Chapter 2
For a split second, the room fell completely silent. Even the music filtering faintly through the walls seemed to disappear as Cassian, Elias, and Lucius all turned to Xavier at the exact same moment, their expressions frozen somewhere between disbelief and surprise.
Within seconds, the quiet VIP lounge erupted into overlapping voices as disbelief spread across the room.
"Are you serious?"
"You're getting married?"
"What the fuck is going on?"
The questions came from every direction at once, each man looking at Xavier as though Maverick had just announced something completely impossible.
Elias nearly set his glass down too hard on the table, the sharp clink of crystal against marble drawing attention to the disbelief written all over his face.
Even Lucius, who rarely allowed his emotions to show, paused with his drink halfway to his lips, his calm expression briefly replaced by genuine surprise.
For several seconds, Xavier remained silent, his expression unreadable.
He slowly rotated the whiskey glass between his fingers before setting it down on the table.
The irritation in his eyes was obvious, especially at the fact that Maverick had casually exposed something he had clearly intended to keep private.
"It's nothing serious," Xavier finally said, leaning back against the sofa with practiced calm. "I'm not getting married."
Maverick immediately let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
The reaction earned everyone's attention again.
He picked up his glass from the table and took a slow drink, his eyes never leaving Xavier over the rim. After swallowing, he lowered the glass and shook his head, as though he couldn't believe the man sitting across from him was actually trying to deny it.
"You're not getting married?"
There was a faint trace of amusement in his voice.
Maverick leaned back into the couch, one arm resting casually along the backrest while he looked around the room.
"Let me understand this correctly. She has been living in your house for an entire year. She's a director at your company, which means she spends nearly every day working beside you. You see her at the office, you see her outside of work, and when the day ends, she goes home with you."
His gaze returned to Xavier, one brow lifting.
"But somehow, that's not serious?"
Xavier's eyes narrowed slightly.
But Maverick only smiled, completely unaffected.
"From where I'm standing, it looks like you're already living like a married man."
The room went quiet again.
Elias exchanged a look with Cassian, both of them clearly processing the information. Cassian leaned back slowly, a slow grin beginning to appear on his face as he looked between Xavier and Maverick.
"So..." he said, dragging the word out with obvious interest, "who exactly is this woman?"
Xavier's expression darkened immediately, and the slight change was enough to confirm to everyone in the room that Maverick had not been exaggerating.
"Wait a damn minute."
Elias's expression changed completely.
The amusement that had been lingering on his face disappeared as he leaned forward, placing his glass down on the table. His eyes narrowed at Xavier, as though he was trying to determine whether he was joking or if he had somehow missed a major part of his friend's life.
"You've been living with a woman in your house this entire time?"
His voice rose with every word.
"And we're only finding out about it now?"
Elias stared at him in disbelief, dragging a hand through his hair as he sat back slightly.
"Is that why you've been refusing to let any of us come to your house?"
The look he gave Xavier was a mixture of irritation and confusion, as though he couldn't decide whether he wanted to punch him or demand an explanation.
Xavier simply stared back at him, completely unimpressed by the reaction.
"I'm not hiding her."
His tone remained calm despite the chaos around him. He picked up his whiskey glass again, taking a slow sip before continuing.
"She's just a woman my family wanted me to get to know, so I started seeing her. That's all."
He lowered the glass onto the table and leaned back into the sofa, his expression firm.
"She's living in my house because it was convenient. But I have no intention of marrying her."
The words caused everyone to pause.
Cassian, who had been watching the exchange with growing interest, tilted his head slightly.
"Wait."
His eyes moved toward Xavier.
"Are you talking about that woman...?"
A slow realization crossed his face.
"Elise?"
The moment the name left his mouth, Xavier's expression shifted.
It was subtle, but everyone in the room noticed.
His eyes moved toward Cassian, and for the first time that evening, a hint of surprise crossed his usually controlled features.
"Oh? Elise Foster? That makes sense.”
Elias repeated the name, looking between the two men. Then he suddenly leaned back, understanding dawning on him.
Cassian was the first to break, throwing his head back as he laughed. Elias followed immediately, shaking his head as he looked at Xavier as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable.
Even Lucius, who rarely showed much reaction, lowered his glass with a faint smile appearing on his face.
Xavier continued staring at the three men across from him, his expression becoming increasingly unreadable as their laughter slowly faded.
He had known them for years, but the way they were looking at him now made it feel as though he had somehow become the subject of a conversation he had never agreed to have.
He leaned back against the leather sofa, one hand resting around his whiskey glass while his dark gaze moved from one face to another.
"What the hell is going on?"
The irritation in his voice was impossible to miss.
Elias was the first to respond. He picked up his glass from the table and took a slow sip, his eyes never leaving Xavier's face. A faint, amused smile played at the corner of his mouth as if he still couldn't believe what he had just discovered.
"Do you seriously think we're all blind?"
Xavier's brows pulled together.
Elias lowered his glass and rested it against his knee as he leaned forward.
"We've known about your girlfriend for a while."
The statement immediately caught Xavier's attention.
"What?"
Elias ignored the interruption and continued, shaking his head slightly.
"We just didn't know you had already taken things this far. We didn't know she was living in your house."
Across from him, Cassian leaned back into the sofa, watching Xavier's reaction with obvious amusement. Even Lucius, who rarely showed interest in anyone else's personal affairs, looked quietly entertained by the situation.
Xavier's jaw tightened.
"I'm not getting married."
His response came instantly.
Lucius lifted his glass and took an unhurried sip before setting it back down. His expression remained calm as he looked at Xavier.
"Fine." He paused, letting the silence stretch for a moment. "But are you going to deny that she's been living with you?"
Xavier didn't answer.
A faint knowing look crossed Lucius’s face as he continued.
"We've seen enough to know something is going on. We've seen the way you look at her, the way she looks at you, and the way your entire attitude changes when she's around."
He leaned back slightly, folding his hands together.
"We didn't know the details. We didn't know she was already living with you. That was the surprising part."
Cassian let out a quiet laugh beside him, shaking his head.
"Honestly, the most unbelievable thing here isn't that Xavier has a woman." He looked toward Xavier with a smile. "It's that Xavier Chen has allowed a woman to live in his house for an entire year."
Elias nodded in agreement, clearly enjoying the rare opportunity to corner Xavier.
"Exactly. You can deny marriage all you want, but you're already doing everything else."
Xavier's expression darkened.
"I'm only living with her temporarily. She'll be out of my house as soon as I'm done entertaining my parents' childish, stubborn fantasy of marrying me off to their friends' daughter."
He dismissed the comment with a slight wave of his hand, as though the entire conversation was becoming ridiculous.
"That's all."
The three men exchanged looks.
Not one of them believed him.
Xavier noticed immediately. His eyes narrowed as he looked around the room, his fingers tightening slightly around the whiskey glass.
"How the hell do you all even know about this?"
His gaze moved from Elias to Cassian before finally stopping on Lucius.
Of all of them, Lucius was the one who had said the least tonight.
Xavier leaned forward slightly, studying him.
"You knew first, didn't you?"
Lucius remained completely relaxed, resting one arm against the back of the sofa while holding his glass in the other hand. The faintest hint of amusement appeared in his eyes.
"Yes."
Xavier's expression hardened.
"How?"
Lucius let out a quiet breath and settled farther back into the leather sofa. A faint smile played at the corners of his lips.
"Come on, Xavier," he said evenly. "You can't possibly be that blind."
Across the table, Xavier's brows lifted almost imperceptibly. His dark eyes stayed on Lucius, waiting for him to continue.
Lucius took an unhurried sip of his drink before setting the glass down on the marble table.
"The first time I thought something was different was when I visited your family's house a few months ago. Your father was furious with you."
Cassian and Elias both looked over, their curiosity immediately piqued.
"He kept asking why you weren't treating Elise properly. If I remember correctly, he was upset because you never took her out to lunch, never spent any time with her outside of work, and barely paid her any attention."
Lucius gave a small shrug.
"At the time, I assumed he was simply angry because she worked for you. I thought he was telling you to treat one of your directors better."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"But then I started noticing other things."