When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

Chapter 100: The Little Girl from the Past

Aiden Xavier had seen Hazel Hawthorne drink before, but he had never seen her drunk. He sighed, watching as she stubbornly refused to get out of the car. He started to reach over to help her with her seatbelt, but a defiant look from Hazel stopped him cold.

Aiden Xavier hesitated for a moment, his cool gaze fixed on Hazel’s flushed face. She seemed oblivious to his intense stare, lost in her own world.

"Hazel."

The night was exceptionally still. A rustling wind stirred the branches outside, their leaves casting flickering shadows in the gloom. Hearing Aiden Xavier call her name, Hazel finally lifted her eyelids lazily, favoring him with a look that seemed like a great act of charity.

"Let’s go home."

The car was parked right at their front door, but because Hazel refused to get out, they couldn’t go inside. Aiden wasn’t about to leave her in the car by herself, either.

Hazel was silent for a long time. She was a mess of conflict and confusion inside. ’What am I even making a fuss about?’ She didn’t know. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Aiden Xavier with another woman, so why had she lost her composure so completely today?

She had made Aiden Xavier sit beside her, but she didn’t even know what she wanted to hear from him. Despite knowing he wouldn’t explain a thing, her heart still clung to a sliver of hope, wanting to hear about him and Raina Lowell from his own mouth.

After a long silence in which Aiden Xavier didn’t speak again, Hazel quietly unbuckled her seatbelt. Without a word, she got out and started staggering toward the house.

The path ahead was dark, but she had walked it so many times that she was sure she wouldn’t fall. She could even describe her surroundings with her eyes closed.

Aiden Xavier moved quickly to steady her, but Hazel heartlessly shrugged him off. Without even a glance

outstretched, empty hand seemed to mock him. Aiden could only follow silently behind Hazel, afraid that if she fell, he wouldn’t be there in time to

to ignore him and headed upstairs. She knew Aiden Xavier was right behind her. When she tried to shut her bedroom door, Aiden raised a hand to block it. Hazel tried several times to force it closed but couldn’t, so she finally

Xavier, what on earth do you want?" Hazel demanded impatiently. ’I gave you a chance

say them. He slowly lowered his hand from the door.

and began to cry, the heartache too much to bear. She stifled her sobs. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, yet there was no one to witness the

-------------------------------------

his desk, holding a faded old photograph. It showed a little girl with braided pigtails and a

the girl in the photo bore a slight resemblance to the Hazel of today. The photograph had always been in Aiden Xavier’s album. He wouldn’t have even taken it out again if Hazel hadn’t asked him if he remembered the little girl who

why he’d had Finn Quinn dig into the past. As fate would have it, his efforts paid off, and he learned that the little girl Hazel spoke of was

girl who used to love following

he had no memory of her

the album and sat at his desk, lost in thought. He mulled over Hazel’s recent, unusual behavior. A conclusion

Lowell’s older brother. Once Raina was old enough, she liked to tag along with them. Everyone around them assumed he and Raina were a couple. He never paid any mind to such gossip, so naturally, he never bothered to correct

everyone took Aiden Xavier’s silence as a tacit admission that he and Raina Lowell were indeed a couple. Gradually, whenever a girl confessed her feelings to him, regardless of his response, she would either start avoiding him or transfer schools a few days

cared what other people thought, and

joked about him and Raina, saying that Raina would marry Aiden Xavier when she grew up. The two were not only childhood sweethearts but also a perfect match in terms

He picked up the phone on his desk. It was

let it ring for a long time without answering. A moment later, a text message from Raina