"Secondly—"
Before Carla could continue, Zayn grabbed her hand anxiously. Summoning whatever strength he could, he asked, "Why… didn't you say anything… back then?"
"I was equally confused and assumed it did happen." With an embarrassed look on her face, she explained, "Deep down, I felt that nothing happened between us. However, all the evidence seemed to indicate that it was. Before I got a grasp of the situation, I didn't dare to tell you anything."
"R-Really?" Zayn could not rein back his emotions.
"If you don't believe me, you can investigate it yourself." Carla did not explain further. "When we returned to the Srinsot family's castle, Marianne pulled the same trick again, but I caught her. By installing a pinhole camera, I captured everything as evidence and used it to coerce Sir Carl and his wife to call off the wedding. Devastated by the incident, Lucas fell into depression. Even now, I can feel that he's mentally deranged…"
At that point, she could not help but sigh. "To be honest, I, too, am responsible for it. But the problem mainly lies with his parents and Marianne."
Zayn finally believed her. Previously, he found it odd as to why Carl and Lisa would let her go and why their relationship ended on such bad terms. As it did not make sense, he was convinced there must be an inside story.
Finally, the truth was revealed.
"The first matter has been cleared up." Rubbing her tired eyes, Carla continued, "The second thing I want to say is that I will not have anything to do with Lucas going forward. Hence, I hope you will stop being angry over the matter."
"Really?" Zayn asked again.
Knitting her eyebrows, she shot him a look of displeasure. "Do you not believe me?"
"I just hope that… you will… keep your—"
"I will. Don't worry, " Carla interjected. Sighing, she continued, "Besides, Lucas is close to turning into a Lolatic. The best solution is to stay away from him and let him undergo treatment."
"You still… care about him." That was what bothered Zayn the most.
"Why are you still fixating on that?" She was peeved. "I'm only concerned about him as a friend, nothing more."
Zayn put up his hand to indicate that he did not want to discuss it further.
Since Carla had cleared the air and declared that she would keep her distance from Lucas, there was no need for him to dwell on the topic any further.
After all, the darkest days were already over.
Zayn felt reinvigorated.
However, he still felt as if he was forgiving her too easily, so he continued to feign a frosty and dissatisfied expression.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Carla scrutinized his condition.
"No." Closing his eyes, the man responded distantly.
"Go back to sleep then." Utterly drained of energy, she let out a yawn, curled underneath the quilt, and carefully maintained her distance from Zayn.
When Zayn tried to squirm toward her, Carla thought she had accidentally touched him and turned around instead. She was so far away that the quilt barely covered her.
Zayn was speechless. She really is dense!
That night, both of them fell asleep in the face of repeated disruptions.
At nine in the morning, Carla was awoken by some muffled sounds. Opening her eyes groggily, she noticed that Naya and the nurses had arrived. They were preparing to give Zayn an examination.
However, the man gestured for them to leave so that they would not disturb her rest.
Nonetheless, Carla was already awake. She quickly got out of bed. "I'm sorry! I was too tired and overslept."
"It's all right, Ms. Lierger. Why don't you go wash up while I give Mr. Giblo a checkup?" Naya replied awkwardly.
"Sure." Carla hurried out at once.
Staring at her silhouette, Zayn could not help but feel dejected.
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