Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria)

Chapter 280

After staring at him for a long while, Victoria eventually got in the car. She slammed the

door shut and put her seatbelt on, her actions conveying how annoyed she was. She

shot him with an icy glare as she stuck the car key into the ignition. “Are you sure you

want me to drive you around?” she asked.

He tugged his lips into a smirk. “What is it? Are you going to kill me?” Victoria didn’t

answer his question–she simply started the engine before stepping on the brakes and

turning the steering around. When she lowered the window, she found the salesperson

staring at her worriedly. “Miss, Sir…”

Victoria gave the salesperson a faint smile. “Don’t worry. I have a license,” she stated.

When the salesperson eyed her with disbelief, she pulled her license out to show it to

her. The salesperson heaved a sigh of relief after that. “That’s great.”

“I’ll just drive around to get a feel of the car, and I’ll be back soon,” Victoria said. Alaric

sat in the passenger’s seat with a blank look on his face as he watched Victoria

steering the car. Victoria learned to drive about five years ago, and she used to drive to

work all the time. She didn’t have superb skills, but she was fine to drive on relatively

empty roads. She found it harder to manage things when the roads were too busy, and

her car seemed rather unsteady during those times.

I wonder if she improved her skills in the past five years, Alaric thought. Before he had

the time to process the situation, the car had already zoomed out of the sales gallery.

Victoria didn’t speed, but the way she maneuvered along the roads seemed much

smoother than the way she drove in the past. She drove the car as if she were an

experienced driver. Alaric was stunned to see how good she was. This is so different

from the way she used to drive… It’s obvious that she has gotten really used to driving

in the past few years.

This was supposed to be something worth celebrating, but Alaric simply pressed his

lips together as he stared at the roads with a grim look in his eyes. When he first

encountered her after five years, he felt as if he hadn’t seen her for centuries. However,

there were also times when he noticed the similarities in her actions, and he would

then feel like they hadn’t been apart for long–like he had just met her days ago.

However, when Alaric recognized how smooth her driving was, he was struck by reality.

So much has changed in the past five years. I’m the only one who’s still stuck in the

past.

Victoria safely brought the car back to the sales gallery after taking it out for a drive. “I’ll

get this. I’ll pay for it now,” she announced as she handed the keys back to the

salesperson.

“That sounds good. However, there are some necessary procedures to go through, so

you won’t be able to collect your car immediately,” the salesperson explained.

“Yeah, I know. You can just call me when the car is ready,” Victoria replied. As Victoria

walked off with the salesperson, Alaric got out of the car. He watched silently as she

did.

Victoria only realized that Alaric hadn’t come along with her after she went through all

the procedures with the salesperson. ‘Excuse me, where’s the washroom?” she asked Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

the salesperson. After the salesperson showed her the way, she hurried off into the

washroom with her phone in her hand. Her phone had been on silent mode earlier, so

she had no idea if she received any messages or calls.

One hour had passed since the time that Victoria had agreed to meet with Silent Night.

When she pulled her phone out, she had expected a text from Silent Night. She

expected him to question her absence or to even blame her for not showing up. To her

surprise, when she opened their conversation, there were no new messages–her draft

of the text that she had meant to send was still there. She didn’t get to send her text

earlier, and the man didn’t contact her either. It was almost as if he had just

disappeared into thin air. What’s going on?

After considering the situation, Victoria decided to delete her earlier draft. She wrote a

new text explaining herself. ‘I’m so sorry, Mr. Night. Something came up earlier, so I didn’t manage to

meet you at our agreed location. However, it seems like you didn’t text

Chapter 2801 Don’t Need You

me either. Are you busy as well?‘ After sending the text, Victoria waited in the

washroom for a while more. She didn’t receive any response,

After a short while, Victoria figured that she couldn’t do much since the man wasn’t

responding. She headed out of the washroom to find Alaric waiting for her outside,

However, he seemed rather different than before. The aura around him felt hostile and

icy–he was like a walking air–conditioner that made the air around him turn cold. Even

though Alaric was a stunning man with gorgeous looks, the icy aura that he gave off

was enough to make everyone maintain a distance of at least three feet away from him.

The man seemed to warm up a little only when he saw Victoria walking toward him. He

shifted his gaze to look at her, but his lips were pursed the whole time. He didn’t seem

like he wanted to speak to her at all. Victoria was done with all the necessary

procedures, and she didn’t bother to greet him as she walked past him. She grabbed

her bag and was about to head out the front door when Alaric went after her. “Come

1. on. I’ll send you home,” he suggested.

“It’s fine. I can head home on my own.” Victoria rejected him once more.

Alaric frowned at her. “Do you want me to go to your office and wait for you every day

instead?”

Victoria froze upon hearing his words. She stared at him speechlessly, but the man

then avoided her gaze and opened the car door instead. “Are you getting in or not?”

Victoria stood in her spot and stared at him silently for a while before she shook her

head and walked off. I don’t think he’ll actually come over to wait for me every day just

because I don’t get in his car now. If that’s the case, he wouldn’t have to work, and he

wouldn’t have to manage the company or earn money anymore. He can do whatever he

wants if those are things that he thinks he can sacrifice! Victoria thought.

Alaric watched as Victoria turned around to walk away. His expression was as gloomy

as a graveyard, but he didn’t go after her in the end. The change that he saw within her

earlier had made him feel especially conflicted, so he simply stood in his spot and

watched as she walked off. He only went back into his car a long while after she

disappeared from his field of vision.

The driver took a glance at Alaric’s expression before speaking in a cautious tone.

“Miss Selwyn is long gone, Mr. Cadogan. Should we go after her car?” Alaric pinched

the bridge of his nose as he felt a dull ache forming in his head. “It’s fine. Let’s head

back,” he uttered in a strained voice.

Right before getting into the car, Victoria turned around and took a glance behind her.

She only saw a few random strangers walking behind her–Alaric was no longer

anywhere to be seen. She felt some relief in knowing that he wasn’t following her, yet

she couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed. However, the disappointment she

felt was so minute that the emotion disappeared before she got a chance to

acknowledge it.

Victoria took a cab to the nearest train station before buying tickets. Coincidentally,

Bane rang her on the phone then. She took a glance at the caller ID and recalled what

Summer had told her before picking up the call. “I’m at the lobby of your office, Victoria,

but your staff told me that you left earlier in the afternoon. Where are you now? Shall I

come over to pick you up?” Bane didn’t sound annoyed, although he didn’t see her at

the office. He sounded gentle and warm on the phone.

Victoria felt especially guilty when faced with Bane’s tenderness. He’s always like this.

He never gets mad at me, no matter how badly I treat him… This is precisely why I find it

so hard to reject him or throw a tantrum in front of him. But now…

Victoria shut her eyes for a while before responding in a cold voice, “It’s fine. I don’t feel

like looking at cars today,” she replied.

Bane was stunned when he noticed the iciness in her voice. “Did something come up

for you? Should we meet another day instead?” he asked gently.

“I don’t want to go on a different day either.” Victoria bit on her bottom lip for a while

before she forced herself to speak. “I don’t need you to go with me even if I do end up

going in the future.”