Love Began with the First Meeting novel Chapter 869

"Have you heard about what happened?" The hairdresser conditioning Ximena's hair was talking to another girl who was serving another customer. "Rumour has it that the current situation of the Leng's Corporation was caused by internal problems."

Ximena quickly glanced at the hairdresser through the mirror and continued browsing through the fashion magazine with a straight face.

"No, I didn't know that," the girl shrugged, "there are too many versions to that story and I have no idea which one to believe."

The hairdresser raised an arrogant eyebrow. "I just heard about it last night at a party," She paused for a moment and continued, "People have been saying that Aldrich Leng has a bastard son."

"Ah, really?" The girl stared at her with astonishment. "It can't be true! Everyone knows, that," she paused again and continued, "Helen was a sophisticated woman, who would never allow such things to happen."

"More than sophisticated," agreed the hairdresser. They smiled at each other and she continued, "And I heard that the bastard son was actually the son of Aldrich and his true love."

The girl's mouth gaped open in shock and her customer looked at the hairdresser in disbelief as well. Even Ximena's gaze was drawn to her in the mirror.

"But unfortunately, they never got married." The hairdresser shrugged, "Sounds like a soap opera to me."

Keenly observing the chatty hairdressers through the mirror and listening to her gossip, Ximena was gradually lost in her thoughts...

Thunder rolled across the charcoal sky that night. "Boom!" A bolt of white hot lightning broke the utter blackness, cleaving the night in parts, but just for the briefest of moments. The silence in the villa was depressing and stifling.

"Bang!"

Ximena looked out the window of her bedroom and saw that the big wind had simply toppled the other woodpile out back and gone away, leaving a heavy downpour rain to follow right after the thunder and lightning.

"Knock! Knock!"

Ximena shot her eyes to the door and said, "Come in."

The steward pushed open the door and stepped in. "Miss Mo, his highness will not be back today. You should have dinner when you want."

"Okay." Ximena followed the steward out and went to the dining room for dinner.

Without Aaron's company, Ximena felt relaxed but it wasn't as enjoyable as she would have expected it to be.

Her eyes glazed over the table full of her favourite food in awe. Shaking her head in self-ridicule, she smiled and muttered, "I wonder what's wrong with me? I thought I couldn't sit at the same table with him, but now I can't seem to find joy without him."

The steward glanced at her and said, "People tend to form new habits after 45 days of regular repetitions. Don't let it surprise you, madam."

Ximena cocked her head to the steward and nodded with a wry smile. Looking at the bountiful dinner spread out in front of her with disappointment, she said, "I have no appetite. Please clear the table."

"Sure, madam," The steward replied and gestured the servants with him to clear the table.

Ximena dragged herself upstairs in silence and found herself a book to read on a couch near the window. As time passed by, the clock struck twelve eventually, but Aaron still hadn't come back yet.

Ximena put down the book and stood up to stretch her legs, while she stared at the clock for a while. "Will he come back and have sex with me this late? Probably not." She muttered, allowing in a combination of self-loathing, self-pity and feeling sick.

When Ximena got out of the shower it was half past twelve. Gently rubbing her hair with a towel, she stepped out of the bathroom. She was about to go downstairs for a glass of water, when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

She raised her head upwards and found a faint light coming from somewhere on the fourth floor.

On her first day there, Ken had made it very clear to her that she could

go anywhere else in the villa, but the third and fourth floors were off-limits, no exception.

Having lived here for more than one month, she had come to learn that Aaron's bedroom and study room were on the third floor. However, she knew nothing about the fourth floor and now that there was light coming from there, she wondered what it could be.

Curiosity killed the cat!

Curiosity piqued her harboured interest and the more she thought about it the more she couldn't help wondering what was it about the fourth floor that made it so secretive.

She moved gingerly and the thick carpet eliminated the sound of her footsteps. Her feet hardly touched the stairs as she cautiously crept up the staircase coming to a pause on the landing.

The door was slightly ajar. Ximena held her breath, feeling a strong urge to sneak a peek through the door. So she did.

Ximena stared in wide-eyed surprise as she saw Aaron sitting on a cushion with his back against a pillar, a bottle of wine in his hand and another empty bottle beside him. The sight of him made her frown and she moved her sight up to see a black and white portrait of a woman on the desk.

Ximena stared at the portrait pensively. Although distance made it seem unclear, but she recognized a beautiful woman with what seemed to be a scar on her face.

"Crack!"

A sudden bolt of white hot lightning crackled against the black sky, illuminating the dim room.

Ximena remained unruffled, staring at Aaron with lips pursed. The booze-soaked man, seemed to be talking to himself as he gulped down some wine.

"Mom, I really hate thunderstorms." Aaron closed his eyes in displeasure. This was the first time Ximena had seen Aaron being emotional; his usual indifferent disposition replaced by a broken-hearted boy desperate for a loving release.

Ximena looked at the portrait again. She gasped in amazement and her eyes were wide as saucers with shock as soon as she realized that the woman in the picture shared a striking resemblance with Aaron.

"I have planned this for a long time now," Aaron said, in between the odd hiccups, "How can they even think of defending a heartless man like him and that woman?"