Departed With A Belly {1}

Lets Go!

After staying in Victoria's office for long enough, Noel decided it was time for him to make a move, but when he walked out the door, he ran into Alaric and Claudia as they were about to leave their office as well.

Alaric seemed a little tense the moment he saw Noel, his-body giving off a cold and chilly aura as he glared at him unhappily. At the same time, Claudia could also sense Alaric's hostility when she saw Noel exiting Victoria's office not far away.

"It seems that Mr. Javier and Victoria are
pretty close to each other. As far as I can remember, they even hung out together for a meal a few days ago."

While Alaric only raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips in silence, Claudia went on with her opinion upon noticing the emotionless look on the man's face.

"If you ask me, Mr. Javier seems to treat Victoria pretty well. Ever since the Selwyn Family went bankrupt, everyone else avoided her like she was an alien, but he got into the same company as her, not to mention the fact that he continued to keep in touch with her. Back then, I
thought it was just a rumor when they said Victoria's father treated Mr. Javier like his son-in-law, but now... I might've been wrong."

Claudia didn't press on any further after speaking her mind, thinking she had done enough to sabotage Alaric's impression of Victoria. Since I can't do much to stop Victoria, I must do all I can to sway Alaric into forgetting about her.

As Claudia expected, Alaric's face darkened the moment she finished
her words, which implied that her words had gotten to him. However, she didn't appear to be happy at all, for Alaric's reaction was something she didn't expect.

Because of that, she didn't dare let Alaric know that Victoria was pregnant. It looks like I have to speed things up a little.

Later that night, Alaric exited the bathroom in a bathrobe covering his
lower torso.

With his upper body revealed, he grabbed a towel and dried his wet hair. When he entered the bedroom, he noticed the light inside was still on.

In the meantime, Victoria was still busy with her work, typing away on her
laptop while wearing a pair of wireless earphones as she sat in bed. "Yes,
please look into that and send it back to me after amending it."

She spoke faintly and gave out instructions every once in a while, her fingers tapping the keyboard rapidly at the same time. Seeing that, Alaric stopped drying his hair, feeling unhappy.

It wasn't until Victoria finished her call and stopped that he approached her and asked, "Couldn't you have finished your work earlier today?"

Victoriq didn't even look up as she replied, "I didn't manage to." Because of
that, she had to work overtime so that Yasmin could catch up at work. Despite the sacrifice, she reckoned it was necessary for the sake of her assistant.

Victoria had her head down, and her long eyelashes happened to block Alaric from observing her eyes. She then looked up and took her eyes off the laptop screen, fixing her gaze on the man's face upon hearing his indifferent voice.

At the same time, Alaric, who was standing, set his eyes on her from above like he was Victoria's master, radiating a chilly aura that implied that he was unhappy.

Nevertheless, she quickly understood the meaning behind his words with just one look in his eyes. She soon closed her laptop and tapped one of her wireless earphones. "Ah, you want to go to bed now, don't you? I'll head to the study now."

As soon as Victoria finished her words, she immediately got off the bed with her laptop in hand. Little did Alaric know Victoria was as calm as a cat in that instant, for all she wanted was to finish her task and see Yasmin improve at work.

Nonetheless, when she walked past him, she heard a sarcastic question from him. "Was it because you didn't have enough time? Or was it because there was something else more important than the work that you had to spend all your time on it?"

Victoria stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean?" She was standing a few steps away from Alaric, their backs facing each other. Without turning around, the woman clamped her laptop under her armpit.

"What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that I wasn't being serious at work?"

"Were you?" Alaric sniggered. "If you were serious, you wouldn't have to work overtime at home." At Alaric's words, Victoria couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with the man.

For the next few moments, neither of them turned around as they stood with their backs facing each other in a stalemate.

Not long after that, Alaric sniggered again and asked, "What's wrong? Cat got your
tongue? Did you have a good time chatting with Noel?"

When Victoria heard Alaric's words, she quickly realized the reason for his strange behavior. Haha! His ego is playing tricks on him again.

As usual, Victoria had no intention of engaging in an argument with Alaric, so she walked away without bothering to explain.

Nevertheless, Victoria immediately felt a strong grip on her wrist and was pulled backward in the next second. Before she could react, she found herself in Alaric's arms just as her laptop fell onto the ground.

Then, she was pinned down on the bed by the man with her hands restrained by
him above her head. "What are you doing, Alaric?" She struggled in an attempt to free herself, but that only made Alaric tighten his grip even more and place his knee on her legs to stop her from kicking wildly.

On the other hand, Victoria grew so angry that she sank her teeth into Alaric's arm. Despite the man's firm muscles, they did very little in protecting him from the lady's sharp teeth.

In a matter of seconds, he quickly felt the pain that ran through every nerve in his arm, raising his eyebrows high in agony.

"Let go."

"Never!" Victoria replied vaguely.

"Snowball! Let go!" Alaric responded irritably.

Victoria unknowingly loosened her jaw, stunned by the nickname. At the same time, Alaric seized the opportunity and grabbed her chin. He then held her chin tightly and forced her to look him in the eye.

Deep down, only Victoria knew it was because of the recent incident that
she bit Alaric's arm until it bled.

Therefore, blood could be seen dripping
from the corner of her mouth, and her fair skin made it seem even scarier. On the other hand, Alaric looked at his arm and saw an obvious bite mark on his skin.

He smiled glacially at Victoria. Snowball? Where is your conscience?"

"Speaking of conscience, you should let me go if you're a man of one," Victoria replied, surprised to hear Alaric calling her nickname. After all, he hadn't done so in a while.

Before they became a couple, Alaric would call her that whenever he lectured her after she pissed him off, but now, that
nickname simply felt different considering the circumstances.

Looking at the man who tried to intimidate her, Victoria smiled and asked,
"What does it concern you about me and Noel? Your desperate look tells me you're jealous, but are you?"
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Edited on: February 11th 2024
Word count: 1256 words
Time: 10:39 am