True Fated Marriage (Grace and Heinz)
Chapter 1916

Ernest stopped breathing.

He studied Norval's face. His eyes sharpened as he intensified his glare on the man.

Norval only raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't seem to mind Ernest's intense glare.

He even laughed and said, "See, you can't even refute it, right? You don't have the advantage I have. I have more time to spend with her than you do." Ernest really couldn't deny it. He knew that he and Leah had to experience being separated for a long time without each other's company.

Norval's words showed that he understood their situation.

It seemed that the man had done some work in advance and planned everything to his own advantage.

However, Ernest wasn't someone to be trifled with. He was rather intelligent, but he was good at hiding it. It seemed that it was time to reveal his strength. "Leah and I indeed have to spend a lot of time apart, but so what? Either way, we are in love with each other." Looking at Norval, Ernest's eyes were confident.

Leah did not like Norval and did not want to have any connections with the Qualls family. She was better off without them.

Norval was stunned but then he smiled and said, "Mr. Jones, there are many people in this world who are in love with each other. In the end, they end up breaking up because they were unable to handle long- distance relationships. You're being a little too confident. Do you really think that you two would be the exception to a breakup?"

Norval didn't restrain himself because of what Ernest said. He started to take on a more aggressive tone as he continued to speak.

Ernest smiled and retorted, "You can't replace other reasons to persuade me, can you? Now you're just trying to make things difficult for us. But you seem to forget that Leah and I have deep feelings for each other. Nothing like what you said will happen to us. And I believe that even if it did happen, Leah and I will be able to eventually overcome these difficulties with our own abilities."

Norval laughed.

Ernest smiled back at him. They looked at each other with challenging glints in their eyes.

Norval smiled and said, "So, you're really planning to marry Leah?"

Ernest smiled and replied, "I don't need to tell you anything. You are nobody to Leah."

"If you guys end up getting married, we'll be family, won't we?" Norval asked.

Ernest shrugged. "That means that you've admitted your defeat, then? You don't think that you are destined to be with Leah anymore?"

Norval was stunned for a moment before his lips curled into a sharp smile. "Mr. Jones, you're really smart. You can easily grasp the loopholes in my words. No wonder you're a top student in a famous university."

Ernest didn't care for the compliment. He just smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Qualls, you are also rather eloquent. But I suppose I'll leave everything up to Leah when the time comes."

"You haven't answered my question yet," Norval said, "You haven't given me a straight answer because you don't really want to marry Leah, right? You're just playing with Leah's feelings."

"I've told you that this is between Leah and me. It has nothing to do with you." Ernest thought that it was unnecessary to talk about this with Norval. He and Leah would eventually get married. From the beginning of their relationship, he had been faithful to Leah. He believed that Leah already knew.

However, since he chose to keep quiet on the matter, Norval seemed to have found something on him. He continued, "Look at that, you still can't give me a straight answer. You're not sure if Leah will agree to become your wife, that's why you're so hesitant."

Ernest chuckled. "The more you talk, the less I will entertain you."

The two of them bickered with each other at the entrance of Norval's room, completely ignorant of the fact that the room next door had opened slightly. Leah was just about to walk out when she heard the conversation between Ernest and Norval.

At that moment, she stopped and did not walk further.

She stood at the door, listening to their argument.

"You don't want to answer me because you don't have the guts!" Norval laughed mockingly. "It's because you are just playing with Leah's feelings. You don't want to be responsible for her in the future." Ernest chuckled and said, "No matter what, Leah is still my girlfriend. Stay away from her." "If you want me to stay away from Leah, then tell me how true your feelings are for her," Norval said in a low voice again.

Ernest glanced at Norval with a smile on his lips. "It seems that you're not planning to give up. No matter what I answer, you will interfere with our relationship."

"You're right." Norval chuckled lowly. "As long as you seem even the slightest bit unfaithful to Leah, it means that I will still have a chance."

Ernest frowned.

Norval spoke again, word for word, in a determined tone, "As long as you are not sincere to Leah, she will figure it out. She's really smart. Once she replaces out, she will leave you for good. You dare not admit that you don't want to marry her in front of me. If she knows this, she will definitely break up with you."

Ernest sneered again. "Leah knows if my feelings for her are true or not. As for you, Mr. Qualls, there is no need for you to know what's going on between me and her."

Norval glanced at Ernest from the corner of his eye and looked at the door next door. "Come on, just admit it. You don't have any intention of marrying her, right? You're just playing with her." "Whether I marry her or not is none of your business. You don't even stand a chance," said

Ernest coldly.

He didn't like being goaded. The more Norval acted like this, the less likely he was to answer his question.

"I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking." Norval smiled, and the playfulness in his eyes deepened. He looked past Ernest's shoulder and started to say, "Leah is really a fool. She actually fell in love with a rich young master like you. If she knew that you didn't want to marry her, she would probably be very sad."

Ernest sneered, "You keep criticizing my relationship with Leah. You want Leah to hear about this, don't you? You can forget that. I have never intended to toy with Leah. She is the only woman I will ever love in this life."

As soon as he finished, Ernest looked at Norval again with sharp eyes. "Mr. Qualls, you said that you liked Leah since you were young. Why didn't you take her back to your house at that time? You let her stay away from her biological mother and live a life of torture caused by her stepmother. You should've realized at the time that the two of you would never be able to be together."

Norval pursed his lips as if Ernest had hit a sore spot.

Ernest continued to speak in a cold voice, no longer holding back.

"Mr. Qualls, I think that if the Qualls family had any sincerity in this matter you guys would have taken her back home to stay with her mother. Perhaps if you had done that, Leah would have fallen in love with you after years of companionship."

Ernest continued, "However, the truth is that Leah had not met such a nice fate. Her mother had ended up raising another man's son instead.'

"Leah had no contact with her own mother at all. Her mother had raised you. While you were basking in her mother's care, Leah was being bullied by her stepmother. You and your father selfishly kept Leah's mother to yourselves as a happy little family," said Ernest.

"How could Leah love someone like you if that is the case? Do you still have any conscience left? Now that she has finally found love with me, you still want to mess it up."

"Mr. Qualls, I have to admit that you're a smart man. However, you have misjudged the situation this time."

"You're too confident in yourself. You've overestimated your importance to Leah. You've also underestimated Leah's disgust and hatred towards you."

Norval pursed his lips and said, "Mr. Jones, you're really eloquent, aren't you? Well, what about you then? Are your feelings for Leah really sincere?"

"Of course, they are." There was a sharpness in Ernest's eyes. "I'm done talking nonsense with you. Mr. Qualls, you're a smart man. You should know how to proceed after this." After that, he turned to leave.

"Hold on," Norval suddenly said in a low voice.

Ernest turned to look at him at that. "Mr. Qualls, is there anything else?"

"Remember this. If you do anything to hurt Leah, I won't let you off," Norval said threateningly.

Ernest chuckled. "You don't have the right to talk to me like that unless Leah confirms that she views you as her older brother."

After saying that, he left.

When he reached the door to his room, he saw Leah standing by the door with red eyes.

He did not seem surprised to see her. It was as if he had already known that Leah was standing right at the door. That was why he had said those words.