Chapter 32 - Love and Hurt.

"How much did you put in his drink?"

Nina Hampson, Daphne's trusted and closest friend shouted into the other end of her phone.

"What do you mean how much did I put? I poured everything in it!"

Daphne shouted nervously as she  glanced at Xavier passed out on the cold marble floor. He had been lying in the same position for about a minute and Daphne was freaking out.

"Everything!!! Daphne are you fucking crazy! Do you want to kill him?"

The voice of Daphne's agitated friend Nina rang through her phone.

"Oh fuck you Nina! You shouldn't have given me the whole vial if you didn't want me to use it all. What do I do now?"

She asked as she bit her nails nervously, pacing around the bedroom with an hot pink dressing robe she found at the vanity table. It was most likely Amelia's and Daphne honestly could care less who it belonged to. She had much bigger trouble to deal with.

"I strongly suggest you take him to the hospital before you have a dead man on your hands Daphne. And fast."

"Oh God Nina! I swear I'm never taking your advice again. What if something bad happens to Xavier. What the fuck was in that vial?"

She screamed as she ran to check Xavier's pulse. It was still there, there was a sigh of relief from Daphne as she laid next to Xavier on the cold marble floor, but he was going to kill her if he figured out what she did. She started praying he ended up having amnesia.

"I don't know, some new drug in the drug market that's a mix of meth and some other weird shit. It really fucks people up Daphne. And I think Xavier most have overdosed on it since you're supposed to use half of the vial! Get him to the hospital!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll call an ambulance. What am I going to tell them Nina?'

"Ugh! I don't know. Tell them he took a sedative or something. Just don't let them know what he took or we are certainly dead for sure."

"And whatever you do, deny it till your last breath Daphne."

Her friend added as Daphne ended the call.



Xavier woke up tired and bleary eyed. The hospital lights were blinding but he struggled to open up his eyes. He woke up and found himself connected to an intravenous drip and monitors. He closed his eyes as quickly as he opened them.
At the edge of the door there was a  dispenser for rubber gloves, hand sanitizer and soap.
He laid there quietly, keeping his eyes closed, matching his breaths to the beeping of the machines that surrounded the bed, the only indications of his heartbeat, his existence.
His legs were numb. Curiosity slowly pried open his swollen eyes to meet a dismal view of a magnolia colored hospital room, the door a navy blue. He immediately knew it was locked, it was a private room after all. He was going to be given as much privacy as possible.

His first thought went out to Amelia. He wondered how she was holding up. He didn't remember much but he was sure that she had found Daphne in bed with him and she must have thought of the wrong things. He had to explain what happened to her. He didn't even want to think about what she was thinking of. How badly she thought of him, most especially how hurt he was. He had to see her. He thought of the things that could be going through her mind and he knew she must be deeply hurt.

Lucy Greene was the first to visit Xavier. She was his aunt and as soon she heard the news, she dropped off her kids at the babysitter's and rushed to the hospital. The reports she had been hearing had been conflicting, after rushing to Xavier's house, the staff told her that he fell ill and was rushed to the hospital, some of the staff told her that he had been with Daphne while he fell ill and Amelia had seen them together. She didn't know what to think.

"So you found drugs in his system?"

She asked again and the doctor nodded.

"It's obvious that he was under the influence of drugs. The results of the toxicology reports would be out today and I will show you."

Lucy shook her head wearily.

"But, Xavier doesn't do drugs. He has never done drugs! He's my nephew and I've known him for twenty nine years."

The doctor shrugged.

"People take grief differently. Perhaps his grandmother's death affected him more than we all thought."

"Of course it would. He lost my sister and her husband a few years ago, they were all so close and Xavier hasn't really been doing too well after that. Can I see him now?"

She asked as she pointed to the door leading to his private room and the doctor nodded.

"Yes, he's fine now. The drug is completely out of his system."

"Thank you doctor."

Walking into Xavier's hospital room, she found her nephew awake, he was lying on his bed with eyes opened but he was staring at the ceiling. His phone was in his hands and he looked a bit frustrated. He looked at his aunt and smiled a bit. He looked tired and he was pale. His lips were chapped and his bright blue eyes seemed to have dimmed.

"Xavier..."

His aunt called out as she gave him a small hug.

"Have you heard from Amelia?"

Xavier asked and his aunt shook her head. She was surprised that Amelia wasn't around but she was positive that it had something to do with whatever happened in the house and she didn't want to jump into hasty conclusions.

"No, I haven't."

There was a long silence as the disappointed look on Xavier's face began to show as he slowly looked away.

"Xavier, did you really use drugs?"

She asked softly and he shrugged.

"You know I wouldn't. It's Daphne, she must have slipped something in my drink?"

"Really? Daphne?!!! Why would she do that?"

She asked with her voice raised and Xavier shrugged.

"I'm guessing it's all to make Amelia think I cheated. But I didn't take any drugs. I swear I didn't."

"Okay. I believe you."

She said as she reached out to one of his cold hands and squeezed it hard.

"I know it's hard... Losing Nana."

Xavier closed his eyes briefly, slowly savouring his memories.

"It is. She always told me the cancer would take her, I just never wanted to believe it."

"She's in a much better place now."

She whispered and Xavier almost disagreed with her. He hated it whenever people tried to justify death with the feeling that the person was in a better place. The truth was, there was no other place better for his Nana than by his side. Because that's where she promised she would always be.

"Amelia... I need to see her, I need to clear so many things up."

"What would she be angry about at a time like this! Nana just died!"

"I know, I know. But she didn't deserve whatever she saw. I know she must have many questions, she must also think that I cheated on her but I didn't."

"Ugh! I'm so sorry. Don't you think you should take legal action on Daphne though? She drugged you!"

Xavier was mildly conflicted, he wanted to be sure that Daphne drugged him before taking legal actions. But he didn't want to be the reason she went to jail if she truly did it.

"Yes, I know. Okay, I'm going to talk to her first. To know exactly why she did something as demented as that."

"But first, I need to get through Amelia."

"Have you tried calling her?"

Xavier nodded.

"I really need to get out of here. There's so many things I have to do." Xavier said as he tugged at the drip in his hand till it came out, blood spilling as he did it. His aunt looked at him with shocking bewilderment.

"What? You can't leave now!!"

Xavier shrugged as he swung his legs out of bed and started to walk on his slightly wobbly legs, his shirt was on one of the couches and he hastily put it on, not mindful of the blood that was still spilling from his hand from where his drip was.

"Xavier! Stop this!" She screamed as she started pressing his nurse call button in the room, Xavier however did not listen and he continued to dress up.

"I can and I will leave. There's nothing anyone here would do about it. I need to see Amelia."

He stated as he started strutting out, a bewildered nurse walked in and saw that his hand was bleeding.

"Mr Black! Why are you doing?!!"

Xavier shrugged.

"I'm fine already."

"Okay! Okay! I know you are but you can't go out looking like that! With the blood dripping from your arm. Please sit down so I can clean it up."

She persuaded and Xavier had no other choice but to listen to her.



Amelia was in a park. A park with acres of concrete interspersed with neat grass verges.
It had rollerblading tracks, tennis courts, basketball courts, water parks and skate boarder basins. There were vendors with hotdogs and burgers, vendors with curry and rice, vendors with tacos and sour cream. There was always music, sometimes clashing from various sources, none of them official. There wasn't any colour from roses, but it was more vibrant than any planned garden.

Entering the main park, a slight breeze rustled the leaves making them fall to the solid ground one by one. The air was warm, the beams of sunlight glowing on Amelia's skin. Flowers were vast, and they concealed the freshly cut green grass. The pathway was nothing more than dirt littered with random rocks and children were playing and the parents were talking among each other. 

Some people were sitting at the picnic table and Amelia still didn't know where she wanted to go.
Amelia didn't even know why she was in a park. There was always too much sun anyways. Too much exposure.
And there was no reason for her to actually be in the park. She should be back in the house, hurling insults at Xavier and Daphne while packing up her things. She should be making plans to leave California and planning for a divorce. All the things she should have done.

After all he cheated on her. Losing Nana was not an excuse if that was what he planned on using and the only reason Amelia was still loitering around was because the funeral was in a few days. She had to stay.

If not for Xavier, at least for Nana.

Her phone rang for the twenty first time, she was about to ignore it, thinking it was Xavier, he had sent her about a hundred messages and she had ignored them all. But it was another number. She slowly picked it up.

"Hey darling!"

The sweet and sultry voice of Daphne was what Amelia heard. Amelia's face hardened into a frown and she was about to end the call.

"I know you don't want to listen to me, but you need to."

"Why are you calling me?"

Amelia asked, curiosity was nagging at her even though she felt like hanging up on her.

"I told you to stay away from Xavier. I mean, in what world would you marry a man that's still in love with his ex? Why would you even agree to that?"

Daphne asked as she laughed into the phone. Her laughter made Amelia seethe with anger.

"He's always, Always going to come running back to me. Never forget that."

"Fuck you Daphne! Fuck you and Fuck Xavier!"

She screamed into her phone and she threw it on the floor.