Heiress' Househusband is a Secret Billionaire-Chapter 335: Before Winter Break

Lariette stepped inside the teachers’ lounge, brushing off the cold from her coat sleeves. The scent of fresh coffee, pastries and printer toner lingered in the air.

Not many teachers were there. Some might still be on their way to school, the others might be in their faculty rooms.

Outside, the trees lining the schoolyard had long turned hues of amber and russets, their leaves swirling against the wind in lazy spirals. The students’ chatter and laughter rang from the front gate, echoing alongside the breeze.

"Look! Who finally returned from her honeymoon," Nora teased as she looked up from her mug of black coffee. She sat on a couch in the seating area, her shoulders wrapped in a tartan shawl.

Lariette laughed, taking her coat off, "It was just a weekend trip, plus leave on Friday. Not even a honeymoon."

Phoebe leaned over her stack of essay drafts, chiming in, "You look refreshed, Lari. Must’ve been a nice break. What did you guys do?"

"It was," Lariette nodded, settling into her seat, "The northern countryside is always beautiful. We went hiking for a bit, and there’s a harvest festival in my hometown."

"The stars must have looked gorgeous there. I haven’t seen them in weeks," groaned Howard from behind his laptop, "All I see are worksheets and red pen marks. Screw us. The pre-winter madness has begun."

Lariette smiled sympathetically, "When does the end-of-term exam begin again? In one month, right?"

"One month," Phoebe said, tapping her pen on her desk, "Haha... and then we’ll drown in grading, evaluation reports, homeroom comments and sleepless nights."

"Don’t forget student portfolios," Nora added with a dramatic sigh, "Lari, Phoebe, should we book a group spa session? I think I can’t do without one."

"That sounds fun," Lariette chuckled while opening her planner, "We haven’t done such a thing before, right? We better ask Bella and other female teachers too."

In over two years of Lariette working as a teacher here, she did go out with Nora and other colleagues, but rarely. She liked the idea of going to a spa with them.

"Let’s do that!" Phoebe chirped, her eyes sparkling.

A brief silence passed as everyone sipped their drinks, lamenting the stress-heavy future before winter break began at the end of December.

As Lariette busied herself at her desk, her mind wandered back to the apartment. Smiling, she couldn’t help but wonder what Ruediger was doing.

The man had just arrived back to the apartment.

Ruediger had actually forgotten about the e-mails he had received from Vincent in the span of a few days. After returning from Lariette’s school, he simply went to check the letterbox out of habit.

The earthy scent of the fallen leaves still clung to his coat by the time Ruediger walked inside the apartment lobby. A paper bag of fresh pastries was in his right hand.

The warm, golden glow of the recessed lighting showered on him, catching the hue of his crimson locks, tousled by the breeze.

The lobby was quiet save for random footsteps coming from the residents, seemingly in a hurry. The receptionists were having morning coffee while chatting behind the counter.

Standing before the letterbox of Lariette’s apartment unit, a frown marred Ruediger’s forehead. He discovered a few letters addressed to him, evidently sent by Vincent.

’What was he thinking? Want us to meet?’ freёweɓnovel_com

Ruediger scoffed internally as he saw the letters. Without bothering to check, he crumpled and tossed the ones sent by Vincent into the nearby trash can, only keeping the others with him.

’I have to inform the office, just in case he comes looking for me here.’

Exhaling a sigh, Ruediger wondered about the chances Vincent might appear just like before. He could tell his younger brother seemed more desperate than ever.

Was it because that old man was in trouble?

Ruediger still kept a close watch on the Alvord Corporation’s affairs. Matthew was still the chairman, but the others had begun pressuring him to take a step back due to the ongoing bribery case.

Public opinion was still harsh and the stocks had plummeted. Nevertheless, Matthew still held to his position with dear life. He tried so hard not to be stripped of power.

’He surely negotiates a lot.’

Through Edmund, Ruediger heard that Matthew tried looking for new investors to support the company after a few bailed out. Faulkner Investment was one of his prioritized targets.

One thing came to his mind upon learning that fact.

Most likely Matthew convinced the board that he would successfully get them a new investor. Then, he wanted to get closer to Nathaniel through him.

From the time Nathaniel revealed their close friendship at Stephanie and Matthias’ disaster of a wedding, Ruediger knew it wouldn’t take long for Vincent and the others to hear[01].

Shaking his head, Ruediger made a mental note to contact Nathaniel later. They hadn’t talked much the past week, especially on the weekend.

While he was busy in the north, his friend was preoccupied with his parents and future in-laws. He heard they went to a resort ranch on the outskirts of the city.

Leaving the letterbox area, Ruediger made his way to the property management office, intending to look for Mr. Hayes. He was unsure, but better to be careful from the start.

"Mr. Alvord, good morning. Did you have fun on your trip?"

Mr. Hayes, dressed in his usual tweed bomber jacket and a flat cap greeted Ruediger once he saw the young man at the door. Despite the time was still early, the middle-aged man was already in his office.

Giving the older man a smile, Ruediger returned the greeting, "Good morning, Mr. Hayes. Yes, my wife and I had fun. Oh, this is for you."

"Thank you," Mr. Hayes smilingly accepted the pastries, "They’re still warm. Oh, smells so good. Do you fancy a coffee?"

"I’m fine. I’ve eaten with my wife. Thank you, by the way."

Ruediger smiled, delighted to see Mr. Hayes happy with the pastries. He dropped by the cafe on his way back and got some for the apartment manager.

Throughout the few months of Ruediger living in Lumina Spring, he acquainted himself with Mr. Hayes. It began when the apartment manager noticed him coming and going in the morning, mostly from walking Lariette to school.

"Was there anything when we were away?"

Ruediger sat on the chair before the desk, watching Mr. Hayes bring a cup of coffee from the small pantry in his office. The latter’s answer was as expected.

"Yes. There’s something I need to inform you."

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Reference:

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