Chapter 20

Later that afternoon, Olivia finally saw Zarah in her hospital room. Olivia rushed to hug her best friend.

"Oh my gosh! Thank God that you're safe!" Olivia said in relief.

Zarah hugged her back and apologized to her, "I'm sorry for making you worried, Liv."

"Please don't do it again, okay?"

"Okay, I won't."

Just then, Xavier entered the room and did not even pay attention to Olivia and went to Zarah.

"The doctor already cleared you. You may leave the hospital after your bills are settled." Xavier said and helped her in adjusting the pillow.

"Okay. Tell me how much I owe you and I'll wire it to your account."

Zarah thought that it was very ironic that she wanted to pay back everything that she owed to him yet she kept adding to the list.

Xavier felt dissatisfied as a simple thank you would do for him. She just had to say it nicely.

"Wait, since when did the two of you get close?" Olivia suddenly became suspicious.

Zarah looked at Xavier and she frowned. Were they close?

Well, Xavier did change how he treated her a little.

"If two people experienced something traumatic, it's only natural to rely on each other. It's a part of human nature, Miss Irving." Xavier bluntly said but his gaze was fixed on Zarah.

Olivia was not dumb to not know based on reading Xavier's body language.

"I still don't trust you, Mr. Lockhart. You've put my best friend's life in danger."

"Liv!" Zarah reprimanded her best friend.

"Well, I don't need you to trust me, Miss Irving. As long as Zarah trusts me, I'm fine with it."

Only Zarah's opinion was important to him.

"Mr. Lockhart, could you please give me and my best friend a moment, please?" Zarah asked him and his face turned sour.

He started disliking hearing his surname coming from her mouth. He still preferred hearing his first name from her.

Xavier looked at her face and he knew she was serious. "Fine. I'll be outside. Call me if you need me."

"There's no need. You should go back to Oakridge City first. Liv is here anyways."

"That's right. The best friend has come so there's no need for a third party to be around."

Zarah could not believe that she heard Olivia's childishness. She could only pray that Xavier won't be petty and got back to her best friend.

What she said did not go well with Xavier.

"Zarah, are you trying to dump me because I'm no longer useful to you?"

"No! It's not what you think. I must have taken up your time and kept troubling you. You must be very busy."

A nurse came to check her earlier and confided to her that Xavier did not leave her side the moment she was brought to this room.

Xavier hadn't slept for days and skipped some meals. Xavier also warned the nurse to not let Zarah know about this but she was touched by his gesture and she thought that Zarah should know about this so his efforts would not be wasted.

Zarah appreciated the fact that he went out of character just to cater to her needs.

Zarah wanted to send him home so he could get rest as fatigue started to show on Xavier's face. Or was it his growing facial hair?

"Why do you always think that you're troubling me? Am I such an eyesore to you?" Xavier felt hurt.

"No! It's not what you think. I'm just worried about your health. If something happens to you, I don't know how to face the Old Man." She said while ignoring the fact that there was a third man in the room with them.

Zarah hoped that her answer could satisfy him. It's not easy to please this man.

"Your friend can head back first. We still have to go somewhere," he said.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out later. Don't worry. None of this will happen again." He promised.

Should she believe him then?

"Okay."

"What?! Zaza!" Olivia wanted to protest but Zarah gripped her hand.

When he finally left the room, Zarah was confronted by Olivia. "What's going on, Zaza?" She asked her.

"What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

"Well, you and him. What's going on between you both? Don't tell me you've fallen for his tricks? You completely ignored me while he was here."

"Liv, please. Nothing is going on. Stop putting meanings on things just because you thought that there was something. The closest that I could treat him is being a brother since he is Old Man's son. Above all, he's my boss. So please stop."

Olivia frowned yet apologized for misbehaving.

"I'm sorry Zaza. I just don't like him around you. He screamed danger. You're only with him for a day and now look at what happened?"

Zarah decided to not comment since she did not know what Olivia knew.

"My heart dropped as soon as I saw the news that the campers in Mt. Zaltana were taken hostage by rebels. I thought it might trigger you again. Good thing the military was quick to respond."

'So that's how it was being reported by the news.' Zarah thought.

Xavier did inform her that there were deaths and won't be easily covered up. It was normal to come up with a believable scenario for the authorities and to calm down the public, especially the families of those who died in the incident.

Brian and Cali, we're already on the job. They were monitoring the fifty remaining campers and made sure that none of them would confess what had happened to the militaries who responded if they still cherished their lives.

Xavier's team had tapped on their connections to make sure that the victims would recover.

Zarah felt sorry for the deaths of her fellow hikers and campers. No one deserved to die that way.

Now Zarah wondered if Xavier had connections to the militaries and how big were their operations.

'Does Old Man know that his son is involved in something dangerous and perhaps illicit activities?' She asked herself because she was extremely worried about Isaiah's reaction.

Then, should he convince Xavier to stop for Isaiah's sake? Well, based on his reaction to the mention of his father, it did not go well with him. The rift between the father and son was deeper than she had expected.

Zarah was so lost in her thoughts that Olivia started to become worried that this was a sign of trauma.

"Zaza!" Olivia shook her shoulder and Zarah snapped back to reality.

"Sorry. What did you say?"

"You're not paying attention. Are you sure that you're fine?"

Zarah showed a small smile to reassure Olivia but she knew it was not enough.

"Anyways, Josh is outside. He followed me here as soon as he heard the news about you." Olivia didn't want to inform her but Josh had been pestering her.

Zarah became silent as she did not know if she was ready to meet Josh.

This was such an overwhelming week and her emotions were haywire.

"Also, I think he knew that you knew about his cheating. He said he wanted to explain. Whatever your decision Zaza, I'll take your side." Olivia repeated what she had told her the last time.

"I don't think I'm ready to face him," Zarah confessed her decision. Zarah was afraid that her decision to let go of him was not as strong as she thought it was.

She was afraid that if Josh would apologize, she might forgive and believe him again. It was not easy to forget and let go of someone she deeply cared for and loved.

It would always take time. If she managed to be cold and indifferent, that was because she was angry and upset.

Of course, he cheated on her. But a part of why she was upset was because she thought she could never replace Natalie in his heart.

However, if he proved that what she thought was wrong, she might be swayed and then would believe him.

'He hurt you, Zarah. Don't be easily swayed by his crocodile tears.' Her inner self told her.

"I understand. But I might not convince him to leave unless you'll give him the reassurance that you'll see him."

"I don't know, Liv. Tell him to wait for my call."

Soon, it was time for Zarah to leave the hospital.

Upon her request, Xavier went to the car first while she and Olivia were walking behind him.

They walked out through the back door exit so Josh wouldn't interfere with them.

Olivia watched as the car sped off to the exit.

As the car left the hospital building, she saw Josh running her way.

"Liv, was that Zarah?"

"Yes."

"Who was that man with her?" Olivia raised her eyebrows after she heard his jealous tone.

"Why? Are you jealous? Then, you should have thought about this before you cheated on Zarah." Olivia left Josh in the corner without caring about how he would react to what she said.

Her brother deserved a beating. This should teach him a lesson.

Xavier brought Zarah to a restaurant to eat dinner.

"What are we doing here?" She asked him.

"We're here to eat. What else should we do?" Xavier replied. Zarah did not know why his mood changed again.

The manager greeted and escorted them to their table.

The manager personally handed them the many and so Xavier ordered their food.

"We'll order..."

After the manager left with their orders, the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

"Ahm."

"Tell me why do you want to meet the owner of East Pacific?" Xavier decided to bring up the topic.

"Well, now that you mention it, it's regarding the development project that they are about to do on the land and building where Isaiah's Ramen Restaurant is located."

He already knew why Zarah wanted to meet him. The staff confided their problem to her and so she felt obliged to help them.

"Their problem is not your problem, Zarah. I'm sure my friend won't let them be jobless once the project starts." He explained to her.

Zarah shook her head because it was not her whole concern.

"Old Man Isaiah bought that land and gave that restaurant for me to manage. We have poured our hearts out to make it thrive from scratch. All the memories of Old Man and I and the rest of the staff are in there. I don't want it to be ruined."

Zarah had already made it personal. The kitchen in the restaurant was where she used to hang out with Isaiah. That place played a great part in her high school years and then just like that, it would disappear.

"Then, you should have not given up that place so easily if it was very important for you," Xavier commented and somehow Zarah felt guilty.

"I had no choice. He's a legitimate son. I'm just the adopted one. If I insist on keeping it, all of you would think that I'm only after Old Man's money and property."

Feeling disappointed with what he heard, Xavier said, "Don't put me and him in the same sentence. They and I are not alike."

There was a hint of bitterness in his voice.

He wanted to continue eating but suddenly the food tasted bland in his mouth.

"I might have been mean to you but I had my reasons. However, none of what you're thinking is one of them."

"Oh!"

"You're an incredible woman Zarah and I know you have huge pride in yourself and it's annoying sometimes."

"Is that a compliment? Or are you criticizing me?" She asked him.

"No. What I'm trying to say is, my father, is so d*mn lucky as he has found a daughter who genuinely cared for him and his interest. If that building was so important for you, then you should have fought for it as it was his gift to you."

Zarah was speechless to hear it from Xavier as no one had said that to her.

She cleared her throat and went back to the topic.

"Well, if there's a way that I could buy back the property from him, I'd be happy." She told him.

"Well, how much can you offer? If you're going to use his money to buy it back, then, I won't sell it back to you."

"You won't sell it to me? Why? Why would you be the one selling it to me?" Zarah was confused.

"Because I owned it."

"You owned what?"

"The restaurant, the property, and the East Pacific." Xavier decided to finally reveal this to Zarah. Everyone would know about this eventually.

"What?!" Zarah lost her appetite immediately after she heard him.

Zarah was angry because she felt like she was being played by him.

"I won it from Nikolai. Including his shares from the company when we played poker."

"Why did you not tell me that it's you whom I've been looking for?" She confronted him. He must have made fun of her desperation earlier.

"I did tell you that this matter is very confidential." He simply did not want his grandfather to know that he had established his own business as he had no plans of inheriting the family business and the responsibility that it came with.

He didn't want to be bound by an old tradition.

"Then why are you telling this to me now?!"

"Because I feel that I can trust you now with this. And besides, aren't you glad that I'm the one you've been looking for? If you'd ask me nicely, I might cancel my plan with the entire property."

Zarah wiped her mouth and stopped eating.

He could not believe that this man could be this cunning.

Of all the three sons Isaiah had, Xavier was the worst.

"Finish your food first, Zarah. I don't like that kind of attitude." Xavier knew that she was mad. Furious maybe.

However, he would never tolerate anyone disrespecting food.

"I'm done. You made me sick Xavier." She said and grabbed her bag and left.

She didn't care that Xavier was calling behind her back.

Olivia who had managed to follow them saw Zarah walking out of the restaurant in tears and it made her feel worried.

"Zaza! What's wrong? Did that sc*mbag hurt you? Where is he?"

Zarah entered Olivia's car and said, "Please bring me home, Liv."

Zarah was really mad and upset with Xavier and herself.

***