Chris And Hazel - Volume 1 Chapter 59 58

‘When did you guys come here?’ Hazel asked as everyone settled down in the living room with drinks.

It was around 1:30 a.m. before everyone could settle back to relax after the big celebration. Chris put Robert and Aurora to bed and joined the others in the living room.

‘Long before! In order to stop you from finding out we asked Chris to go back to your room. We were actually scared that you would walk in when we were in the middle of the preparation so Chris was staying with you to prevent you from leaving your room’ Charlotte answered smiling at Hazel.

‘When did you plan all this?’ she asked turning towards Chris.

It was still hard for her to believe that Chris surprised her and she was sure that it would definitely take her a few more days to accept that they got engaged. Chris was always a mystery when it came to acting like a typical boyfriend. The truth here was that he didn’t know how to be perfect so he decided to be a mystery. That worked too because he was the perfect boyfriend for Hazel.

‘We didn’t’ he answered in a low voice, embarrassed.

‘Come on, shut up! We have been planning this for months Haze and since we didn’t want you to find out we kept meeting each other separately and even communicated separately but the only problem with the plan was we didn’t know where he should propose you. We debated a lot choosing the venue’ Ed spoke up as Chris tried to conceal the truth.

‘Then..?’

‘Then Chris told us that the venue didn’t matter only the effort does and that’s when we got the kids involved’ Ed continued answering all her questions one by one.

Hazel turned to look at Chris, who was trying his level best to avoid looking at her; it was quite new for him. All of this was! He felt that managing a company was a lot better than finding the perfect way to reveal his love to Hazel.

If it wasn’t for their help he would still be in square one. He was grateful as Ed, Ava and Charlotte stepped in to save the day.

‘Look at me’ she said slowly.

She was astonished to find this side of Chris.

‘This guy has a lot of sides. I am gonna keep learning something new about him for the rest of my life’ Hazel thought to herself as she studied Chris.

But isn’t that the best part in everyone’s life? Getting to find a new side of their love and embracing them without any judgement because they were perfect to us no matter what.

‘It was really nothing. You needn’t thank me and stuff’ he replied still looking away.

‘I just asked you to look at me. What made you think that I was gonna thank you?’ she asked fighting back a smile.

‘Fine, just drop it’ he said trying to escape from talking about. He was already embarrassed about the whole proposal thing and here she was forcing him to talk about it.

‘Look at ME!’ she said stressing each word.

She wasn’t gonna give up till he gives in.

‘What?’ he asked turning to face her.

‘I know that this is all new for you and you are kinda embarrassed but I never really expected anything like this so thank you’ she said with a genuine smile radiating her face.

‘You needn’t thank me. I had to do this at some point’ he answered finally letting the embarrassment fly away as he noticed how happy she looked.

‘And you did it in the most beautiful way possible’ she said appreciating his effort.

‘Anything for you’ he said kissing her forehead.

‘They do realize that we all are here, right?’ Ava asked as the other three looked at the couple in disbelief.

‘I don’t think so’ Ed answered looking at her.

‘Why do I feel like they are just seconds away from chasing us away?’ Charlotte asked as Chris and Hazel continued to stare at each other.

‘That’s our cue. We should head to bed’ Ed said getting up quickly as the others followed.

‘Ava, how about we both share a room?’ Charlotte suggested as the three went up the stairs.

‘What?’ Ed asked stopping right there in shock.

‘Sure’ Ava accepted smiling at Charlotte.

‘What?’ Ed asked again as he turned to Ava.

‘Come on then! Good night bro’ Charlotte said ignoring Ed’s reaction.

‘What just happened?’ Ed wondered as he watched the two leave.

‘They left?’ Hazel asked as she found them walking away from the living room.

‘Yeah, they must be tired. It’s late’ Chris replied looking around the room.

‘Ohh okk but I didn’t get to thank them’ Hazel said in a dejected tone.

‘What will I do then?’ Chris asked out of nowhere.

‘What?’ she asked confused. His question was totally irrelevant to their convo.

‘If you thank them, there’s ninety nine point nine percent chance that Charlotte will kill you so what will I do then?’ he said clearing things up, giving her a complete description behind his question.

Hazel burst into laughter on hearing his explanation.

‘You are happy, right?’ he asked after she stopped.

‘Of course I am happy’ she replied throwing him a puzzled look.

‘Just a few more days, once I take care of Grayson everything will be back to normal’ he promised looking at her.

‘Grayson doesn’t bother me at all. I am just worried that you will wear yourself out hoping to make our lives better but just so you know I will always be there and you aren’t alone in this’ she assured him. Though she knows Chris knew that, she just wanted to remind him.

‘I know honey’ he said getting up.

‘Let’s go it’s late’ he said looking down at her.

‘Ok’ she nodded getting up.

‘Oh my god Chris’ she cried out as he picked her up.

‘Yes?’ he asked looking at her as she struggled in his arms.

‘Let me down’ she said quietly afraid that others might hear her screaming.

‘No, you are going to be my wife soon so it’s just natural’ he said carrying her upstairs.

‘Someone might see us’

‘I don’t care’ he said walking towards their room.

‘You are impossible’ Hazel commented rolling her eyes as they entered their room.

‘Mr. Finch..?’ the housekeeper knocked at their door around half past nine.

‘What is it?’ Chris asked opening the door.

‘Someone called Edwin is here to meet you’ she informed humbly looking at Chris.

‘I will be down in a minute’ he said closing the door behind her.

‘Haze, wake up!’ he said shaking her gently.

‘Wha…what is it?’ she asked in a sleepy voice.

‘Edwin is here. I am going down, join me once you freshen up’ he said slowly trying to make sure that she heard him through.

‘Got it honey’ she said pulling the blanket over her head.

‘Haze…’ he mouthed slowly smiling to himself as she continued to sleep like a five year old.

‘Edwin’ Chris called out walking into the living room.

‘Mr. Finch, I promised to help you find the hard disk and so if you have any questions before that just ask me now’ Edwin said as Chris sat in front of him.

‘First of all what’s this hard disk about?’ Chris asked trying to draw a clear picture there.

If the hard disk was so much important why haven’t he heard of it before? Was it a top secret or was it just a way to distract Chris from Grayson’s path? But Chris had been keeping a close watch on Edwin for the past few days and to his surprise found nothing. Was Edwin really on his side? Well maybe that’s a question to which the future beholds the answer.

Chris quietly observed Edwin, he didn’t look nervous or guilty but it was his calmness that bothered Chris the most but he knew what to do as he finally arrived at a conclusion.

‘Look Edwin, I don’t know why but I decided to trust you but make sure that I don’t regret my mistake’ Chris spoke up a few minutes later.

‘I know Mr. Finch that it is quite hard for you to trust me but do you ever know how much it hurts to be labelled a betrayer though you have been nothing but faithful to your boss. In spite of the fact that he believed someone else over me, he also decided to kill me after listening to him. I have been with Grayson for so many years and I know almost everything about him but he didn’t rethink the decision when it came to killing me’ Edwin replied as sadness washed over his face. He couldn’t look up at Chris at all; he was drowned in his own sorrows.

‘Fine, just forget it! I will protect you from Grayson till you remain faithful to me’ Chris replied looking at Edwin’s reaction.

Hazel slowly approached them as they continued talking to each other. She sat beside Chris as he continued asking Edwin some general questions regarding how much he knew about the vengeance between Grayson and his brother.

‘As far as I know, Adam touched a sensitive and dark side of Grayson’s illegal business and that’s when it all started. Adam shouldn’t have meddled with it, it was Grayson’s greatest secret. Adam also managed to find some dirt regarding Grayson in that field, he was a genius kid but Grayson couldn’t risk it being leaked. Your sister-in-law also played a major role in this, she was very brave. Nothing scared them, all of Grayson’s threatens resulted in vain. And that’s when he decided to take some real action’ Edwin stopped to look at them.

‘He wanted to kill them?’ Chris asked guessing his next words.

‘No, he wanted to kill you to send them a message’ Edwin replied after a moment of silence.

Chris’ clock stopped as he interpreted Edwin’s words in his head. So they weren’t following Adam and Evelyn they were following Chris’ car. His brother and sister-in-law died instead of him. If he hadn’t taken Adam’s car that day…Adam would’ve been alive. He continued staring at Edwin not caring to blink at all. The words came in as a shock to both if them. What more did he have in store? How much more did life want to drag him down by playing around with his weakness?

‘For me..?’ he asked slowly to himself trying to process everything.

Hazel on the other hand froze up too. It was aimed at Chris all along and they had no idea. She turned to look at Chris through tears-whelmed eyes and though her vision was completely blurred she could feel him sitting there, numb.

‘We’ll go back to Finches old house in the afternoon’ he announced leaving the room.

‘I will come around one then’ Edwin replied taking his leave as a bodyguard accompanied him.

‘Chris…’ she said in a low voice trying to catch up with him but he was long gone.

‘Chris, open up’ she said knocking at his door.

‘…’

‘Chris come on, let me in’

‘Just leave me alone’ Chris yelled in a broken voice.

She heard his unsteady voice echoing through his room. She couldn’t sense any anger in it, it was purely his aching heart venting out the pain.

‘I know you are hurt and no matter what I say it will not make you feel any better but just let me stay beside you Chris…please’ she pleaded unable to hear his broken voice. Why did he keep getting hurt in the same spot again and again and again? She didn’t know!

She wasn’t afraid of Chris getting heartbroken, she was scared that he was gonna blame himself for their death and if he did that he wouldn’t forgive himself for the rest of his life. She didn’t want him to go back to the dark space buried inside him and even if he wanted to go there she wanted to accompany him to pull him back up, he wasn’t alone and she wanted to him to remember that no matter what.

She heard the lock click open so she let herself in and found Chris sitting on his bed, his hands covering his face. He didn’t even look up even after he felt presence next to him.

‘Look Chris, there is literally no way for me to console you right now. And I am not even gonna try but I want you to remember one thing. If you were there inside the car instead of your brother and something were to happen to you Adam would’ve gone through something worse than death and you also need to know that he’s been watching over you each second and is very much proud of what you have become and would hate it if you try to blame yourself for something you had no idea about’ she finished getting up from the bed.

She told him what she had in mind. Yes it was hard. Hard for her too but if she cried in front him then it would become really hard to pull back Chris on his feet again and sometimes it was important to put up a brave front in front of our loved ones even if it’s gonna cause a lot of pain to us.

‘Take some rest, I will be downstairs’ she said leaving the room, letting him ponder over her words.

She didn’t know whether it would make him feel any better but she believed in it with all her heart.

It was almost 2 p.m. but Chris didn’t come downstairs. Edwin and Hazel waited patiently for him to show up and finally fifteen minutes later he walked into the living room wearing a cold expression on his face.

‘Let’s go’ he said looking at the two.

‘Mr. Finch, regarding the hard disk maybe I should explain everything while we search for it or after we find it, it would be better that way’ Edwin suggested looking at Chris. Chris slowly nodded at Edwin telling him it was okay with them.

‘Chris..?’ Hazel called out hesitating a little. She wanted to know how he was doing but was afraid that he would go over it all again.

‘It’s alright, honey. I am fine. It’s all in the past now and I won’t be able to change it no matter how much I try to so it’s better to move on learning to live through the pain’ he replied managing to flash her a light smile to keep her from worrying further.

‘We will go through it together’ she answered lightening up his mood.

‘Yeah, and it’s time to end the game too! I will make Grayson regret for everything he has done and even for things he didn’t’ Chris swore as a ray of fire lit through him. He was clearly determined to finish it once and for all. It was all going to end, very soon.