Leon Sterling had grown accustomed to the constant setbacks.
But when Hazel Sinclair heard him, she stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.
‘Bankruptcy is just a minor setback to him?
This man is incredible.’
“But I dragged you down with me.” Leon Sterling stood up and reached for her empty bowl and chopsticks, his tone exceptionally calm.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be living in this tiny apartment, suffering alongside me.”
Leon Sterling didn’t mention that it was Hazel Sinclair who had insisted on marrying him back then, nor did he bring up how much of his money she had spent over the past three years.
Hazel Sinclair listened to his words without saying anything.
‘System, can’t I really just live a good life with this man?’
Hazel Sinclair still wasn’t ready to give up.
‘A man like Leon Sterling is one in a million.’
‘He’s handsome, a great earner, and amazing in bed.’
‘The sound of his voice, his hands washing the dishes…
They were long, fair, and incredibly beautiful.’
‘He looked so handsome, even in a simple gray sweatsuit.’
‘I really don’t want to give up on a man this handsome.’
[Host, please adhere to the plot.] the System rejected her coldly.
[The villainess cannot end up with the male lead.]
Hazel Sinclair silently rolled her eyes.
‘The System is totally biased toward the heroine.’
As they lay in bed together, Leon Sterling felt more of the breeze on his skin.
He turned his head toward the fan, then glanced at Hazel Sinclair, who only had the blanket covering her navel.
“The fan should be on you,” Leon Sterling said, turning on his side to face her.
Hazel Sinclair slapped him lightly on the cheek.
“Shut up,” she said, her tone impatient.
“Don’t bother me, I’m trying to sleep.”
Leon wasn’t annoyed by the slap.
He reached out, stroking the back of her hand.
“Alright.”
「The next afternoon」
Leon Sterling returned carrying several bags of groceries.
The moment he walked in, he saw Hazel Sinclair wearing a tight, dusty rose-colored dress.
She was dancing gracefully to the music playing from her phone.
Her movements were fluid, every gesture exuding elegance.
Hazel Sinclair was breathtakingly beautiful as she danced, like a pink butterfly that you couldn’t take your eyes off of.
Leon Sterling closed the door and stood still, his gaze fixed on Hazel Sinclair.
The cramped apartment wasn’t very spacious, which greatly restricted Hazel Sinclair’s movements.
Hazel, who was halfway through her dance, saw him standing by the door and immediately froze.
The music continued to play in the room as their eyes met.
After a moment, Hazel Sinclair spoke.
“You…
you’re back?”
Forgetting she was still recording a video, she walked over and reached for the grocery bags in his hands.
But before she could touch them, Leon Sterling stopped her.
“It’s fine, I’ve got it.”
Standing this close, Leon Sterling could smell her perfume.
It was fragrant and alluring.
The tight, dusty rose dress accentuated her voluptuous figure.
With Hazel Sinclair standing there, even the somewhat shabby apartment seemed to brighten up.
Hazel Sinclair gave him a small smile, and just like that, a light was lit in the gloom of Leon Sterling’s life.
In that moment, Leon Sterling once again felt that he had wronged Hazel Sinclair.
‘She shouldn’t be in a place like this.
She deserves to be cherished and doted on, held in the palm of someone’s hand.’
“I want to try making a living on the internet,” Hazel Sinclair explained, scratching her head.
“If I can get popular and land some ad deals, I could earn a lot of money.”
‘The online content creator space is saturated, but if I work hard, I can definitely make it.’
‘I could do livestream sales eventually.
No matter what, I’ll be able to support myself.’
After hearing her explanation, Leon Sterling looked at her and said earnestly, “I’m sorry for making you go through this.”
“I’m actually doing fine right now,” Hazel Sinclair said sincerely.
“Besides, how can I lose to Evelyn Kendrick?
She’s the acting chairman of the Hyperion Group.
As long as she accomplishes something significant, her father will hand over full control to her.”
“Then she’ll be the official chairman of the Hyperion Group.” A rare, defiant expression appeared on her face as she spoke of Evelyn Kendrick.
“I refuse to accept losing to her when it comes to my career.”
‘If I knew the first thing about starting a company, I would’ve taken the 150,000 I have and launched a business already.’
‘But starting a business these days is difficult.
The ones who succeed are few and far between.’
The thought had barely formed when she looked at the man in front of her and froze.
‘Speaking of few and far between…
there’s one standing right in front of me.’
“Why don’t you save up some money and start a business?” Hazel Sinclair said instinctively.
Leon Sterling heard her but said nothing.
Instead, he carried the bags of groceries to the open kitchen area.
He crouched down and began unpacking the ingredients one by one: potatoes, vegetables, chicken, fish, pork, and pork knuckles.
Seeing how much he had carried back in one trip, Hazel Sinclair walked over and looked at his palms.
They were covered in red marks from the heavy bags.
“You idiot.
Why didn’t you call me?
You carried all this by yourself?” Hazel Sinclair said, squatting down and grabbing his hand to examine it.
Just then, she suddenly remembered an opportunity from the novel’s plot—a chance for Leon Sterling to make a comeback.
Hazel Sinclair looked at him and, without another word, started chewing him out.
“You really are an idiot!
You’re too good to people, so you deserved to be betrayed by Vincent Hawthorne.
But getting betrayed is one thing—you didn’t even think about getting revenge.
You just ran off to this place with your tail between your legs.”
“Aethel was your life’s work!
Don’t you want to take it back?” Hazel Sinclair demanded, grabbing him by the collar.
They were so close that he could see the fine peach fuzz on her face with perfect clarity.
“Leon Sterling, you coward,” Hazel Sinclair continued to berate him.
“You spent seven or eight years building Aethel from the ground up.
You get screwed over once and you just generously hand it over to him?”
“Doesn’t the AI patent you designed have your name on it?
The AI used in the cars Aethel developed was your design!
The company was stolen, but the patent is in your name!”
“Why isn’t Vincent Hawthorne paying you for it?
If he doesn’t pay, he can’t use it in his cars!”
It was only then that Hazel Sinclair remembered: Leon Sterling had previously designed an AI patent, and he was the sole name on it.
‘He was so dejected after being kicked out of Aethel that he forgot even this?’
Reminded by Hazel Sinclair, it dawned on Leon Sterling.
He remembered the AI he had designed and researched in the early days of his startup.
He had patented the technology back then.
So much time had passed, and combined with the shock of losing his company, he had completely forgotten about it.
At least he wasn’t left with nothing.
“How did you know I have an AI patent?” Leon Sterling asked, raising a hand to her cheek.
Very few people knew about it.
Even Vincent Hawthorne was unaware.
“Hmph.
I saw the documents in your study, of course,” Hazel Sinclair bluffed, fabricating a quick lie.