Her Substitute Groom

“Why didn’t you call me when she was leaving? This would’ve been avoided if you had called me. What if something happened to her over there?” Connor yelled at Chase angrily.

“I’m sorry. I tried to stop her, but…”

“That is why you have a car. You should’ve followed her or called me immediately. How could you allow her to leave just like that?” Connor tried to lower his voice this time because it was partially not Chase’s fault. Janice was an adult too and Chase couldn’t have treated her like a kid by questioning her whereabouts.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m just… confused,” Connor apologized to Chase as he crashed against the couch in the living room and ran his fingers through his hair frustratingly. He hasn’t gotten a good sleep since the previous day that Janice has been missing. How was he supposed to be at rest when his woman was missing?

“We should report to the police. I think they’ll be able to help,” Chase suggested.

“It’s not yet twenty-four hours, so that won’t work. I’ve tried to look for her everywhere, but to no avail. I’ve checked to be sure there wasn’t any case of accident she was probably involved in, but there was nothing,” Connor further uttered frustratingly.

“What do we do? Have you tried to track her location?” Chase asked.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“It’s turned off. I can’t access her location,” Connor uttered amid sighs. Why was Janice being like this? She had been acting weird, but this was out of it. What exactly was going on? Connor tried to figure things out, but his thoughts kept falling apart and in the end, he wasn’t able to come up with anything.

“What do you think we should…” Chase’s voice trailed off when they heard the sound of a car driving in from outside.

“I think that’s her,” Connor didn’t wait for him to finish his statement before he rose to his feet and advanced toward the door. He dashed out of the house and stopped when he saw Janice step out of the car. A part of him felt relieved to finally see her, but there was another part of him that was burning in rage when he recalled what she made him pass through for the past few hours since she had been missing. Regardless, he walked up to her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly like she was going to run away again if he went easy on her.

Janice just stared into space blankly, too weak to even hug him back. How could he still be like this when he was supposed to be mad at her for everything she had been doing? Why was he so cool with everything she did? She asked herself but couldn’t find answers to her questions.

“Are you ok? Did something happen? Are you hurt anywhere?” Her thoughts were disrupted when he pulled away from her and asked worriedly while holding her shoulders.

“I’m fine,” She replied to him bluntly, and he sighed in relief. He wasn’t a fool not to be mad at her, but her safety mattered more to him than his anger. He needed to make sure she was fine first before venting out. That is what a real man would do, and he wasn’t an exception.

“What happened, babe? Where have you been? Wait! Is that a bruise on your lip? What happened to you?” He cupped her cheeks in his palms and examined her face, but she stepped away from him and yanked his hand off.

“Wh… What are you doing?” He scoffed confusingly.

“Let’s break up, Connor,” She looked him dead in the eyes and uttered.

For the next two minutes, Connor stared back at her confusingly, trying to process what she just said. He was sure he heard her right but still, he tried to convince himself that he must’ve misheard her. No way she actually said that, right?

He was still trying to process everything, but she walked past him and proceeded into the building.

“Babe… Wait…” He called after her as he followed her into the living room.

“What do you mean we should break up?” He held her hand and pulled her back when they got into the living room.

“What part of it do you not understand? I told you to let’s break up. I’m sure I spoke in the language you understand very well, right?” It took her so much courage to look him in the eyes and say those words to him when she was burning deep inside her.

“Why?” Was the only question Connor could ask, or the only thing he could come up with.

“Do I need to explain to you why I want to break up? Well, I’m no more interested in this relationship. I’m done,” Just like that, she ended things with him and he scoffed.

“This has to be the craziest shit I’ve ever… You left the house yesterday, kept me awake all night, worried about you, and all you can say as soon as you come back is that you want to break up?” He scoffed again and bit his bottom lip.

“You think you don’t have to explain to me what happened, why you left the house, where you went to, how you got that bruise on your mouth, where you passed the night, and why you are just coming home?” He hated the fact that he still cared so much about her bruise even in this situation, but he loved her so much that he couldn’t help it.

“You are just going to tell me you want to break up?” He huffed and then ran his fingers through his hair. It felt like he was losing his mind. Janice was obviously making him lose his mind and it was hard to bear.

“I’m in love with someone else, Connor. I don’t want to be with you anymore… I… I thought I loved you, but I was mistaken… I found the one… I’ve found him,” Even she was wondering how she managed to maintain a straight face while saying those words boldly to him like she meant all of it, but somehow, she saw where the courage was coming from. She needed to fight to survive, she needed to save her life, and that was enough courage for her.

“Janice…” Connor’s voice broke as he called her name. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out of it as his lips only trembled and closed back. His chest contracted so tight that he could barely breathe and started to hyperventilate. His throat suddenly started to burn like a hot burning coal was kept in his lungs. He felt his blood heat until it started to boil in both rage and pain.

“Janice…” The only thing he could do at that moment was calling her name without any other words coming from him. He knew she loved him, he could swear on his life that she really did, but what was going on? What came over her?

“Yo… you are lying to me, right?” He finally managed to say something, pushing his legs toward her, but she stepped away from him and shook her head, her face was void of emotions.

“I love you, and you know it… You are lying to me, Janice… It’s written all over you. What is this about? We can talk about it… We can sort things out. We really don’t have to break up. We can sort everything out,” He held her hand firmly in a way that she couldn’t retract her hand even though she was trying hard to.

“I can’t do this anymore, Connor. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I’m in love with someone else,” She felt her heart wrenched painfully, her eyes glistened with tears, but shedding a drop of tears in front of him was the last thing she would ever do. She needed to be strong.

“We can really sort everything out…”

“Stop making things harder than it is already. Don’t try to stop me. My mind is already made up,” She finally yanked his hand off and walked away.

Janice rushed into their room, slammed the door close then crashed against it and burst into tears. She whimpered silently, crying her eyes out, but the banging sound on the door made her stop.

“Open the door, babe… Let’s talk things out. I don’t want to lose you,” Connor pleaded with her from outside, but she ignored him and proceeded to pack her things.

Done packing everything that belonged to her inside the room, she pulled the door open to leave but Connor was right outside the room waiting for her.

“Babe… We can talk about this,” Connor went on his knees and pleaded with her with tears in his eyes, but she ignored all of it and walked away, not even sparing him another glance, breaking him just the way Carl wanted it.

She dragged her suitcase down the stairs but she stopped when she got to the living room and saw Chase.

“Why are you doing this, sister-in-law?” Chase asked, pained, but Janice walked out on him wordlessly.

Her phone beeped just before she got to the exit door, and a text from Carl popped on the screen.

‘He is waiting for you. Don’t keep him waiting’ Her heart sank into her stomach as she read through the text. She glanced back at Chase one more time before she finally walked out of the house, closing the door behind her. She said her last goodbye to the house and walked out of the compound. She hopped inside the black jeep parked outside the gate, and the ride began. She had just broken the man she ever loved all her life, the man who loved her with everything in him, but if it was to save his life and hers, then she didn’t have any regret although it was painful…