Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 113

Chapter 113 

Elaine shot to her feet. 

“Is he still downstairs? I’ll chase him away. Honestly, what a delusional upstart.” 

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Just as she was about to leave the room, Claudia called out to her. 

“Wait.” 

“Claudia?” 

To Elaine’s surprise, Claudia smiled and gently said, “Let him in.” 

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Everyone in the ward stared at her in shock as they all cried out at the same time. 

“Claudia?” they shrieked. 

“Did you forget what he did to you?” Elaine exclaimed. “Christopher Drevel is a 

ruffian. If you let him in, you’ll…” 

“Elaine,” Claudia interrupted in a soft voice. “No matter what he did to me before, I 

am now hurt. If he knew of that and came here to visit me at the hospital, that 

Chapter 113 Prove Yourself 

means he cares about me. Should I not be touched by someone capable of showing 

me such concern? How could I chase him away?” 

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Everyone else disagreed with that sentiment. 

“Claudia, he doesn’t care about you. He likes you. If you acknowledge him, he will 

only get worse. Let’s ignore him, please?” 

“Yes, Claudia. I know you are so nice that you think he’s being nice by visiting you, 

but why would he visit you unless he had an ulterior motive in mind?” 

“Harden your heart. What if he does something to you?” 

However, Claudia was unexpectedly stubborn that day. “He wouldn’t do anything to 

1. me. I know you’re concerned about me, but he’s really here to visit me. Let him come 

in.” 

Seeing that they were going to continue protesting, she smiled and added, “Alright. 

I’ve made up my mind. You can stop.” 

When they realized there was no way to convince her, they had no choice but to call 

Christopher in. 

Chapter 113 Prove Yoursel! 

Still, that did not stop them from grumbling as they went. 

“What’s going on with Claudia? She hates Christopher, right? Why would she let him 

in?” 

“Perhaps she changed her mind due to how bad her injuries are. Somehow, that 

made her think he’s really here just to visit her.” 

“Oh, I just don’t understand her.” 

They headed downstairs to find Christopher still waiting with a floral bouquet. He 

was a thug, someone who knew Claudia in school but had long since dropped out. 

However, he continued to bother her after dropping out. 

He only stopped when she moved abroad where he could not follow her. 

Recently, he had somehow heard about Claudia’s return and was back to harass her. 

He was quite handsome but with an alcoholic father, a mother who worked at a 

massage parlor, and no proper job of his own, who would want to date him? 

Nevertheless, Claudia was the daughter of someone rich and powerful. Hence, 

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Chapter 113 Prove Yourself 

everyone went along with what she said. 

They soon led him up to Claudia’s room. 

He had been so overjoyed to hear about being given permission to see her that he 

followed close behind them with his bright and gaudy bouquet. 

When Christopher walked into the room, he found Claudia sitting on the bed, 

looking miserable and pitiful with her head covered in thick loops of gauze 

bandages. 

“Claudia!” 

He initially wanted to take a few steps forward in his excitement, but with 

consideration that she had potentially run away to spend years overseas because 

he had been too fervent in his pursuit, he decided to instead vibrate on the same 

spot as he stared at her. 

The passion in his eyes made Claudia’s stomach churn with disgust. Every inch of 

him, including the so–called trendy outfit he had curated for himself, was revolting to 

her. 

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Chapter 113 Prove Yourself 

She would never have allowed someone like him into her territory if he were of no 

use to her goal. 

“How did you get hurt, Claudia? Are you okay? I–I bought you a bouquet. Do you like 

it? I was going to bring you some fruits as well, but I wasn’t sure what you liked,” he 

said. 

He was so cautious and tentative in his speech. 

She found his voice grating. It was too coarse, too crass, and too insecure. 

She still suppressed her dislike to force a smile on her face. “I’m okay. It’s good 

enough that you’re here. You didn’t have to buy me anything,” she said. 

“How can I visit you with empty hands? That would be rude,” he responded. 

Disdain was painted all over the faces of the others in the room. 

“No one’s asking you to come empty–handed, but you should at the very least bring 

something nice with you. Look at the flowers you brought! They’re so ugly and 

gaudy. Did you find them on the side of the road?” someone commented. 

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Chapter 113 Prove Yourself 

“Yeah! How could you even visit Claudia with that bouquet?” someone else said 

with a scoff. 

The disparaging remarks caused a dark look to flash in his eyes as his hands 

tightened around the bouquet. Claudia noted every twitch of his body. She pursed 

her lips and tentatively called out, “Please stop saying that. It’s good enough that 

he’s willing to visit me. Mr. Drevel, you can just come empty–handed next time. You 

don’t have to buy anything special.” 

As expected, the dark look vanished the moment she spoke up. He then replied to 

her in a sweet voice, “Okay.” 

“Claudia!” 

Everyone shot her looks of disagreement. 

She ignored them to continue to cheerfully chat with him. The longer the 

conversation went on, the more Christopher admired her. As expected, the woman 

he chose was not like other girls. Claudia did not look down on him at all. 

She was so different… 

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Everyone merely thought that Claudia was behaving oddly. After all, she was 

actually talking to Christopher, a thug!