Chapter 88: Secret Base
Chapter 88: Secret Base
-Xavier. What brings you here today? I didn''t have time to clean the room today, why don''t you...
With a slight gentle smile on his face, Xavier looked at the older woman in front of him with a kindly
attitude.
-Vera, it''s okay. It was me who came in today without telling you. Go about your business, I''ll just take
my friend upstairs for a chat.
At that, Vera Echave nced at Mariana standing behind him, only to see that this woman''s eyes were
slightly red and puffy, but remained unable to hide her fair skin and delicate, very impressive looking
features.
Vera winked meaningfully. She looked at Xavier and spoke in a whisper:
-Xavier, is she your girlfriend? How pretty!
And he froze and, for some reason, did not refute her in the first ce. After a brief pause, he smiled
without saying anything, as if he had tacitly agreed.
Vera''s eyes couldn''t stop moving between the two of them as she nodded in satisfaction before leaving.
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Mariana, who was behind them, naturally, had not heard Vera''s question.
The two opened the door and entered the room.
But what was before her made her pause a little.
The room was furnished in a somewhat old-fashioned but clean manner. An old, obsolete television
was set up on the table and in front of it were Dalbergia armchairs, with smooth but somewhat faded
arms.
When he looked up, he noticed some candlesticks on the table, of an antique style that looked like
objects of yesteryear.
Even the color scheme of the room design was vintage, where antique touches expanded.
Mariana suddenly realized that it was probably a ce where the elderly lived.
He turned his head to look at Xavier whose appearance was somewhat mncholy and guessed
approximately who had lived here.
Xavier turned around and slowly walked over to one of Dalbergia''s armchairs and sat down, telling her
to sit next to him as well.
-You have to wonder whose residence a ce like this really is.
Nodding softly, Mariana continued to look at the various antique ornaments in the room.
At this moment, however, a t voice rang in his ears:
-Early in the morning, my parents were busy with work and didn''t trust the nanny to take good care of
me, so they sent me to my grandparents and asked them to take care of me.
Mariana''s heart tightened as she looked at the man whose eyes were in front of her. Such Xavier was a
look she had not seen before.
-For a long time, my childhood was spent here. I had a very happy and carefree life.
His voice fell on Mariana''s ears, interspersed with a bit of warmughter.
Unconsciously, she tilted her head and her eyes followed Xavier''s to the small television set in front of
her, still carefully covered with a red and white patterned cover, just enough to show the seriousness
the elders had put into her life.
She had not expected Xavier to have such a memory.
That man of many young girls'' dreams, the one who always wore a bohemian expression and yed
all kinds of other people''s lives on the screen, turned out to have a dim light in his own life.
The story in his ears continued:
-Then the disease took my grandparents. Yearster, I bought the ce and redecorated it, restoring it
as it was.
At this point, Xavier stopped narrating and turned his eyes to look at her.
-Nobody knows that this is my secret base. I alwayse here when I feel bad, so I feel that someone
is waiting for me, someone to stay with me to spend the not-so-good times together.
The light in the eyes of the man in front of her seemed to spread over her, as fiery as if it would burn
her.
-Xavier... -Mariana spoke hesitantly.
But he interrupted her.
-Mariana, you can take here as your secret base too. If there is something you are not happy about, I
am here and you can talk to me.
Xavier looked at her with a very serious face, leaving aside his usual mischievousness.
In the time he had been away from Mariana, he had perceived, one after another, many malicious
words in the words of those around him: jealousy, or disgust, or mockery.... Such things abounded
everywhere.
Blinking hard, she struggled to hide the tears in her eyes. Mariana watched the small television with
some bewilderment.
-How do you think people''s choices really are? If not being elected means being left behind, right?
The words drifted softly into Xavier''s ears, a little hoarse like shards of broken ss that had fallen to
the floor.
-Xavier, you know what? Once again, I was not chosen.
Speaking, Mariana turned her head to stare at him with a trembling gaze brimming with tears, as fragile
as if she would break on contact.
-Mariana, some things are not your fault and not being elected is not your cause, don''t think like that.
A small, bitter smile expressed itself on her face as Mariana looked at the man, with a faint broken light
in her eyes.
-It''s not my fault?
Like a child who had done something wrong and was desperate for an affirmative response. It wasn''t
about someone telling her she was doing the right thing, but hoping someone couldfort her.
There was a moment of silence before Xavier quietly took the floor:
-As long as one lives in this world, one has to make choices. He will choose what he considers
important, and he will inevitably renounce what he does not consider important.
At these words, Mariana hugged her knees tightly. She epassed in a nce the vulnerability all
over her body and her slender shoulders trembled in a heartbreaking way.
-There is no necessary corrtion between choosing and being chosen, abandoning and being
abandoned. Because the choice is made by others, but the abandonment is what one thinks one can
only call abandonment.
His gaze went through the window andnded on the loose, worn swing in the yard.
-You probably don''t know that I had those same thoughts when my parents sent me to my
grandparents. I felt abandoned, that they had chosen their careers and abandoned me.
-But then, it was my grandparents who cured me, and they were also the ones who told me that truth.
Xavier stood up and walked to Mariana''s side. After a hesitation, he ced his palm on her soft hair
and stroked it tenderly, with a touch of affection.
-If a person is resentful because they were not elected, then there are too many unforgivable things in
this world, aren''t there?
After a long while, he spoke in a soft voice:
-Just follow your heart.
He had been cured here once, and now in the same ce he was trying to warm up the woman in front
of him.
The man''s hoarse voice rang in Mariana''s ears, rushing into her cochlea and causing a booming
impact.