alright?"
I forced myself to smile as I nodded my head.
"When will Mr. Herrera's legs recover? Those people were really too much." Sophina sounded very pissed off.
After a pause, I replied, "He probably still needs some time to recuperate."
I knew very well that as time passed, more people would know about his leg injury.
At that juncture, I wasn't sure if the old man would still acknowledge Alex Herrera as his successor.
Although I had sworn in front of Bailee Foster that Alex was made the head of the Herrera Group because he had brains, inwardly, I knew full well that it took more than just brains to take control of that bunch from the Elysium Club.
How else did Alex end up with those injuries?
More importantly, Alex might not be out of danger even if the successor was changed.
Without the Herrera family's protection, he was vulnerable. After all, he had offended many people in the past.
The reason his father had not taken any action was that he wanted to stabilize the situation.
In spite of the fact that the development project had yet to be launched, the old guy helming the Herrera Group's branch office still sent Austin Herrera over.
Although he claimed that he wanted to help out, in reality, he wanted to wrest power away from Alex.
Once the project was firmly in their hands, Alex might very well lose his CEO position.
Therefore, at such a critical stage, it was understandable for Alex to agree to Bailee's terms.
However, he could not bring himself to ask me for a divorce. After all, we had only been married for a short time, Furthermore, I was pregnant now.
After we returned, Zachary woke up not long after that. The quiet apartment suddenly became lively.
My phone vibrated just then. A notification popped up, indicating the receipt of a new message from Bailee Foster.
The message was a photo of a restaurant by the river.
Less than a minute after receiving the photo, Alex messaged that he wouldn't be back for dinner tonight and told us not to wait for him.
I was expecting this. Although I was mentally prepared, I still felt sad when I received his message.
I didn't reply to him as it didn't matter whether he returned or not.
Five minutes later, Alex called.
After hesitating for a moment, I left the apartment to answer the call.
"I have something on tonight, so I may be back late. Don't wait for me." The man's deep voice was oozing with seductive appeal. I leaned against the door frame and frowned deeply. I was a little annoyed, but I maintained a gentle tone. "Okay. If you are not coming back tonight, just leave me a message."
There was a pause on the other end of the line before the reply came back. "I'll be back tonight..."
I ended the call then and let out a long sigh.
I didn't know how long I had to continue with this charade. I didn't hate Alex, but I couldn't accept his betrayal and the way he kept things from me.
He could have just told me the truth. I wasn't the type who wanted him all for myself.
After ending the call, I was about to re-enter my apartment when I vaguely heard a kitten's cry.
I tracked down the source of the sound to the door leading to the emergency exit. After entering the exit stairwell, the kitten's meowing became very clear, but there was no sign of the kitten.
I immediately felt that something was wrong. When I turned back and tried to leave the exit stairwell, I realized the exit door was locked.
That was very odd since it was not locked when I entered the exit stairwell earlier.
My whole body tensed up. The stairwell was very quiet. It was so quiet that I could only hear my own breathing.
Fortunately, I had my phone with me. The moment I turned it on, I realized that the reception was too weak for phone calls. What was worse, there was only 10% of battery life left.
I frowned slightly. Just as I was about to call Sophina, a white kitten suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
I instinctively took a step back. The kitten also seemed to have been startled by me. It stared at me with a mix of curiosity and fear as it crouched low on the stairs.
I secretly heaved a sigh of relief. It was a false alarm.
Looking at the little fellow cowering in fear, I could only approach it cautiously.
Just as I was about to reach it, a shadow suddenly dashed out. Before I could turn back to see who it was, the other party shoved me violently.
The next thing I knew, I tumbled down the stairs.
I couldn't make out who pushed me as the other party was wearing a mask. He stood there quietly as he watched me fall down the stairs. The cap cast a shadow over his eyes so I couldn't see his face.
I thought I would be fine, but when I tried to sit up, I detected the strong smell of warm blood.
At the same time, I felt a sharp pain in my arms and knees.
When I tried to stand up, I felt everything going white before turning black. At this point, I heard the kitten's cry again.
After an unknown interval, I heard footsteps. A pair of black leather shoes appeared in front of me.
Thereafter, I vaguely felt someone pick me up. I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt very heavy and refused to open.
My consciousness gradually slipped into darkness again.
However, a strangely familiar voice rang out near my ear. "Laurel, wake up. Don't go to sleep!"
I opened my eyes in a daze and saw the face that I had never forgotten. The face of Yaeger Duesler.
In the second year of junior high school, a transfer student joined my class.
He majored in art and was very good at painting. Unfortunately, his results for his main subjects were not that good, so he transferred to our school to study.
At his youthful age, the boy was very good-looking. In fact, he resembled a character in an anime.
That was the first time I had seen such a gentle and squeaky clean boy.
Due to his presence, everyone in my school knew about our Class 2-6.
Every day, many girls would appear at the entrance of our classroom or along the path that Yaeger Duesler had to pass by.
He had come to our school to concentrate on his studies. Though he did achieve his aim, he also inadvertently made all the girls in school develop youthful crushes on him.
There were love letters in Yaeger Duesler's desk every day. However, he never cared for those things, nor did he open them.
As for gifts from the girls, he had never once accepted them. He did not explicitly turn them down, but he never accepted them either.
Such was Yaeger's attitude towards girls who had crushes on him.
I also liked Yaeger back then, but unlike those girls, I did not simply like him for his looks.
And I had never once confessed my feelings to him.
This was because I knew that it was not possible for him to like me. Besides, I liked him simply for the exhilaration of liking for him, that was all.
After so many years, I didn't expect this heartless guy to still remember me.