When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

###Chapter 112: Who Cares About Love?

Besides driving Hazel Hawthorne to work, Aiden Xavier would also come to the company to pick her up after he was done with his own work. After several consecutive days of this, Hazel noticed that Aiden was acting more and more strangely. Normally, since they were husband and wife, there was nothing wrong with Aiden driving her to and from work every day.

But Aiden Xavier had never treated Hazel this way before. Besides, their marriage had always been in name only—a fact they both knew well. It was a marriage of convenience, an act for show, so there was no need to pretend to be an intimate couple in front of others.

That day, Hazel Hawthorne left work as usual. She and Sharon Winters had just reached the company entrance. Since Aiden Xavier had driven her to work that morning, Hazel hadn’t brought her own car. Just as she was about to call a taxi home, Sharon pointed to a black Bentley parked up ahead.

"Isn’t that Aiden Xavier’s car with the insane license plate?" Lately, hanging out with Hazel, Sharon had seen her fair share of insane license plates and rare luxury cars, giving her a renewed, crystal-clear understanding of just how rich Aiden Xavier was, and just how extravagant the lives of the wealthy were.

The cars in their garage were like a common person’s collection of toy cars—he could just pick and drive whichever one he wanted. Every single one was a head-turner on the road, guaranteed to attract everyone’s attention.

Hazel followed Sharon’s gaze and saw it was indeed the same car Aiden had used to drive her to work that morning. But she hadn’t received any calls or messages from him today, so she had subconsciously assumed he was too busy to pick her up.

It wasn’t her place to ask, and she didn’t want to trouble him any further. She had already made a decision in her heart: starting tomorrow, she would drive herself to and from work no matter what. ’This daily routine of waiting for Aiden to pick me up is truly a hassle.’

"I told you Aiden Xavier would come get you, but you didn’t believe me. I should have made a bet with you." Sharon rolled her eyes. "I just don’t get why you seem so resistant to him."

Hazel remained silent. After saying goodbye to Sharon, she walked ahead.

She saw Finn Quinn get out of the driver’s seat and stand respectfully before her. "Young Madam, the Young Master is still in a meeting, so he sent me to pick you up from work."

"Aiden Xavier is still in a meeting?"

"Yes."

Hazel thought for a moment. She felt relatively more at ease with Finn Quinn.

In the car, Finn, much like Aiden, wasn’t much of a talker, so the atmosphere felt rather stuffy. Fortunately, Hazel could handle the silence. She took out her phone to review the documents Holly Shaw had given her earlier that day. Just as she was getting absorbed in her reading, Finn suddenly spoke.

"Young Madam."

Hazel glanced up, but Finn seemed to hesitate, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

"If you have something to say, just say it."

Whatever Finn wanted to say, he ultimately didn’t. This just left Hazel feeling baffled. She wanted to go back to her documents, but her mind, unsettled by his hesitation, couldn’t find peace. She couldn’t help but put her phone away and stare directly at him.

As if sensing her gaze, Finn instantly clammed up and focused intently on driving, not saying another word.

Hazel, however, was completely bewildered. She thought about Aiden’s recent string of unusual behavior, and then about how Finn was always by Aiden’s side. He was Aiden’s closest and most trusted confidant. Perhaps she could get some information out of him.

So, Hazel gave Finn a smile. "What has Aiden Xavier been busy with lately? I get the feeling he’s been rather free."

"Actually, the Young Master is very busy every day. It was only because he absolutely couldn’t get away this afternoon that he arranged for me to pick you up," Finn said, quickly glancing at Hazel’s face in the rearview mirror. "Usually, he insists on driving you himself."

"I was just bored, making small talk." ’You don’t have to keep singing Aiden Xavier’s praises to me.’ "By the way, what’s the situation with Aiden Xavier and Raina Lowell lately? Did they have a fight?"

"No. The Young Master has rarely gone to see Ms. Lowell recently. Ms. Lowell, on the other hand, calls him often, but he hasn’t gone to see her."

"Why?" Hazel asked without thinking. "Doesn’t your young master like Raina Lowell a lot? Has he stopped liking her now?"

’Just as I thought. A man’s heart is so fickle.’

Hazel felt that the only explanation for Aiden’s recent behavior of ignoring Raina was that he no longer liked her.

’But why would Aiden stop liking Raina? He had caused such a huge stir over her before.’

’It seems a man’s promises are all lies. Who cares about love? When it comes to feelings, when they like you, they really like you. And when they don’t, they really don’t. Seeing Aiden’s attitude toward Raina, Hazel found it hard to decide whether emotions were a necessity or just an accessory for men.’

’Perhaps in a man’s world, feelings were neither a necessity nor an accessory. It didn’t matter to them whether they had them or not. The important thing was satisfying their physical needs. That was the true nature of how men treated women.’

’To put it bluntly, it was all about carnal desire.’

’Aiden hadn’t gone to see Raina in a while, yet Raina had been surprisingly quiet. In the past, she would have come looking for trouble with me by now.’

So, Hazel had a persistent feeling that something was off about the current situation, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. She had wanted to pry some information out of Finn, but after chatting with him for a while, all he did was praise Aiden. Of course, that wasn’t the most important part.

The most important thing was the message he conveyed, both explicitly and implicitly: how good Aiden was to her *now*.

For Hazel, who already found it hard to believe that Aiden liked her, this undoubtedly made her feel even more uncomfortable. She didn’t even want to continue the conversation with Finn, so she simply fell silent.

Hazel looked out the window. She knew this wasn’t the way home and was well aware that Finn was taking her to the office.

Hazel couldn’t be bothered to ask why. She knew that if she wanted answers, her only chance was to ask Aiden face-to-face when she saw him.

「Xavier Group.」

Hazel and Aiden had been married for years, yet she had rarely visited him at the Xavier Group. Even Raina Lowell, who had only recently returned from abroad, had been to the Xavier Group more often than Hazel. Most people in the company knew of Raina, so seeing Hazel make a rare appearance, they couldn’t help but start gossiping.

Hazel remained expressionless as Finn led the way, finally showing her into Aiden’s office.

"Young Madam, the Young Master has instructed that you wait for him here."

Hazel grunted in acknowledgment. Since Finn couldn’t give her any answers, she had no choice but to wait patiently for Aiden to finish his work.

The office, much like Aiden himself, was cold and stark. There were no superfluous decorations, and the ones that existed reflected his taste—the entire color scheme was black, white, and gray.

Bored, Hazel sat down in Aiden’s chair. Her eyes unintentionally fell on an open file on the desk. She swore she didn’t mean to snoop, but a few words on the document were just too conspicuous.

Even if she wanted to ignore it, a burning curiosity compelled her to shift her gaze back to the file.

*****