Chapter 39: Behind the Hatred

Josh opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was the dryness of his throat and the stinging pain in his hand.

"Wa-ter!" He mumbled a little louder this time and Natalie heard it.

"Josh?!" Mrs. Irving cried in excitement after she saw his son waking up. She didn't realize she had pushed Natalie to the side. Natalie didn't feel sad about it. She instead went to get a glass of water and put a straw on it.

"Mom?" Josh asked with his hoarse voice.

"Oh my goodness! You're awake!"

Natalie walked to the other side of the bed and gave him water.

As he saw Natalie in the room, Josh went furious. He swatted her hand away and the glass of water spilled on the floor.

Natalie was shocked. She could not believe what had just happened.

"Josh!" Mrs. Irving was also caught off-guard by her son's outburst.

Meanwhile, Trixie looked at the scene unfolding in front of her.

"You! Stay away from me!" Josh's emotions went up and his heart became erratic so the doctors rushed inside.

They were asked to leave the room while they were trying to help Josh.

Mrs. Irving pulled Natalie out of the room as the latter was rooted on the ground.

Tears started falling from her eyes and Mrs. Irving felt bad.

"It's fine, Natalie. Josh's probably confused." Mrs. Irving said to comfort her.

Trixie only smirked while looking at her mother and Natalie.

She could not understand how her mother could not see that Natalie was a fraud.

She acted like an angel around Mrs. Irving and Josh but she was vicious with everyone.

She was even jealous of how Josh treated them. Like seriously? They're his sisters!

That's how selfish she was when it came to Josh.

She's a bully and disrespectful to people who had a lower status than their family.

After all, Natalie was raised as a princess by her father and mother. She's the only granddaughter from both families. Therefore, she felt so special.

Trixie felt that Natalie was doing this because she didn't like to see Josh happy with another woman. Especially since the other party was Zarah.

Natalie hated Zarah to the bones. The adopted.

'Maybe she's already tired of fooling around and so she came back destroying relationships,' she thought.

She was glad that her brother didn't fall to her tricks again.

However, she disapproved of how Josh would still secretly see her. 'Friends with benefits?'

Trixie chuckled. Whatever the results, she deserved it. She placed herself in this situation, therefore, she should bear whatever the consequences of her actions were.

After thirty minutes, the doctor came out and advised them to not stress the patient.

Although she didn't want to, she reluctantly leave the hospital.

She looked at Trixie and tried to say an apology but Trixie looked away.

She hugged Mrs. Irving and told her that she would visit the hospital tomorrow.

Natalie regretted how she was so mean to the twins in the past. She was so young and immature back then. And they were friends with Zarah.

She hated Zarah. Why?

Because she's the exact opposite of her at school yet she was able to capture the Irving twins' attention.

Pretty much, Zarah also dressed ugly at school. Zarah's clothes were old and faded unlike hers which was always on the trend.

She thought that Zarah was born to irritate her.

And she could also feel that Zarah was someone very mysterious and her gazes freaked her out.

Therefore, the twins became collateral damage to it.

As she wanted to fix the relationship she ruined between her and Josh, she wanted to reconcile with her future in-laws.

It seems like she still had a long way to go.

She should eliminate Zarah from the equation. Perhaps, this would help her.

She finally understood why she hated her more after learning that her grandfather was her adopted father.

And she insulted Isaiah once because she wanted to hurt Zarah.

She didn't know. She had no idea that it was her grandfather Theodore. He wore a beard, that's why she couldn't recognize him from the photos. And he called himself Isaiah, not Theodore.

So, when she learned that she had insulted her grandfather, she was embarrassed for the first time in her life.

She wanted to look good when Isaiah came back but then, the latter remembered how she belittled him and the ramen that he cooked with love.

Yes, it was too much.

However, in her defense, she was young and impulsive. She didn't mean much of it.

Just when she was almost near the entrance of the hospital, she heard her phone ringing.

As she checked who called, she saw her mother's phone number.

"Mom? What happened?" She immediately asked after she heard her mother crying on the phone.

"Did he hurt you again?" She added.

"No, Natalie. It's the mansion." Paula managed to say in between her sob.

"What about the mansion?"

"We lost it."

"Lost? How?" Natalie was confused.

"Your dad lost in through gambling. And the new owner kicked us out."

Paula did not tell her that Xavier now owned the house.

"What?! Where are you, Mom?" She asked in worry.

"I'm currently staying at the hotel." She sniffed and wiped the tears in her eyes and tried to calm herself.

"I was not able to save our things from the rubble. It happened so fast," she continued.

"What?!"

"Child, I called your grandma. She said that I should divorce your dad should I want her help." Paula told her daughter.

Her maternal grandma and her mother had a feud after the former knew what her parents had done to her.

They put their daughter's life in danger after being forced to abort the baby.

Even though she disliked Josh to be her granddaughter's boyfriend, she thought that they should have let her keep the baby after knowing the danger it could bring to Natalie's health.

Paula realized the extent of what they did when Natalie left without telling her where she went. She looked for her everywhere and promised to apologize should she find her.

Looking for Natalie was hard as her mother hid her daughter from her.

Meanwhile, Nikolai did nothing and became addicted to gambling.

He didn't even feel sorry for his daughter or tried to look for her. He thought that Natalie would return should she run out of cash.

However, she didn't. She managed to survive.

Her mother found her and apologized profusely. Despite everything, she decided to forgive her. However, she no longer trusted her mother.

Paula promised to bring her daughter's trust back.

Natalie said that she'd trust her mother should she divorce Nikolai.

And now that even her maternal grandmother told her mom what to do, she was curious to know what her mother would do next.

"So, have you made a decision?"

"I decided to divorce your father."

Natalie heaved a sigh of relief after she heard her mother.

"That's good, Mom. I'll support you."

"Natalie, he's still your father, you know." Paula reminded her of that.

"Well, if he could bring back my son, I might forgive him," Natalie said and ended the call.

She returned to Oakridge City for two purposes. Other than taking back Josh, she wanted to save her mother from her toxic father.

She knew the extent of her father's gambling addiction. Her grandmother told her about it. She kept on calling her irresponsible and how she regretted letting her mother marry him back then.

The only consolation was that they were able to give her a pretty granddaughter.

The only problem she had now was her grandmother still didn't like Josh for her.

There were other extraordinary young men out there. Why should she pick Josh of all people?

"I love him." She mumbled to herself before entering the car.

Even though she did not talk to her dad, she knew that he was no longer the CEO of the company and even lost his shares to someone.

And that person was her uncle from her grandfather's second marriage. She hadn't met him nor heard about him.

She wanted to meet him but he was always busy.

If her guess that he was targeting her father was right, then, she was willing to befriend him.

As for her grandfather Theodore, she'd already lost hope in him.

There's no use as she was sure he would side with Zarah always.

See, Zarah had been her problem all these years. She should do something about it.

She thought that as long as Zarah was there, she'd never be happy in this life.

Meanwhile, after clearing the mansion of impurities, Xavier left and was driven back to the villa by Rupert.

He had no other appointments for the night. So he thought of staying in his study until morning when he reached the villa.

As they arrived, Rupert went to open the main door for him. The villa was almost pitch black which meant that everyone was asleep.

Rupert also excused himself and called it a day.

Xavier didn't have to flick the switch as there were LED lights on the stairs and some motion detector lights on the walls that would light up when someone was nearby.

He was conscious about saving electricity even though their main supply was solar energy.

As he walked to the second floor, he didn't go straight to his room but to Zarah's room.

He wanted to check if she was resting or not.

He checked the knob and saw that it was unlocked.

He opened the door and slowly entered. However, he was surprised to see the bed was empty. Her floor lamp was on, too.

He wondered where she went.

Before he could start looking for her, Zarah spoke from behind.

"What are you doing in my room?" She asked him.

Zarah was in her pajamas and the fabric was rather thin.

He saw her n.i.p.p.l.e.s poking from it and even with the orange light, she could tell that the man was blushing.

Zarah realized it was too late and so she wrapped her arms around her chest while trying to pull something to cover it.

She found the robe and wore it immediately.

"I'm sorry." He apologized first before he continued, "I wanted to check if you're asleep."

It was already eleven in the evening.

"I'm about to. I just got down to drink water as I forgot to bring a glass with me." She answered him.

She then realized that he was still in a suit and so she asked, "How about you? And where have you been?"

Zarah thought that her second question was out of line.

"Well, to be honest, I've just gotten back from a previous appointment. And I passed by your room and thought of checking if you're asleep or not. I swear that if you're asleep, I'd leave."

Xavier became a little bit defensive in the latter part.

Zarah nodded and she looked at the door.

"Well, I'm awake so what are you going to do then?"

'You have no idea what I want to do to you, Zarah.' Xavier told himself as thoughts of their entangled naked bodies came to his mind.

Xavier suddenly felt his blood flowing down his nether region and he started blushing.

He thought that he should leave while he was still able to control himself. But before he would do so, he had to answer her question first.

"I just wanted to ask if your head is aching again." He told her.

"Oh. I'm not having a headache now. Thank you for what you've done for me earlier." Zarah could not remember if she did say her thanks earlier or didn't. So she was telling him.

Zarah then realized that Xavier was starting to look uneasy and so she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." 'One cold shower and I'll be fine.'

Xavier could feel his body on fire as Zarah's natural beauty made him hornier.

"I should leave. Go and take a rest," he told her before he dashed out of the room leaving her in confusion.

Xavier entered his room and jumped into the shower without even removing his suit.

He thought a quick shower would do. He underestimated his attraction to her as a quick shower didn't help him get rid of his b.o.n.e.r.

He had no other choice but to relieve himself from the pain not once but five times.

After he showered, he left the bathroom with his bath towel wrapped around his toned body.

He thought he could finally get some rest.

But, he didn't expect to see Zarah in his room.

Zarah on the other hand was shocked to see his toned body.

Xavier who still had a little frustration in him walked toward Zarah with a little bit of aggressiveness.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and Zarah unconsciously stepped back.

"I--" Zarah was speechless.

How could she tell him when she could not explain why she came there in the first place?

And besides, she witnessed something embarrassing, and should she tell him, she was sure that he won't let her off the hook.

***