When Love Is a Lie (Whitney and Damian)

"Noel, why'd you call him to pick me up? I'm perfectly capable of leaving on my own!" Yvette snapped as soon as she heard Thomas's name. "Thomas will kill me if I let you leave alone."

"I don't have anything to do with him. You don't need to report my whereabouts to him."

Just then, a slightly annoyed voice came from the doorway. "I'm your fiancé, Yvette. Of course, he needs to tell me your whereabouts."

Yvette clenched her teeth at the word "fiancé".

"Once my parents return, I'll go home and call off the engagement. Then we'll have nothing to do with each other."

"Until then, I'm still responsible for you. You're too reckless for your own good!" Thomas cut her off, grabbing her hand and giving Noel a nod before he practically dragged Yvette out of the room.

As they left, the room fell silent, with only the faint beat of music from below. Whitney looked down at her toes, avoiding Noel's gaze. Soon, a pair of polished black shoes came into view, stepping closer and closer until she could barely breathe under the weight of his presence.

"Thomas may think Yvette's reckless, but you're not much better. Are you trying to repeat what happened last time? Getting drunk and leaving with some random guy?" Noel's cold voice rang out above her.noveldrama

Whitney recalled that night she got drunk at the bar and recklessly left with him. Her face turned red at the thought, and she clenched her clothes as she muttered softly, "It wasn't like that..."

"Stop coming to places like these if you're not smart enough to protect yourself!"

She got lucky that he was here for a meeting and saw what was happening downstairs. Otherwise, god knew what would've happened.

Whitney was confused by his frustrated tone. She couldn't understand why he was so upset.

Hearing the anger in his voice, Whitney was puzzled. Why was he so upset? Any consequences of her actions would affect Damian, not him. But then she remembered that any scandal involving her could impact the Howard family. After all, it was his family, and his father was the deputy mayor.

Whitney realized where his anger was coming from.

"I should've thought it through. I could've ruined the Howard family's reputation. won't happen again," she replied quietly.

Once her engagement with Damian ended, she would have nothing to do with the Howards.

Noel's expression darkened further, and he looked at her silently for a long moment.

"Let's go home."

Outside, a black G-Wagon was

waiting. Seeing Noel's grim expression, Whitney didn't dare mention taking a cab. Dariel drove

while she and Noel sat in the back in

an awkward silence.

Dariel left after he dropped them off.

They entered the elevator together, and Whitney suddenly recalled how she'd been annoyed with Noel that morning, but now, the roles were reversed. That day, Noel had called Damian to take care of her.

"When I was sick the other day, why did you call Damian? If you didn't have the time, you could've called Yvette or just taken me to the hospital." Whitney couldn't understand why he had to call Damian. Was he trying to make things worse for her?

Noel's gaze shifted to Whitney's

reflection in the elevator mirror. His

eyes were dark and unreadable

when he finally said, "There's no need to lie in front of me. I don't care about your relationship with Damian. I just did what I had to do."

Noel recalled her helping Damian fix his tie at the mall. He smiled scornfully and didn't bother explaining further.

The elevator doors opened on the 16th floor. Noel stepped out, unlocked his door, and shut it without sparing her a glance.

Whitney wanted to ask him what he meant by calling her a liar. What exactly had she done to make him say that?

Whitney marched up to Noel's door and knocked. "Noel, what do you mean by that?" she demanded, but there was no response. After a moment, she turned around, fuming, and returned to her apartment.

Later, she tried to relax by taking a bath, but her mind kept going over Noel's words.

Just as she was about to get out of the tub, a vivid image flashed through her mind. She remembered

lying in a bathtub while someone carefully removed her wet clothes. As the memory sharpened, she saw Noel's face, focused and intent, as Kedried her off and held her close.

Whitney couldn't believe what was going on in her head. She strained to remember more, but everything else was hazy. Why couldn't she remember anything more if that scene was real? Her thoughts were interrupted by a message notification from Sophia.

"Whitney, what exactly is going on between you and Mr. Howard?"