34: First Appearance

LILLIAN

The ride home was silent, save for the soft tapping of Xavier’s fingers on his phone and the hum of the car engine. I stared out of the window, lost in thought.

Seeing my father for the first time in almost three months felt surreal. He looked so lifeless, bedridden. I never thought I’d see him again, and then Xavier surprised me by taking me to him.

That was the most shocking. Xavier voluntarily taking me to see him.

What the hell was he playing at?

Finally, I broke the silence.

“Why?”

Xavier looked up from his phone, his brows scrunched in confusion.

“Why what?”

“Why did you take me to see my father after denying me access to him for so long?” I expatiated more.

“I already answered that question,” He shrugged. “You’ve been pestering me to see him, and like I said this morning, I’m trying to compromise to stop you from doing even more stupid shit. Unless you are really desperate to prove me theory that you like when I punish you,” he smirked like he just said something funny and went back to tapping away on his phone.

Hilarious. I rolled my eyes.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” I scoffed. “I know this is your way of reminding me that you still have me in the palm of your hands.”

“I’m really not entitled to giving you an explanation, nor do you I have to prove anything to you. You can believe whatever you want,” he said nonchalantly. “But remember, I didn’t blindfold you or put a bag over your head before taking you there. You basically know where he is now.” He started shrewdly.

Those words registered in my mind because I didn’t think in that direction before. Xavier had basically given me a free ticket to see my father anytime I wanted, or better still, break him out.

But before I could even think deeper to it, or start hatching a plan…
“If you are thinking of breaking him out, he will die,” Xavier spoke like he read my thoughts and I turned to look at him wide eyed. “Relax, it’s not a threat. The facilities in that medical center are literally the only things keeping him alive.” He added as an incentive

Very convenient.

“Do I at least get to see him often?” I asked, desperation sipping through my tone.

“Thrice every week. No more, no less.” He stated, leaving no room for argument.

It wasn’t enough, but it was something I could work.

“I can work with that.” I told him.

“It’s not like you have a choice anyway,” Xavier responded, his tone dripping with indifference as he went back to tapping away on his phone again.

I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything, sinking back into silence as my mind processed everything that had happened today. Despite my resentment towards Xavier, he had just shown me a side I didn’t expect.

He took me to see my father.

Xavier could continued keeping me in that state of ignorance, using my desperation as leverage. Instead, he’d given me hope, however small and twisted it might be. He was providing the best possible care for my father, even if his motives weren’t entirely pure.

I’d honestly expected cruelty, indifference, and manipulation… like always. But today, Xavier had shown a sliver of humanity, and it made me see him in a slightly different light.

It didn’t erase the anger and the pain, but it softened the edges just a bit.

A little bit.

“Thank you,” I whispered after much thought.

Xavier didn’t respond, but I saw the slight surprise flicker across his face. It wasn’t much, but it was something. I turned my gaze back to the window, letting the passing scenery blur into a haze.


****

The door to my office flew open as my fingers flew over the keyboard while I was compiling and rounding up the report for the week. The sound of the door opening broke my concentration, and I looked up to see Xavier standing in the doorway.

His presence always seemed to fill the room, even when he was silent.

“What is it?” I asked, my brows quirking in question.

“Are you done with the report?” His tone was direct, impatient.

“Almost,” I responded, sensing his urgency. “It’ll take another thirty minutes,” I added.

“I don’t have the luxury of that time,” he said, causing me to glance at the clock. We still had about two hours till the close of the day so I wondered why he was so impatient.

“Do you want me to submit it earlier? I can try to round up soon—“

“Drop it and leave it for Sylvia,” he cut me off, telling me to leave the report for Sarah’s assistant instead like it won’t cause a Cold War. “Grab your things. We’re leaving the office early.”

I blinked, completely caught off guard.

“Where are we going?”

To my surprise, he didn’t evade the question.

“We’re going shopping.” He said instead, and honestly, that was even worse than evading the question because it plunged me into a sea of confusion.

Xavier and shopping in the same sentence? I didn’t think I’d see this day.

“Excuse me?” I said, not sure I’d heard him correctly. He didn’t repeat himself, just motioned for me to follow.

“Come on.” He said.

I quickly gathered my things, my mind racing.

Shopping? With Xavier? This was out of character for him.

We left the building and got into the car. The ride was silent and my thoughts was a whirlwind of confusion and curiosity. When the car finally stopped, I looked up to see that we had pulled up in front of Chanel.

What in the world! Now I was even more confused.

This place was known for high-class, expensive dinner dresses.

Now, the question was, what were were doing here? Why did Xavier bring me here?

“What are we doing here?” I asked as we stepped out of the car.

“I already told you,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice and glistening in his eyes. “We’re here to shop.”

“Obviously. I mean, this is Chanel, you can’t come here if you don’t want to shop.” I responded in a duh tone and he chuckled like I said something funny. “I mean, whey are we here? Are we celebrating something?” I pressed.

He chuckled again, a deep, rumbling sound that sent a strange thrill through me.

“Don’t think too highly of yourself. We’re not celebrating anything.” He said, making me glare at him. Before I could think of something smart to respond him with, he continued.

“I’ve been invited to a charity ball, and I’m taking you as my plus one.”

What? Shock coursed through me.

“What? A charity ball?” My voice came out more high-pitched than I intended. “Why do you want to go with me? You could just go alone.”

“Why not? You are my wife,” he answered with a simple shrug, as if those six words automatically explained everything and made it all make sense.

I stared at him, mouth slightly agape as I tried to make sense of this.

Attending a charity ball wasn’t new to me. I have attended countless boring high-society events before, but this was definitely different.

This was the first time since our marriage that Xavier and I would be making an appearance together, out in the open, in grand style.

I honestly thought that would never happen.

But this felt like another one of his unpredictable moves, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was playing at… again.

“You’re serious?” I managed to say, the disbelief evident in my voice. He nodded, his expression unwavering.

“Very.” He maintained. “Now, let’s go in and get you a befitting dress.”