Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

Locked inside the room for hours, my phone taken away from me, I could only cry my eyes out as I sat on the bed in the large room assigned to me, hugging my knees to myself. I felt like my life was a ticking-timed bomb waiting to explode.

As the thought of Connor flashed through my mind, I shut my eyes and allowed my tears to fall freely down my cheeks. He must be broken after what I did to him, but if only he knew it was never my fault and I never meant for that to happen.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard keys clicking from outside, and in the next few seconds, the doorknob twisted and the door opened. My heart almost left my chest when I saw that the person was Carl.

“I’m so sorry for not being here since. I had something to deal with,” He apologized to me as he walked inside the room and sat on the bed with a smile lingering on his face.

“Are you crying?” He asked then rolled his eyes and reached out his hand to touch me, but I flinched, so he took his hand away and sighed.

“I’m not scary, Janice. Can you stop making me feel like I am? I won’t hurt you unless you push me to,” He smiled at me, but his smile only lasted for a few seconds and it disappeared after.

He looked over to the center table where the food I was served earlier was still left untouched.

“Why didn’t you touch your food? Aren’t you hungry?” He turned to me and asked, but I turned my face away, and he sighed again.

“Don’t make things difficult for yourself. I don’t tolerate that here,” His face went cold and fear gripped me.

He snickered as he stared at me.

“You needed to see the look on your face just now. You looked so scared. I was only playing with you. I’m not going to harm you,” He rolled his eyes. He then reached for the strands of hair on my forehead and tucked it behind my ear.

“You look pretty, my love. How much I’ve missed this face so much. Just how much I’ve waited long for this day… To look at that pretty face again and have you in my arms again. I’m glad my dream came true,” He hushed as he cupped my cheek in his palm, and even though his hand was making my skin crawl, I was scared of pulling away from him.

“We can finally be together now, don’t you think so, hmm?” He hushed again, smiling like he’d just won a lottery.

“Why don’t I feed you, hmm?” He asked, then stood up and went to get the food that was brought for me earlier.

“Oops! The food is cold. I will go warm it and bring it back for you. I’ll be back shortly,” He stroked my hair, then leaned forward and kissed my forehead and all I could do was stare in disgust. You weren’t expecting me to try to resist knowing he could kill me, right?

He left the room, and I released the breath I’d been holding unknowingly.

I stared into space, my body trembled nervously. If only I could escape this torture, if only I could get away from this monster from the pit of hell, but I didn’t think it was ever going to be possible.

I thought he was going to send his maid to deliver the food to me, but I was stunned when he came back himself.

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. Come on, it’s time to eat,” He sat in front of me on the bed and dropped the tray of food on the bed.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“I can ask the maid to make something else if you don’t like it,” He uttered as he took the spoon then scooped some pasta and took it to my mouth. I quickly opened up and took the food.

“I know you never loved me, but did you ever at least feel pity for me?” He asked out of the blue moon, pain resounding in his voice as he avoided my gaze.

“Did you ever feel like I was treated unfairly even though I was wrong? Or did you think I deserved everything that was done to me?” He further asked and scoffed.

“You must’ve been confused… Or maybe curious to know what happened, right? How it all started, what caused it, and why we couldn’t sort things out even after eight years…” He huffed and I could swear that a drop of tears just slid down his cheek and down to his hand.

“Carl…”

“I hate everyone… My parents… Connor, Chase, Claire… I hate all of them. I hate them for not settling things between me and Connor. Maybe that would’ve been avoided if they had done their best…” He paused and looked at me, his eye was red and glistening with tears.

“You are the only one I have now, Janice…” He paused then dropped the spoon he was holding, and cupped my cheeks in his palms.

“It doesn’t matter if you love me or not. You mustn’t leave me. You are the only one I have now, so you must not leave, okay?” He stared into my eyes desperately and all I saw was pain. How much pain was he hiding behind his eye? Just how much pain has he embedded within him while pretending everything was fine?

“I really don’t care how you feel about me. You need to stay by my side no matter what, ok?” He stated plainly with finality in his voice, and I swallowed nothing.

He finally let go of me and I had the space to breathe.

“Let’s get married, Janice,” He said after a long silence, and my eyes slowly narrowed in shock.

“Wh… What!”

“I’m going to introduce you to my family next week. Let’s get married after that,” He stated, and I slowly shook my head.

“We can’t do that, Carl… I can’t…” Tears streamed down my cheeks as I shook my head.

“We should invite the Hughes’ family. It’s really going to be fun, don’t you think?” The corner of his lips slowly twitched into a smirk. A smirk that lasted for a few seconds before a deadly grin crept up his face…