Chapter 71: The Conflict
"Your... mum?" The words left my lips in a voice that was barely above a whisper as I muttered more to myself. I brought my knees together, buttoning my shirt absentmindedly as my mind buzzed with thoughts and questions were swirling inside my head like a damn hurricane.
I looked over at him with wide eyes and a slight frown etched onto my face, resting between my brows.
He was still staring at the piece of paper with this look etched onto his face, a look that I simply couldn’t describe with words. I think it was a mixture of betrayal and hurt, but why? I didn’t understand it yet. One thing I knew for certain was that I haven’t seen him look this way for a very long time now.
"What? What are you..." my voice trailed off. I started to feel the panic settling in and I found myself extending my arm to grab the paper from his hands. My eyes scanned it in a hurry and almost immediately, recognition flashed past my eyes when realisation dawned upon me.
A surprised gasp left my parted lips this time as my mind tried to make sense of the situation.
It was no ordinary paper, it was in fact the same piece of cheque that Paula had given to me earlier as she tried to convince me to leave her son. How did she... How did it appear in my purse?
Then it clicked inside my head and as if on cue, the image popped into my mind. It must have been during the moment she grabbed me as I tried to leave and somehow she managed to slip it into the purse without me noticing.
I finally tore my gaze away from the cheque and closed my parted lips. I looked up at him to see that emotions were running wild in his dark eyes, a look of disbelief masked his features, a storm of emotions whirling inside of him.
I reached out to grab his arm, "Xavier, it’s not like that," I quickly explained but he only pulled away, hurt evident in his eyes. "Please, let me explain," I pleaded, desperation seeping through my words yet he wouldn’t listen to anything that I was saying.
"You were going to leave me..." he muttered under his breath in realisation as he stared ahead with a blank look etched onto his face. His eyes appeared empty and he didn’t look like himself at all, he looked like a whole different person.
It was at this moment when the feeling of deja vu washed over me, engulfing me whole, swallowing me entirely. I felt as though I had seen this scene before.
The memories from over 3 years ago came rushing back into my mind all at once. I was transported back in time, brought back to the day when Xavier was hiding behind the wall watching me wrap my arms around another man and we locked lips.