Chapter 43: What are you, Xavier?

Scarlet’s Point of View:

“Yes, honey. We are going to stay here again from now!” I replied to a confused Drew as he woke up from his sleep.

“Okay, but are we going to see Uncle Xavier now?” He asked and I couldn’t help but sigh.

“No,” I replied slowly. “But I hope to see your father Max soon and this time I promise that we are going to stay with him for long.”

“Yay!” He replied with a huge smile. “I like daddy!”

I just smiled back at the naïve child. For some time, I had wanted him to understand the working of this world — to understand that things didn’t always glitter and weren’t always pastries. That way he wouldn’t get hurt — but then again, I would never hope for him to lose his innocence, his smile, and that beautiful soul inside of him. To deal with the monsters of this world, he had to become like one — and I wouldn’t hope that on my worst enemy.

This world was too cruel for him and the irony was that his own biological father made me realize that.

Well, I have got to stop thinking about him. Now that I was moving on with my life, that was the first thing to do.

I picked up my phone. It was almost evening by now and I hadn’t really checked out any news. I mean now that I was concerned with so many famous entities, the Internet is like my personal WhatsApp.

When I searched for news specific to business owners, I could see that Xavier was live at the moment. My brows contracted as I opened the live feed.

It played the video from the beginning.

“The last time I spoke to the public regarding my son was rather rude and I would like to apologize for my mistake,” He started off with a gloomy yet professional face. “Things are never what they seem to be. I never meant to break the trust of people close to me— of people working so closely in association to me and my company. I am aware that the incident puts me in a bad place, but I would also like to say that my business and my personal affairs are separate. That being said, my… girlfriend, now ex-girlfriend— Scarlet Walker, as you know her, will be taking custody of my child. That would mean that I no longer have an heir to the company and that I breach no contract. The decision is in the favor of all.”

I stared at the screen. So many things to process — and I don’t even know what he really meant.

Was he referring to me when he said that things weren’t always what they seemed to be?

Was that in the context of what happened earlier?

Why am I even bothered with this? Why do I care? I was finally… out and safe, right? He was not going to bother me again, he made that pretty clear.

And I would take custody of the child? Isn’t that something related to marriage—divorce?

God, I wish I knew anything about law. I feel so stupid right about now!

I sighed and kept the phone down. When will this drama end and when will I get to lead a normal life?

…

It was only one hour later that I picked up my phone again. I didn’t even search for the particular news — but I saw his name in the headlines. What happened?

I couldn’t resist the urge to read the complete line. As soon as I opened the link, I almost dropped the phone.

“Billionaire Xavier Valencian shot soon after press conference; condition critical.”

Shot?

As in shot shot?

Of course as in shot shot!

I read more of the article and thankfully, the attack was not near his heart — rather near his stomach, so there was more hope of his survival.

I got up immediately. For some reason, I didn’t think much. I asked Andrew to stay in and locked all the doors and windows before rushing outside — only grabbing my wallet.

Just when I came outside, I ran towards a cab and asked them to take me to the hospital he was admitted to. Thankfully, I knew the name via the article and thankfully, the hospital wasn’t too far away — however it was still a fifteen minutes drive.

I sat back, my heart full of fear and my brain confused.

I guess Xavier wasn’t wrong when he told me that I didn’t know shit about my own feelings.

The cab stopped in front of the hospital. I came out and paid for the fare, hurrying inside. After asking about him at the reception, I came to know that his operation was already over. They had, of course, made it a top priority because of his connections.

I sighed knowing that he was fine. I didn’t even know why I was so scared for someone who had just wanted to kill me.

I didn’t want to go inside and meet him, but if I only wanted to know his health conditions, I could have just checked online — I was sure that a lot of people were going to stay up late and stay here days to tell the public his exact conditions.

So, for some obvious — or not-so-obvious reasons, I decided to meet him.

He wasn’t yet awake, so I could just see him. This was the best time. I asked for his ward number and went to the relevant floor.

…

As I entered the ward, my heartbeat increased. It was weird seeing him like that. I had always seen him strong, fearless, and ruling others. But right now, he was weak — he was helpless. He was the one who needed help from others. It was a new way of seeing him. Somehow, this made me think that in the end, he too was a human. He too could need help and… like every other person, he also felt pain and emotions.

I took slow steps as I approached his bedside. Even while being unconscious, he had a serious look on his face. Mostly, people would smile or have a normal look while their mind plays their old memories in a flashback. But he wasn’t ever normal, was he?

“What are you, Xavier?” I whispered to myself in a low voice as I sat down on the seat next to his bed. “Why do I keep coming back to you when all you’ve ever done is hurt me and endanger my child?”

“Maybe because I am hot.”

I almost jumped when he opened his eyes slowly and a small smile spread across his lips. “I didn’t expect you here, Scarlet.”

“You—the doctor said you were unconscious!”

“I was,” He said as he tried to get up but failed. “Until you walked in. Maybe God wanted me to hear your dilemmas and help you. Well, guess what? I know what you should do.”

I sighed. “I just came to check if you were alive. I am going to leave now.”

“Really?”

I looked at him with a weird expression as I tried to understand what he meant. “What?”

“Are you really just going to leave me?”

“Xavier, I just—”

“I get it,” He closed his eyes, maybe because his wounds were still hurting. “I have hurt you so many times. I have… crossed the lines I never thought I could and situations don’t help me look good either, but I would never, ever, try to kill you or my own child. I love Andrew and however unconventional that might seem, I would give anything to keep him out of harm’s way. But it is okay if you don’t believe me. I have no right to ask you to.”

I looked at him with concern. He had never opened up to me before — and it was so… new to me. It was like he had changed, it was like—like he was a completely new person. How could a person who just killed someone last night be so emotional right now? How could someone like him claim to “love” when all he had ever done was hate?

“Scarlet?”

“Uh!” I said as I came back to my senses. “I… don’t know anything, Xavier. I am so confused— so conflicted and I don’t want to make wrong decisions but I don’t have anyone to tell me what to do. I—I don’t know whom to believe and whom to stay with, I can’t think rationally anymore.”

He smiled. “I might not be the best person to advise you about this but… sometimes, we need to think with our heart and not with brain. Give it time and do what your heart says. As I said, things aren’t what they always look like.”

I nodded. Seeing him smile, I couldn’t help but flash a smile back.