Chapter 177 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

Then she turned and walked toward the entrance without waiting for Colby’s reply.

When she was out, she realized the sky was pouring, and many people from the hotel were stranded at the entrance waiting for the rain to stop.

Because Roxanne did not have an umbrella and she could not drive, she had no choice but to wait at the entrance together with everyone else while she looked for a driver.

Yet it seemed that everyone there was also looking to hire drivers, so Roxanne ended up waiting for a long time.

Just as she was contemplating canceling her request for a driver and asking Madilyn to pick her up, a familiar voice rang out from beside her.

“Mr. Farwell, it’s raining outside. I have an umbrella, so I’ll just wait for you at the hotel entrance.” It was Cayden. He was standing not far away from Roxanne with a black umbrella in his hand as he spoke respectfully over the phone.

It so happened that he looked up when Roxanne turned toward him, and their eyes met. “Ms. Jarvis!” he greeted while he was still on the phone.

A brief silence came from the other end of the call.

Roxanne’s face fell. She knew for sure that Lucian had heard that.

Her change in color did not go unnoticed by Cayden, but the man could not understand the reason behind it. When he saw that Lucian had ended the call, he quickly walked over.

“Do you have an umbrella? Where’s your car? I can send you home first before Mr. Farwell comes. He’s going to take a while.”

Cayden gestured to open the umbrella in his hand, but Roxanne stopped him.

“It’s okay. Someone’s picking me up.”

Cayden nodded and just stood beside her quietly after that.

Seeing that the man was not going anywhere, Roxanne looked at the rain and hesitated as she distanced herself from him.

The rain is abating. I should go before he comes down.

“Mr. Farwell! I thought you—” Cayden exclaimed.

Just as she took the first step into the rain, Lucian was already behind her.

Although Roxanne did not know why Cayden did not finish his sentence, she was too nervous to turn around to check out what was happening.

When she felt cold air engulfing her, she fled into the rain without a second thought.

Suddenly, the rain stopped hitting her head. A black umbrella sheltered her, and a strong grip caught her hand, pulling her right back to the hotel entrance.

“Are you crazy?” Lucian reprimanded.

He knew that Roxanne would try to avoid him when he was on the call with Cayden, so he said goodbye to his partners and left in a hurry.

As he expected, she was indeed trying to run away.

Lucian felt insulted when she would rather walk in the rain than spend time with him.

When Roxanne knew there was no getting away, she took a deep breath and looked up at him calmly. “Hi, Mr. Farwell. What a coincidence.”

Lucian did not know she was drunk at first, but the moment he smelled her breath, a frown appeared on his brows.

“Did you drink?”

“Yeah… I was having dinner with my colleagues.”

“I’ll send you home,” Lucian said, his hand still holding hers.

Roxanne tried to break free, but she could not. A look of displeasure crept up her face. “No, thanks. Someone’s coming for me. I can go back on my own. Let me go, Mr. Farwell. Please.”

“Who are you waiting for? Your driver? I doubt you’re getting one so soon, though,” Lucian argued candidly, looking at the people around them.

Words eluded her, and she quickly thought of something else. “I called for one earlier. People are watching, Mr. Farwell. I don’t want to cause a scene.”

Lucian’s face looked gloomier than before, and he let her go.

Roxanne nodded at him and walked into the rain.

Behind her, Lucian ran over in big steps with the umbrella tilting toward her.

“Your wound is not healed yet. Let me take you there!” he shouted in the rain.

Roxanne did not turn back but hastened her steps.

“Slowly! It’s slippery,” Lucian reminded at the back.

Even though Roxanne had an umbrella over her, she was still shivering in the rain because it was pouring cats and dogs. Her thin clothing was not enough to keep her warm. Besides, because Lucian was just right behind her, she kept telling herself to walk faster. “Well, I’ll walk slowly if you stop following me,” she said.

Behind her, the man’s footsteps gradually came to a complete halt.

Without his umbrella, the rain pounded on Roxanne’s body mercilessly as she dragged herself to the parking lot. She then sat in the back seat of her own car and waited for the driver.

Her mind was a mess. She wondered if God was playing a prank on her. The more she wanted to avoid Lucian, the more she ran into him.

Most importantly, the way he treated her made her feel uneasy.

When Roxanne finally got home, Madilyn had already brought Archie and Benny home, and the two kids were playing in the living room.

Seeing that Roxanne was drenched, they ran over with worry written all over their faces. “Mommy! Did you walk in the rain?”

Roxanne was exhausted, but she still patted them on their heads and replied, “I forgot my umbrella, so I got wet when I was running over to my car. I’ll be okay.”

After asking Lysa to tend to the children, Roxanne went upstairs to take a shower and changed into a new set of clothes.

Then, she came back down again to play with the boys before hitting the hay herself.

Since she had overextended herself in the past two days, Roxanne felt completely drained when she finally lay on her bed. She fell asleep right away, but in the middle of the night, she was awakened by a fever.

In a daze, she got out of bed to pour herself a glass of water, but her legs gave way the moment she stood up, and she fell right back onto the mattress.

A frown appeared on her brows as she slowly regained consciousness. I think I’m running a fever…

Since it was already midnight, she did not want to wake anyone up. I’ll just sleep it off. It’ll get better tomorrow.

With that thought, she fell back into a slumber.

When morning came, Archie and Benny rose early because they felt excited.

Lysa and Madilyn had been sending them to school because Roxanne had been busy for the past few days. When Roxanne was finally home again, they looked forward to her bringing them to school. However, they were disappointed when she did not appear even after breakfast.

Seeing that they were almost running late, they ran upstairs and knocked on her door, but no one answered.


New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself

Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.


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