###Chapter 64: The Interrogation

The restaurant was a hubbub of activity, bustling with people coming and going. Hazel Hawthorne and Sharon Winters had already scanned the place once without spotting Nathan Miller. Sharon was on her phone, texting Nathan while looking around for him.

Suddenly, Nathan Miller emerged from a private room, phone in hand. He spotted them and immediately walked over. "I had the owner save a private room for us. I figured you wouldn’t want to eat out in the main hall. I was just about to text you the room name when I saw your message saying you’d arrived."

"Then why didn’t you send it sooner? We just walked a lap around the main hall," Sharon said, taking Hazel’s hand and weaving through the crowded restaurant as they followed Nathan to the room.

It was instantly much quieter inside the private room. Besides Nathan, there was another colleague from their company. Hazel was a bit face-blind; she had a vague impression of the man but couldn’t for the life of her remember his name. So, she just offered him a smile as a greeting. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After they sat down, Sharon discreetly leaned over and whispered to Hazel, "The guy next to Nathan is Aaron Shaw. He and Nathan are pretty close."

Nathan Miller and Aaron Shaw. Hazel finally committed the two names to memory.

The meal turned out to be quite pleasant. Hazel discovered that Nathan, who was always so meticulous and serious at work, was actually quite humorous and witty in person. Conversations with him weren’t dull at all. He seemed to know a little about everything, so they never ran out of things to talk about.

If Sharon’s boyfriend hadn’t called to check up on her, they probably would have gone to a lounge for another drink.

"I had a great time tonight. Next time, dinner’s on me," Hazel said to Nathan and Aaron with a smile. Sharon was already anxiously tugging on her arm, eager to get home. She hurriedly said goodbye to the men and hailed a taxi.

"I’m so dead. I definitely won’t be able to go out much for a while. My boyfriend doesn’t like me having dinner with other guys." Sharon wrung her hands anxiously. "He got so mad because he heard a man’s voice on the phone just now. That’s why he told me to come home immediately."

Hazel was confused. "He doesn’t let you have male friends? Making friends is part of your life. What right does he have to be angry?"

Sharon gave a small laugh. "My boyfriend is very possessive. He’s afraid that if I spend too much time with other guys, I’ll stop loving him. To put it bluntly, he’s possessive and insecure. He always feels like I might leave him at any moment."

Hazel didn’t understand. Her wide eyes held a look of utter confusion.

"When you have someone you like one day, you’ll understand what possessiveness is. When you see the person you like eating and having fun with another woman while ignoring you, you’ll feel sad, you’ll get angry..."

Hazel thought for a moment, then countered, "So if I saw him eating and having fun with another woman and didn’t feel anything, does that mean I don’t love him?"

"You could see it that way, I guess. Possessiveness goes hand in hand with whether or not you actually like the person. Unless you’re just naturally a very possessive person."

Hazel gave a slight, bored pout and didn’t take Sharon’s words to heart.

After dropping Sharon off, she hailed a cab home for herself.

Hazel had just gotten home when she received a message from Nathan, asking if she’d arrived safely.

Nathan seemed like a nice guy, and Hazel didn’t dislike him, so she chatted with him for a bit longer, not noticing that someone else was in the living room.

The living room lights were off. She changed her shoes in the entryway and went straight upstairs to her room, paying no mind to her surroundings.

Suddenly, with a CLICK, the living room lights flashed on.

Hazel jumped in fright. By the time she came to her senses, Aiden Xavier was standing in front of her. He snatched her phone and saw that she was chatting up a storm with a man named Nathan Miller, which made his expression turn even uglier.

"Are you crazy? Why did you just snatch my phone for no reason? Give it back!" Hazel stood on her tiptoes, trying to get her phone back, but Aiden Xavier used his height advantage, making it clear he had no intention of returning it.

"Aiden Xavier, what do you want?! Just say it. Don’t play these games with me." Hazel was tired. She leaned against the banister, panting as she glared at Aiden, who had clearly come looking for trouble.

"Who is Nathan Miller?" Aiden Xavier demanded coldly.

"Why should I tell you? In what capacity are you asking? Aiden Xavier, have you got nothing better to do these days?" After a moment’s rest, Hazel gave up on getting her phone back and started slowly walking up the stairs.

"Who is Nathan Miller?" Aiden Xavier asked again.

Clearly, Hazel had no intention of answering. She reached her bedroom door and glanced at Aiden. "You..."

But Aiden pushed the door open and stepped into her bedroom first. It was one of the rare times he had ever been in here. He habitually scanned the room before sitting down casually on the sofa, watching her with a composed, leisurely air.

The way he was sizing her up made Hazel exceptionally uncomfortable.

She sat down as well, her dark eyes staring coldly at Aiden Xavier. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was a good thing they were alone in the bedroom; otherwise, who knows how many people would have been terrified by the atmosphere.

"You didn’t come back just to ask me who Nathan Miller is, did you?" Hazel looked directly at Aiden. ’She had just gone to see Raina Lowell today, and now Aiden was back tonight. Raina must have said something to him.’

"You went and threatened Raina Lowell," Aiden Xavier stated flatly.

Hazel didn’t mince words. "Yes. I didn’t just threaten her, I warned her. Did she also claim I framed her?"

Aiden felt a headache coming on as he looked at Hazel’s sharp-tongued retort. "I hope you’ll stay out of Raina’s affairs. I will give you a proper explanation for what she’s done to you."

"Oh, please." Hazel scoffed. "Raina has crossed the line. Even if I didn’t act, Mom would have. Do you know how I got the evidence of Raina’s dealings with the paparazzi? Mom gave it to me."

Hazel looked Aiden square in the eye. "Mom gave it to me because she wanted me to be the one to act. I think you know better than I do why she would do that."

Aiden felt overwhelmed. Of course he knew everything, but there were too many things between him and Raina that he couldn’t explain to Hazel. Seeing the distant look always in Hazel’s eyes made him wonder if he was going about this the wrong way.

"Aiden Xavier, I know you came back specifically because of Raina. I was the one who exposed her deal with the paparazzi. I was just giving her a taste of her own medicine."

’As if these media outlets would have dared to spread the news so widely without my tacit approval,’ Aiden thought to himself.

But facing a livid Hazel, Aiden couldn’t tell her the truth. He walked over to her and said, "I’ll handle the situation with Raina as quickly as possible. I won’t let you get dragged into it again."

"Oh, so I should thank you for the graciousness of not implicating me?" Hazel’s lips twisted into a half-smile, her sarcasm merciless.

Aiden didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Sometimes, what you see isn’t the truth."

Hazel was in no mood to decipher his cryptic words. She sneered, "Are you trying to say you still believe Raina is innocent?"

She paused, her expression turning serious. "I always thought you were a very rational person. I never expected you to be so blind when it comes to matters of the heart. Even with the evidence right in front of you, you can still deceive yourself."

*****