novelraw Chapter 288 - 171 Unbearable memories of the past
Chapter 288 - 171 Unbearable memories of the past
Time passed so slowly, as if each second felt like a year...
Atlas Hallow’s lips curved with a sharpness, and when his question slowly escaped his lips, it was like cutting through the air with a knife: "Did you investigate me?"
She and Ethan Baird were good friends, and if he could look into her past, why wouldn’t she look into his?
Atlas Hallow stared at Charlotte Miller, his gaze slowly surveying her face, as if trying to find answers written there.
Charlotte’s long lashes trembled lightly as she met Atlas Hallow’s gaze. Her red lips parted slightly as she slowly spoke each word: "I suppose so. I want to live with you, but I can’t be completely ignorant of your past. Why do you always take care of her? Is it because you like her, or is there another reason?" She had never spoken to Atlas Hallow about something so seriously before.
Initially, she dared not discuss this with him out of fear. If not for the time they spent together, she would certainly believe that in many people’s eyes, Atlas Hallow was a fearsome person, cold and unreachable.
Now she wanted to clear things up simply because she no longer wanted to second guess on her own. Having his child, being with him made her feel sweet, and thus, to live better, she needed to know these things.
She was stubborn in love, feeling that if she couldn’t be the only one, she wouldn’t care about being the most loved.
She absolutely wouldn’t compromise on sharing a man with another woman.
Atlas Hallow wasn’t sure if he should be angry or pleased. Charlotte Miller actually went to investigate his past?
She said it’s because she wanted to be with him, so she wouldn’t allow herself to live in such confusion.
But where should these things begin?
Atlas Hallow let out a long sigh, holding Charlotte Miller’s hand as his tone grew heavy.
"She was in the same school as me, you must have heard of it right? She was admitted for her dance talent, when she was young..." At this point, Atlas Hallow pursed his thin lips, appearing somewhat uneasy.
Back then, he was too young, and he indeed lived a frivolous life for a time. It is a man’s nature to desire young and beautiful women. He neither wanted to deny it nor make excuses for himself, but when he truly had a girl he liked, speaking of his past before her seemed unspeakable.
"What about when you were young?" Charlotte smiled faintly and then said softly, "When you were young, you liked pretty girls. Hailey Hill was very pretty, wasn’t she?"
Even Atlas Hallow himself could hardly remember what Hailey Hill looked like in her youth. They weren’t even together for that long. When it comes to such matters, speaking them himself made him feel ugly, yet he had no choice but to speak of it.
Charlotte must have uncovered something by now, but the fact about Hailey Hill having her uterus and ovaries removed back then was done very secretly. He believed no one knew about it, and Charlotte couldn’t find it out.
Atlas Hallow’s large hand continued to tightly envelop her small hand. His thin lips parted slightly: "Not only when I was young, men always like beautiful women, at any age. Something very unpleasant happened when I was with her, so I always took care of her, but I’ve also been preparing to send her abroad."
"You didn’t make it clear what your relationship with her is. Lovers? A couple? Or something else?" Charlotte’s hand, wrapped in his, couldn’t warm up. Knowing about this fragment of his past already, hearing it from his lips still pained her heart.
A man like Atlas Hallow couldn’t possibly be without a past. She had prepared for that, but hearing his past with her own ears always left her with mixed feelings. What if she met him ten years earlier?
But ten years earlier, she was barely over ten, and would certainly have no connection with him. He mentioned all men liked pretty women, but she was just a little girl then.
"Mutually beneficial lovers." This was the only definition Atlas Hallow could give to that past. He vented his youthful exuberance on her, and Hailey Hill received ample money.
If Charlotte had asked him when she first met Hailey Hill, it would have been even harder to answer, but now he knew Hailey Hill had talked money and conditions with his father and helped Ella Johnson confront him. Thus, calling it a mutually beneficial relationship was already giving her some face.
"Then why was it that your father facilitated her admission to college?" Charlotte had a belly full of questions. In her mind, Atlas Hallow must have known Hailey Hill since she was fifteen, they were entangled, and hence Atlas’s father used his connections to get Hailey into university, but what Atlas said differed entirely from her deduction.
She wanted to untangle Hailey Hill’s relationship with the Hallow Family, otherwise, it would be too chaotic.
"My father?" Charlotte’s words shook Atlas Hallow deeply. He never paid attention to these things; how did Charlotte know?
Atlas Hallow didn’t lie; it seemed he truly didn’t know his father helped Hailey Hill enter college.
"I hope she won’t come between us again in the future. I will only say this once, Atlas Hallow. I don’t want much, but it’s difficult. I want a simple love, I don’t need too many personnel issues intertwined. I may mind your past, but I won’t blame you. But I don’t want Hailey Hill intertwined in our life, not even a little." Charlotte understood there must be a secret between Atlas Hallow and Hailey Hill that he couldn’t disclose.
No matter how she tried, she couldn’t uncover this secret, and that was the terrifying part.
Because the more it couldn’t be said, she felt this secret had an inseparable link with why Atlas Hallow wanted to marry suddenly.
How did his father know Hailey Hill long before?
When Atlas Hallow pushed open Flix Hallow’s study door, Flix was still somewhat surprised.
His son hadn’t entered his study for many years, not even had a good conversation for many.
The housekeeper left after serving coffee, the study door closing tight, with a few strands of repression and dullness in the air.
Atlas Hallow sat on the sofa, looked up at Flix Hallow on the opposite side after drinking a cup of coffee, and his voice was cold as if without a trace of emotion: "Did you know Hailey Hill before I did?"
No words could describe how Atlas Hallow felt now, it was beyond just shock.
He hid it in front of Charlotte Miller but felt his whole body going numb as he stepped out of his bedroom, with coldness rising up from his feet that he found almost unbearable.
His father was no benevolent man, but knowing Hailey Hill had ties to him, immediately removing Hailey’s female features to keep her from ever conceiving, was so overdone it was inexplicable. It was too extreme.
Could Hailey Hill have had some relationship with his father before? Thinking of this made Atlas’s stomach turn, pangs of nausea rolling over him.
"There’s nothing unspeakable between her and me, you don’t need to look at me like that." Flix Hallow let out a long sigh, knowing ultimately some things couldn’t be hidden. He had tried everything, but couldn’t guard these secrets.
"Don’t hide it from me, tell me everything about her." Atlas Hallow articulated each word steadily. He was sure his father knew something. Although it was now late to ask, he had to know clearly, it was his way of doing things.
"You don’t care about her. You’ve married Charlotte Miller, and you’re about to have a child. Atlas, these pasts need not be mentioned anymore..." Flix Hallow bowed his head, his gaze landing on the coffee cup on the coffee table. The brown liquid seemed to swirl into murkiness under his gaze.
"Of course, you wouldn’t like to mention it, you know what you’ve done in the past, you allow your own past to be chaotic, but I can’t." Everyone can choose how they want to live, his father he can’t interfere with, but for himself, it must be clear.
Even if those past events were ugly, he had to face them.
No one could escape their past, nor deceive themselves.
Flix Hallow’s heart sank a bit. Those matters were from many years ago, he barely even knew where to start.
"It was many years ago..." Flix Hallow squinted his eyes, sinking into memory.
The student club was indeed full of students, but the one he attended wasn’t at school; it was the most discreet and expensive club in the city back then.
Because there were fifteen or sixteen-year-old students inside, not just schoolgirls, but even young, fair boys, the prices were highest, but the selection was also the finest.
"The first time I saw Hailey Hill was there." When Flix Hallow spoke to this point, Atlas’s expression became dangerous, like the kind of danger of a devastating avalanche imminent on an icy peak with the slightest breeze.