Her Substitute Groom

“What did you say you wanted to talk to me about Janice?” Connor asked desperately as soon as Chase pulled the car over in front of the restaurant.

“Why are you being so desperate, Connor? I’m not going to tell you, not until we have lunch together,” Chase replied to him as he removed his seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

“If you tricked me into coming here, then I’m going to be so mad at you, Chase,” He reminded Chase as they both walked toward the entrance door of the restaurant.

“I’m not trying to play you, trust me,” Chase assured him, but deep inside him, he knew there was nothing to talk about. He only wanted to get him out of the office so he could eat good food even if it was just for the day. He hadn’t been eating well, and he was just being like this as a concerned brother.

Chase ordered food for both of them, but Connor could barely eat his food as he was being eaten up by his curiosity, dying to know what his brother brought him out here to discuss.

“Trust me, I’m not going to tell you anything if you keep being like this. Eat your food, and we’ll talk when you are done,” Chase uttered, and he rolled his eyes.

A smile laced up Chase’s face as he watched his brother eat slowly. His heart hurt to see him in this situation and he wished there was something he could do about it, but this wasn’t something he could do anything about. As the thought of Carl hit his mind, he wondered how Connor would feel if he eventually found out that the man his woman was with, was his brother whom he thought was dead.

“Can’t you forget about her?” Chase asked out of the blue moon, and Connor paused with his hand in the air while holding on to a spoon filled with the fried rice he was eating. Slowly, he dropped the spoon and turned his full attention to Chase.

“Who?” He asked even though he knew for sure who Chase was talking about.

“You know, it really hurts… It hurts seeing you like this. It’s killing me every damn time whenever I see you in pain…” Chase paused and briefly sighed.

“It all started because of a woman, Connor… If it weren’t for her, we would have still been this loving family we were right from time… We were the sweetest and most harmonized siblings… You were the best big brother that could lay down his life on a spot to protect his sibling…”

“Did you bring me here to preach to me, Chase?” Connor was already losing it, his face burning with fury.

“I don’t have time for this,” He stood up.

“For once, can you please listen to this helpless brother of yours? For once can you sit and listen to the gibberish I have to say?” He paused and clenched his fingers into a tight fist as he stared into space.

“I want my brother back, Connor… I want my lively brother that cared so much about me. I want my brother who always puts my happiness and feelings forward before anything else… Where is that Connor? Where are you?” Chase couldn’t hold back his tears anymore as he let them fall freely down his cheeks.

“I’m scared, Connor… Honestly, I’m very scared. It’s only me and you now. I’m scared of getting married. I’m scared of having a girlfriend. I’m scared of us splitting again because of a woman,” Chase uttered, and he finally sat back on the chair.

“It wasn’t because of a woman, Chase… Get your facts right. I didn’t turn out like this because of a woman. I am like this because of that bastard! He turned me into this. It was all his fault. If he hadn’t done that to me years ago, my life wouldn’t have been a mess like this,” Connor reminded him. This was the kind of incident he’d always try to avoid so he could avoid thinking about the past, but it didn’t seem like it was ever going to happen.

“Connor…”

“He killed me… He killed the human in me… Carl killed the human in me. He fucking ruined my life, and that was because of his selfishness and greediness,” Tears streamed down Connor’s cheeks as he spoke.

Silence assumed the atmosphere as they both cried.

“Are you going to let her go? Janice… Are you going to let her go?” Chase asked him, and he didn’t hesitate to shake his head almost immediately.

“She is the only woman I’ve loved after her… You have no idea how much I love her, Chase. My life is nothing without Janice,”

“You should fight for her. You should fight for the woman you love if you truly love her like you claimed,” Chase suggested, and he sighed. It’s not that he didn’t want to, but she didn’t even want to see him, so what was he supposed to do? He didn’t want to force things on her.

“I know her new boyfriend,” Chase uttered, and his eyes narrowed.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“You know him? Who is he? Where does he work? Where can I find him?” He asked eagerly, and Chase scoffed as he wiped his tears.

“What do you want to do? Fight him? He is not someone you can fight, Connor. Even if you want to, Mom and Dad won’t allow it this time,” Chase shook his head, and he pulled a puzzled look.

“What do you mean? What has that gotten to do with Mom and Dad?” He asked confusingly, trying to wrap his head around what Chase said since he had yet to explain to him, but he couldn’t come up with something.

“Why are you staring at me? Tell me, Chase. What has it gotten to do with Mom and…”

“Because they won’t allow themselves to lose Carl once again,” Chase cut him off, and his face went blank. For the next few minutes, he stared back at Chase, trying to sum everything up to make sense to him, but it wasn’t working, so he finally resorted to asking him for an explanation.

“What do you mean, Chase? You are confusing me. What about Carl? What do you mean about Mom and Dad…” He paused and used his hand to demonstrate.

“What was that you said again? I don’t know… What do you mean?” He further asked.

“Janice is with Carl,” Chase finally dropped the bombshell, and his face went blank.

“Wh… what are you saying? I mean, which Carl are you talking about?” He stuttered, his lips quivered for a few seconds before it stopped, and he swallowed nothing.

“Carl is alive, and Janice is currently living with him. Carl is the same Jason she is living with,” Connor’s heart sank into his stomach and his jaw dropped to the ground as he stared at Chase blankly. What the heck did he just hear?