Chapter 21
A heavy silence settled over the table.
Amara was the first to react. Concern immediately filled her face as she leaned forward slightly, looking at him. "Did you try to make her understand? Didn't you try coaxing her?"
Before Xavier could answer, Elias spoke, one eyebrow lifting as he looked at him in disbelief. "If you really miss her so much, then why did you break up with her?"
Xavier's head snapped toward him almost instantly.
"I didn't break up with her," he said defensively. "She broke up with me."
"Oh?" Elias cut in, one brow arching as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "So you're the innocent one in all this? You didn't do a single thing that might've made her walk away?"
A slow, mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Right. She must've broken up with you because you're just too damn sweet to be around." He let out a dry chuckle before adding, "Another day with you, and she probably would've ended up with diabetes."
A quiet snicker escaped Juliet before she could stop herself.
The sound made Xavier slowly lift his head, his dark eyes settling on her with a deep frown.
Juliet immediately pressed her lips together, forcing the smile off her face as she looked away, pretending she hadn't laughed at all.
Xavier didn't say another word.
He simply looked away from all of them, reached for the bottle again, and poured himself another glass.
Watching him, Cassian let out a long, defeated sigh. He exchanged an exasperated look with Elias, before turning his attention back to Xavier.
"Do you actually want to win her back?"
The question immediately caught Xavier's attention. His gaze lifted from his glass, and for the first time since the conversation had started, there was no hesitation in his answer.
"Of course."
Cassian studied him for a moment, then leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. His expression turned serious, almost like a mentor preparing to explain something painfully obvious.
"Then start acting like a man who wants the woman he loves in his life.
Men don't win their girlfriends back by ordering them around or threatening them.
They court them." He counted the points off on his fingers.
"Buy her flowers. Give her gifts—not because you can afford them, but because they'll make her smile.
Take her out to dinner. Go on dates. Drive somewhere with no destination just so you can spend time together.
Make her feel loved instead of cornered.
" He paused before asking, "Have you ever done any of that? "
Xavier's brows furrowed as he genuinely thought about it. After several seconds, he answered with complete honesty.
"No."
The room fell into a stunned silence.
Then, as if they had all reached the exact same conclusion, nearly everyone around the table sighed in perfect unison.
A chorus of mutters immediately followed.
"Complete clueless idiot..."
"Unbelievable."
"Hopeless."
"He's actually hopeless."
Xavier's gaze swept slowly around the table, his brows drawing together as he frowned at each of them in turn, clearly unable to understand why they were looking at him as though he'd confessed to some unforgivable crime.
Without another word, he reached for his whiskey, took a slow sip, and set the glass back down with the same unbothered expression that only made the others shake their heads even harder.
Finally, Amara let out a long sigh and leaned toward him.
"Man," she said, looking at him with complete exasperation, "you have to show her that you love her. How is she supposed to know how much you love her unless you actually show it to her?"
She shook her head before continuing, her voice softening.
"It's not like she can imagine your love on her own.
You're always so wrapped up in your own world.
She works for you, she's always around you, but you keep your distance from her.
If you don't even treat her like your girlfriend, how can you expect her to accept you as her boyfriend again when she hasn't even seen your love? "
Two hours later, slightly drunk, Xavier stumbled into the hallway outside Elise's apartment with both hands overflowing with luxury shopping bags.
After leaving the restaurant, he had driven straight to the biggest luxury mall he could find and spent the last hour buying everything that caught his eye.
Designer handbags, jewelry, perfumes, flowers, dresses, shoes—anything that reminded him of Elise ended up in a bag.
He had bought so much that both of his hands were full, yet he still wished he could have brought more.
Stopping outside her apartment, he shifted the weight in his arms before slamming his fist against the door.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
He waited.
Nothing.
His brows slowly drew together as he knocked again, louder this time. The sound echoed through the quiet hallway, but there were still no footsteps from inside.
A frown settled on his face.
Clicking his tongue, Xavier stepped closer, pressed the passcode into the keypad from memory, and pushed the door open.
The moment the door swung inward, Elise came marching toward him with a deep frown already on her face.
"You are breaking in, and you know that, right?" she snapped. "I told you not to come back—"
Before she could finish, Xavier stepped forward and dumped every shopping bag in his hands into her arms.
Elise gasped.
The weight caught her completely off guard.
She stumbled back a step as shopping bags began slipping from her arms one after another, landing all over the floor.
Within seconds, the doorway was buried beneath luxury bags.
There had to be at least fifteen or twenty of them, filling almost the entire entrance.
She stood there speechless, her eyes moving from one designer bag to another before slowly lifting to Xavier.
Her mouth remained slightly open.
She simply stared at him in complete shock.
Xavier bent down among the pile of shopping bags, nearly knocking a few of them over as he searched through them. After a moment, he finally found a small velvet box and immediately pulled it out, opening it in front of her.
A diamond bracelet rested inside.
"I bought this for you," he said quickly, holding it out. "I always thought diamonds looked good on you. You know that? They suit you."
Elise stared at him, still unable to process what was happening.
"I bought this last year," he continued, words coming faster now as if he was afraid she would interrupt him. "When you came to my house for the first time. I kept it because I thought... you would like it."
Before she could respond, he was already reaching for another bag.
"And this one."
He pulled out another box and opened it.
"A bracelet. This will suit your wrist." His eyes dropped to her hand as he took it. "Your wrist is so small. Look at it. It's tiny." His brows pulled together slightly, his drunken frustration showing. "I don't know how you manage anything with hands this small."
Elise stared at him.
"I thought it would look good on you," he said quickly, fastening it around her wrist before she could stop him. "You wear things like this better than anyone."
His fingers lingered for a moment before he added, almost immediately,
"And I'll kiss your wrist every day."
Elise tried to pull her hand back, but he held on, not letting her reject it.
"Xavier..."
"No, wait." He pointed toward the bags behind him, his expression suddenly serious. "There's more."
He turned slightly, looking through them.
"That bag there. You liked that color. A few months ago, you showed it to me and said you liked it. I remembered." He looked back at her. "I bought it."
Then he pointed again.
"This one has the rings."
Elise froze.
"Our marriage rings," he said, as if correcting something obvious. "The ones we're going to wear when we get married."
His finger moved to another bag.
"This one has the necklace you'll wear when we get married."
Another.
"And this one has the dress."
He looked at her with complete certainty.
"The dress you'll wear when you and I go on our first date after our marriage."
Elise stared at him with her mouth slightly open, completely unable to understand what was happening.
"Are you drunk again?" she asked, a deep frown forming on her face.
Xavier didn't answer.
Instead, he simply turned around, grabbed the mountain of gift bags scattered across the hallway, and started carrying them into the living room as if her question hadn't even reached him.
He moved with the stubborn determination of a man who had already made up his mind and wasn't interested in hearing an argument.
Once he had placed the bags down, he walked straight back toward her.
Elise barely had time to process what he was doing before Xavier suddenly bent down and lifted her into his arms.
"Wait. What the hell are you doing?"
Her eyes widened as she instinctively grabbed onto him.
Still wearing a nightdress, she found herself being carried out of her own apartment like she weighed nothing.
"Xavier—"
The apartment door shut behind them with a loud click, automatically locking as he carried her toward the elevator.
The moment they stepped inside, Elise started struggling in his arms.
"Xavier, what are you doing?" she demanded, looking at him in disbelief. "It's so late at night, and you're drunk. You shouldn't even be lifting me. You're going to fall."
She tried to wiggle herself free, but his hold only tightened as he looked completely determined, ignoring every complaint she made.
Before she could say anything else, the elevator doors opened.
Xavier stepped out with her still in his arms and carried her across the lobby, ignoring the curious glances from the staff and security. He walked straight through the entrance of the apartment building and into the night.
Elise's protests slowly faded when she noticed the vehicles waiting outside.
Several cars were parked along the curb.