Her Substitute Groom

“What is going on here?” Dad’s angry voice resonated in the room, demanding our attention which we gave him as me and Mom turned to face him. If a look could kill, then maybe I would’ve been dead by now. He glared murderously at me, and if I was a scared cat, I could swear that I would’ve lost confidence.

“I told you not to ever show up in my house. What are you doing here?” Dad seemed to hate me to the core. It was written on his face, and in his voice too. He didn’t fail to show me how much he hated me with the chance he got.

“Honey, you are home?” Mom stepped forward.

“I asked a question. What is he doing here?” Dad yelled for the third time, and Mom flinched.

“Darling, we can’t…”

“Don’t worry, Mom. I will leave,” I cut her off, but she held my hand and pulled me back. Furthermore, she shook her head and stated, “I won’t ever allow you to leave again. I was mistaken for not fighting for you before, and I won’t make the same mistake twice,”

She then turned to Dad, and right before my very eyes, Mom went on her knees even though I tried to stop her.

“Stay out of this. This is between me and my husband,” Was the only words she said to me when I tried to say something, and as she had instructed, I had to stay out of it even though it hurt to see her knee in front of me.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Honey… I have already lost a son, and I’m not ready to lose another one again… You can’t keep treating Connor and Chase like this. They are still our…”

“I don’t consider them my children. For a person that caused the death of his sibling, how is he supposed to be considered my son?” Dad chipped in, and I slowly clenched my fingers into tight fists. I had a lot of things to say to him, but I tried to hold them all back not because I was scared of him, but because Mom had already asked me to stay out of it. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to hold it in, anyway.

“Are you going to neglect them because of what happened? What if we lose another child again?” Mom cried as she crawled to him and held his leg.

“You don’t need to do this, honey,” Dad’s face softened, something I had expected. Although Dad was a tough one, but he did the right thing by marrying a woman that could always tame him even in his worst mood.

He breathed in and threw his head back.

“Come on, Connor… Apologize to your Dad,” Mom turned to me and whispered.

“Go on your knees and apologize,” She further said, and I went on my knees.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I mumbled.

“That is not how to apologize. Say it like it’s coming from your heart,” Mom insisted, and I sighed. I didn’t sign up for this, not now that my head was still messed up, but it was for the good that I could sort this out for now.

“Forgive me, Dad,” I apologized to him, and shockingly, he walked over to me, held my hand, and pulled me up.

“I’ve missed you so much, son… I’ve been waiting for you,” He whispered as he pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly like his life depended on it. It was literally the first time I was ever going to see Dad being so emotional.

“It’s good to have you back, son,” He patted my back.

Mom went ahead to narrate everything that happened to Dad, and they both insisted that I stay back in the mansion for now and heal from my pain which I wasn’t sure I could ever heal from.

It felt good being back in the mansion, and having Mom around me made me feel much better.

It was finally evening, and here I was, seated on the bed and just staring at nothing while wallowing in pain, trapped in my thoughts. My thoughts were diversified with no destination. Was she really seeing someone else? What came over her? I asked myself, still finding it difficult to believe even though she made it clear to me that she was.

I was still lost in thoughts when my phone beeped, and I checked to see a text from Khan.

‘You should come to the office tomorrow. We have a meeting’ I read through his text, but ignored it. I was going through shit right now and just wanted to stay indoors for some time and think straight. I wouldn’t want to be surrounded by many people who call themselves my staff. I would feel suffocated.

Barely five minutes after I dropped the phone, it beeped again and I hesitated, thinking it was a text from Khan again concerning the meeting or whatsoever. I finally decided to check the text again, but my eyes narrowed when I saw that it was a text from Chase.

‘Bro, I just saw Janice leaving the mall with a man. I’m following her to where she lives. Will send you the address when I find her. We may not see tonight. I have something to take care of back at the penthouse’ I was only interested in the part where he mentioned Janice, and wanted to call him, but I resisted the urge to. I didn’t want anything that would distract him from getting the address to the house. That was the last thing I wanted.

I anticipated his message, checking my phone every damn time even though I never got any text, and just when I thought I was about to lose my mind, my phone beeped and I quickly picked it up. I anxiously unlocked it, but my face dropped disappointedly when I checked the text and found that it was not from Chase, but one of those spam texts. I felt like smashing my phone against the wall, but I held myself back knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get the text again if I did.

Seconds slowly ticked into minutes, and just when I was about to dial Chase’s number about twenty minutes later, my phone beeped and a text from him finally popped on the screen. Anxious, I quickly unlocked the phone and opened the text. It was the address of the place.

I felt myself filled with new hope which I’d lost before, and without thinking twice, I stood up from the bed and stormed out of my room.

I sauntered down the walkway as fast as my legs could carry me, and as I descended the staircase minutes later, I heard Mom talking to someone inside the living room.

“I’ll call you back,” She said to whoever she was on the phone with when she saw me. She then turned to me with a questioning expression on her face.

“Connor? Are you ok?” She asked me with a worried and demanding expression on her face.

“Yes. I need to step out for a moment. I’ll be back shortly,” I said to her, and she checked her wristwatch.

“It’s past 9pm. Where are you going by this time of the night? And besides, you were asked not to drive,”

“I’m boarding a taxi. I’ll be back shortly,” And without waiting for another word from her, I advanced toward the door and stormed out of the house.

Although it was late, getting a cab wasn’t something difficult since the night was still early, and the ride to the place soon began.

The ride to the place took over thirty minutes before the cab finally pulled over in front of the tall building.

“Thank you,” I said to the cab man after I paid him, and he zoomed off. The gate was just a barred one, so I could literally see the compound from outside. It was a big house, but not as big as Dad’s mansion, and was nothing close to my penthouse.

Since knocking on the gate wasn’t a good idea as it was difficult for anyone to hear me, I took out my phone and dialed Janice’s number. The call rang for a few minutes before someone answered it and a masculine voice sounded from the other end.

“Who is this?” Came the voice that sounded so familiar. I could’ve sworn that the voice was Carl’s if not that he was dead, so no way it could be him.

“Give the phone to the owner!” I said to whoever the person was…