No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Chapter

20

The slap left Noelle's hand numb. She looked at Cedric in astonishment. Somehow, she felt as if he seemed taller and more formidable. She never expected him to grab her hand to deliver Lucas a slap personally. Everyone went completely silent.

Xenia was overjoyed the moment she saw Lucas getting slapped. She was certain that Lucas would never forgive Noelle now.

Lucas' eyes were rimmed red as he asked in disbelief, "You dared to hit me, Noelle?"

He refused to believe it. He was sure that Noelle would fear upsetting him to the point where he'd ignore her forever.

Noelle slowly retrieved her hand, feeling satisfied. She said calmly, "You slapped me earlier. Is there any problem with me returning the favor?"

Lucas exclaimed, "But I'm your older brother! I was just preventing you from saying the wrong thing and causing trouble. Isn't that different?"

He had always been a prideful person. Even after his apology, he wasn't expecting to be slapped by Noelle, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.

• Cedric asked mockingly, "Can you tell me what she said earlier that might have caused trouble?

Lucas turned to Xenia and replied confidently, "Xenia was feeling emotional earlier. What if she was agitated by Noelle's words and ended up harming herself?"

He was adamant that he did the right thing and that Noelle was the heartless person here. Even if she had won the repechage, he'd ensure that she couldn't harm their family member.

Cedric glanced at Xenia. His gaze turned cold when he said, "We've been talking for a while now. If you truly wanted to kill yourself, why haven't you done it yet? Who are you trying to buy time for?" Xenia was caught off guard by his cruel comments. She did not want to kill herself in the first place. She wondered when Noelle had become close to the sharp-tongued school doctor.

Xenia was now put in an awkward position. She didn't know whether to place the razor down. or continue her act. She could only start tearing up once again before saying, "I... I panicked earlier. I only wanted-" However, Cedric interrupted her, saying, "Just die somewhere else where no one can see you if you're panicking. However, using suicide to threaten someone to do something they don't want to is wrong!" Xenia cried out of frustration. She wasn't acting this time,

Noelle was tired of everything. She glanced at Cedric and said, "Let's go." She refused to waste her time there any longer.

Frank frowned and asked, "Where are you going?

Noelle replied, "I'm free to go wherever I want."

Frank replied, "You're still a minor. As your guardian, I have the right to ask you about your whereabouts. You can't just leave with some random stranger!" He eyed Cedric warily, wondering if the latter was the reason behind Noelle's drastic changes recently. Lucas stepped forward to block Noelle's path. "Frank is right. You're still young. Don't be deceived by other men's lies."

Frank stared Cedric down. "If you try to take Noelle away by force, I'll call the police on you and tell them you're abducting a minor."

Noelle was pissed off. "He's not abducting me. I'm the one who wants to leave!" She no longer wanted to stay with the Liddell family anymore. They were suffocating her.

Frank looked at Noelle. "I know you're in your rebellious phase now, Noelle. You refused to listen to me, but you'll understand soon that I only have the best intentions for you."

Cedric chuckled coldly. "You only have the best intentions for her? Is that why you forced Noelle to compromise every time a conflict happens?noveldrama

"She's aggrieved and beaten up every time, yet you still want her to be understanding. If this is truly what your best intentions look like, why don't you try being on the receiving end instead?"

Frank was rendered speechless. He now realized how little attention he had paid to Noelle back then. He had thought that she wouldn't care, seeing how she had always been obedient and never complained. It turned out she had been holding it in the entire time. Frank realized that he had been an incompetent older brother to her. At that moment, the police arrived along with a lawyer.

Liam Rodrick spoke first, "I'm Ms. Noelle Liddell's lawyer. We've submitted evidence given her family's history of violence. She'll now be transported somewhere she finds safe under the police's escort."

Noelle was surprised. She was sure that she hadn't hired any lawyers for herself and wondered if Cedric had hired one on her behalf.

He glanced at her calmly, giving her a sense of security.

Lucas got upset. "What is this supposed to mean? We're her guardians. You have no right to do this!"

Liam stopped him and said, "Ms. Liddell has filed for a protection order, sir. You are now required to stay away from her for six months. We will file a lawsuit against you immediately if you continue to harm her." Shocked, Lucas found himself at a loss of words. He was feeling angry and hesitant.

On the other hand, Frank felt frustrated. He only realized that he was about to lose his sister then. He softened his tone and said, "It was my fault for being an incompetent brother. You had to suffer so much, Noelle. But I promise you that it won't happen again. Can you please not make this a bigger issue?"

Noelle slowly looked up. Her eyes were clear as she said, "Forget about it." There was no longer a need for him to do so. She turned around to walk away after that.

Frank's throat tightened as his eyes started to water. As expected, they had hurt Noelle's feelings. Now, she refused to believe in him and no longer wanted to return to the Liddell residence.

Lucas grew anxious upon seeing Noelle's retreating back. He wondered how she could just walk away and leave the Liddell family just like that when she was their sister. He panicked and turned to Frank. "Find a way to keep her, Frank! We're a family!" Lucas couldn't simply let her leave when they still needed her for the team finals.

Frank smiled bitterly as he asked, "Then why did you hit her earlier, especially when you knew we were family?"

Lucas fell speechless when he realized that he was the one who lashed out first. He regretted his rash decision now. Still, he attributed it to Xenia's threats to harm herself with a razor. He turned and glared at Xenia, blaming her, "Why must you do such a dangerous thing?" He knew that it was all her fault.

"I just wanted to calm her down and get her to join the team, Lucas. I'm doing this all for your good!" Xenia refused to admit she was unsure of herself.

Lucas scoffed in disbelief. "Do you think you'll calm her down by cutting yourself? You're clearly just guilt-tripping her!"

Xenia's expression froze. She couldn't believe he was smart enough to call her out now. Frank tried to smooth things over and said, "Forget it. You should stop talking, Lucas."

"That's just the truth, Frank! I never asked Xenia to harm herself to force Noelle to join the team. She was the one who took the liberty to do it, and it resulted in whatever happened next! "The more Lucas thought about it, the more he felt something amiss.

Xenia flinched and said pitifully, "I'm sorry, Lucas. I was too dumb and only thought of this method in desperation. I now know I'm at fault. I shouldn't have done that. I'll apologize to Noelle and explain everything to her."

Lucas found himself giving in again when he saw how sincere she was in her apology. "Alright. Just don't do this kind of thing anymore." Nevertheless, he felt a pang of heartache when he recalled the way Noelle had left earlier.

Xenia smiled tearfully and resumed her role as their usually obedient sister, yet she was deeply hateful toward Noelle. She had initially thought that she would be able to win Lucas back by threatening to hurt herself. She thought she might even sow discord between Noelle and Lucas. She blamed Cedric for appearing out of nowhere.

Xenia gave it some thought before asking, "What's the relationship between that school doctor and Noelle, Frank?"

Frank looked conflicted as he answered, "I'm not sure either."

Xenia continued, "I'm worried that Noelle might be deceived, Frank. After all, the Liddell family is rich and powerful. Perhaps that school doctor is trying to climb the social ranks by using her."

Lucas frowned. "How dare he?"

Frank's gaze turned cold. He said, "I'll send someone to bring her back. Then, I'll have that school doctor disappear from Aldoria."

It wouldn't be easy to mess with the Liddell family.

Xenia's eyes lit up. She assumed Noelle would become a target for bullying again without Cedric around to support her and influence her.

However, Frank's men came back soon after, reporting, "We couldn't locate Ms. Liddell and that doctor anywhere, Mr. Frank."

Frank started to panic when he realized that Noelle was missing.