When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

###Chapter 106: One Week

News of Hazel Hawthorne’s injury quickly reached Fiona Forrest’s ears. Fiona had been busy and couldn’t attend Harrison Hawthorne’s birthday banquet, but many of the guests knew her. Since they all moved in the same circles, this sort of gossip was bound to spread quickly.

It was only a matter of time before Fiona Forrest heard about it.

When Fiona Forrest stormed into the villa, she found Aiden Xavier changing the dressing on Hazel Hawthorne’s wound. The moment the gauze was removed, revealing the shocking injury on Hazel’s hand, Fiona became absolutely livid. She pointed a finger in Hazel’s face and scolded, "Is this all you’re good for? Letting people bully you right on your own doorstep!"

"Mother, what are you talking about?" Aiden Xavier had to deal with Fiona Forrest’s fury while carefully changing Hazel’s dressing.

"Didn’t I tell you to cut ties with Raina Lowell long ago? Are you still contacting her behind our backs? Aiden Xavier, how many times do I have to tell you before you finally take my words to heart? As long as I’m alive, don’t even think about letting Raina Lowell through the Xavier family’s door."

"I know."

Fiona Forrest planted her hands on her hips and paced around the room. She looked at Hazel’s pathetic state, then thought about how Aiden and Raina Lowell were still entangled, and her anger flared up all over again. "What do you know? If you really knew, you would have cut off contact with Raina Lowell ages ago."

"I know what to do," Aiden Xavier said faintly. His expression remained focused as he treated Hazel’s wound, as if he were handling a precious treasure. Even Hazel found herself nearly captivated by his concentrated gaze.

"What do you know? If you knew, you’d have sent Raina Lowell back where she came from. If you can’t bear to do it, then leave it to me. I don’t want the Xavier family to have anything more to do with her."

Hazel watched Aiden’s focused profile, seeing that he still intended to protect Raina Lowell from his mother. A pang of envy for Raina welled up inside her. To be the object of so much of Aiden’s concern, to the point that he would even stand up to Fiona Forrest for her sake...

Hazel knew very well that Aiden was a filial son. For him to go this far for someone, how could she not be jealous of Raina?

’I could probably stay by his side my whole life,’ she thought to herself, ’and never receive this kind of treatment.’

"She won’t be staying in Kenport for long."

Fiona Forrest still didn’t believe him. Right in front of Hazel, she gave Aiden an ultimatum. "I’m giving you one week, tops. If you can’t handle this thing with Raina Lowell, I’ll step in myself. When that happens, don’t blame me for being ruthless."

Fiona’s face was red with anger. One look at Hazel’s aggrieved, meek-wife expression made her even more speechless with fury, and she stormed out of the room.

Hazel watched Fiona’s departing figure and sighed.

"What are you sighing about? I’m the one who got chewed out, not you." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Didn’t you see? Even though Mom wasn’t scolding me, her expression was still hard to take." Hazel looked at her hand, which was wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and glanced away in distaste. "I didn’t even do anything. I even tried to cover for you in front of her, and it turns out I’m the one in the wrong."

"How are you in the wrong?"

Hazel chuckled. "In Mom’s eyes, my mistake was probably not keeping you on a tighter leash. I gave Raina Lowell an opening and let your thoughts stray back to her."

"Is that so?" Aiden tidied up the first-aid kit while looking at his handiwork. The dumpling-like hand was a bit ugly. "Even without Raina, you’ve never kept me on a tight leash."

"I can tie up your two legs, but I can’t tie up your third one."

"..."

Hazel remained expressionless, but she grew a little flustered under Aiden’s direct stare and pushed him away. "Men are animals who think with their lower bodies. Am I wrong?"

"You’re not wrong."

Hazel had heard that saying a long time ago, but she had never believed it because she had never seen it with her own eyes, nor had it ever happened to her. She used to think that as long as there was love, you could use it to tie a man down.

Later, what happened with Harrison Hawthorne and her mother made her understand that even if you love someone deeply, betrayal is still possible.

When love is present, it might be real love. When it disappears, all you can say is that you once loved.

* * *

Harrison Hawthorne suppressed what happened at the banquet and forbade anyone in the family from discussing it. After all, Hazel Hawthorne was Aiden Xavier’s wife; her disgrace was also the Hawthorne family’s disgrace.

Yvette Hawthorne obediently agreed to Harrison Hawthorne’s face, but in private, she grew very close to Raina Lowell. At the banquet that day, the two had hit it off immediately, as if they were long-lost friends. After exchanging just a few words, they felt they were destined to be besties, because they both shared a common enemy.

Then and now, the old saying holds true: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Yvette knew she couldn’t take on Hazel alone, so she took the initiative to get to know Raina. In her eyes, Raina was just the down-on-her-luck heiress of the Lowell family. These were not the old days when the Lowells were a prominent family in Kenport.

Dynasties rise and fall, and only the fittest survive. The Lowell family had long since faded from public life. The only reason anyone still gave Raina face was because of her relationship with Aiden Xavier. No one knew if she would succeed in marrying him.

Yvette had just gotten back to her room when she received a call from Raina. "Are you free this afternoon? Want to go shopping together?"

"Sure, I’m not in a great mood anyway."

Yvette changed her clothes and headed out, meeting Raina at the entrance of a department store.

The moment she saw Raina, she immediately went over, linked arms with her intimately, and started chattering away. "My dad is so unreasonable! It’s one thing that he forbade us from talking about what happened at the banquet, but when I just stated the truth of what I saw, he started yelling at me."

Raina gave a bitter smile, and Yvette continued, "Hazel is especially good at putting on an act in front of Aiden."

"Is she?"

"Of course! I wouldn’t lie to you. There’s a lot you don’t know. Hazel is the type who just loves to show off in front of men."

Raina feigned surprise. "Really?"

"Of course it’s true. One time, I was out shopping with a friend and happened to run into Hazel with some guy. From the looks of it, they were probably on their way to dinner. Tell me, for a married woman to go out to eat with another man, isn’t that improper?"

"It’s hard to say. Maybe they’re just regular friends?"

Yvette laughed. "’Just friends’ is just an excuse women use to fool men. Do you really believe that a man and a woman can have a purely platonic relationship? Besides, I secretly had someone look into it."

Yvette loved badmouthing Hazel. "That’s what happened. I saw it with my own two eyes last time. I thought my brother-in-law would get into a fight with Hazel, but the next day, it was like nothing was wrong. They actually seemed to be getting along quite well."

Raina suddenly remembered which time she was talking about.

It was that time Aiden said he had to have hot pot with a client. He had promised to come see her right after, but he never did. He didn’t even answer her calls. Then he disappeared for the whole night. So it turned out, he had been with Hazel.

* * *