As Noelle reached the doorway, Donovan chased after her and shouted, "Stop right there, Noelle!"
Noelle had no intention of arguing any further. "There's no reason for me to say now that your words meant nothing."
His expression changed slightly as he immediately came up with a lie. "I must have misheard what Xenia said just now, which caused me to misunderstand that you were the one that hurt her."
He could not afford to take responsibility for what would happen to Blake and Lucas if Noelle were to leave now.
Noelle smirked and asked, "Did you really mishear things? Or did someone deliberately lie to you?"
Donovan's tone turned softer. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it does. You guys always loved to sweep everything under the rug and call it a day, and I'm no longer a fan of that. Everything should be made clear as day," she replied.
As soon as Noelle finished speaking, Blake pulled Xenia forward with him.
He then glared at Xenia and said, "Tell us exactly what you said to Donovan just now. Repeat it, word for word."
Xenia felt extremely guilty as she glanced at Donovan. "Donovan, I never said that it was Noelle who hit me."
Donovan felt wronged in that instant. Although Xenia had not explicitly stated who had hurt her, her tone suggested that Noelle had done it.
Donovan thought for a while and then turned back to Noelle. "Well, I was the one who misheard things. Is that good enough?"
Blake explained, "Donovan, you should apologize to Noelle since you misheard the details. "
Frank walked over and chimed in as well. "That's right, Donovan. It's your own mistake to assume that Noelle was wrong. Noelle suffered a lot because of our prejudice against her. We can't let history repeat itself."
Donovan looked visibly reluctant to apologize, as he was the eldest brother in the family.
Noticing his hesitation, Xenia explained, "Donovan did nothing wrong! It was my fault for misleading him and causing all of this misunderstanding. Let me apologize instead."
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The readers' comments on the novel: No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)