Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Before | even finished talking. Cecilia across from me suddenly stood up, staring past me, and stuttered. “Hogan.” Her eyes were getting even redder as she spoke.

Hogan quickly moved to Cecilia’s side in just a couple of strides, shielding her with his body. and demanded, “What the heck have you two said to her?”

He said “you two.”

That included me too.

When Hogan spoke, a vein on his forehead was throbbing.

He was clearly peeved.

For someone as usually cool as a cucumber like him, this was a rare loss of control, especially with Hilary standing right there. In my memory, those two, mother and son, had never had a heated argument.

But now, for Cecilia’s sake, even his tone with Hilary had an edge to it.

Hilary seemed blindsided by how things had escalated, pointing at Hogan and saying, “I’m doing this for you, don’t you know that?”

After saying that, she stormed out with tears in her eyes. Just as | was about to follow, | heard Hogan say, “In a rush to brown-nose?” | stopped dead in my tracks, torn between laughter and tears.

That was when Cecilia, standing off to the side, spoke up, “Hogan, you've got it all wrong, it’s not Xaviera’s fault, | accidentally let something slip.”

Hogan gave me a skeptical look, half-believing.

It was my bad for getting my hands dirty in this mess. After a while, | said, “I’m heading back to the office.” “Xaviera, let Hogan give you a lift.”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

| declined with a smile, “Nah, it’s out of his way.”

Back at the office, the more | thought about it, the more it bothered me. After this afternoon’s drama, | figured my cover as the ‘ex’ was pretty much blown.

Judging by how Hogan dotes on Cecilia, | had this nagging feeling that something bad was brewing. | hope Wallis wasn’t right.

The ping of a notification snapped me out of my thoughts.

| checked it and, lo and behold, another transfer.

I stared at those tempting digits, my lips twitching stiffly.

Should | call him nuts, or commend him for knowing the score?

While | was hesitating, a message caught my eye. [Tough day, compensation.]

Dry words, no emotion to be read.

| clenched my jaw and accepted the money without a second thought, pondering whether I’d stumbled upon a new money— making scheme, but quickly scrapped that idea.

After all, Hogan was the finance whiz—kid with a Midas touch. He’d never let me get the upper hand for free.

After a moment's thought. | putled up my friends list and hit delete.

Looking at my phone balance, | felt a wave of relief.

Before clocking out, Jack sidled up to me and asked, “Xaviera, what time are you heading out the day after tomorrow?” | was clueless. “Heading out where?”

“To Darren’s birthday bash,” Jack said, then realizing something was off, he added in surprise. “He hasn’t told you yet?”

Darren hadn't mentioned it, which was normal since we weren't that close.

But Jack’s remark gave me an idea for a return gift.

| silently opened a shopping app but ended up browsing with no luck.

Then | remembered Darren liked photography back in college, so | decided to hit the mall during lunch the next day. Come the next day, | was at the counter, looking and looking, indecisive.

“Miss, looking for a particular style?” the sales assistant asked.

| replied seriously, “It’s a gift, for a guy.”

The assistant gave a knowing look and pointed to a vintage—style SLR, “This retro brown one is really good value, you might want to consider it.”

| checked the price tag and thought it was pretty reasonable, so | said, “Wrap it up, please.” “Your boyfriend’s one lucky guy, he’s going to love this gift” said the assistant.

| didn’t respond, secretly scoffing that I’d have to pay more attention to price tags when receiving gifts in the future. Thank goodness for Hogan’s transfer, or I'd be in over my head.

While | was sighing over this, a familiar saccharine voice suddenly rang out next to me. “Xaviera, what a coincidence. | looked towards the voice, involuntarily furrowing my brow.

Hogan and Cecilia were standing just a couple of steps away.

Talk about a coincidence.