His Beautiful Addiction

Chapter 457  Just give it a thought

Lu shook her head in pity and she hugged her friend; \'\'It\'s going to be fine, okay? Why don\'t we make you something to eat and then you take a good sleep, then we can talk about all of this later?\'\'

Lu took care of Ari, trying her best to make jokes to distract her from everything happening. But she couldn\'t stay with her forever, and when it was time to leave, Ari had to embrace her fears alone.

After Lu left, the house returned to its usual quietness and she wondered if this was how quiet her house has always been.

Monday came quickly and she resumed work, and as Xavier had said, he did not disturb her anymore. Not even a text from him. She walked past her window over a hundred times the same day, peeking at his house but the lights never turned on.

Ari felt worse, she contemplated calling him, but she couldn\'t bring herself to. She decided to wait it out, thinking it would fade away with time but as the days passed, she got more depressed.

The next day, she went to buy coffee during her break;

\'\'Cappuccino please;\'\' she said to the attendant as she waited for her order.

\'\'I heard Xavier is seeing someone else already, \'\' Ari\'s hands shook reflexively as the words of the women who just joined the queue reached her ears;

\'\'That\'s no surprise, who is she? \'\'

\'\'I hear she\'s a model, they went to an important function together over the weekend, they refused reporters in and no pictures were allowed to be taken at the event, but my friend managed to get a picture of them. \'\'

Ari\'s hands gripped the plastic coffee cup as the attendant handed it to her. Her body was physically present but her soul had left her body. She wanted to see who the woman was but she couldn\'t peek at the woman\'s phone, so she pushed her legs forward and walked away.

Walking up the stairs absentmindedly, she came face to face with Zac.

\'\'Ari?\'\' Zac called when he saw that she almost walked past him without greeting. Ari blinked and smiled when she saw who was in front of her.

\'\'Zac, hey!\'\' she greeted feigning a smile. Zac already noticed her expression, and he knew there was something wrong.

\'\'Is anything the matter? You look down; \'\' he asked, concerned; but Ari shook her head, she wasn\'t about to tell him she had spaced out thinking about his best friend all day.

\'\'Okay; I\'ve been wanting to talk to you about something, do you have some time after work?\'\'

\'\'Sure, yeah.\'\' Ari nodded.

\'\'Alright, let\'s meet at my office, is that okay with you?\'\' His office was two floors before Xavier\'s so she nodded, at least she wasn\'t going to run into him.

\'\'Sure. I will. \'\'

\'\'Sure, see you then, \'\'

…

After work, Ari totally forgot the appointment she had with Zac and had almost gotten to the parking lot when she remembered, groaning, she turned around and went to his office.

Ari knocked lightly and entered when Zac signaled her from inside.

\'\'It\'s been a while, how have you been?\'\' Zac asked as he brought a bottle of wine and two glasses and came to sit across from her in the mini parlor.

Ari smiled; "I\'ve been good, and you?\'\' Well, after she became close with Xavier, Zac had lessened his communication with her. They barely spoke and only greeted when they bumped into each other.

\'\'I\'m good, I\'m good. How is Xavier?\'\' he asked;

Well.

She had suspected that that was the reason he wanted to see her, but she did not expect that he would bring it up without mincing words.

Ari smiled; \'\'I should be asking you, are you not his best friend?\'\'

Zac laughed, and he stared at Ari for a while. Ari smiled when she noticed his stare;

\'\'What is it? Why are you staring at me?\'\'

\'\'Nothing, I\'m just looking at the woman who made a playboy fall in love and wondering what is so special about her. \'\'

Ari\'s smile died instantly at his words, and she blinked; \'\'that is not true... \'\' she said in denial.

Zac tilted his head; \'\'Sure, but I know enough to know that Xavier has never told me he liked anyone before you. And I don\'t see a reason for him to lie to me. \'\'

Ari clutched her bag as her heart began to race.

\'\'He does not know I talked with you, and he wouldn\'t want to know that I told you this. But he hasn\'t been himself for these past weeks, and we both know who is responsible for that; \'\'

Zac paused; \'\'This isn\'t my business, and I\'m sure he\'ll get over it with time, but when I saw you earlier, I just thought I should talk to you. Not saying you should give him a chance, just saying you should give it a thought. I know you have heard a lot of things on the media, but the Xavier I know wouldn\'t buy a house just to be close to a woman. \'\'

Ari\'s eyes widened;

He bought that house because of her.

When Zac noticed her expression, he chuckled;

\'\'You did not know? Then you must be slow. Cause I mean, there are a thousand and one places to live, why in front of your house?\'\'

Tears clouded Ari\'s eyes as her heart thumped faster; she knew if she stayed an extra minute, she would start crying, so she stood up.

\'\'I\'ll like to leave now. \'\' Ari said, her head lowered.

\'\'Sure. \'\' Zac said, \'\'you didn\'t drink even taste the wine… \'\' he said but before he could complete the sentence, Ari had run out of his office.

…

Ari drove home speedily, tears falling from her eyes.

What did he want her to do? She did not have a choice? Everyone said he was bad news, how could she have believed him?

Ari cried as she drove home. She remembered the hurtful things she said to him, and she cried the more.