Her Substitute Groom

“Co… nnor?” Janice called his name surprisingly, her voice so low that she could barely hear herself speak. For a moment, she froze and couldn’t think straight. Her heart wavered in excitement, but her body shook with fear, confused about how she was supposed to feel. Happy, or sad? She forgot what to feel.

She quickly rose to her feet and swallowed nothing. Her heart hammered hard against her chest as she stared back at him.

“I’ve missed you so much,” He couldn’t hold himself back anymore, so he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, tightening his arms around her as if preventing her from leaving again.

“I’ve missed you like crazy,” He whispered, his voice laced with excitement.

Janice’s eyes glistened with tears as he stared into space. Her teeth found their way to her bottom lip as they bit into it, and her tears finally streamed freely down her cheeks.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Connor finally pulled away from her and held her cheeks in his palms. He wiped her tears with his thumbs while looking into her eyes.

“Let’s go home together… You don’t need to explain anything to me here. Let’s go home and sort things out together, babe,” His lips trembled and his voice quivered as he spoke to her, but his face dropped disappointedly when she shook her head and stepped away from him.

“Janice…” He tried to touch her.

“I’ve been looking for you. You were here?” Royce’s deep voice resonated behind Janice, and her heart skipped a beat. She turned to find Royce holding three shopping bags.

“Uhm… Yeah… I came to grab something from here…”

“Have you gotten it?” Royce cut her off, his voice was void of emotions and accompanied with chills that made her frightened for a moment.

“Ye… yes… I got it,” She tried not to stutter, but it didn’t work for her.

“And who are you?” Connor stepped forward and asked, but Royce just stared back at him wordlessly.

“Is he your new boyfriend?” He turned to her and asked unbelievably. No way he was ever going to believe that this ugly man was Janice’s boyfriend. That was the last thing he would ever believe even if she ended up confirming it.

“Let’s go,” Royce spoke to Janice coldly then turned to leave.

“And who are you to order her like that?” He held her hand and pulled her behind him, then stood in between her and Royce.

“Don’t cause any trouble here, Connor. Let me go,” She yanked his hand off and walked over to Royce.

“Let’s go,” She said to Royce.

“Are you going to walk out on me like that and pretend nothing happened? Are you seriously going to be like this?” Connor yelled at the top of his voice just when she turned to leave with Royce, his voice demanding the attention of a few people present, and they didn’t fail to turn to look at him wondering what could’ve come over him to have made him yell like that. Who knows, maybe they were about to witness a sweet drama. Just who knows?

“I told you it was over between us, Connor. Stop making a scene here and move on already…”

“What right do you have to tell me it’s over? I told you that the only person that could end the relationship was me… You are mine… We were going to be together forever, so what has come over you?” This wasn’t a good idea, especially in this kind of place, but he could only care less.

“Let’s go,” Royce threw him a murderous glare then turned to Janice and said to her.

She glanced at him one more time before she started to leave with Royce.

“If you leave now without talking to me, then forget ever coming into my life, ever again,” He never meant any of those words, but he said it regardless, hoping it would make her stop and at least look at him, and yes! It did work. She paused, and for the next few minutes, she just stared into space and closed her eyes. Tears trickled down the corner of her cheeks, and slowly, she clenched her fingers into a tight fist.

“Look at me and tell me that it’s really over… Look me in the eyes and tell me you really hate me,” He said as he took slow and steady steps toward her, but just before he got to where she was standing, Royce came to stand in front of her.

“We need to get out of here, ma’am. Boss is going to be pissed if he finds out about this,” Royce said to her, and she breathed in deeply.

“Who is that bastard isolating you? Is he the one making you do this to me? Talk to me, is he?” He scoffed in disbelief.

“It’s obvious Madam already moved on. You too should,” Royce said to him, and without waiting for another second, he grabbed Janice with his free hand and dragged her out of the place and she couldn’t resist.

“Get in the car,” Royce said to her when they got to the parking lot where the car he drove to the Mall was parked. He was holding the door to the backseat opened for her.

She glanced back at the mall one more time and finally hopped inside the car, and the ride back to Carl’s house began.

Barely three minutes after the car left, Connor came running out of the mall with Khan running behind him.

“Where the hell are you going, bro? You can’t drive!” Khan yelled after Connor.

“Your head is still messed up. Why are you acting this way?” Khan didn’t stop running after him until he got to the car.

“Take a cab home. I need to take care of something,” He said to Khan as he pulled the car door open and hopped inside. He drove out of the premises without another second.

Minutes later, Connor sped down the road in a bid to follow the car Janice and Royce left in, but after five minutes of trying to get the car and he couldn’t, he pulled over at the side of the road frustratingly and hit his hands on the steering wheel as he cursed angrily.

He rested his head on the headrest and closed his eyes…