Her Substitute Groom

“Babe, you’re done?” Connor asked with a smile on her face when Janice walked back inside, but he was stunned when she quickly grabbed her purse.

“We need to leave, Connor. I don’t want to stay here again,” Janice said with a trace of fear in her as she looked around the restaurant like she was being chased by someone.

“Are you OK, Sunshine? What happened? Why are you sweating?” Connor stood with confusion written all over his face as he looked around too.

“Did you cry? What’s wrong, babe?” He became even more worried and tried to touch her, but she stepped away from him and he raised his eyebrows in shock. She was fine just now before she left, so what the heck happened in the restroom that made her like this? Connor wondered confusingly.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I will just take a cab home if you’re not ready to leave yet,” she said hurriedly then hurried off to the door and stormed out of the restaurant before Connor could process everything that was happening.

“Wh… what’s going on?” Connor mumbled then grabbed his phone and went after her.

“Wait up for me, Janice,” he called after her as he followed her down the road and held her hand. He turned her to face him and his jaw dropped when he saw the trace of tears in her eyes.

“Babe? Are you crying?” As if those tears had been waiting to be triggered, they fell freely down her cheeks after he asked her. She yanked his hand off and quickly wiped her tears not minding she was ruining her make-up.

“I’m not crying,” she quickly defended herself even with the glaring evidence.

“Calm down, please… Come on, let’s go back to the car. I will take you home,” he held her hand and spoke to her gently, and she followed him to the car wordlessly. Connor opened the door to the front seat when they got to the car, but she went to the back and hopped inside instead, leaving Connor holding the door open for her.

Connor sighed and went to hop in the driver’s seat. The ride home began.

For the umpteenth time, Connor glanced at her through the rearview mirror, and just as before, she was looking outside the window, her face was blank so it was hard to tell what was actually wrong with her. What did she see in the restroom? What happened to her? Did she get a call? Connor wouldn’t stop trying to come up with any possible reason she was being like that, but in the end, nothing worked out, so he gave up.

Connor soon drove into the compound of his mansion after about thirty minutes of driving, and Janice stepped out of the car as soon as he pulled over at the parking lot.

“Babe… Can you tell me what happened, please? Why are you doing this?” Connor asked as he trailed behind her since she was hurriedly walking toward the entrance door, but she didn’t stop to look at him until they got inside the living room.

“What’s wrong, baby? Please talk to me,” he held her hand and she stopped walking.

“What happened, babe? Can you please talk to me?” He tried to convince her but she just turned her face away, doing all she could to force back the tears that threatened to escape her eyes.

“I’m fine… I just want to be alone,” she gently retracted her hand from his grasp, and he sighed briefly.

“Babe…”

“Excuse me,” Connor was left dumbfounded as he watched her walk away without even sparing him another glance. Did he do something wrong? He didn’t cheat on her, he had stopped seeing other women ever since they started dating, so what the fuck was wrong with her? He asked himself but when he couldn’t come up with anything, he just sighed and threw himself tiredly on the couch. There was no way he was going to go inside the room at that moment. Maybe giving her some time alone would make her come around.

Connor reached for his phone and checked to see a missed call from Khan but he just tossed the phone beside him on the couch, concluding that he would call him back later. For now, he wasn’t in the mood to…

*****

Janice stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and stared at her reflection which was looking disorganized. She had been messed up in just a few hours, but that would’ve been great if it were just physical and her mental health wasn’t affected. She wiped her tears but more only kept streaming down her cheeks.

“Don’t think about it, Janice… There is always a way out,” she whispered to herself and was finally able to pull herself together. After she showered, she walked back into the room, but stopped on her track when she saw Connor sitting on the bed. She sighed briefly.

“Uhm… Babe… I made your juice,” he uttered gently as he stood to his feet.

“Thank you,” she just muttered then walked past him and went over to the closet where she got her robe from and slid into it. She didn’t have enough stamina to do anything not even for her skincare routine, so she just lay on the bed and pulled the duvet to cover herself.

“Babe, don’t you want the juice? What should I get for you?” Connor asked as he placed his hand on her arm.

“Nothing. I want to be alone,” were the only words she said to him and it broke his heart.

“Uhm… I’m sorry, Sunshine… You can’t tell me to stay away just like that. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, and I’m sorry if I’m the reason you are angry… We can talk about it some…”

“What part of I want to be alone do you not understand?” She snapped at him out of the blue moon as she sat up on the bed, and he flinched shockingly.

“I just fucking spoke English, Connor. Leave me the hell alone! I want to be left alone! Is that too hard to do?” She raised her voice at him and his face dilated in shock and confusion.

“Uhm… Alright. I’ll leave you to sleep. Good night, Sunshine. Sleep tight,” just when she thought he would lose it and get mad at her for yelling at him, he instead whispered then kissed her hair, and lay beside her on the bed.

Janice stared into space as her tears soaked her pillow while she was trapped in this nightmare she didn’t seem like she was ever going to get out of. She hated the fact that she was treating Connor like this but what was she supposed to do when she couldn’t even think straight? This was all her fault in the first place, she brought all of this upon herself and she was going to bear the consequence alone.

The night was long and boring with Janice awake, and not that Connor could get enough good sleep too, anyway. How was he supposed to sleep peacefully when his woman was right beside him being troubled and didn’t even want to talk to him?

Janice felt her eyes heavy as a result of the lack of sleep from the previous night, and her body felt stiffened when she tried to get out of bed, but she still did, regardless.

“Where is he?” She mumbled when she sat on the bed and looked to her side but didn’t find Connor there.

“Where did he go this early?” She could only care more and worried. He was supposed to be beside her and smiling at her while she was asleep.

Janice hurried out of bed and dashed out of her room immediately, heading downstairs, and as she descended the staircase as fast as her legs could carry her, a sweet aroma from the kitchen welcomed her.

She dashed into the kitchen but paused when she found Connor wearing an apron and cooking.

“Connor?” She called surprisingly, and he turned to face her. His face was laced with a sweet smile immediately.

“You’re awake?”

“Hmm. Good morning,” she mumbled, and he smiled at her.

“Good morning, Sunshine. You should shower and come back for breakfast. It’s your favorite,” even though Connor was smiling like nothing happened, she didn’t fail to notice the pain hidden behind the smile.

“Hmm. I will,” she nodded then turned to leave the kitchen but she stopped and turned to him.

“Do you need anything?” He asked her, but she shook her head.

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I was a bit under the weather,” she said to him and he stared at her for a few seconds before he nodded.

“It’s fine. Come on. I’ll set the table before you get back,” he smiled at her and finally turned to resume what he was doing. Janice walked out of the kitchen afterward…