Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

‘Hey, Janice. It has been a while. Let’s meet tonight at Baldwin’s Cafe shop. You wouldn’t want to miss this chance of seeing me, trust me’ I read through the text once again as I sat on the edge of the bed. I had just finished getting ready for my date tonight with Connor, but seeing the text somehow gave me this chill. I felt like there was something strange about it. Who the heck sent the text to me?

“Maybe it wasn’t meant for me, who knows?” I shrugged as I tossed my phone on the bed, forcing myself to accept the fact that it was a mistake even as it was obvious that it really wasn’t.

I stood up from the bed and walked to stand in front of the mirror, checking myself out. The gorgeous woman who stared back at me from the mirror, cladded in a short red gown made me blush. I couldn’t deny the fact that I looked pretty in red. Maybe I should wear them often henceforth.

My phone beeped, and I went to check it to see that it was a text from Connor. He had texted me that he was waiting downstairs for me. It had been over fifteen minutes I asked him to wait downstairs for me.

I grabbed my red purse on the bed along with my phone and strode out of the room. My jaw dropped when I got to the living room. This had to be the most romantic date ever even though we were yet to leave the house. He was wearing a red suit and trust me, he looked super hot in that.

“I’m blushing. Look at you,” he gushed over my look as he stood from the couch he was seated before, but I was so invested in checking him out that I didn’t have the time to blush when he complimented me.

“You look damn cute, babe,” I had to admit it, and he chuckled softly.

“That was an arrow aimed at my heart, and it struck it. Thank you, Sunshine. You look gorgeous,” he complimented me, and I smiled.

“Thank you,”

“Shall we?” He asked as he came to stand beside me, and I smiled.

“Hmm,” I nodded then locked my arm with his, and he led me out of the building. We soon got to the parking lot and he opened the car door for me.

“Does the car have to match our dress code?” I chuckled as I hopped inside the car. He had picked a red car for us to take to the restaurant where we would be having the date.

“I just had to,” he chuckled as he hopped in the driver’s seat.

“Do you need help with that?” He asked, referring to the seatbelt on my end, but I quickly shook my head.

“No, I’m fine,” I fastened the belt, and he nodded. He fastened his own too and finally drove out of the house.

The drive was supposed to be lively with us talking, but I found myself drifting away every damn time. My mind wouldn’t stop going to the text, and my heart would strangely skip whenever I thought of it. Something just didn’t feel alright. My heart skipped when I felt Connor’s hand on mine, so I looked at him.

“Are you ok?” He asked as he glanced at me and took his attention back to the road since he was driving.

“Hmm. I’m fine,” I replied to him and faked a smile, but deep inside me, I wasn’t.

“Are you sure?” He asked to be sure, and I nodded.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Hmm,” he nodded and continued to drive.

We soon arrived at the restaurant and my jaw dropped. It was the most popular restaurant in the whole of Texas. Should I say my dream restaurant? Well, I guess I should. It has been years since I’ve always looked forward to being here.

“My lady,” he opened the door for me and held out his hand to me which I smiled and took.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

“Anything for my Sunshine,” he whispered, and I smiled.

He led me into the building, and the sweet aroma that welcomed us inside made my mouth salivate and my stomach suddenly grumbled hungrily as if I hadn’t eaten for a while now. That’s the power of delicious meal, I guess.

Normally, a place like this would always have a few customers even though not many people could afford it, but we were strangely the only people here and it felt weird.

“Do you like it here?” He asked me, breaking into my thoughts, and I quickly nodded.

“Hmm. I love it,”

“Come on,” he held my hand and led me to sit on the reserved table which was filled with different kinds of food and drinks, and a bouquet of rose flowers wasn’t exempted from the list of the things present. It was memorable for a first date together as a couple.

“Wow! It’s so pretty,” I wowed at the settings and everything, and he smiled proudly.

“I’m glad you like it,”

“No, I love it,” I confessed, and he smiled.

“Waiter,” he called out to the waiter, and a young man in his late twenties came walking to us.

“You’re welcome, Sir, ma’am. Are you ready to place your order, please?” The waiter asked politely, and I had to look at Connor. I mean, if we were still going to order things, what was all this food for? Regardless, I left him to place the order, and he knew exactly what I wanted. We were soon served, and we started eating.

“Why are we the only one here?” I asked him, and he looked around as if to confirm if we were really the only ones here, and turning to me, he shrugged.

“I booked it for tonight,” he replied to me, and my jaw dropped shockingly.

“Wait! What! You booked this whole place? What! That’s going to be a whole lot of money. You didn’t have to waste money like that. We could just come here as a regular customer, you know?” I complained, but he just shrugged like it was nothing. No, it was really nothing to him. I know he has so much money, but throwing it around like that is not nice, don’t you think?

“Wow!” I only mouthed and nodded.

“Hmm,” he nodded and silence crept into the atmosphere. It felt boring because I was always used to talking whenever eating although not all the time.

“So, what do you think about remarrying?” He asked me out of the blue moon, and I almost choked on the food.

“Remarrying?” I asked, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry to remind you about this… But you know you were married to my brother… Even though I showed up that day as your groom, his name is still in the marriage register as your legal husband,” his face was gloomy as he uttered, and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I was excited. Excited that he was thinking of marrying me for real. That was something that hadn’t crossed my mind all this while. I thought we were married for real, but now I felt even more excited that he really wanted to make me his wife.

“Yes… yes! We should remarry… We should get married again,” I nodded excitedly, and he smiled. A smile that explained his excitement.

“Thank you for giving us a chance,” he said to me, and I blushed.

“Come here,” he stood up then leaned across the table and pecked my lips.

“I love you,” he said after he kissed my forehead, and I blushed hard.

“Thank you. I love you too,” I replied to him as I watched him sit back on the chair.

“I think we should make it snappy. We should do that as soon as we get back to LA,” he suggested, and I thought it was a nice idea, so I nodded.

My phone buzzed inside my purse and I excused myself. Bringing it out of my pocket, a text popped on the screen.

‘You must really be having fun, aren’t you? Kissing and laughing in a fancy restaurant must really feel good, I guess. Anyway, watch your back’ My heart sank into my stomach as I read through the text from the same number that had texted me earlier today. I quickly looked around the restaurant to be sure that we were the only ones around, but I was stunned when I confirmed that it was just us alone.

“Are you ok?” Connor asked, and I turned to face him.

“Hmm. I’m fine,” I nodded even though my heart was hammering in my chest. It felt weird. Everything didn’t feel right.

“Are you sure you are? You don’t look like it,” he held my hand and asked with concern.

“Hmm? Yes, I’m fine,” I nodded nervously.

“Babe… Where is the way to the restroom? I feel pressed,” I dropped my purse but still holding my phone.

“Are you sure you are ok?” He asked as he gave me a weird look, and I nodded.

“Yes. I just feel pressed. I guess I drank too much water,” I lied to him, and he stared at me for a few seconds with a suspicious expression on his face.

“I will take you there. Come on,” he stood up.

“No, don’t worry about it. You can stay back and eat your food. I’ll be fine alone,” I stopped him, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Are you sure you are fine?” He asked again and I kept giving him the same answer.

“Alright. That way. When you take that route, you’ll find a hallway down there. The female restroom is the fifth door. It’s indicated on it,” I barely waited for him to finish describing before I rushed off toward the direction he had given me. Locating the restroom didn’t take much time before I found it, and I barged inside, locking the door behind me. I tried to catch my breath as I rested on the wall, and when I was able to calm down a little, I read through the message again.

“Who the hell are you?” I muttered then dialed the number and waited impatiently for whoever the person was to answer the call, but my heart left my chest and my soul left my body for a second when I heard a phone ringing just outside the door of the female restroom.

“Wh… what is this?” I stuttered and swallowed nothing. My heartbeat increased and it felt like it was going to explode, beads of sweat formed on my forehead, and my palms became sweaty like I had dipped them inside oily water.

Thinking that it must be a coincidence, I ended the call but fear gripped me when the ringing phone stopped. Slowly, I moved away from the door even with my weak legs. I was frightened. Scared to the bone marrow that someone was following me. I searched for Connor’s number, but just when I was about to dial it, my phone started to ring with the number displayed on the screen.

My hand trembled as I swiped the answer button and held the phone to my ear, waiting for hell to break loose.

“Open the door, Janice,” the voice sounded so familiar that I was sure I couldn’t have been mistaken.

At that moment, I became curious. Curious to know who was really at the door. I wanted to confirm, or maybe it was just a coincidence because it couldn’t be true.

My body trembled as I dragged my feet toward the door. My hands shook as I held the doorknob and twisted it after about two minutes of hesitating, but the sight that welcomed me made me stagger back.

“Long time no see, Janice. It has really been a while. Did you miss me?” My heart dropped as I stared at him. This is not true! This must be me hallucinating…