Faux Vows, True Desires

Chapter 20

Lucinda and her contract hubby had a chill weekend at home, with Ike driving them back to the city on Sunday afternoon.

Ike's company had rented an apartment for him, and he initially planned to take the couple back with him, but Lucinda rejected the offer.

The place was too far from her shop and wouldn't be convenient for work the next day.

So Ike ended up dropping them off at their rented house. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Knowing that the two of them were living together made Ike a bit uncomfortable, but he couldn't really say anything.

After all, both of their parents had accepted Stefan, so there was no point in Ike opposing it.

"Lucinda, you go ahead, I need a word with Stefan."

Lucinda glanced at Stefan and got out of the car, she still had to take the stuff from the car to the house.

These were home-cooked foods her mom had brought for her, including Fiona's homemade chili sauce.

There were also some vegetables and fruits grown in their home garden.

Every time she went back home, her parents would prepare a lot of stuff for her to bring back to the city.

"Lucinda, I'll take care of this stuff later."

Stefan stopped her, not wanting her to carry such heavy things.

The stuff was plentiful and quite heavy.

"I'll take some of the fragile stuff first, and you can bring the rest in later. And bro, don't forget to lend a hand."

Lucinda reminded Ike that he should help out and not just stand by.

"Yeah, yeah."

Ike responded dismissively.

He didn't really plan to help, he wanted Stefan to do it all by himself, to tire him out!

He still couldn't accept that his classmate had become his sister's husband.

Lucinda took some stuff and headed for the house.

Once she walked away, Ike turned to Stefan who was sitting in the back seat of the car and warned him, "Stefan, just because my parents and grandparents don't hate you, don't get cocky. If you treat Lucinda badly, I won't let you off the hook. If you think Lucinda is doing something wrong, you are not to hit her, and you are not to yell at her. Call me, and I will take her back home immediately. I'll take care of her for the rest of her life!"

Lucinda was their family's treasure, and they couldn't bear to hurt her in any way.

Stefan responded seriously, "Ike, we might not have been close, but we were classmates for four years, and we've kept in touch since graduation. Don't you know me at all? I..."

Ike interrupted him, "I don't know you. When we were in school, a lot of classmates and I thought you were not easy to get along with. All I know about you is your name, your age, and that you were single before you met Lucinda. That's it."

"I work at Ascend Global, don't you know that?"

"...That's all I know."

"Ike, since you have such a view of me, no matter how nicely I speak, you won't believe me. I can only prove my love for Lucinda through time and actions."

Ike glared at Stefan for a while before reluctantly saying, "I'll take your word for it this time. Get out and carry the stuff in."

Stefan smiled and said, "I didn't plan to bother you with this in the first place, brother."

"Don't call me brother. Every time I hear you call me that, it hurts even more. My beloved little sister was taken away by you, and now every time I see you, I get pissed."

Stefan just smiled, not saying anything.

He carried several bags of stuff prepared by Lucinda's mom out of the car.

Ike seemed afraid he might change his mind. As soon as Stefan got the stuff out of the car, he drove off.

Stefan carried several bags of stuff, without a single complaint, and headed for the house.

When he got to the door of Lucinda's room, Lucinda came to open the door for him, her eyes curved into crescents from smiling.

"Stefan." Lucinda reached out to help.

"I can handle it." Stefan refused her help.

He had married her and he was going to spoil her for a lifetime.

He would do all the heavy and tiring work.

All she needed to do was to be his happy wife.

"Stefan, I have some good news."

Lucinda closed the door, turned around and smiled at Stefan, "I'm going to make a fortune!"

Stefan put all the bags in one corner of the room, turned around and asked with a smile, "How so? Did you win the lottery?"

"I've never bought a lottery ticket. It's my book! I received a lot of gifts today. Apart from the wealthy reader who gave me a lot of diamonds last night, more readers gave me gifts today. I suspect those readers are falling in love with me."

Stefan laughed, "How much money can you make from the gifts they sent you?"

"Probably more than half, the website takes a cut."

After saying this, Lucinda cried out in pain, "Ah, I lost so much money!"

If someone tipped her a diamond, she and the website would split the money, she wouldn't mind. But when the base amount of money increased, she began to begrudge the money that was taken away.

"If they gave me so many gifts and coins on my birthday, it would be perfect, because all the tips received by the author on their birthday go 100% to the author, no need to split with the website."

Stefan didn't know how to answer.

The fact that Lucinda's book could receive so many gifts, apart from Stefan himself generously investing money to make his wife happy, also had a lot to do with him posting the link of Lucinda's

book published on the website as a post. Those who could see his status were basically his good friends and some important clients, all of whom were wealthy. He chose not to let his family see this message, fearing that they would be too enthusiastic or curious and scare Lucinda.

He told them it was a novel written by his wife.

Those bored bosses immediately showed great interest. They downloaded the app, recharged, and then gave gifts and coins to Lucinda's book.

Stefan's initial intention was to help Lucinda increase some popularity and let more people read her book, but he didn't expect those people to start throwing money!

Anyway, it wasn't him who forced them to throw money, it had nothing to do with him!

"Ah, can't do much about it, can we? The platform gave me the chance to publish my novel, so of course there’s gonna be some costs. They take a bit of my money, they take a bit of my money, it is what it is." Lucinda quickly came to terms with this.

Stefan smiled, "That's the spirit. After all, running a website isn’t free, they gotta make a profit. They can’t be running at a loss, right? Your birthday's passed, hasn't it?"

"Yep, half a year ago."

As Lucinda replied, she thought of her brother and then asked, "Has Ike left already? Didn't he come with you?"

"He’s got work tomorrow, and he lives quite a distance away from here, so he left earlier."

"Stefan, I can tell that Ike might not be the friendliest to you, don’t take it to heart, he just needs time to accept the situation."

Lucinda gave Stefan a thumbs-up, "But Stefan, your acting skills are top-notch! My mum had her suspicions, but you managed to pull the wool over her eyes. Now she totally believes in our marriage, and I can live in peace."