Chapter 273

Noelle did not feel like going back to bed after hanging up the phone, so she grabbed a towel tobegin drying Charles‘ hair. “Why didn’t you wake me up just now?”

When she thought about how she had somehow managed to fall asleep despite how sticky herbody was, she added, “Didn’t you say you would help me clean up?”

“You were fast asleep!” Charles said, the look in his eyes gentle as he reached up to take Noelle’shand. “I can do it myself!”

However, Noelle shook her head. “Let me help you!” Then, she added, “Xavier probably got himselfinto some trouble, so he used another person’s phone to call me,” she said ruefully, “How did Inever notice the kind of person he was?!”

Charles smirked, and he chuckled when he heard the obvious displeasure in Noelle’s voice. “Whatkind of person is he?”

“I don’t feel like talking about him,” Noelle said, feeling frustrated. “I just don’t understand why hekeeps coming back to rile me up when he’s already decided to get together with Winter instead!”

The fact that he told the police officer she was his girlfriend made her find the entire thing evenmore inappropriate.

Noelle gazed at Charles and bit her lip. “That didn’t affect your mood, did it?”

“Nope!” Charles frowned slightly. “He doesn’t hold that sort of power over me!” He took Noelle’shand and patted the space beside him, signaling for her to sit down. She obediently took a seatbeside Charles, and he reached out to place her head on his lap before he began gently massagingher temples. “Did that wake you up?”

Noelle nodded. “I was still so sleepy just now, but I can’t fall asleep anymore!”

Though Xavier did not affect Charles‘ mood in any way, Noelle was not as steadfast as Charleswas, and her mood had been somewhat affected.

Noelle felt annoyed and closed her eyes as she allowed Charles‘ hands to move across hertemples. As her mood slowly improved, she heard the man’s deep and reassuring voice ring outfrom above her head. “No need to be bothered by what he thinks. Change your number if you don’twant to be in contact with him. After all, you won’t be returning to Frotconn!”

After giving it some thought, Noelle answered, “Looks like that’s the only way to go about things.”Then, she gritted her teeth. “It’s so annoying!”

“What’s there to be annoyed about?” Charles, on the other hand, was not bothered. “Don’t worry.He won’t come harassing you after this.”

“Why not?” Noelle asked curiously as she opened her eyes, her gaze meeting Charles‘ sparklingeyes. She asked curiously, “How do you know he’ll stop bothering me after this?”

Charles smirked. “Take a guess.”

Charles curved his finger upward, and Noelle sat up to press a kiss against the corner of his lips.“You can tell me, can’t you?”

“He won’t have time for you anymore,” Charles said as he gently maneuvered Noelle to lie backdown.” Xavier will be getting lectured by his dad Joseph now. I know what sort of man Joseph is.There’s no way he’ll let Xavier off the hook so easily. As long as Winter still holds the shares to CityRing Corp. and is loved by the Shaw family, Joseph will never give up on his plan to get Xavier andWinter married.”

As Charles spoke, Noelle’s eyes flew open as she gasped in realization. “Yes, that’s the sort of manJoseph is!” In the past, he had been supportive of her and Xavier dating because he thought she was the family’s favorite. Then, when he learned she had no status to speak of within the Shawfamily, he had her booted out of the picture and got Xavier and Winter to date each other instead.