Chapter 30: When the Present and the Past Met

"What did you say?!" Josh asked in shock.

"I do not want to repeat myself, Josh. I'm giving you back your freedom." Zarah calmly told him and Josh went wild.

"What?! How could you do this to me, Zarah? I did everything for you!" He ranted. He didn't ask the reason why because he already had an idea and that's why he was there apologizing for it.

"Not everything, Josh. You failed to be faithful." She refuted.

"Zarah, let me explain." He said but Zarah was not interested.

"There's no need for you to explain, Josh. I understand that she can give you what I could not do. And I'm sorry for the things that I lacked." Zarah seriously said.

"No! It's just a serious mistake that I've regretted doing." Josh explained and he could hear her scoff in disgust.

"A serious mistake that you've regretted? I have proof that you've done it many times with her, Josh! And I'm sure that it's still an ongoing affair. And you want me to believe you?!" Zarah started to become emotional. She was trying to hold back the tears from falling down her cheeks.

Josh felt guilty after hearing that he got exposed immediately. He inwardly cursed Natalie inside his mind. He wanted to find Natalie to punish her for what she did.

He could only drop down to his knees and act pitifully. The few people in the lobby stopped what they were doing and watched them.

He removed his mask and his cap to expose his face. Everyone gasped as they finally recognized him. But they didn't expect his face to be disfigured!

Zarah was shocked to see what Xander had caused to his face. If this was another time and another cat caused it, she would surely feel bad for him. But as she remembered Xander who was still in the vet hospital for treatment, she felt angry.

"Babe, please! I'm sorry. Please don't leave me. Tell me what I should do so I won't lose you. I do not want to lose you, Zarah. I don't want to."

He tried to hug her legs but she stepped away from him.

"I love you, Zarah. Don't you love me anymore? Please forgive me for this one." He begged with tears in his eyes. He truly did not want to lose Zarah.

Zarah could feel the pain that he felt from his words. He should have thought about this before he gave in to temptation.

Meanwhile, the guards and receptionist who finally recognized Josh after he showed his face felt pity for him.

They wanted to convince Zarah to forgive him as they could not take watching him on his knees and with a disfigured face. He successfully gained their sympathy but not Zarah's.

"Josh, please! Let's not make things difficult for the both of us, okay?" She said while trying to not answer his question. This decision was not easy to make.

They've spent a year together. They've created a lot of memories. Should they overcome this problem, nothing could ever break them apart.

However, what he did was so hard for Zarah to swallow.

Josh got up after being embarrassed. He looked at her and he was hurt when she was avoiding eye contact.

"Why can't you look at me? Do you feel disgusted with my face? Are you being embarrassed to have a disfigured boyfriend so you're adamant about not giving me a chance?" He asked her and Zarah responded by giving him a hard slap on the face.

*Pah!*

"Is that how you think of me? Someone shallow?" Zarah felt wronged and Josh regretted what he said.

It caused Zarah to hate him more. Should he apologize now? However, Zarah was also hurting him now.

"We've just celebrated our anniversary babe. We are happy together as a couple, aren't we? Are you going to just throw it all away? I admit that I'm wrong but you're not innocent either."

"Oh please stop playing the victim, Josh. Yes! We managed to work things out for the entire year. And I'll be forever thankful for the compromise you've made for me. You've made it one of the happiest years of my life."  Zarah had no intention of denying it.

"However, Josh, have you forgotten that I made some compromise, too? I tried my best to compensate you whenever I lacked time. I have also forgiven the mistakes you've committed in the past."

Zarah thought that Josh wanted her to make another compromise again for them and she could no longer make one. The thought itself made her mad.

"And now, what? Are you trying to tell me that I should make another compromise? That I should accept your apology for the sake of the year that we've spent together happily? Are you even hearing yourself?!"

As she saw that other people were looking at them, Zarah decided to change to another language that he also knew so others would not know what they were talking about.

"We have never crossed that line, Josh. We tried but we would stop in the end. Yet, you slept with her! Not once but many times! Can you even imagine what I would feel, Josh?" Zarah looked away as she tried to wipe her tears quickly.

Josh was silent as he had no words to refute what she said.

Zarah did try to take the initiative but he would end up stopping her. He tried to take it to the next base too, but he would stop midway. He did not expect that this would hurt her feelings.

Intimacy between partners aside from the little things that each were willing to do for the other made the relationship stronger.

Now, he understood where she was coming from.

"Tell me what should I do to have you back? Do you want me to pursue you again just like before? I'm willing to do it, Zarah. Please just give me a chance. I know you still love me. You're just hurt. And I'm sorry."

Josh was right. Despite everything, she still had feelings for him. Why was her heart so dumb? Good thing her feelings were no longer the same as before.

She knew in time, they would disappear eventually.

Xavier who was standing not far from them clenched his palm into a tight fist as he didn't like what he was hearing from Josh. He feared that Zarah might get swayed by his words and might consider it.

Before Zarah could respond, he walked toward Zarah and pushed her behind him. He was being overprotective of her.

"Mr. Irving. I think you should leave now. Can't you see that you're disturbing everyone?"

Josh looked at the man who was wearing a pair of comfortable nightwear and he felt jealous and angry after he saw how overprotective the man was of Zarah.

"And who are you to interfere? You're just her adoptive brother. So stay out of our business!"

Faced with his provocation, Xavier felt like the blood running in his body gathered around his head and they were about to explode in anger.

Xavier wanted to teach him a lesson.

He grabbed Josh by his collar and aggressively said, "How dare you say those words to me, Mr. Irving when you've stolen her from me!"

Josh and Zarah were both stunned to hear what Josh said. They were equally baffled.

"Are you sick in the head?" Josh asked while trying to mock Xavier.

"No, I'm not! I've given you the chance to have her and you just wasted it. Now that you messed up, I'll never let you have her again. Over my dead body!" He boldly claimed. Xavier could no longer hold back his temper.

"What did you say?" Josh's ego was touched by what Xavier said and so he started to become aggressive.

Before things could become physical between both men, Zarah decided to interfere.

"That's enough! Josh, please leave, or else I'll call the police. And you! We need to talk!"

"What?! No! Babe! I mean it. I said I'm sorry. Please give me a chance!" Josh said as he panicked.

He was about to grab Zarah's hand which was injured but Xavier was quick to stop him and coldly warned, "If you don't want me to add another cut on your face, stay away from her!"

Xavier looked at the long scratch on Josh's face and he felt good. He even wanted to reward the person who did that to him.

However, what he said angered Josh and so he punched Xavier in the face. Xavier had seen it coming but he did not move to evade it.

He even deliberately moved his face to where the punch came from so the impact would be more dramatic. Josh had no idea that this was what Xavier wanted to happen. As he achieved his goal, he gave a mocking smirk at Josh.

"Josh! What have you done?!" Zarah said in anger while she shoved Xavier behind her and then pushed Josh away with her uninjured hand.

"Babe! I did not intentionally do it! Look at him! He's smiling at me!" Josh said but when Zarah looked at Xavier, she saw that he was not. Xavier made a serious face this time.

"Josh, if you won't leave, I'll ask security to drag you away from here!"

Like on cue, two burly men approached Josh and he was asked to leave. However, he resisted and so they had to drag him away by force.

However, he continued crying her name until he was pushed out of the entrance and out of the community.

Meanwhile, Zarah and Xavier entered the elevator. No one dared to speak which created heavy tension in the atmosphere.

Xavier could only secretly look at her while Zarah's gaze was on the ground.

As the elevator bell made a *ding* sound, Zarah walked out from it and walked to the hallway. Xavier had no choice but to follow behind her.

He looked like a dejected puppy following his master.

As they finally entered the apartment, Zarah turned around to face him. "Please explain your actions downstairs."

"Why? I did nothing wrong." He feigned innocence. He did feel that what he did was justifiable.

"Nothing? I saw what you did. You tried to provoke him." Zarah knew that this man could be a bully and so she didn't believe that he was completely innocent.

Her gaze softened when she saw the cut on his lips and the little bruising on his face.

"Wait here!" Now it was her turn to treat him.

Xavier did what he was told and waited for Zarah to come back with the first-aid kit and a bottle of cold water since she didn't have an ice pack.

Zarah grabbed his hand and asked him to sit down on the couch while she looked for a comfortable position opposite his.

After they were both seated comfortably, Zarah started treating him.

"Does it hurt?" She asked him.

"No." He honestly said.

"Do you perhaps have the same condition as I do?" Zarah commented and she was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't realize Xavier's gaze was on her.

He was observing her every move.

"You should have not done that. Josh's punch is not something that could not be evaded, you know."

"I know." He said and that's when Zarah's gaze shifted to his eyes.

As their gazes locked, she could feel being pulled inside his grey orbs. They were talking to her yet she could not understand.

Zarah struggled to pull away from his intense gaze and when she was successful, she cleared her throat.

"You also don't have to say nonsense to him. This is my problem, so please don't interfere."

"You're wrong," Xavier said, which made Zarah look at him again.

"What did you say?"

"Father said that I should look after you like a big brother and so I'm only doing it. If that bastard tried to bother you again, I won't be lenient."

He lied and Zarah thought it was funny as it made her laugh.

Her laugh felt so good in Xavier's ears that he didn't want it to stop.

"Can you explain why you're laughing?" He asked her and soon regretted it as she stopped.

"Well, I'm not an expert when it comes to siblings relationship but I'm sure that is not how it works." She explained to him.

"Oh. This is also new to me. Would you mind sharing your wisdom with me, Master?" Xavier said and Zarah burst into giggles.

"Please stop talking like that." She said after she calmed down. The way Xavier spoke made her want to laugh as she thought he was not being serious.

She then resumed what she was doing.

He was out of character again.

If the people in the company knew this side of him, she was sure that it would cause a huge commotion.

"Okay. Tell me, how should I talk to you, then?"

"Just be yourself," Zarah said.

After another minute, Zarah finished treating his cut.

"Done. Seriously, you should avoid being punched in the face in the future." She reminded him.

"Okay."

Aside from the fact that he hated being punched in the face, he now had more reasons to protect his face during fights in the future.

As she kept the first-aid kit away, Zarah then recalled what Xavier told Josh earlier.

While they were in the elevator, she kept on thinking about why he said it to him. She wanted to know if he was being serious. Or was he trying to mess up with Josh when he said it?

She wanted to believe the latter over the former as there was no way the former was possible.

Xavier thought that Zarah must be thinking about what he said earlier to Josh after watching her in a dazed state.

He was also contemplating whether he should confess now or not.

However, there was no harm in revealing some of it. If this would help her regain her memory, why not?

"Summer of four years ago, I lived with you and dad in this house." He said which snapped Zarah back to reality.

"What?!"

"Father introduced me to you as his nephew and I did not protest about it since I didn't honestly care at that time." He said.

As expected, Zarah racked her brain to look for that memory but she couldn't. So, she thought she was being lied to.

"I know what you're doing but hear me out first," Xavier said and she obeyed him.

"We went to his favorite island and spent the entire summer there," he continued.

"During the end of summer, we both got into a car accident, and we got separated as I was transferred to Sterlington for treatment while you were being transferred to St. George. The last time I heard, you got amnesia and could not remember the events of that summer."

Zarah's jaw dropped as she listened to what he said.

She did recall being hospitalized four years ago due to a car accident and was told she had selective amnesia. She didn't expect that this was the missing memory that she had forgotten.

"Are you being serious?"

"Do I look like I'm not? I can't blame you for something that you could not control. It's just sad that you've forgotten about me."

***