After listening to the man"s explanation, Damien got up and headed towards his car without saying anything.
Caleb knew what he was about to do, so he caught up to his friend and stopped him. "Damien, stop. You"re currently not in the right state to see her. You should calm down."
Damien shot Caleb a glare, "Calm down? No. This is exactly the state I should be facing her. Have you forgotten what she did years ago to that poor girl? If you two hadn"t stopped her, that girl could have lost her ability to walk! I may have shrugged it off then but I won"t do it again this time! Not when Katherine"s involved. So, get out of my way."
Years ago when Damien and Lexi were still going out, there was an amateur model who kept on showing up in front of him. She pestered him and acted coyly all the time while Lexi wasn"t around. And when Lexi found out about it, she and her girlfriends beat the model outside of a club. When Caleb and William who were in the club heard about it, they rushed outside to stop them from causing any more trouble.
The model ended up in the hospital with injuries all over her body, especially her legs. Her career as a model was practically over because of the scars. William and Lexi"s family used their influence to keep the incident from leaking, especially to the media and they also paid a hefty sum to the model"s family. Damien only knew about it a few weeks later, and when he was about to visit the hospital, he found out that the girl"s family had already moved to the province.
Caleb knew that Damien had sent financial help to that family. Recalling the incident in his head, Caleb could only sigh. So even though he was reluctant, he got out of the way and Damien got inside his car.
Damien tolerated Lexi many times in the past, but this time, he could never allow her to get away after harming Katherine.
Stepping on the gas, he sped off and dialed Lexi"s number. There were several rings before his call connected and her voice sounded from the speaker.
"Damien!" Lexi exclaimed, her voice was cheery.
"Where are you?" he asked in a low voice.
"Are you coming to meet me? I just finished my shoot. I"m at Star Studio." She was excited. Did he finally realize that she was who he wanted? She couldn"t help herself from grinning widely. Damien was going to see her soon!
"Don"t go anywhere," he said before he hung up the call and increased his speed.
Meanwhile, Lexi was over the moon. She sauntered towards her dressing room and merrily prepared for Damien"s arrival. She sent everyone home, including her personal a.s.sistant as she wanted to be alone with him as soon as he arrives. She was oblivious to why Damien was going to see her, thinking that her plan was flawless.
A sly smile formed on her pretty face as she looked at herself in the mirror. In the end, she always got what she wanted… just like how it"s supposed to be.
Damien arrived at the Star Studio and he was no stranger to this place since he had been there several times in the past years for TV guestings. In fact, he was familiar with the place. Lexi had sent him a text to tell him where her dressing room was and he immediately sought for it.
Reaching the end of the hallway, he caught sight of the dressing room number and his strides became longer. He knocked on the door and it opened in just a few seconds, Lexi stood tall and pretty before him.
"You"re here!" Lexi cheered and was about to wrap her arms around him.
Without second thoughts, Damien pushed her inside the dressing room and pressed her back against the wall. She was so shocked that she yelped — her eyes widened in horror when his strong hand encircled around her neck.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn"t snap your neck right now!" he growled.
His eyes were dreadfully icy, piercing through her and making her instantly pale.
"W-What are you d-doing?" Lexi struggled from his grasp. "You"re hurting me!"
"Really? Good! You almost killed Katherine today, you should be getting more than this!" he spat. He had controlled the amount of strength that he was putting into his hand but he was so close to forgetting himself and squeezing the life out of her.
Meanwhile, Matthew Jeong who was also in the studio walked out of his own dressing room, which happened to be in front of Lexi"s. The voices from Lexi"s room caught his attention and he started to dash forward but stopped in his tracks when he heard Damien"s words. "Katherine?"
"What? What do you me-"
"Don"t bullsh*t me, Lexi. I have had enough of it. Why don"t you come clean and I might still let you go!"
"L-Let me go and I"ll talk!" She gave up — she was starting to see stars.
Damien instantly let her go and her hands flew to her neck, trying to soothe herself as much as she could while struggling to keep herself from falling.
"Speak!" he demanded. "How did you do it and why?"
"I added ibuprofen to her water!" Lexi was both mad and hurt. She couldn"t believe that Damien would do that to her. "Does it matter? And what"s the big deal? Why are you so mad? Wasn"t it just an allergy? Just because she broke out into hives, you"re overreacting like this?"
"Hives?! Is that how simple you thought it was?" Damien was exasperated. "She went into anaphylactic shock! She could have died!"
"What…" Lexi was stunned. When she learned about Katherine"s allergy from the background information that William gave her, she imagined that Katherine would just suffer from skin rash all over her body.
She believed that Damien and Katherine"s relations.h.i.+p was just superficial and her immature brain thought that if he saw her in that state, he would be grossed out and leave her. Lexi did not expect what she did could almost kill that woman.
Even after this realization, she remained firm in her stance. "But she didn"t die, did she?! You"re taking this too seriously."
"You are sick." Damien could not believe this woman.
"Sick?! I have been chasing you for years and yet this woman randomly stumbles into your life and suddenly you care for her? You have known me since we were kids, Damien! Why are you treating me like this? You used to be mine!"
"Can you hear yourself? I can"t believe you are not sensible enough to differentiate what is right and wrong. Have you not realized that you almost killed someone?"
"She"s a n.o.body! She does not matter! She doesn"t belong in our world!"
Damien was done. There was no point talking to someone who refuses to listen and insists she was right. Lexi was blind and stupid beyond repair.
"I can take whatever you throw at me, Alexia, but going after Katherine — that"s where you crossed the line. You stay away from her, or I swear, even your family can"t save you."
Damien was too p.i.s.sed. He walked away before his rage would get the best of him and make him do something he would regret.
When he got out of the room, he walked straight ahead and headed towards his car, not noticing Matthew who was standing at the corner. The latter was disgusted by what he just heard — his eyes darted across the hall and stared at the door that was left ajar where he could hear the cry of the revolting woman who dared to harm Katherine.
Inside the car, Damien leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair and on his face. Apart from the fury that he was feeling towards Lexi, he was also mad at himself. That woman did that because of her sickening affection towards him and because of what she did, Katherine suffered.
Damien never wanted to be violent. It was one of the reasons why he tried to cut his ties with the Park Family.
A memory from his younger years flashed in his mind:
"Dad, why do I need to learn this? Can"t I just play the piano?" he asked.
"You need to learn this to defend yourself, son. All the men in the Park Family go through this training. You must persist. Now, strike!" Lawrence Park commanded.
His father lied to him and Damien only realized it in his teens.
What he learned wasn"t self-defense at all. All those tactics and skills that he acquired… were meant to kill.
After some time, he collected himself and drove back to the hospital. When he pushed the door open, he was greeted by a smiling Katherine, sitting on her bed as if nothing had happened to her.
"Where"s Jeffrey?" he asked as he walked towards her.
"He just left… he has a date or something." Katherine saw the state that he was in but she didn"t comment. She already heard about what happened from Caleb.
Reaching her bedside, Damien sat and stared at her. The day had been so eventful that it felt like a lifetime.
Not knowing what to say, Katherine inched closer and snuggled with him. "I"m okay…" she said, and that was all that Damien wanted to hear.