Chapter 23: [XXIII]
In the coffee shop, Hazel sat with her head bowed down.
With nothing else to do, she preoccupied herself with stirring the coffee in her cup. An awkward silence persisted.
Hanson felt a wave of disappointment in his heart. There seemed to be an invisible distance between them, like a white mist, spreading around. And it expanded slowly, making her farther and farther away from him. But the worst part was, he could do nothing to stop it.
'Is it because of my wedding ceremony or perhaps it has something to do with the man who attended the engagement party with her?' His thoughts took him to dark places.
"How are you doing these days?" he asked, attempting to break the deafening silence.
"Not bad." She pursed her lips and asked, "Hanson, are you here to invite me for the wedding?" She couldn't take it anymore and wished to know the reason behind his sudden call.
He trembled violently, a touch of bitterness emerging in his heart. "You want to receive it?"
Hearing that, Hazel tightened her grip on the cup in her hand. "I will bless you."
"Are you going to give up on me?" Hanson said bitterly, sadness and desolation written all over his face.
Hazel shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes. "Give up? I have nothing to give up. No one ever gave me anything to hold onto." She had been lingering, hoping he would take notice of her. However, just when she confessed, he became someone else's. The love she had ardently wished to bloom had come to an end abruptly.
"Hazel..." His heart twitched. He held out his hand and said, "I don't have any feelings for Sunny. The marriage between me and her can be best described as a political marriage. I love you, only you!"
She slowly withdrew her hand from his. It didn't matter that they were married out of political interests. Sunny would eventually be his rightful wife, and she would never entertain the idea of becoming a secret lover. "Hanson, let's just be friends!"
A muscle on his face twitched violently. "Have you fallen in love with someone else?"
"No, I haven't." She wished to give no further explanation hence she looked down.
His chest heaved violently, and his breath became heavy. Finally, he was going to ask the question he had been waiting to ask.
"What about that man? What's your relationship with him? Are you dating or he is just after you?"
"He..." Hazel opened and shut her mouth. There was no right way to explain her relationship with Zac. Just the thought of explaining it made her at loss of words.
Hanson took a different meaning of her hesitancy. Clenching his teeth, he decided she was indeed in a relationship with that other man. The revelation brought a piercing pain in his heart. There was a proud side in his heart which was hell-bent on believing Hazel was and would always be his. Now his misconception was shattered and broken into a million pieces. 'I have been so overconfident,' he realized.
After a moment of silence, Hazel stood up again and said, "I should go now."
Hanson did not respond. He just looked at her with a dull expression. His expression was akin to the one she had when she was rejected by him on April Fool's Day.
She bit her lips, turned around and walked out slowly.
"Hazel —" he suddenly rushed over and caught her from behind, hugging her tightly. "Don't give me up. Give me some time! I think one year would be enough. I'll divorce Sunny and marry you, okay?"
She raised her head and looked at him. Her tears had made her vision blurry. It was hard to make out his face, but she continued speaking nevertheless. "Hanson, I like you very much. In fact, it will suffice to say I love you and only you. All my life, I have only loved you! I'm happy that you like me too. It really brings me pleasure in knowing my efforts haven't gone in vain. But I made up my mind that I will try my best to forget you since you are someone else's. If I don't let you go, I will never succeed in finding a true love that really belongs to me. You should take my advice and try to forget me as well. Marriage is not a game. Since you have decided to get married, it is your responsibility to do your best to make it work. I will bless you!"
Her long speech was full of raw emotions. As she spoke, he felt that his heart was being placed on a hot iron. He broke out in cold sweat. Letting go of her hand which he had held onto, he left the coffee shop. He couldn't see anything but darkness. It was trying to envelope him inside its gloom.
Soon, Hazel was back in her apartment.
Today's happenings had left her tired. Instantly, she collapsed on the sofa. All her strength had been sucked out of her.
She stared at the ceiling blankly and remained glued to the same position for a long while. A dark figure came into her view, bringing her back from her reveries.
"What did you buy?" His voice was still eerily calm, just like the waves before a big storm, solemn and slow. She thought for a moment and remembered that she had told him that she would go to the supermarket. She waved her hand dismissively and said, "The fruit wasn't fresh, so I decided not to buy any."
"Did you forget your wallet?" Zac snorted before grabbing the wallet from the table and throwing it at her.
"Yes— Yes, I forgot my wallet." Embarrassed, Hazel scratched her head and bit her lip. She forced herself to smile and pretended to be calm. Then, she said, "Where are we going to have dinner tonight?"
"Wherever," Zac replied faintly.
She raised her eyebrows and glanced at him. She had a feeling that there was something wrong with him. Even though he had a blank expression on his face, there seemed to be some coldness hidden in his eyes. He looked so cold that she could not help but tremble.
"How about the porridge shop? Over there..." Before she could even finish her words, Zac turned around and entered the room. Then he slammed the door behind him with so much force that the entire house seemed to tremble.
Something was definitely wrong.
Perhaps he was angered by what happened in aunt Wendy's house that morning.
Zac was a man who was good at hiding his thoughts. Her aunt's words were immensely mean and hurtful, so even though he was pretending to be calm, his self-esteem may be deeply hurt.
Hazel knew that she needed to comfort him. So she immediately walked up to his door and knocked.
When nobody answered, she said, "Zac, please don't take my aunt's words to heart. She has always had a sharp tongue. We are still young and our career is just starting. It's normal for us to not have a house and a car of our own. You are a very smart person. As long as you work hard, you will definitely become better than Antony!"
Upon hearing her words, Zac was at a loss about whether he should laugh or cry.
This fool had no idea why he was so angry. His anger was just like vented on a pile of soft cotton, but bruised his insides.
There was still no reply from the other side of the door. An idea struck Hazel, and she was just about to change the way she was comforting him when her mother called all of a sudden and asked her to go to the hotel.
After finding out what happened from Lucy, Bob decided it was best to beat around the bush. So when Hazel arrived at the hotel, he asked, "Hazel, are you not satisfied with Zac?"
"No, I'm absolutely satisfied with him." Hazel was quite confused. She had no idea why her father was asking her that.
"Zac is not in a good condition right now. He has no house or car. Does that make you dislike him?" Bob asked again.
"Dad, do you think I'm that kind of person?" She pouted her lips in discontent. The atmosphere in the room was quite weird, and her parents were being strange.
Upon hearing this, Bob and Lucy looked at each other. They weren't really worried about their daughter because of this. After all, if their daughter disliked the poor, then she would have gone back to live with her rich biological father.
"Zac doesn't like to say sweet words. Won't you get a little bored after a while?" Even though Lucy had not spent a lot of time with Zac yet, she had learned his personality and gotten to know him well. She found that he was not very good at or disliked expressing his inner feelings or thoughts.
"No, it won't." Hazel looked at her mother with a puzzled look on her face and thought about what to say next. 'Were my mom and dad bewitched by aunt Wendy's words? Do they dislike Zac for having no house or car of his own?' she thought.
"Haven't you accepted him yet?" she asked tentatively.
"We have. Both your dad and I think that Zac is a good person. It's you we're worried about." Lucy took her hand and continued, "You're still young, and you haven't experienced much. You may have gotten married a little earlier than most, but since you've already got a marriage certificate, you should learn how to settle down and live a good life."
Hazel was very confused. She couldn't understand what her mother meant by her words. "What on earth are you trying to tell me?" she asked.
Lucy decided not to beat around the bush anymore. "Tell me honestly, whose car did you get on today?"
Hazel finally understood!
"No, you misunderstood what happened. He is my senior, and he is getting married soon. In fact, he's giving me an invitation to the wedding," she said, thinking that it was probably the best explanation. She did not dare to mention anything about her admiration for Hanson.
"Really? Are you serious?" Lucy stared at her daughter with sharp eyes.
"Mom, I hate having affairs as much as you do," she added.
With a smile, Bob took his wife in his arms and said, "As I said, you're just being too sensitive. Our daughter is the most obedient girl in the world, and she would never make such a mistake."
Lucy heaved a sigh of relief. She patted her daughter's hand and said, "Zac was at the stairway when you got in the car, so he saw it with his own eyes. He looked very angry, so there must be some misunderstanding between you two. You have to explain all this to him as soon as possible."
Of course, any man would be bothered if he saw his wife getting into the luxury car of another man.
Hazel was shocked again. It turned out that that was the reason Zac got angry. No wonder her attempt to comfort him didn't work.
Now, she knew exactly what to do. 'Just wait and see,' she thought.
After leaving the hotel, Hazel went to a fruit store first and bought some oranges—Zac's favorite fruit. She was now ready to launch a sweet attack.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone