Chapter 32 WHITE LILIES

Chapter 32 WHITE LILIES
"Listen, Sophie, I know your fears about getting married, after all it is normal because of what you've gone through in your previous marriage with that useless fellow," Beatrice tried to assure Sophie who has doubts in her mind, "the potential groom we are choosing for you, he'll love you, I promise."

She carefully spoke in a way to convince Sophie, "More importantly, he'll give you the stability a Blackwell deserves. You are our only daughter. We can't let you go out there and be with just anybody. We need you to be out there with a man who cares for you, financially, love is not everything, you've already seen how that Alex twisted things and left you after taking our money."

Sophie shrugged, trying to shake off the memory of Alexander's silver Bentley that they had passed on their way in. 

‘It was our money that made him rich,’ she thought to herself. ‘He's just pretending with the money we gave him. It doesn't matter.... He doesn't deserve me.’

She kept on repeating those words in her head over and over again as Beatrice came to her, then held her hands. 

“I'm glad that we got rid of that bastard. We don't need a useless son-in-law like that anymore. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be still going around with someone like that?”

Marcus laughed in a loud manner, getting some attention to his side, “It's a nightmare, and I am very glad we avoided that.”

Sophie forced a laugh to match theirs, but it sounded fake. 

They then picked the seats close to the window and sat down as they started looking at the menu, ready to order the expensive dishes.



The next week was a blur for Xavier. At the hospital, he became very invisible, moving through rounds and making sure that he did his best in the job. 

It didn't take long before he was impressing nurses and impressing a few older doctors who transferred there to work. 

He avoided the Thornes', especially Blaine, and as for Aris, well, their paths never really clicked because Aris and Xavier weren't working in the same ward. 

Xavier spent his nights in the research lab, making sure that he practiced on the data given to him, and even though it wasn't ready for deployment, he still made sure he did the best he could with the resources given to him. 

A day before the hearing, Nathaniel called him into a break room to talk to him. 

“Hey man, are you okay?” Nathaniel asked, handing him a cup of coffee as Xavier nodded. 

“Yeah, just a bit nervous,” but that was a lie. Xavier wasn't nervous. He had done this hearing before in his own world. This was him just doing it for formality's sake. 

He wanted to appear normal when in reality, he wasn't even normal. He was a man living in another man's body and using a system to go through a story that he already knew the end, the beginning, and the characters in this story. 

This was not real. Unfortunately, this was where the universe had put him in. 

“You know, tomorrow is the D-Day. The board, Thorne, everyone is going to be there. Do you need help with your presentation? I have some data on the bypass success rates that might make you look great.”

Xavier took the coffee and looked at it before looking up at Nathaniel with a smile. It was a true smile. “Thanks, Nathaniel, but I've got this. I've handled everything so far and I'm not going to stop now.”

“You sure?” Nathaniel asked, leaning over the counter. “Because Thorne is going to throw everything he can against you. He doesn't like people he can't control and from what I'm seeing, he can't control you and with you having the backing of Craig, you are unstoppable.”

“How about he tries what he wants to do tomorrow,” Xavier huffed. His voice was flat as he took a sip of the hot coffee before wincing and then dropping it down. “It doesn't have enough sugar.”

Nathaniel smiled, then picked up a bottle of sugar, which he tried to tilt over the cup, but Xavier shook his head and slightly pushed Nathaniel's hand away from the cup.

“It's fine. I don't need the sugar. But anyway, what I wanted to say is, he's about to find out that some things are beyond his control, especially a doctor who's here to treat people and make sure that people live.”

“Fine, fine.” Nathaniel laughed, holding up his hands in surrender. “I guess you've got this, but just don't forget that those people are in charge, and you need to impress them. Thorne is not the only person that is on your list. You still need to impress Craig.”

Xavier chuckled. “I think Craig is impressed with my work.”

“Yes, Craig is, but you still need to impress him. It's something that you need to do no matter what.”

Xavier nodded. “Fine, I'll make sure I try my best.”



The morning of the hearing arrived with light that filled Xavier's master bedroom as he sat up then looked around. 

He took in deep breaths, and for the first time since he arrived in this world, he found himself feeling anxious. That was strange. 

His system hummed within him, but he was angry with his system. He wasn't going to talk to that system within him. It had almost made him do things that he would have regretted. 

For example, what if the system took over his body and he had fought with Marcus? Everybody would have seen what a monster he was. He would be on the news, he would lose his license, and his cover for this new world would have been blown. 

He shook his head, then got up as he went ahead to do his normal daily routine of bathing, brushing, and dressing up. 

He reached for his tie, staring into the mirror and thinking of what he was going to say in his defense when someone knocked on his main door. 

He walked out of his room, walked down the stairs, and then opened the door to see Isabella standing there with a smile on her face. 

She had on a cream suit, holding a bouquet of white lilies. 

“Isabella,” Xavier called with raised eyebrows. “What are you doing here?”

She smiled, extending the flowers to him. “I brought you flowers, silly. Blue for wisdom, white for luck. I wanted to wish you luck, but blue flowers were out, so I had to get white lilies.”

“I'm touched,” Xavier said, stepping back to let her in. “You didn't have to come all this way, you know. You could have just sent me a text.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to see you before the hearing,” she said, walking in and looking up at the ceiling. “You look great, Alex. Like a man who's about to take over a hospital.”

“That's the plan,” he chuckled, leading her into the living room. 

The moment he got in there, he struggled with his tie as she watched him for a while before sighing, dropping the flowers on the table, and then walking over to him. 

"Don't you think you need my help?"