Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

“It has been ages. I was surprised when I saw you on Tinder. Up until moments ago, I still didn’t believe it was you,” Ace stated as he drove us down the road. Ace and I used to attend the same high school, and he was my crush then. We used to be close friends, so I had a secret crush on him. You know high school crush and relationships rarely work, so that lasted up until we graduated, and I was just seeing him for the first time since after we graduated.

“Yeah, me too. It has really been ages,” I agreed to what he said. We had agreed to hang out together. Kind of a friendly date, and after that we could go to the concert together.

“So, what have you been doing?” He asked, so I shrugged.

“Nothing much. What about you?” I was curious, so I asked him.

“Well, nothing much too. After college, I took over the family business, and I’m now the CEO of my dad’s company…”

“Here in Texas?” I cut him off, but he shook his head.

“Not really. I came to Texas for a business meeting and I’m currently just chilling here since it has been a while. I reside in LA. In Davidson estate,” He explained to me, and I mouthed an ‘oh’, because Connor’s penthouse is actually next to the estate. How come I never ran into him all this while?

“What about you? What are you doing in Texas? Do you live here?” He asked me, but I shook my head.

“I came here with that guy from earlier. I’m working as his personal assistant, so we actually came here for a business meeting,” I replied to him.

“What a coincidence. That means you’ll be going back soon, yeah?” He asked, and I nodded.

“Where do you live? We could hang out some other time… And maybe catch up on old times, who knows, we can get to know each other more from there,” He asked, and I sighed silently. Ace hasn’t changed a bit. Just like the straightforward person he has always been since then, he was still the same. I guess he doesn’t know how to beat around the bush because he always goes straight to the point.

“I live in LA too. In Hughes’s penthouse,” I was expecting his expression when I said that. He raised his eyebrows and his eyes a bit narrowed as he pulled over at the side of the road.

“Really? We are neighbors? Oh my goodness! How come I didn’t know about this?” He covered his mouth with his hand.

“Has it been long since you’ve been living there?” He asked, and I shook my head.

“That must be why we never ran into each other. What a coincidence,” He blurted out.

“That means we could hang out together sometime later even back there then, right?” He asked, and I nodded.

He finally drove us to the restaurant, and all through the journey we kept talking about one thing or the other, especially about old times, and after what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It was my first time coming out this far since I got to Texas, and I couldn’t deny the fact that here was beautiful.

“Do you like it here?” He asked after he pulled out the chair for me and I sat on it.

“Yes. I love here. It’s pretty nice,” I stated after looking around the fancy restaurant once again.

“I’m glad you like it,” He smiled and went to sit on the chair across from me.

The waiter soon served us our food after we placed our order, and we started eating.

“How come you are on Tinder? Don’t you have a boyfriend?” He asked out of the blue moon, his voice laced with curiosity, and I almost choked on my food.

“Sorry about that. You should drink some water,” He offered me a glass of water, which I gulped down and left the remaining one on the table.

“So, I have an answer to listen to,” I thought he would give up, but I was mistaken. That should’ve been the last thing I should’ve thought of, because Ace wasn’t someone used to letting go of things just like that.

“No, I don’t,” I replied to him bluntly, and he paused eating, giving me a weird look that made me shrug my shoulders.

“What? Is there anything wrong with that? I’m still young, and…”

“I’m just shocked. I mean, you are pretty, and I know how guys were trying their chances with you back then. So, how come you are still single?” He leaned forward and asked, and I scoffed.

“Well, let’s say my life is crazy. I became a call girl, so I wasn’t ready for any relationship,” I wanted to say to him, but that was the last mistake I would make, so I just shrugged.

“That’s how it is,” I said simply, and he slowly nodded.

“How about you? Why are you on Tinder? Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I asked him curiously, and he shrugged too.

“Well, let’s say it’s what I do. I’m a Tinder official employee,” He replied to me, and I pulled a puzzled look.

“Tinder official employee? What does that mean?” I asked confusingly, and he shrugged.

“I work there as kind of a call guy. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t sleep with my clients. I just hang out with them. Kind of dates, just like we are doing now,” He explained further, and I slowly nodded.

“But you said you took over the family business just now. How come you are…”

“Well, let’s say that’s a side job for me. I really don’t enjoy working as a CEO, so I spend less time there and just hook up with girls,” He shrugged sarcastically as if it was not a big deal.

“What do you mean?” Although it was quite understandable, I still wanted to know more because I find it crazy for someone to leave a big company and want to work on Tinder. I know he could make money on Tinder too, but fuck! He has a whole company to take care of. Don’t ask me how I knew about it. Ace was my crush, and I knew his family to be wealthy and one of the business tycoons across many countries.

“It’s more fun working as a call guy than wearing a suit and sitting behind the desk all day, stressing my brain out. Soft life. That’s all I want,” He shrugged again then sipped from the juice he was served, but I scoffed because it still didn’t make any sense to me. Well, it’s his life and he could do anything he wanted with it, right?

“Back to your question. I don’t have a girlfriend. We recently broke up,” He uttered, and I slowly nodded.

“Oh, alright,”Text content © NôvelDrama.Org.

Silence assumed the atmosphere as we both ate silently.

“That reminds me. That man from earlier. He is Connor Hughes, yeah?” He asked, and with the look on his face, he seemed to be familiar with Connor but just trying to confirm it was him. Who wouldn’t know Connor? He is quite popular.

“Hmm,”

“Wow! Well, judging from the way he was looking so angry earlier. I think he likes you if not love,” he stated, and again, I choked but it wasn’t as bad as the first time.

“Are you kidding me? Connor? Likes me? That’s insane,” I mumbled the last part, unsure of what to think. I’ve been giving him the silent treatment after what happened and he has been looking for ways to talk to me, but it never occurred to me that there was a motive behind his action.

“I’m a man, and at least I can say that I know when a fellow man is in love with a woman. So, apparently, Connor loves you. I guess he’s trying to figure out his feelings or whatever. Just know he does,” He further said, then reclined on the chair, and I scoffed.

Now that I thought of it, he has been acting weird and overly protective of me. He was extremely angry when my stylist came, and when Ace came to pick me up earlier, he looked like he would pounce on him. Could it be that he is really in love with me? I asked myself, trying to figure things out.

“You don’t have to try so hard to figure it out. It’s going to be stressful,” He smirked at me, and I shook my head.

“You’ve not changed,” I mumbled as I took a glass of juice and sipped from it, but deep down, I couldn’t get my mind off what he just said. It can’t be possible that Connor is in love with me. He is a playboy that fucks with women around and doesn’t do love, so that’s the last thing I would ever believe.

“You should tell him if you feel the same way too. Don’t wait for him to confess to you. He might just be scared of confessing, so you should do it first,” He further said, and I huffed unbelievably. Me? Confess to Connor? That’s the last thing I would do. Why should I? Do I even have feelings for him? Hell nah!