True Fated Marriage (Grace and Heinz)
Chapter 1767

Meanwhile, in Northern City.

Leah had returned to Northern City. After she arrived at her apartment, she got out of the car with her luggage and noticed that the main entrance was undergoing construction. Surprised, she asked one of the builders, "Excuse me, sir, why are you guys suddenly renovating the entrance?"

"Oh, a rich man commissioned a lot of money for us to upgrade the door's security system. It's for the sake of his girlfriend's safety. Apparently, she lives in this apartment." That was the builder's answer to Leah's question.

Leah paused for a moment, then smiled, "Are you guys installing a security system equipped with video footage?"

"Yes, we are. When someone rings your doorbell, you'll be able to see who it is through a monitor at home. It's much safer. If you don't know who it is that's ringing the doorbell, you don't have to let them in," The builder explained enthusiastically.

"That sounds great," Leah nodded at the rest of the builders as a polite greeting, then brought her luggage upstairs.

She thought that whoever the man was must really love his girlfriend. It was a really romantic gesture.

Her apartment was built many years ago. As such, the building's design was a little old-fashioned. The rooms were small and not very luxurious, and most of the people who lived there were young teachers and students.

The teachers who made enough money would eventually move to a newer, more spacious apartment somewhere else.

Leah thought that it was nice that the security system was being upgraded.

No matter who it was for, it was a good idea. After all, she'd benefit from the arrangements.

With the additional security measures in place, it would be easier for her to ward off Hogan's advances.

At the thought of that, she couldn't help herself from smiling. She opened the door to her apartment and went in. Then, she took a shower, changed into a new set of clothes, and switched on the heater. It was near the end of December, so it was very cold.

In her warm, cozy room, she started to put away her belongings.

She felt relatively calm the entire time.

Suddenly, her phone rang, causing her to jump a little. She did not know who had called her. She picked up her phone, glanced at it, and found that it was Ernest.

Leah was a little surprised.

She didn't want to purposely ignore the man. After some hesitance, she decided to answer her phone. Ernest's low voice could be heard from the other end of the line calling her name, "Leah?"

When Leah heard his voice, her heart suddenly tightened and she felt a dull ache spread in her chest.

It was the man she had loved very much. Even so, she had ended up breaking up with him in the end.

Ever since Ernest got mad at her over the matter with Celeste, there was an invisible tension between the two of them.

It felt like something that would probably never go away.

Breaking up was their only choice.

After they broke up, the tension between them had finally dissipated.

They would probably never see each other again in the future.

Leah knew that Ernest was a man of his word.

He would not reunite with Leah under any circumstances after the breakup.

Ernest would definitely keep his word.

After their breakup, they would never meet again. It was normal.

Leah felt a bunch of emotions well up in her heart when she heard Ernest's voice. She instantly tensed up.

"Hello, Ernest," Her tone was polite and distant.

When did they become like this?

They used to be together, but after they broke up, they spoke to each other as if they were strangers.

Leah suddenly realized how the men and women who went through breakups in romance novels felt.

It was not enjoyable at all.

When Ernest heard Leah's calm, nonchalant tone, he tightened his grip on his phone.

He found that he couldn't get any words out of his mouth.

Then, he started to breathe heavily.

Though, Leah heard nothing at all.

She said in a flat tone, "I'm already back in Northern City. If you were worried about my safety, I'm perfectly fine. You don't need to worry. I will keep my promise to you and I won't bother you in the future anymore."

Ernest took a sharp breath.

"Is that all you have to say to me?" He finally spoke.

Leah was stunned by that question. Eventually, she asked, "What else do you want me to say?"

Ernest pursed his lips and kept silent, but stubbornly refused to hang up the phone.

Leah couldn't hear any response from Ernest, so she commented lightly, "If there's nothing else, I'm going to hang up now. I'm rather busy."

"Hold on," Ernest suddenly said.

Leah waited accordingly.

She put her phone on speaker and left it on the table in front of her. She looked down at her phone, eyes filled with complex emotions.

She was worried that she would accidentally hang up.

To be honest, even though she knew it was impossible for them to make up, she still couldn't help but hope. These were one of the times she wished for the impossible to happen.

"Are you sure you want to break up with me?" Finally, Ernest asked.

Hearing this, Leah felt her heart squeeze in her chest. Was he trying to ridicule her and trample on her pride?

"Yeah, we've already broken up, haven't we?"

Ernest paused a while before asking, "Even if that means that we'll never be together anymore? You're alright with that?"

"Yes, I insist," Leah replied firmly.

She thought the whole situation was hilarious.

She had flown a thousand miles to see him, and yet, a question about his feelings for Celeste had instantly turned him against her. When she went back to him after that and tried to make it up to him, he had acted just the same. He was still cold and aloof. Ernest probably only showed his passionate side in bed with her.

Leah smiled bitterly. She had done her best to woo Ernest and to love him regardless of what his feelings towards her were. However, even after all that, he remained passive.

He did not end up falling in love with her.

Leah had known that a long time ago.

As such, she had made up her mind to break up with Ernest. If they stayed together, she would only end up feeling sad.

After a long pause, Leah piped up without waiting for Ernest's reply, "Ernest, if you meet a girl you like in the future, run after her with all you have. Don't be passive. They don't know that it's a personality trait you have. Otherwise, they'll think that you just don't like them enough to put in any effort."

"I'm glad that I got to know you, even if things didn't go well between us."

"Because of my love for you, I learned to be brave. However, there are still some things that I can't bring myself to do."

"I suppose we were destined to be apart. I'll remember everything you said to me on the day of our breakup. I promise to never come looking for you in the future again. I always stay true to my word," Leah finished saying whatever was on her mind.

She did not manage to tell Ernest all this face-to-face the last time. However, she found it easier to convey all her thoughts through the phone.

She thought that she had done pretty well.

After all, she was still alive even after breaking her

heart in two.

"Leah," Ernest said, then paused for a long while. Eventually, he continued, "Well, since you've made your decision, I suppose this is goodbye. Good luck in everything in the future."

"Thank you, you too." Leah smiled, her tone was airy.

She sounded really relaxed and nonchalant about the whole situation, as if nothing significant had just taken place.

Ernest took a deep breath, a complex emotion stirring in his eyes as he bid, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Leah said.

Soon, Leah hung up the phone. Ernest was immediately taken aback by how determined she was.

Her resolve went way beyond his expectations.

After hanging up the phone, she blocked Ernest's number and deleted all of their text messages. She deleted everything that had to do with Ernest.

She did this for one purpose.

She did not want to have any connection to Ernest.

After the call ended, Ernest tried to send Leah a text but found that he couldn't send the message to her. It seemed that Leah had blocked him.

Even so, he didn't give up. When he tried to call Leah again, he found that he had been blocked from doing that as well.

He was hit with the sudden realization that Leah was really going to remove him from her life completely.

Ernest stood up and walked in front of the window. Leah's scent still lingered in the room, and evidence of their time together was everywhere in the room.

The gift he had bought her for Christmas was still in the drawer.

However, it seemed that the gift was useless at the moment.

Ernest stood by the window and looked outside for a long while. For the first time in his life, he felt truly lonely.

Time passed as usual.

No one had the ability to stop time from moving forward.

Leah had lived rather peacefully after her breakup with Ernest.

Hogan would still appear and harass her from time to time, but she managed to deal with him perfectly well.

Rowane would sometimes come up to her and annoy her, but she managed to deal with her as well.

She dealt with everything with.a distant look in her eyes.

In the blink of an eye, one month had passed.

It was almost February, so spring was near. The weather was getting colder and colder.

Winter that year seemed to be exceptionally cold. The cold wind bit painfully into her skin whenever she went out, and the sky was constantly gray.

The month after she broke up with Ernest was the calmest time she had ever felt.

It was also the period when she felt the most heartbroken.

Meanwhile, she had completed the book she had been working on.

Most of her online readers critiqued that the ending she wrote was too hasty. It seemed that Leah had lost her magic touch.

Because of that, many readers were unhappy with how the story turned out.

Even her editor, Victoria, thought that the ending she wrote was terrible.

Leah did not retort.

"You have to rewrite the ending," Victoria insisted.

Leah merely replied, "I don't want to. If you think it's bad, then you can replace someone else to rewrite the whole thing, or get them to pick up where I left off."

Victoria was surprised by Leah's attitude. She asked Leah what was wrong.

Leah replied with a smile, "Nothing happened. I just went through a rough patch. I'm still getting over it."

Victoria could feel how sad and lonely Leah was with those words, so she stopped asking.

Victoria tried to lighten her tone, "Alright, how about this? I'll eventually get someone to pick up where you left off. The ending you released before is definitely a no-go, so I'll delete it for now. I'll give you some time to rethink the whole thing, alright? Who knows? Maybe inspiration will suddenly strike you out of the blue in the future. When that happens, you're welcome to resume writing the book again."

Leah thought that the possibility of that happening was very low.

She honestly did not want to continue writing anymore.

She just wanted to complete her studies and get certified as a lawyer as fast as possible.

"You'd better get someone else to resume writing the book. I'm not going to write anymore. I'm going to be busy with classes very soon, so I may not be able to write more in the future. My contract is about to expire anyways, right? Once that happens, you can just terminate my contract," Leah suggested.

"Okay, I'll do as you wish," Victoria replied.

Meanwhile, Maria was deeply upset when she finished reading the ending of the book that Leah had been working on.

She knew that Leah's writing must have been influenced by Leah's recent breakup.

She must've loved Ernest too much and was unable to bounce back from it.

In the living room, Maria decided to give Leah a call.

Just as Leah picked up the phone, Ernest happened to walk down the stairs.

He heard Maria ask, "Leah, what's up with the terrible ending of your book?"