Chapter 7

After leaving The Majestic Lounge, Noelle hailed a cab to get home. She had moved out of her childhood home a long time ago because of her messy relationship with her family and because it made it easier for her to go to and come back from work.

When Noelle got out of the cab, she stood and stared dazedly at the neighborhood she lived in. Xavier had helped her move out back then, and they even had plans to get engaged and then married when the time was right. She never imagined the entire thing to be nothing more than a joke and to be later reduced to nothing more than the ‘instigator’.

She felt like everything that happened yesterday was just a bad nightmare.

“Are you home, Noelle?”

When Noelle walked out of the elevator, she saw Winter standing by her front door with a worried look on her face. Her brows knitted themselves together instinctively, and she was about to turn and walk away when someone grabbed her arm. “Noelle.”

Noelle froze and tried shaking her arm free of Xavier’s grasp. However, he kept a tight grip on her arm as he said, “Where have you been? Winter and I spent the entire night waiting for you. Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

“Worried?” Noelle scoffed as she looked up and gazed directly into Xavier’s eyes. “Would you ever be worried about me?”

“Don’t do this, Noelle,” Winter said, her high heels clicking against the floor as she brushed Xavier’s arm away without batting an eyelid and held Noelle instead. “Noelle, I know this is our fault, but Xavier and I truly are in love. You were gone the entire year and have no idea what he went through. I was the one who stayed with him and took care of him, so…”

“Hah… You stayed with him and took care of him? Gosh. Thanks so much for taking care of Xavier when you already knew he was my boyfriend. Do you have a conscience, Winter Shaw?” Noelle roared. When she felt a sharp pain traveling up her arm, she frowned and instinctively shoved Winter away.

Winter let out a scream as she stumbled backward.

Xavier hurried over and grabbed Winter by the waist. A disappointed look appeared on his face as he swept his sharp gaze over Noelle. “This is too much, Noelle. Winter and I might have wronged you, but what’s done is done, and we’ve already gotten engaged. Why can’t you accept the truth for what it is?!”

“I’m not accepting the truth for what it is? Come on, you two are the ones who appeared on my doorstep.” Noelle never imagined Xavier would ever point fingers at her because of Winter. “Get a grip on yourself. Didn’t I give you my blessings during your engagement party? Go ahead and get engaged if that’s what you want to do, and get married too for all I care. Just stay out of my sight. You disgust me!”

Noelle screamed at Xavier and Winter, “Get the f*ck out of here right now!”

“Noelle, how could you do this?!” Winter cried, an aggrieved look on her face as she gazed at Noelle as if Noelle was in the wrong instead of her. “Xavier and I just wanted to set things straight with you. We had no intention of hurting you. We… We’re just… truly in love with each other.”

“Truly in love? That’s disgusting,” Noelle said as she gazed at Winter coldly. In the past, she merely thought her sister had a weak personality, and she had always let Winter have her way because she had saved her life once. However, that did not mean she would allow Winter to bully her relentlessly. She recalled how Winter would always eye whatever Noelle wanted over the years. “Winter, if you’re so committed to stealing someone else’s man, you can have him. I’m not interested in trash.”

“You…” Xavier gave Noelle an exasperated look. He raised his hand and was about to swing it toward Noelle’s face when someone else grabbed his hand.

Winter shook her head, her eyes teary as she wrapped both her hands around Xavier’s arm. “Don’t do this, Xavier. Noelle is still young and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I don’t blame her.”