Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 278: The highlights

Chapter 278: The highlights

On the way to Hazel’s villa, Diana chatted with Maxim about random things and he responded as usual.

But even though he was talking so naturally with her, she could see the distress that he was trying to hide.

’’She will be fine.’’

Maxim pulled the car in front of Hazel’s villa.

’’She has to be,’’ he whispered, letting out a soft sigh.

By the time they were making their way inside the villa, Diana was holding her breath.

She was consoling Maxim yet she could not help but feel anxious deep inside.

The only relief was that they knew that Hazel was physically fine. But Logan was not the kind of person who would have made an effort to make a call if everything was fine.

And the thought of that worried her further even though she was pretending like everything will turn out to be okay.

The moment Diana and Maxim stepped inside the house, all their thoughts stopped almost instantly as they stood frozen near the entrance, thunderstruck.

There was a queue of people around Hazel.

Hazel sat on the couch, hand extended to the girl who was doing her manicure while another man dealt with her feet, doing her pedicure. Her head was thrown back on the couch and two slices of cucumbers covered her eyes. The pink clay face mask on her face looked particularly glaring.

Maxim’s lips parted.

Diana was the one to recover first and she held Maxim’s hand. When he looked at her, she pointed her chin towards Logan who was standing upstairs with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his expression frigid.

Maxim and Logan exchanged a glance to which the latter shook his head and took out his phone before he began typing something.

Maxim’s phone vibrated and he took out his phone to check the text.

Logan: This has been going on for the past few days.

Maxim: ...

Logan: Talk to her.

Diana speechlessly peeked at their conversation before shifting her attention back to Hazel.

’’Mom.’’

Hazel removed the cucumber slices from her eyes and glanced in his direction when she heard his voice.

Her eyes lit up briefly when she spotted them together, ’’You both are here. Oh my! I wasn’t expecting you to have the time to visit me on your birthday,’’ Hazel shot a discreet wink in Maxim’s direction.

And the wink was caught by Diana who looked at Maxim, waiting for him to explain that ’meaningful wink’.

Maxim cleared his throat, ’’Thank you for being the first person to wish me,’’ he approached his mother, clearly not intending to tell Diana how desperately his mother wanted him to wife her up at any presented opportunity.

Hazel’s face changed at the clear attempt of shifting the topic. She did text him at midnight but that was clearly not what she was concerned about right now and he was well aware of that. ’’Hmph! I carried you in my womb for months that felt like decades, enduring your mood swings, only for you to come out like this, thanking me for random things instead of giving me what I want,’’ Hazel rolled her eyes, ’’No thanks.’’

"_"

Diana felt like the mother and son were talking in circles but she tried to keep a straight face.

’’Come here, Little Ana, sit beside me,’’ Hazel quickly reached towards her before looking at the professionals who were doing the treatments, ’’Please clean me up.’’

’’Yes, Ma’am,’’ Once they tidied her up, Maxim paid for their services and they left.

’’Mom, is everything alright?" Maxim asked as soon as he returned.

Surprisingly, Logan who would have normally avoided any kind of conversation also walked down the stairs, standing behind the couch.

Diana believed that Hazel’s weird behavior had him bewildered as well.

’’What are you talking about?" Hazel looked at all of them one by one before letting her gaze linger on Logan.

Logan stared back at her nonchalantly, ’’The past few days, you have been screaming in the middle of the nights. Binge eating without a care and then screaming again in the morning when the clothes don’t fit. You have been throwing fits, acting weird and unreasonable. Midnight is not the time to get your self-care done for one,’’ his tone remained nonchalant and placid, "And 5 am is not the time to knock on my door and urge me to drive you to stores so you can go on a shopping spree."

Diana’s lips twitched. One or two things would have sounded like an exaggeration but with everything that Logan listed down, it was not hard to understand why Hazel’s behaviour concerned him.

Maxim did not urge Hazel to say anything but his gaze remained fixated on her.

"I didn’t even realize that I have been doing this. Maybe I acted on instincts," Hazel poured herself a glass of water, her brows creasing together slightly as she gulped it down, ’’I don’t know how much time I have left.’’

’’For...’’ Maxim’s voice was slightly hesitant, ’’...what?"

’’To live.’’

Diana’s eyes widened, ’’But.. What happened? It’s just been a few weeks since we last met. You... Are you fine? Have you been feeling sick?" she reached out to hold Hazel’s hand and from the corner of her eyes, she could see Maxim shifting in his position.

When she looked up, Diana was met with the sight of his pale face.

And as much as she wanted to assure him as she did on their way here, she had no assurances left in her. After hearing Hazel’s words and seeing her actions, she was shaken to the core, let alone Maxim.

It was almost like a dying person was fulfilling their last wishes.

Logan frowned, ’’When did you visit the hospital?"

’’Hmm? Why do you ask about that?" Hazel was bewildered, ’’We went there together the last time, remember?"

’’But you did not get any tests done.’’

’’What tests? Why do I need to get them done... oh,’’ Hazel blinked and glanced at Diana’s hand that was holding hers, ’’No. No. I think there is a glitch here, babies. Apologies for the miscommunication. I am not dying. I am not sick.’’

Maxim closed his eyes, resting his palm on his forehead. The women in his life had a way with rollercoasters and he did not doubt that.

’’Then... why would you talk about not having any time?" Clueless to the fact that she was being jointly dissed in Maxim’s head, Diana asked Hazel.

The mention of that made Hazel’s face pale gradually.

Maxim looked up at her, ’’If anything... Or anyone is bothering you, I need to know it,’’ When she looked at him hesitantly, he added, ’’Now.’’

’’I...’’

Hazel inhaled a deep breath.

"Look, we have never had this discussion before so I don’t know how to bring it up. But in the most simple words that I can muster, I need to tell you that I saw your biological father recently.’’

Maxim’s brows tugged together, ’’Did he bother you?"

’’That’s all you have got to ask? You are not curious about anything else?" Hazel was taken aback by his nonchalance even though she had already expected such a reaction from him.

’’Did he?" Maxim repeated, instead of answering.

Hazel shook her head, ’’I ran away before he could have spotted me but he still gave me a nice chase... I have been having nightmares about him tying me up and locking me in the basement of my villa and hitting me to his heart’s content...’’

Diana was taken aback by Hazel’s words and her thoughts spiralled. Was Maxim’s dad an abusive person? Did he abuse Hazel?

Her grip on Hazel’s hand loosened slightly before she held it tightly again.

’’Oh, I think there is some misunderstanding again,’’ Hazel said hesitatingly when she noticed the strange silence in the air.

She looked at Maxim before she continued speaking, ’’We never discussed this before because I knew that that man never was and would never be a part of our lives. But now that I need your protection, I think I need to lay it all down on the table."

’’You think?" If not for his stress levels, Maxim would have found himself laughing at this point.

Hazel scowled, ’’You were far more adorable when you were younger,’’ her gaze shifted to Logan who was standing behind with a stony face, ’’Looking at you people is making my anxiety worse.’’

She moved to face Diana.

’’Unless I had an amnesia that I am unaware of, I think I remember pretty much every detail that led up to my son.’’

’’The highlights, Mom.’’

Hazel turned to glare at Maxim, ’’What?"

’’Give us the highlights. No details.’’

"You..."