I blinked. A look of shock and disbelief crossed my face in an instant.
"…What?" The word finally left my lips as I stared at her with a blank look etched into my face. "I thought that…" my voice trailed off and she interrupted me, cutting me off mid-sentence.
"That I like you? " She asked, completing my sentence and a low chuckle emerged from her throat. "Oh, please… Aurelia. You should have known better, did you think that I would have forgotten what you did to my precious son a few years ago?" She sneered with a disdainful scorn as she glared at me with an intense look swirling in the depths of her eyes.
My brows were furrowed together and a frown crept onto my face.
"What are you talking about, Paula?" I asked, my voice laced with a hint of confusion as my mind buzzed with thoughts. "I don't know what…"
"Cut the bullshit, Aurelia," she snapped curtly. "You cheated on my son and left him 3 years ago, fleeing to another country with another man," she accused, each word that left her lips dripping with malice.
My eyes widened and I was rendered speechless at that moment, I simply didn't know how to say it or explain anything. I knew that I couldn't deny it, because it was true. Well, half-true at least. They didn't know that I only did it so that he would leave me after my mum threatened to ruin his business and career. I didn't have a choice back then… but not that Paula would know any better.
"Paula, listen… I…" I stammered, struggling to find the words to say.
She slammed her palm against the table between us, the loud bang echoing in the room and ringing in my ears. She rose from her seat as she stared me down, her body hovering above me.
"Don't bother explaining," she spat, her sharp voice piercing through the tension that was lingering in the air. "There's nothing you can say or do that will make me change my mind."
I reached out to grab onto her hands but she only recoiled at my touch and yanked her hand out of my grasp, eyeing me with disgust and anger, like I was nothing more than a piece of gum stuck to the sole of her heel.
"Paula please just hear me out—" I pleaded in desperation but my words only fell on deaf ears.
"Just leave him while I'm being nice. You don't know what I'm capable of…" she continued to warn me as she gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at me.
I sucked in a deep breath, keeping my gaze steady on her, looking her dead in her eyes as I also stood up this time. At that sudden moment, it felt as though a switch flipped inside of me and my demeanour shifted entirely. I let the next few words roll off the tip of my tongue.
"I'm not leaving him, Paula," I said, a look of certainty stretched across my face despite the fact that my heart was pounding loudly against my chest, threatening to burst out at any second.
She raised her perfectly groomed brow at me. "What? You are not leaving him? What makes you think you have a choice?"
"I don't care. It doesn't matter whether or not I have a choice. The choice is mine and his only. I'm not leaving him no matter what you say! It's not going to happen, unless I'm dead!"
She took a step forward, closing the gap between us as our faces were now only inches apart. I watched as the corners of her lips curled upwards into a slight smirk as a knowing look gleamed in her eyes.
"Don't tempt me, Aurelia," she warned. "You should know better than to say such things. I could kill you if I wanted to," she threatened in a low voice, her eyes had an evil glint to it as a snicker escaped from her parted lips.
She spun on her heels to leave, leaving me speechless as I stared at her retreating back and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
She walked out of the room with a smile etched onto her face, pretending as if nothing happened back there. I followed behind her, and I kept my head hung low as tears started to form at the brim of my eyes just at the thought of potentially losing Xavier lingering at the back of my mind.
I can't let that happen… again.
I bit my quivering lip hard, trying my best to hold back my tears when I heard Xavier's voice reach my ears.
"Aurelia, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" He asked as soon as he laid eyes on me, his voice filled with concern and worry and I could feel his gaze on me.
I refused to look up, mumbling softly under my breath instead.
"I'm okay." I quickly reached up to wipe my tears when he stepped forward and lifted my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes.
"What happened?"
I couldn't answer him and he turned to look at his mother with a frown on his face.
"Did you do something?" He questioned, his voice dripping with accusation. "What did you say to her?!" He snapped at his mother as his features hardened.
Paula turned to face her son as they locked eyes from a distance. "What are you talking about, son? I didn't do anything at all," she claimed, feigning innocence as she looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Don't lie to me," he insisted, his voice filled with certainty. "She was fine before and it was only after you talked to her that she started crying. I know you did something. So tell me!" He yelled this time, raising his voice at his mother, something he had never done before.
"Xavier Conner Wilder!" His father's voice boomed loudly this time as he chided his son. "You do not raise your voice at your mother," he warned while a slight smirk started to form on her lips, knowing that her husband will be supporting her.
A deep chuckle erupted from Xavier's throat as he tilted his head to the side to face his father. "I knew she said something to Aurelia," he repeated, his voice icy.
"That's no excuse to yell at your mother." Charles stepped forward to get closer to his son, his voice dropped to a hush whisper as if he was afraid that I would hear him. "Besides… Aurelia is just an outsider. How could you protect her over your own mother who gave birth to you?" He murmured next to his ear.
I watched as Xavier's face darkened within the next second. "Aurelia is not an outsider. She is my wife," he declared. "And so I won't let you or mum speak ill of her or talk down to her," his finger pointed at the both of them.
Paula rushed forward to get to Xavier's side.
"Are you seriously choosing her…" she sneered as her eyes flickered over to glare at me before she gazed up at her son with wide eyes. "...over me?"
Her demeanour shifted in a split second as her eyes began to water, tears twinkling in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on him. "I'm your mother…" she said, her voice shaky as she said in between sobs with a pitiful look etched onto her face. "I was the one who took care of you when you grew up, is this how you are going to repay me? After all that I have done for you?"
"I'm not choosing anyone, don't bring this bullshit into the conversation and just tell me what you did! If Aurelia had to be the one who tells me then I'm never forgiving you," he warned, his deep voice heavy with a threat.
Paula finally dropped her pitiful act when she realised it wasn't going to work and that he was never going to buy it. She let out a loud scoff as she rolled her eyes in a dramatic manner.
"Fine, I will tell you, alright!" She blurted out in a fit of anger. She jutted her finger out to point at me as her gaze flickered over to me with clear disdain written all over her face. "Did you forget that Aurelia cheated on you 3 years ago?! She left you with another man for god sake! How could you take her back and much more… marry her?!"
I watched quietly as Xavier clenched his jaw tightly as he kept his gaze steady. "You don't know what you are talking about, mum," he said as his face bore a serious expression. "So stop talking," he demanded, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.
"Did you forget all the tears you shed and –"
"That's enough!" He yelled, cutting her off. "I don't want to hear it and I don't want to be reminded of that."
Silence lapsed between us and he reached down to grab my hand as our fingers interlaced with each other.
"Come on, let's go," he announced and pulled me along with him when Paula's voice reached our ears once again.
"I know that she's pregnant."