Her Substitute Groom

Connor Hughes POV

It was supposed to be a beautiful morning, but I woke up this morning feeling distressed. It felt as though the world was going to end. I didn’t know why I was feeling that way, but one thing I knew was the fact that I missed my family so much, especially Mom. I’ve spent all the years of my life living with them, being loved by my parents, and before now, I wouldn’t ever leave the house even after marriage. Not that I was planning to ever get married, anyway. I mean, the first one didn’t work out well for me and ended miserably, so why should I get into another one? Trust me, you wouldn’t want to know what happened to my first marriage. You would be disgusted, so it’s not something to talk about. I don’t really want to think about it again.

The fresh air on the balcony blew gently on my face. The air was refreshing, but I was trapped in my own thoughts so I wasn’t really feeling it.

“Should I call Mom? I missed her so much,” I mumbled as I took out my phone and searched through it, but I changed my mind immediately. Claire told me Mom traveled with Dad, so I didn’t want Dad to think Mom was talking to me secretly and end up getting mad at her. She was already through a lot for what I did.

“Forget it. She’s fine… She doesn’t need you to care for her,” I reminded myself of the bitter truth, but that was too hard to accept.

Pushing all the thoughts to the back of my mind, I leaned over the rail and stared into space, many thoughts running through my mind, but none of it have direction.

My thoughts finally reached a destination as they landed on Janice, and the thought of her made my heart skip a beat. I’ve been trying to understand why she was being like that. Why did she want me to stay away from other women, but being in love with me was the last thing I could think of. I could swear on my life that Janice hates me with everything in her, down to her white blood cell.

“Maybe I need help,” I mumbled and reached for my phone. Calling Khan was what shouldn’t have crossed my mind knowing how annoying he could be, but I didn’t have a choice at this point, so I was just going to ask if he had any idea about this. I waited patiently for him to answer the call after I dialed the number, and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally answered the god-damned phone.

“Are you calling to warn me again?” His voice sounded through the phone, so I rolled my eyes and straightened my back.

“I got my eyes on you, so I’m still going to say the same thing although it’s not the reason I called you. Don’t mess with my sister if you don’t want to see the ugly side of Connor,” I warned him, and heard him scoff.

“Whatever! Why did you call me? I don’t have all the time in the world to spare for you,” He asked, but I didn’t know the right words to say to him. I didn’t know where to start or how to go about it, so I just sighed and sank my fingers into my hair.

“Uhm… It’s about Janice. She’s been acting weird lately, so I was wondering if you could help me figure out something,” I forced those words out of me, and I heard him scoff.

“What did you do? Did you have sex with her?”

“No, I didn’t,” I regretted answering that silly question immediately. I mean, why would he even ask me that?

“What’s the problem then?”

“She’s been getting mad at me over having affairs with other women. You know how I am. I can’t stay without it, and not that I’m planning to do it with her. But she doesn’t want me to. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s really driving me nuts,” I complained.

“That’s why there is Google. Fucking ask Google and stop disturbing my peace. If you have nothing else to talk about, I will hang up,”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Come on, can you help me, please? I knew Google existed before I came to you,” I rolled my eyes angrily.

“Ugh! You are so annoying. Alright then, so, tell me. Did she say anything to you? Like did she…”

“Yes, she did. She was willing to sleep with me if that’s the only way I’ll stop with other women. I don’t think it makes sense because…”

“Are you this clueless or are you just being stupid, man? Can’t you see the handwriting? She’s fucking in love with you. Is it until she spells it out to you?” His voice was insanely loud like he was annoyed, but that wasn’t my business.

“Wh… what? Love? Are you kidding me?” I couldn’t deny the fact that my heart skipped when he said that.

“That’s not true. I asked her, but she told me that I was the last man she would ever allow herself to fall in love with,” I stated foolishly even though I knew that I was just being stupid at that moment.

“And you fucking believed her? Ugh! I thought you were smart. Anyway, I don’t have all the time in the world to spare. You called to know what’s wrong, and I already told you. I have work to do. Bye,” His voice sounded through the phone, and although I wanted to ask him more questions, I felt tongue-tied. The call disconnected, and my mouth dropped open in shock.

“Lo… love? How is that possible?” It almost felt like I was a teenager learning about love for the first time. My heart stopped beating for a few seconds and when it began to beat again, it thumped hard against my chest, and I was forced to touch my chest.

“That can’t be. She can’t be in love with me,” I shook my head, but there was only one question lingering on my mind. If she didn’t have feelings for me, why has she been like that all this while?