Chapter 14

"Arrgghhhh!!"

Xavier punched the bathroom wall hard repeatedly. The shower water that poured down his head and body, was not able to cool his boiling heart.

The image of his fight with Rachel replayed in his mind. His chest churned. Hurt, that's how he felt.

He has been separated from his lover for ten years. Then when the universe brought them back together, the woman actually didn't want him anymore.

It felt like Xavier wanted to hug the body he had always longed for in his arms. Voiced how much longing he had for the only woman he really loved.

"Why, Rachel, why?!"

Again, Xavier punched the wall until the water dripping down his hand turned red because it mixed with blood.

Xavier clenched his fists, staring at the back of his injured fingers. This small wound doesn't seem comparable to the wound in the heart when Rachel insists they are now nothing more than strangers.

An hour in the shower was actually not able to make his mood better. Xavier turned off the faucet and wrapped a towel around his waist, then walked unsteadily to his bedroom.

Xavier stood right in front of the mirror. Staring at the reflection of his body which is now starting to reach maturity. The age at which it is appropriate for him to have a partner and build a household. Then he thought of Rachel, the only woman he wanted to be friends with.

Only Rachel, and not Nathalie. Or even other women.

"Aaarrrggghh! Damn it!!" shouted Xavier frustrated and then took the comb that was lying on the table and threw it.

His breath catches. The mirror shattered into pieces. That's how broken Xavier's heart was when Rachel declared that the woman was no longer his.

Xavier sat on the edge of the bed with one leg bent in front of his chest, then took a cigarette from the nightstand drawer.

Smoke billowed in the darkroom that he deliberately didn't turn on, even though the curtains were still perfectly closed.

Again, Xavier inhaled deeply the cigarette and then exhaled. Leaning on the foot of the bed, he looked up blankly at the ceiling room.

He stared intently at the cigarette still lit in his hand, remembering that he had never smoked in front of Rachel because she was sensitive to smoke. Even Xavier stopped smoking at that time until several years later, but due to prolonged stress, last year he touched the tobacco again.

The man smiled bitterly and then he pressed the end of the lit cigarette in the ashtray until it was extinguished. Feeling no longer in the mood. Because even this small thing reminded him of Rachel.

Xavier ruffled his wet hair in frustration. Felt hopeless with the game of fate that seemed to deliberately spread obstacles for him to reach Rachel.

"You think you're the only one suffering, Rachel?" he muttered quietly. "Just so you know, I suffered a lot more. My life is not as easy as you think."

Xavier smiled bitterly. Aliara thought he was living his life well. So good that it's easy to move on and plan a wedding with another woman.

Even though Rachel never knew, the life that Xavier lived was not that simple.

Xavier was pensive for a long time, thinking about the journey of his life in the last ten years. The difficult times he lived without Rachel by his side.

Not long after, his cellphone screen lit up showing a chat message notification accompanied by a photo sent by his cousin.

.

From Dimitri :

I'm hanging out with our friends at De Night. Come here, dude!

.

That's the content of the chat from Dimitri. Xavier decided to get up and grabbed a set of casual clothes from the closet.

He should go out for fresh air, rather than brooding alone thinking about Rachel like this will only stress him out and lose his mind.

Xavier came out of the room with a gloomy expression. Stepping towards the main door ignoring the greetings and bows of the maids passing by in the mansion.

"Where are you going, X?"

Xavier's steps stopped just as he was about to pass the dining room. The one who asked him the question was the grandfather.

Xavier looked up with a very flat expression. "I want to meet up with Dimitri," he answered simply.

Then when he was about to leave, his mother's words made Xavier's steps stop again. But this time the expression had changed drastically.

"Instead of wasting time hanging out with your cousin, why don't you use your time to prepare for your wedding, X? Nathalie told me earlier, again you refused to ask her to go out to try a wedding outfit and order a ring."

Xavier turned, his gaze turned sharp. It seemed that he did not like the topic of discussion.

"It's not Mom and Grandpa who insist on this marriage to happen, why don't you guys take care of it?"

"X!" His grandfather snapped as he pounded the table.

"Dad, hold your emotions." Hannah rubbed her father's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"I never said he agreed or willing, all of this was arranged by you, right? So don't force me to take care of things that I never agreed to."

Hannah looked up at her only son. "X, we're doing this for your good. You're almost in your thirties and you're still aloof. We just want you to be happy. Married—"

"My happiness?" Xavier looked down. "Do you know, Mommy, about my happiness? Do you think that forcing me to marry Nathalie will make my life happy? If that's what your think of, you're wrong."

Albert, his grandpa, looks increasingly annoyed with his grandson's stubbornness. But the old man still tried to suppress his emotions.

Cultivating patience, his grandfather said, "X, stop being stubborn. Whatever we decide for your life, it will be for the best."

"Oh, really?" Xavier laughed out loud. "Does that include suddenly dragging and sending me to Germany ten years ago, without giving me a chance to say goodbye to those closest to me? Even you confiscated all of my communication tools at that time."

"X, how many times has I told you, it's all for your kindness!"

"Tch! for my kindness." Xavier sighed softly. "What kind of kindness? The one that made me almost depressed for years?"

Immersed in emotion, Xavier's grandfather got up from the dining chair pointing at his grandson with a glare.

"Don't forget the criminal case that dragged your thug friends, X. I did all that to protect and separate you from the bad influences of your friends."

"Dad ..." Hannah immediately got up trying to calm her father down. "Control your emotions."

Xavier's grandfather has several chronic diseases, one of which is heart problems and hypertension.

Xavier, who is deep in his heart, and is still worried about his grandfather's health condition, choose to end this fight and just leaves.

After Xavier's departure, Hannah led her father to sit back in his chair.

"Hahh… hasn't Xavier changed a lot in the past few years?" the old man asked Hannah. "But still, his stubbornness is not easy to beat. We've been persuading and even forcing him to marry Nathalie for a year, but he's still stubborn."

"From the start, it wasn't easy to persuade X to marry, Dad," said Hannah as she pulled a chair and sat down. "Especially since the beginning, he was adamant that he had another woman he wanted to marry."

Hannah kept that one thing a secret from Nathalie. Whereas since the match was first arranged a year ago, Xavier actually rejected the match because he had a woman of his own choice.

Even until now, both Hannah and Xavier's grandfather don't know who and what the woman looks like, because Xavier never shows her, let alone introduces her.

"Are you sure that's not the only alibi?" asked the father with a disdainful look. "We've been keeping an eye on Xavier all this time, and have never found him close to any woman."

It was true what her father said. At first, they didn't believe it and thought that what Xavier said was just an alibi to reject the matchmaking.

However, remembering the question Nathalie asked this afternoon, made Hannah think again that it was not just an alibi.

"I thought, it looks like Xavier is really in a relationship with a woman, Dad."

Albert turned to his daughter with a serious expression.

"If that's true, you should find out about that woman."

Hannah nodded quickly. "Dad, take it easy, let me take care of this."