When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

### Chapter 100: The Little Girl from the Past

Aiden Xavier had seen Hazel Hawthorne drink before, but he had never seen her drunk. He sighed, watching as she stubbornly refused to get out of the car. He started to reach over to help her with her seatbelt, but a defiant look from Hazel stopped him cold.

Aiden Xavier hesitated for a moment, his cool gaze fixed on Hazel’s flushed face. She seemed oblivious to his intense stare, lost in her own world.

"Hazel."

The night was exceptionally still. A rustling wind stirred the branches outside, their leaves casting flickering shadows in the gloom. Hearing Aiden Xavier call her name, Hazel finally lifted her eyelids lazily, favoring him with a look that seemed like a great act of charity.

"Let’s go home."

The car was parked right at their front door, but because Hazel refused to get out, they couldn’t go inside. Aiden wasn’t about to leave her in the car by herself, either.

Hazel was silent for a long time. She was a mess of conflict and confusion inside. ’What am I even making a fuss about?’ She didn’t know. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Aiden Xavier with another woman, so why had she lost her composure so completely today?

She had made Aiden Xavier sit beside her, but she didn’t even know what she wanted to hear from him. Despite knowing he wouldn’t explain a thing, her heart still clung to a sliver of hope, wanting to hear about him and Raina Lowell from his own mouth.

After a long silence in which Aiden Xavier didn’t speak again, Hazel quietly unbuckled her seatbelt. Without a word, she got out and started staggering toward the house.

The path ahead was dark, but she had walked it so many times that she was sure she wouldn’t fall. She could even describe her surroundings with her eyes closed.

Seeing her about to stumble, Aiden Xavier moved quickly to steady her, but Hazel heartlessly shrugged him off. Without even a glance in his direction, she regained her balance and kept walking.

His outstretched, empty hand seemed to mock him. Aiden could only follow silently behind Hazel, afraid that if she fell, he wouldn’t be there in time to catch her.

Once inside, Hazel continued to ignore him and headed upstairs. She knew Aiden Xavier was right behind her. When she tried to shut her bedroom door, Aiden raised a hand to block it. Hazel tried several times to force it closed but couldn’t, so she finally gave up.

"Aiden Xavier, what on earth do you want?" Hazel demanded impatiently. ’I gave you a chance to speak. What are you doing now, blocking my door?’

Aiden Xavier hesitated for a long time, the words on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say them. He slowly lowered his hand from the door. The moment he let go, Hazel paused for a second before unthinkingly shoving him out and slamming the door shut.

She leaned against the door and slid limply to the floor. Hugging her knees, she buried her head in her arms and began to cry, the heartache too much to bear. She stifled her sobs. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, yet there was no one to witness the pain in her heart.

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In the study, Aiden Xavier sat blankly at his desk, holding a faded old photograph. It showed a little girl with braided pigtails and a white pleated skirt, her face lit up with a brilliant smile...

A closer look would reveal that the girl in the photo bore a slight resemblance to the Hazel of today. The photograph had always been in Aiden Xavier’s album. He wouldn’t have even taken it out again if Hazel hadn’t asked him if he remembered the little girl who used to follow him around.

He had wondered more than once if Hazel Hawthorne was the girl in the photograph. That was why he’d had Finn Quinn dig into the past. As fate would have it, his efforts paid off, and he learned that the little girl Hazel spoke of was actually herself.

So, Hazel Hawthorne was the little girl who used to love following him around.

Yet, he had no memory of her at all.

Aiden Xavier put the photograph back in the album and sat at his desk, lost in thought. He mulled over Hazel’s recent, unusual behavior. A conclusion began to form in his mind, but after much hesitation, he still couldn’t be sure if it was the right one.

He only remembered that when they were children, he used to hang out with Raina Lowell’s older brother. Once Raina was old enough, she liked to tag along with them. Everyone around them assumed he and Raina were a couple. He never paid any mind to such gossip, so naturally, he never bothered to correct them.

Over time, everyone took Aiden Xavier’s silence as a tacit admission that he and Raina Lowell were indeed a couple. Gradually, whenever a girl confessed her feelings to him, regardless of his response, she would either start avoiding him or transfer schools a few days later.

He never delved into the reasons for this; after all, he never cared what other people thought, and what they did was none of his concern.

Even Vincent Lowell often joked about him and Raina, saying that Raina would marry Aiden Xavier when she grew up. The two were not only childhood sweethearts but also a perfect match in terms of family status. That was, until tragedy struck the Xavier Family, and all those idyllic notions came to an abrupt halt.

A shrill ringtone shattered Aiden Xavier’s trip down memory lane. He picked up the phone on his desk. It was another call from Raina Lowell.

He let it ring for a long time without answering. A moment later, a text message from Raina came through.

"Aiden, if you don’t come see me, I’ll kill myself."

The terse message made Aiden Xavier’s brow furrow.

Just as he left the study, intending to go to Raina Lowell, he saw Hazel Hawthorne open her door. Their eyes met. Hazel’s gaze fell on the jacket and car keys in his hands. A corner of her lip twitched. Staring at the keys, she asked slowly, "Are you going out?"

’It’s already past eleven p.m.,’ she thought. ’The only person Aiden Xavier would be going to see is Raina Lowell.’

Hazel couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. "Don’t get the wrong idea," she said icily. "I was just thirsty and came out for a glass of water."

Aiden Xavier stared at Hazel’s retreating back. For a moment, his feet felt glued to the floor, and he found himself unable to move.

A few minutes after Hazel went downstairs, she heard the front door close.

She knew he had left. She knew Aiden Xavier had gone to find Raina Lowell.

She had come out wanting to have a real talk with Aiden Xavier. She’d even planned to use her intoxication as liquid courage to tell him that she was the little girl who used to love following him around, the girl who had loved him for so many years but had never dared to say it.

But unfortunately, before she could say a word, Aiden Xavier was already gone. His choice was Raina Lowell. Hot water overflowed from the cup she was holding, scalding her hand and splashing onto the floor. The sharp pain snapped her back to her senses.

’Since I never had the chance to confess my feelings back then, what’s the point of saying anything now?’

Utterly dejected, Hazel Hawthorne returned to her room. She collapsed onto her bed and began to cry again, unable to hold back her tears. The darkness felt like a shield, allowing her to finally release all the long-suppressed emotions—the deeply buried feelings, and the sorrow of being forgotten by the man she loved.