Chapter 26: Hug of Comfort

"May I sit beside you?" Xavier asked permission and she weakly nodded.

"I thought you would not come." She said and Xavier replied, "I never back down on my words. If I say I'll come, then I will."

Zarah made a quick note on that.

"Is this about him?" He asked after giving it a thought.

"Yes." She said with a sigh.

"He's alive. Aren't you happy?"

"I am. However, he wanted to stop the treatment and just go home. Does he even know what that means?"

In Isaiah's condition, the moment he stopped treatment, he might live for a day. They'd be lucky if he survived for days or weeks.

"What do you want me to do?" Xavier asked Zarah.

Since he took the initiative to say this to her, Zarah grabbed the courage to ask what she wanted from him.

"Try to convince him, Xavier. Maybe you could convince him to fight a little more." Xavier looked at her hope-filled eyes and he knew he could not decline should he continue looking and so he decided to look away.

Zarah saw this and she immediately felt ashamed of herself. Ashamed of the desperation she had.

She thought that she was being selfish again. Xavier hated Isaiah and here she was; she was asking him to convince Isaiah to continue fighting. She felt so stupid.

As she realized what she was doing, "I'm sorry," she said and got up from the bench and was about to leave when Xavier grabbed her hand.

Xavier didn't say anything other than not letting go of her hand. He had no plans of letting go. Zarah looked at his hand holding hers and she felt his warmth.

She felt tempted by it but she knew it was wrong. She wriggled her hands away but Xavier's grip tightened.

"What are you doing?" She asked him and continued, "Let go of me."

Xavier got up and then grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him instead and whispered, "I dropped everything just to come here, and then you decided to leave me alone just because you think that I won't agree to your request?"

Zarah looked down as she could not look him in the eyes. He was right.

"You're asking me a huge favor, Zarah. How will you compensate me?" He continued.

Zarah was not surprised to hear this from him. This was the classic Xavier that she knew of.

She wanted to say that perhaps he could reconcile with Isaiah and be with him in his final days. However, she knew that Xavier wouldn't believe this.

She could not think of any other ways to compensate him. After the incident at Mt. Zaltana, she was sure that he was not an ordinary man and that he could have anything that he wanted from the world.

Thus, she decided to ask directly from him.

"What do you want from me in exchange?"

Their faces were only inches apart. His grey orbs looked at her green ones.

Being this close, the mixture of woody and mint scents embraced her. His smell gave her warmth and it was addictive.

On the contrary, Xavier felt intoxicated by the sweet smell of her hair, the strawberry scent of her breath, and her sweet vanilla perfume.

He thought that should he not let go of her instantly, he would lose control and might do something stupid that would cause him to lose her.

"It's so bold of you to ask me when I'm sure that you can not give me what I wanted, Zarah." He said and let go of her.

He had to stop for now as he knew his sacrifices today would reward him in the future. And it might not be that long. He was positive about it.

"Try me?" She taunted.

"You declined my request when I said, "I want you to warm my bed," and now do you think you can give me what I want? You're only trying to humiliate yourself, Zarah."

Zarah gulped as she gave it a thought. "Is it my body that you're after?", she asked him.

'No, Zarah. I want you!' He said in his mind.

"Do you think I'm that kind of shallow person?" He was annoyed by what she said.

Zarah mumbled, "No."

"My grandfather wanted me to find a woman to marry. Should I fail, I have to marry the girl he arranged for me to marry." He honestly said it since she would know about this later on.

He thought that it was better if she heard this from him than from the others.

He was about to say that he wanted her to be that girl but he didn't expect that Zarah would say something that would make him want to cry.

"Then, do you want me to help you find that girl?" She was determined to help him should he say yes.

Xavier looked at Zarah to see if she was serious. Nevertheless, he was not surprised to see the determination in her eyes.

Xavier then nodded in response. This was not part of his plan. However, he thought that perhaps this could help him get closer to her instead.

Zarah's eyes sparkled. "Okay! Tell me when I should start."

Zarah was already thinking about the plan to make it work.

"As soon as possible." He simply said. However, the excitement in her eyes faded as she had not confirmed that he would help her.

"Wait, you haven't agreed to my request, yet." She said and Xavier sighed.

He held his chin to show that he was taking the matter seriously.

"What if he won't listen to me? Will you still be willing to help me?" He suddenly asked and Zarah contemplated for a while before she answered.

What should she do then? It would defeat her purpose if Isaiah remained unconvinced and still insisted on what he wanted.

On the other hand, Xavier felt relief that he did not ask her to be his wife right away.

He didn't want the chances of his marriage with her to be directly dependent on this request. What if he failed to convince him? Would that mean that she would not marry him?"

"Give it a shot first. And if he still insisted to stop the treatment, at least make his remaining days happy. Even if it's just pretense, make him feel that you've forgiven him." Zarah said.

"You want me to lie to a dying person? Zarah, I did not expect to hear that from you." He said in disappointment.

"I'm sorry," she said and then explained why she said that, "I don't want him to die sad. I don't want him to die with a heavy heart."

As a daughter, he wanted Isaiah to die peacefully and happily. That's the least thing she could do for him.

Having to talk to him was already a big deal for Xavier and now he had to make him happy? He didn't know if he could do it. He didn't know if he could stop himself from hating him and then pretend that nothing happened between them.

He then remembered what his psychologist told him during one of their sessions, "Forgiveness is the first way to healing. You can never feel the true meaning of happiness if you won't let go and allow yourself to heal."

A huge part of why he had anger management issues was because of the anger and resentment he had for his father.

Forgiving the person who wronged you also meant forgiving yourself for holding grudges.

'Is this what she meant?' he asked himself.

Zarah was willing to do this for Isaiah and even though he didn't mean it, he felt jealous of his father and started asking himself, 'Will you do the same thing for me, Zarah?'

"I know that this won't be easy and I'm asking you out of my selfishness. However, should you agree, I will forever be grateful to you, Xavier," she said and Xavier wanted to punch himself in the face.

Zarah thought that he was still hesitating to accept this and so she added, "I vow to serve you and your family until the last days of my life, Xavier. I'll call you my Master just like how your subordinates call you."

Zarah planned to leave Oakridge after Isaiah's passing and after she finished university.

She had no reason to stay in this place anyways. She knew that Olivia and Trixie would someday find their significant others and would live separate lives from her. She won't be cutting them off from her life completely, though.

As for her, she planned to continue the life she started. Oakridge City would always have a place in her heart. However, she felt she was destined to leave this place. She might visit one day.

Xavier suddenly felt angry as she didn't have to say those words.

He didn't want Zarah to look and treat herself like his subordinates. He would be marrying her and she would become his wife in the future. She would be the next Mrs. Lockhart. He realized how low Zarah treated herself.

He looked pissed and Zarah interpreted his reaction as wanting to end the conversation. Zarah was going to do the unthinkable just to convince him.

She vowed to never do this to anyone ever again as this gesture would always remind her of her darkest days. But for Isaiah's sake, she was willing to do everything.

She looked down and lowered her body. She was about to bend her knees to kneel. Xavier, who was caught off-guard for a split second, snapped from it and grabbed both of her arms, and pulled her up again.

"Are you nuts?!" He roared. His anger made the tears in her eyes pour down her cheeks.

Seeing the tears in her eyes, Xavier instantly regretted how he reacted. He found pleasure in watching his enemies on their knees. He found pleasure in knowing that they were desperate for their lives.

However, never in his wildest dreams did he think of seeing Zarah kneeling in front of him in desperation. The fact that she was doing this for someone else made him furious. The act was an eyesore for him. He would love seeing her on her knees but not like this.

Xavier thought that this might be what Dylan meant when he said, "You need to lose that V-card of yours Xavier to stop being like a grumpy virgin old man. You need a good f*ck, Xavier. Do you want me to recommend someone?"

Xavier shook his head to erase the memory from his head.

Xavier knew that he had to control his temper to not scare her more at the same time erase the sudden dirty thought in his mind. Zarah was better than this.

He grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and started wiping them. He wanted to kiss her tears away but this was all he could do for now.

"Please don't cry. I didn't mean to be angry." He coaxed her and then without hesitation, he hugged her.

He gave her the hug that she didn't expect to get from him. The hug was so warm that it comforted her.

After she calmed down, Zarah broke free from the hug and Xavier felt his arms empty. He wanted to tell her not to let go but he couldn't.

And this frustrated Xavier even more.

"I'm sorry," Zarah mumbled softly and Xavier realized that Zarah thought he was frustrated because of her. She looked down as she didn't want to look at his face.

"Should I hear another sorry from you, I will not agree with your request." He warned and Zarah immediately looked up. She thought she misheard what he said.

"Come again?" She asked him.

Instead of repeating what he said, Xavier decided to say, "I agree with your request. I mean your proposal rather."

"Oh! Then do we have a deal?" She said as she could not believe it.

"You have just gotten yourself a deal, Zarah. So save your precious tears as I do not want to see them in front of me again." Xavier meant what he said.

Zarah's eyes moistened but this time it was tears of joy.

"Really?"

"Do you want me to get it back?" Xavier tried to tease her and he earned that familiar pout.

"No." Zarah firmly said and she shoved her hands forward, "Deal?" and Xavier grabbed it to seal the deal. "Deal."

Zarah was happy that she hugged Xavier so tight and said, "Thank you."

Xavier didn't want this to end. And he wanted to continue seeing that sparkle in her eyes.

***