Her Heart Her Terms (Lily and Xavier)

There was no easing into it, no sweet words, and certainly no apologies—just the expectation that they should go back to living as they had before.

Lily simply stayed silent and continued eating.

Seeing her quiet, Xavier's gaze turned teasing, but he didn't say anything more. Instead, he grabbed his things and left. This time, he really left.

For the entire morning, only Lily and Naomi were in the hospital ward. In the afternoon, Hayden arrived. He had been busy lately-so busy that he hadn't had time to visit her.

When he came today, he took the opportunity to ask a nurse about Lily's

condition. He didn't learn much about it, but he did find out about the commotion Xyla had caused yesterday.

"Lily, did Xyla hurt you?" Hayden held Lily's left hand, scanning her from head to toe.

"No. She came to ask me to forgive Sarah. She's still sick herself, so there's no way she could have hurt me."

"What a joke. If she wanted to save Sarah, why did she come to you?" Hayden said indignantly. "She should've gone straight to Xavier and had him take care of it."

Lily had thought about this too. Why hadn't Xyla gone to Xavier? Could it be that Xavier didn't want to do it? It was possible, but at the same time, it didn't seem likely.

Even though she had spent the past few days with Xavier, she could no longer easily figure out what he was thinking. Her instincts told her not to trust him, yet everything he did seemed to push her toward believing him.

"If something like this happens again, just kick her out. There's no need to listen to her nonsense!" Hayden said, completely disregarding the fact that Xyla was sick.

In his eyes, Lily was the one who was injured. He didn't want her getting dragged into unnecessary drama that could slow her recovery.

"There won't be a next time. She's in the ICU now," Lily said, straightening Hayden's suit jacket. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on your work."

Hayden leaned closer, letting her adjust his clothes. "I came today to ask if you're planning to go home after you're discharged. You absolutely cannot go back to that rented apartment!"

After what had happened, he didn't dare let Lily live alone again.

Lily didn't want to return to the apartment either. The incident had left her with a lingering fear of being alone. But she also didn't want to go back home.

"We'll see. Xavier wants me to go back to the manor after I'm discharged," Lily replied.

Hayden's eyes widened. "You're going to go back there just because he asked you to?"

Lily fell silent, her lips pressed together.

A voice in her head told her not to go

back, as that would mean the divorce was off the table, and they'd

return to how things were before. No

matter whether they loved each

other or not, they'd just continue

living as they had.

ら

Yet, there was another voice telling her she could go back. But if asked why, she

couldn't come up with a reason. All she knew was that the thought of returning had taken root in her mind.

It was an inexplicable urge, one she couldn't deny even if she wanted to. She knew it was bad, so she buried the thought deep inside, deliberately ignoring it. She didn't dare to tell Maryanne or Hayden.

"We'll see when the time comes," she said, deflecting the question. "There are stillnoveldrama

a few days left. Who knows? Maybe something else will happen by then."

She was just trying to avoid the conversation. She never expected her words would prove prophetic.

Hayden hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "Since it's Christmas Eve today, Mom said she'll bring some pies over later, and Dad's coming too. You haven't spent the holidays with us since you got married. Let's take this chance to have a family gathering here."

He couldn't say no when Hazel and Bobby insisted on treating Lily well.