hapter 18
Jackson, seemingly unaware that anything was amiss, continued smiling:
“She was my senior at university–you have no idea how hard she was to chase! Took me
over a year to win her over.”
“She always said she liked someone else, but thankfully that guy was a total jerk who broke her heart. Gave me my opening!”
He clapped Zane on the shoulder. “Hey, I heard you recently had double
happiness–marriage and a kid! Why didn’t you bring them along?”
Zane pressed his lips tightly together, his eyes never leaving Claire, who remained silent
beside Jackson. He didn’t answer.
For the rest of the time until dinner, he didn’t speak another word.
To fulfill his duties as a host, Jackson took Zane to a famous restaurant in New York.
While ordering, he specifically instructed the waiter:
”
“Excuse me, please don’t include any chili peppers in any of our dishes, and don’t use any shrimp–related ingredients.”
Zane, as if finding an outlet for his frustration, remarked sarcastically to Jackson:
“How… thoughtful. Her favorite foods are spicy cuisine and shrimp. Guess you don’t know your fiancée that well.”
After speaking, he gave Claire a meaningful look.
His smirk at Claire said it all–Look at your pathetic replacement.
To his surprise, Jackson simply chuckled:
“What are you talking about? Claire has a sensitive stomach and can’t handle spicy food.
Plus, she’s allergic to shrimp–she breaks out in hives if she eats it.”
Zane suddenly looked up at Claire: “You ate them before-”
Claire smiled mockingly: “You’re confusing me with your wife, ‘cousin‘.”
Ignoring Zane’s darkening expression, she turned to Jackson with playful warmth:
“Darling, how do you remember all my quirks?”
Jackson answered as if it were the most natural thing:
“You’re my fiancée. I keep you in my heart at all times, so of course I know all your preferences!”
Jackson’s words sent a warm current through Claire’s heart.
Someone once said that to know if a man cares about you, don’t listen to what he says, but watch what he does.
Claire felt that Jackson was exactly the type of person who, without her noticing, learned all her preferences and temperament, then quietly arranged everything for her.
She was grateful to have met Jackson and not to have missed him because of her previous failed relationship.
In contrast to Claire’s contentment, Zane felt miserable.
He barely knew how he finished the meal or how he ended up back at Jackson’s house afterward.
At that moment, only one thought occupied his mind: he had believed he knew Claire well, but reality had given him a harsh slap in the face.
He had assumed Claire would never leave him, but she really did seem about to marry
another man.
But Claire had once liked him so deeply.
For him, she would brave the rain–in–the middle of the night to pick him up from a bar
when he was drunk.
The Internet’s Favorite Couple Was My Marriage’s Worst Nightmare
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Chapter 18
Out of concern for his safety, she had unhesitatingly given him the keepsake her parents had left her.
Zane still remembered when Claire confessed to him before she left for abroad.
She said: “Zane, I love you. Will you be with me?”
Bathed in moonlight, she had looked so beautiful that Zane almost succumbed and said yes.
But a text from his father had suddenly sobered him.
Officially, Claire was his sister.
Though they had no blood relation, that was how everyone saw them.
He wasn’t sure if he had the courage to face the gossip and rumors.
But he couldn’t bring himself to reject her directly, so he said:
“When you come back, I’ll be with you.”
That statement was just an excuse to put her off.
The day after Claire left the country, Zane immediately sought out Emma.
At first, Zane and Emma were just playing at romance, nothing serious.
But later, after getting drunk one night, he mistook Emma for Claire and slept with her.
Then Emma got pregnant, and things spiraled beyond his control.
Watching Claire and Jackson’s intimacy, Zane felt a stabbing pain in his chest, making it
hard to breathe.
Had he been wrong from the very beginning?
The Internet’s Favorite Couple Was My Marriage’s Worst Nightmare
