I heard Xavier's deep voice sliced through the air in a panic as everything else seemed to go silent at that moment.
Before I knew it, I felt someone grab me by my arm and pull me back in a split second. And the next thing I knew, I was falling.
I had fallen and landed on top of him and we were now chest to chest, our faces merely a hair width apart as we locked eyes.
It felt as though time had come to a standstill.
I could feel his hot breath fanning the nape of my neck as he breathed heavily to catch his breath and recover from the fall. He had broken the fall for me and crashed hard into the ground while the driver skidded off faraway before we even realised.
At that moment, any feelings of anger disappeared as I looked at him with worry and concern evident on my face. I pulled myself off of him and my hands reached to caress his face.
"Oh god… Xavier, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
He didn't say a word as he slowly sat himself back up.
"Ahh…" he grimaced in pain as he reached up to touch his shoulder.
"Why? What happened? Did you dislocate your shoulder?" I asked as I looked at him with wide eyes, my heart racing inside my chest from the pure adrenaline that was pumping through every single vein inside of my body. "I'm calling an ambulance. We are going to the hospital."
I was already reaching for my phone when he grabbed my hand to stop me. He looked at me and our eyes met. I watched him crack a smile as a low chuckle emerged from his throat and amusement danced in his eyes.
"I'm joking, I'm fine. I was just teasing you," he confessed with a grin etched onto his face.
I glared at him with a serious expression that masked my features.
"It's not funny!" I protested as I proceeded to playfully punch him in his shoulder. This time a soft yelp escaped his lips and his face contorted into a pained expression.
"Oww… I saved you, and you thank me with a punch to my shoulder?" He asked with an amused smile etched onto his face.
A small frown crept onto my face, resting between my brows as the memories from before came flooding my mind. "Don't forget that I have not forgiven you," I reminded.
"Well… are you planning to?" He continued to tease with a smile.
I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared at him.
"I'm being serious, Xavier," I deadpanned without a single smile on my face. "I just saw you kissing another woman. How are you going to explain that? You lied to me."
He reached for my hands, and our fingers interlaced with one another. This time, I didn't pull away as I let him hold onto my hands. My features softened and his posture relaxed as our eyes met.
"Aurelia…" my name left his lips in a soft voice. "I'm going to need you to trust me on this one."
I looked at him and nodded after a short pause.
"That woman," he began. "She told me she has a project that she wanted to discuss with me and she wanted to meet me here. I saw the proposal she sent over and thought that it had potential so I came to meet her. I swear I didn't know she would pull something like this. She leaned in to kiss me before I could even react."
"Then how do you explain the picture?"
"What picture?" He asked, clearly confused as he looked at me with his brows knitted together. "What are you talking about?"
I pulled out my phone and showed it to him. It turned out that she had tripped and used it as an excuse to grab onto his arm.
I hadn't realised it earlier but now that I think about it, everything seemed to be so coincidental. How was the picture captured at the right time? How did I coincidentally see them kissing in the cafe? It was almost as if the person knew. It almost felt as though it was… planned.
At that moment, everything clicked in my head and realisation dawned upon me after all this while and I was finally thinking straight.
Evelyn. It must be her!
It all made sense now. She was actively trying to sabotage and ruin my marriage with Xavier so that she could get him all to herself. The more I thought about it, the angrier I felt and I could practically feel the rage coursing through my body. He must have noticed it.
"... are you okay? What's going on?" He asked, his voice laced with concern as he looked over at me.
"Evelyn…" I mumbled under my breath. "She came to find me yesterday to threaten me and taunt me. I bet she was the one who sent me the picture, I bet she instructed the woman to kiss you. She's trying to ruin our relationship!"
***
I found myself standing in front of the Lloyd's family mansion after what seemed like forever. I watched as Evelyn walked out alone and almost immediately, I felt anger pulsing through my veins as I clenched my fists tightly beside my body.
I marched towards her, closing the gap between us in a couple of seconds. A look of surprise crossed her face as we locked eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a smug expression.
"You!" I snarled, my voice dripping with poison. "You were the one who sent me the picture, wasn't it? You sent that woman to try and seduce my husband to cause a misunderstanding between us right?!" I yelled as I glared at her with disdain and contempt swimming in my dark eyes.
She looked at me and a smirk morphed itself onto her lips as her eyes glimmered with a knowing look. She stepped forward, coming even closer towards me.
"I did, and what about it?"