Chapter 29

TWO YEARS LATER...

Xavier walked down the hallway of one of his companies.

All the employees he passed by stopped to greet him.

He walked into his office, pulled off his jacket and sat on a swivel chair.

His secretary, Stefano, a man in his mid-twenties walked in.

"Good morning, sir."

"What's my schedule for today?"

"You have a meeting with Di Silvestri finance at ten, a board meeting at twelve and a date at 4 p.m."

He frowned. "A date?"

"Yes, Sir Cesario told me to add it to your schedule."

Xavier sighed. For the umpteenth time, when would his father stop doing this?

"You can leave now," He ordered.

"Yes sir," Stefano nodded and walked away.

Xavier walked into a restaurant, he walked to the reserved table at the side of the restaurant and sat down opposite a woman.

"Hello Miss..."

"Nadine Castillo" The lady sitting opposite him completed with a smile.

"Xavier Da Silva" He introduced.

Her smile broadened, she picked up the menu. "What's your favorite meal, Xavier?"

"I didn't come here to eat, I only came to make one thing clear, I'm sorry my father had to fix you up on a date with me, but I'm married" He said showing her the ring on his finger.

Her jaw dropped.

"But I thought..."

"What you think doesn't matter. Enjoy the remaining hours of your day." With that, he stood up and walked away.

"Why do you keep on telling the women sent to you that you're married, that lady is the daughter of a senator, don't you know how much..."

"Oh please," Xavier cut in. He was on the phone with his father.

"How many times will I tell you to stop sending these ladies to me?"

"Look Xavier. I'm doing what's best for you. How long will you keep waiting for that woman? She's not coming back, I even helped you to search for her, didn't I? I promised to give you two my full support if she comes back but it's been two years already, Xavier. You need to move on, I'm pretty sure she has moved on already"

"I'm hanging up now," Xavier announced.

"Just think about it, son, and take care of yourself."

"I will." With that, he hung up.

Salvador walked out of the hospital. He smiled seeing Xavier waiting for him in the garden.

"Someone missed me," he began, joking.

"Just because I wanted to see your ugly face doesn't mean I missed you," Xavier snapped, sitting on a rock chair.

"Ugly?" Salvador sneered holding his jaw.

"Daisy had never said that to me before, she's calls me bello(handsome) every damn time" Salvador said sitting down.

Xavier grinned, he was engaged to Daisy, she was also a nurse in his hospital. Their love story began from hating each other...then fucking and trying not to get emotions involved which eventually did... and they started dating and now, they're planning a grand wedding.

Amanda's face popped into his head, if she hadn't left him, they would've been married by now. That thought made his heart clenched, it was a pain he could never get used to.

Salvador noticed his sour mood.

"You told me you were meeting up with the new private investigator yesterday, he didn't find her, did he?"

"He didn't" He replied, ruefully.

People say the world is a small place, yet you could search for someone for what feels like forever till no good news.

"Xavier, I think it's time you forget about her," Salvador announced.

Xavier turned to face him.

"I thought you once told me not to give up?"

"Well, that was when I got to feel what true love is with Daisy, I know you still yearn for her, but this yearning has to stop, you need to move on, try and make it work with one of those women your father always arrange for you"

"I've tried but..."

"Try harder. Start by taking off that ring. I know it's hard for you to forget about her, but you have to. Imagine, you find her, and she has moved on... probably married, will you be able to live with that? Save yourself from heartbreak all over again and forget about her."

Xavier looked away from him.

Salvador held his shoulder.

"It took months for you to pull yourself together and you managed to get over the pain she caused you by leaving because I told you that we would look for her...that perhaps she was waiting for you. It's been two good years, Xavier...not two months, she doesn't want to be found, she really doesn't want you, I know I shouldn't say this to you because you've been faking a stoic face and deep down you're still hurting but I have to make you forget about her... do you want to spend another year waiting and another year and then what? You'll grow old alone... living a wasted life. Move on, Xavier. Try going out with other women, you might be lucky to find someone who would make you ten times more fulfilled than she did"

Xavier drew in air into his lungs and stood up.

"It's getting late, I should go home now"

Salvador knew he was upset.

"I'm just saying, Xavier, and I hope you won't drink tonight"

He forced a smile out of him.

"Drinking doesn't solve anything"

"I'm glad you know that, so will you take my advice?"

"I'll try"

Salvador stood up and walked closer to him.

Xavier cocked an eyebrow. "You aren’t trying to hug me or some shit, right?"

Salvador chuckled. "Of course not, you rascal"

"Catch you later, chubs," He said walking away.

"Alright, scumbag"

Xavier responded with a wave.

Xavier slowly ate dinner, he stared at the empty chairs around him and sighed, he had stopped mingling with the workers because they reminded him badly of her.

After the meal, he stood up and headed upstairs.

His phone rang, he picked up.

"Good evening mother" He greeted.

"Good evening, have you eaten?" Alice asked.

"Yes and I told you before that you don't have to worry about me."

Alice sighed.

Xavier knew her real motive for calling.

"I still haven't found her" He said.

"Oh" Alice muttered, sadly.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, maybe I should listen to father and Salvador now"

"Is that what you want?" Alice asked, concerned.

"I can't have what I want, mother, so I guess I have no choice but to try doing this"

"Oh okay, I'll call you tomorrow, take care of yourself, son"

"I will and you should too." And then, he hung up.

After Amanda had left, his family had drawn closer to him. His father swore never to use his assets to threaten him again, he made peace with Salvador and asked for Alice's and Xavier's forgiveness for his behavior all those years.

Though, Alice hadn't fully forgiven him, and Xavier couldn't blame his mother for that, she had suffered a lot in the hands of his father. His father had really made improvement in his character, Alice was now free with him. He even helped Xavier to look for Amanda. Salvador did too but both had given up and now wanted him to move on.

He walked into the hallway, he stared at their bedroom door, walked closer to it, opened it and sauntered in.

He couldn't remember when last he stepped his foot into this room, he had been occupying one of the guest room down the hall for a while now, being inside this room gave him too many happy but painful memories.

He sat on the bed.

He smiled recalling their eating contests together.

"I don't want to be separated from you."

She had once said these words to him.

Not wanting to recall anything about her again, he walked out of the room then into the guest room.

He undressed and fell on the bed, hugging a pillow.

He knew she really didn't want to leave him, that was why he had been searching and searching... should he give up now?

"Haven't I had enough, Amanda. People have stopped talking about us long ago, no one's going to criticize us anymore, why aren't you coming back already? Have you really moved on?" He said to himself wishing he could have answers to his questions.

Xavier worked on some files on his computer.

Stefano walked in.

"You have a visitor, sir."

"Who?"

"Alisha Miller."

Xavier frowned. Alisha? He couldn't remember when last he saw her. His lawyer had been the one who made sure she signed the divorce papers which she eventually did after getting tons of cash from him.

Alisha sat on a chair in the company's eatery waiting for Xavier.

After Amanda left, Isobel's sins started to haunt her and she fell into a state of deep depression, she had asked for Miguel's forgiveness but keeps on demanding to see Amanda.

She wasn't mentally stable anymore and was in a rehab.

Alisha had come to Xavier today to make things right and she wished it wasn't too late to do so.

Xavier walked into the eatery. He saw her and strode towards her.

"Good day, Alisha, how may I help you?" He began sitting on a chair opposite to her.

She smiled. "I won't beat around the bush. My mother has been in rehab and I think if she sees Amanda again, it'd lessen her guilt."

Xavier frowned. "What do I have to do with this?"

"Well, I have been looking for her for a while now, but I don't think I can talk her into coming back because I made her leave in the first place. I was wondering if you could help me. I found her...she's in Dallas"

Xavier froze. "You...you found her?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Alisha replied and brought out a piece of paper, she handed it to Xavier, it was Amanda's address in Dallas.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked not wanting to get disappointed again.

"Yes, that's her address. I just want to say that I'm sorry, Xavier for breaking you two apart. I just didn't realize on time that we weren't meant to be, please make sure to bring her back and show the world that you two are inseparable"

"Thank you so much, Alisha. This means a lot to me," He said, gratefully.

"And I'm sorry too that we didn't work out"

She shrugged. "Maybe I could get some cash for that," She joked, and they laughed.

And that was how he was on his private jet heading for Dallas.

He was so anxious to see her.

After what felt like forever to him, they landed on Dallas's soil.

He quickly rented a car and put the GPS into action.

He followed instructions from the GPS and couldn't be happier when he got to her street.

He got down from his car and his anxiety increased as he started searching for the house number.

He paused for a while, had he missed the house in his tensed state?

He turned around to walk down the street and his heart stopped seeing the woman walking up the street...the woman he had longed for...the woman he craved for two long years.

Something else caught his attention, she was smiling at someone, he averted his gaze to see a man holding a kid in his arms smiling and talking to her.

He narrowed his eyes and his heart shattered recognizing the man.

Miguel!

He was stupid to believe Miguel knew nothing about her whereabouts.

This was what Salvador had warned him about. She was married and had a kid with Miguel. She has moved on.

Now, he felt like a complete idiot.

What do you say to a woman who you've been searching for just to find out that she's married with a kid?

They finally saw him and both of them stopped walking.

It was as if time was frozen. The three of them just stared at one another speechlessly.