Chapter 1
Yvette Giles‘ faint voice was loud and clear amidst the silent night. “I’ve decided to come home and go through with the arranged marriage, Sean.”
Her brother, Sean Giles, was on the other end of the call. A wave of relief washed over him after hearing that. He voiced, “So, you’re finally willing to break up with that boyfriend of yours, huh? I knew you two wouldn’t last. He’s always refused to meet me and our parents, even though you’ve dated for many years.”
Yvette lowered her gaze and let out a low hum at the former’s confident comments. “I was wrong back then. I’ll wrap things up on this end as soon as possible. I’m afraid you and our parents will have to deal with the wedding preparations. Give me half a month. That’s all I need.”
Sean replied, “Don’t worry about the wedding! We’ll get everything ready. You just need to get back home on time. Our parents and I selected your marriage partner with great care.
“The man’s perfect in every way. He has a good family background, a fine character, and is handsome. He’s definitely your cup of tea!
“Oh, right. Remember to invite Kade Dormer, my best mate from back in school, on your way home for the wedding. You lived with him for some time when you studied in Jurbane City, after all. It’s thanks to him that you were well taken care of. So, make sure to invite him to the wedding.”
Yvette didn’t know how to respond. After falling grimly silent for a long while, she answered, “He can’t make it.”
That was when the door opened.
Yvette ended the call with great agility before looking up at Kade, who had just come home.
Kade cocked a brow at her, a broad smile spreading across his ruggedly handsome face. “I can’t make it? Where can’t I make it to?”
“My wedding,” Yvette thought, answering his question in her mind. However, she maintained an unfazed demeanor and spoke with indifference. “It’s nothing,”
Kade didn’t think anything of her behavior. He casually undid the buttons down his black shirt. “Were you on the phone with your brother earlier?”
Yvette gave a simple hum before standing. She wanted to return to her bedroom when Kade suddenly pulled her into his arms.
His warm breath tickled her ear while sexual tension enveloped them.
“Did you tell him what our relationship is?” Kade asked.
A chuckle left Yvette’s lips, but her smile was half–hearted. “Didn’t you say you don’t want him to know?”
“It’s not that I don’t want him to know–it’s that I can’t tell him. Knowing your brother’s personality, I fear he’ll take an overnight flight to Jurbane City. He might beat me until I’m bedridden if he learns that I, his best friend, am seeing his little sister.”
Yvette’s eyes snapped up at Kade when she heard the former’s amused, joking tone. Even so, she maintained a steady, calm tone. “So, do you actually see me as your girlfriend?” Kade arched a brow at the former’s sudden question.
“If I didn’t see you as a girlfriend, would I have lived with you for six years? Would I have hugged you the moment I came home? Would I do such things to you if I didn’t see you as my girlfriend?” While saying that, he brushed his warm lips against Yvette’s neck, causing Yvette to tense.
Yvette turned her head the other way to dodge his kisses. “I–I’m unwell today…”
Kade assumed she was shy and couldn’t help chuckling. “We’ve lived together for a long time, my little girlfriend. Why are you still so shy?”
Then, he tousled her hair and turned to go to the bathroom.
As his footsteps drew further away, Yvette murmured, “Girlfriend? Shouldn’t I be a substitute?”
The first time Yvette met Kade was eight years ago.
Kade and Sean were dormmates at university. Because they were good friends, Sean sometimes brought Kade home to play video games with.
It was puppy love. She almost instantly fell in love with Kade, who was older than her. He was aloof and lazy in an attractive way. Not to mention, he was so handsome that her heart fluttered.
Yvette graduated from high school sometime after. At the time, Kade graduated from university and returned to his hometown, Jurbane City. Because Yvette missed him, she ignored her family’s disapproval and secretly applied to study at the university in Kade’s city.
Yvette often received unwanted attention from delinquents in high school because she was pretty. Because of that, Sean didn’t want her living alone in a city she wasn’t familiar with. So, he entrusted her safety to his best friend, Kade, and allowed her to live in Kade’s apartment.
At first, Yvette and Kade didn’t interact much. She was busy attending classes while Kade occupied himself with race car driving and dating women. He would have a different girlfriend every three days.
That ensued until the second semester of Yvette’s first year in university.
Kade had returned home drunk, so Yvette hectically looked after him. It was late that night. She gazed at the deeply slumbering Kade while subconsciously reaching out to smooth his furrowed brows.
Yet, he awoke once she touched him.
Kade lazily opened his eyelids, his drawling, magnetic voice ringing out. “Do you have a crush on me?”
Upon getting called out on the spot, Yvette shot to her feet. “N–No…”
A smile gradually curved on Kade’s face. “If that’s the case, why do you always blush when you see me?”
Yvette didn’t think Kade was aware whenever she secretly gazed at him. In that instant, she froze and didn’t know how to react.
Kade chuckled while placing his hand on the back of her head, holding her in place as he kissed her.
Yvette sank deeper into the soft kiss that seemed to linger for ages. She couldn’t remove herself from it.
After sleeping with Kade that night, Yvette’s once peaceful life completely changed.
Kade retired from his womanizing ways. He became attentive and loyal to dating Yvette.
Yvette resisted when her parents and Sean told her to return home and get married. She insisted on staying in Jurbane City and being with Kade.
Sean often asked, “Who do you have in Jurbane City that could make you want to stubbornly remain there for six years and not return home?”
Yvette always wanted to tell Sean and everyone about her relationship with Kade. Yet, Kade would always stop her.
She never knew why until a few days ago when Kade drank too much at a meetup with his friends.
Chapter 1
2/2
When Yvette arrived to pick him up, one of Kade’s friends was so drunk that he pointed at her and spoke with sympathy.
He said, “How could Kade ruin such a beautiful young woman? Say, little lady, you’d better not fall for Kade. He’s heartless. You and his other exes are nothing more than substitutes for
Charlotte.”
That was the first time Yvette had heard of Charlotte Lowell. She would never forget that name since then.
Yvette asked around many times before finally learning the truth.
Kade and Charlotte were each others‘ first loves. In the year when Kade’s love for Charlotte was at its peak, Charlotte broke up with him and went abroad.
Following that, Kade couldn’t move on from the past. He let loose and allowed himself to become a passerby when it came to love. Kade dated different women, more or less Charlotte’s shadows.
Yvette was among such women.
and all his girlfriends were
Kade refused to inherit his family business after graduating. Instead, he insisted on being a race car driver. That was also because a younger Charlotte once said, “Race car drivers are so dreamy! My future husband has to be one!”
Yvette was shaken that her sincere feelings and the six years of youth she devoted to Kade were only illusions. At that moment, she decided to go home and follow through with her arranged marriage. She didn’t want Kade anymore, nor would she ever have feelings for him again.
