The CEO’s Substitute Lover

“Octavia, the love I’ve seen is such a bad thing. I don’t know what the right one should be like, but I like you, and I’m happy when I’m around you, and I want to be with you all the time, and I could give up everything to be with you, but I don’t know if that’s love.”

Octavia learns for the first time about Eddison’s life, and why she went, at the age of five, to be with three-year-old Tredan as Lilian. She now understood why Tredan can be so stubborn, paranoid, irritable, and moody at such a young age. This made her heart ache for him again.

The sight of Eddison in front of her was also heartbreaking. The emotional entanglements of the previous generation have left these two brothers with a wound that they cannot bear.

“Eddison, that is not love, believe me, one day you will meet a girl that is right for you, so that you will know it is love when you are with her, not like now, wondering if it is love.” Octavia Gills stroked Eddison’s head as gently as she could.

“Okay, let’s not talk about feelings. Let’s talk about your career.” Eddison’s face brightened with a smile. He was already sure in the back of his mind that Octavia Gills was his love, he just wasn’t in a hurry, and since he had to face it all the time, he had to put himself together and face it well.

Woodrow was surprised when Tredan Davi returned by himself, and before he can ask him anything, Tredan Davi went to the basement and locked himself inside the cellar.

There is a small bar in the cellar and Tredan Davi poured himself a drink, smiling bitterly to himself, “Tredan, you’re really something, it’s just a woman. What’s the matter with you?”

She’s not just a woman, she’s the one I love most!

So what? The person you love most doesn’t love you! You saw how cozy and romantic she was with Eddison, you saw how well she got along without you?

Yes, she’s doing well without me. She has a career, she’s in love with someone else, and she’s living a good life.

As for himself, he had to do everything he could to be with her, to give her a secure future, to fight with Grimm Drye and his father and the old foxes of the company, to fight with Lilian.

During that time, he never slept soundly, often dreaming of his mother or of her being held hostage, waking up in a cold sweat, desperately telling himself to be patient, to be patient, to be patient, for the sake of his beloved, he had to be patient!

Before he knew it, he had finished the bottle of wine.

He opened another bottle.

Why can’t I get drunk today? He hadn’t touched alcohol since Lilian Drye had brought him back from the bar, fearing that he might do something wrong to Octavia Gills.

But now, it didn’t matter, he can just let himself die from being drunk.

The memories, like a film, came back to him, and Octavia Gills’ emotions would always rise and fall with him, and every day and every moment he spent with Octavia Gills was worth a glass of wine.

Before he knew it, there were five or six empty bottles on the counter.

Tredan Davi’s eyes also blurred as if he saw Octavia Gills standing in front of him.

He reaches out and pulls the bottle in front of him and it falls to the floor, shattering, and Octavia Gills vanishes into thin air.

Tredan Davi shakes his head, and stands up to get more wine, which bottle do I get this time?

Suddenly he remembered that Octavia Gills had once come to steal a bottle from him using the point-the-finger method.

Tredan Davi laughed, Octavia Gills was so cute back then in that video he kept as a souvenir.

“Point the finger at the soldier, point the finger at the thief, point whoever is a great soldier, point whoever is a great thief, point the one that is Tredan’s drink for the night!”

Oops, that’s you, you got it!

Woodrow and Domino watched from the security camera as Tredan Davi kept drinking, drinking and throwing up, throwing up and drinking, getting drunk and going to sleep, waking up and drinking again.

Domino said anxiously, “Woodrow, he’s going to drink himself to death, this can’t go on, we have to get him out.”

Woodrow rubbed his hands back and forth, “How do we do that? We both designed the cellar, jokingly saying that it had to be as strong as an ancient tomb and couldn’t be robbed. There’s only one door, and we got a Swiss watchmaker to design it, the only one in the world, you don’t know how fine it is, and now he’s locked it from the inside, even if we found the watchmaker we still won’t be able to open it!”

Domino said, “You’re all so boring! A wine cellar is harder to get into than a bank safe?”

Woodrow laughed bitterly, “It’s a collection of wines we’ve collected from all over the world, and if we valued it, it wouldn’t be as bad as a small bank’s stock.”

Domino was dumbfounded, “So what now? Something has to be done, right? He’s killing himself in a very unusual way!”

Woodrow paced back and forth, “Now I know how it feels to carry a rock in one’s hand. Why did we get a lock like that?”

“Cut the crap and figure out what to do, if you can’t open it, get some explosives!”

“My princess, you’ve seen too many movies, haven’t you? I don’t think I can’t get explosives, even if I do, the cellar is only about 40 square feet, I can’t blow up Tredan too!”

“Then what are you saying?” Domino and Eddison were both furious.

Suddenly Domino thought of someone and asked Woodrow, “Did you just say that the lock was designed by a Swiss watchmaker?”

Woodrow nodded and added, “Yup, and he’s first class.”

Domino glared at him and made a phone call, “Cousin, can you do me a favor?”

Domino gave a brief description of the situation over the phone, giving the address to the other party.

“Who is it?” Woodrow asked curiously.

Domino rolled his eyes, “My cousin, he’s studying instrumentation and, coincidentally, has just come back from further studies in Switzerland.”

Woodrow’s enthusiasm was deflated, “You just don’t come back from Switzerland and know how to fix this!”

Domino gave him a blank stare, “Let’s just leave it as it is, just in case, getting someone else to help is better than just watching Tredan kill himself!”

The two of them turned around and monitored the CCTV.

Tredan Davi was awake and staggering around, opening another bottle of wine.

Woodrow gritted his teeth, “That’s an 82 Lafite, can this kid still taste it now?”

Domino gave him a sour look, “Are you worried about the wine or your brother at this point?”

“My brother! Domino, can you understand what he is muttering about?”

Domino turned up the volume.

Tredan Davi’s slurred voice came through, “It’s better not to cherish… each other, so that… we can… not remember each other,… fifth… fifth… best… not to love each other… so be it… so that… they may not forsake each other. Octavia, you cannot forsake me.”

“What’s this nonsense he’s talking about?” Woodrow shook his head.

“The Ten Commandments song.” Domino suddenly wanted to cry; how could it be so hard to love each other so much?

“You know this Ten Commandments song too? Why was Tredan so sad the other day as soon as he heard it?”

“Are you a pig? Why did I fall in love with someone like you?”

“What does this have to do with being in love, I’m an engineering guy, it’s normal that I don’t know.”

Domino was silent it was only after Octavia Gills mentioned it to Woodrow when she left that she checked it out, and when she did, she was particularly distressed by it.

First, it was better not to see each other, so that we could not fall in love.

Second, it is better not to know each other, so that we can stop thinking about each other.

Third, it is better not to be with each other, so that we do not owe each other.

Fourth, it is best not to cherish each other, so that we may not remember each other.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Fifth, it is better not to love each other, so that we may not abandon each other.

Sixth, it is better not to meet each other, so that we may not meet.

Seventh, it is better not to be mistaken, so that we may not be in debt to each other.

Eighth, it is better not to promise each other, so that we may not continue with each other.

Ninth, it is better not to cling to each other, so that we may not cling to each other.

Tenth, it is better not to meet, so that we may not meet.

But if we have seen each other, then we know each other, and it is better to see each other than not to see each other.

I would like to part with you, so that I may not live and die thinking about you.

Domino reads it out softly, echoing the occasional voice and whimper of Tredan Davi on the monitor.

Woodrow heard the poem for the first time and suddenly felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Domino, Octavia Gills was broken-hearted and that’s why she chose to leave wasn’t it?” Woodrow asked softly, how deep the love had to be, how painful the breakup, no wonder Octavia Gills chose to leave the place, no wonder Tredan was so heartbroken.

“What do you think?” Domino said without a smile.

“But Tredan has gone through a lot of difficulties, his mother is being held hostage by Lilian Drye’s father and he had to agree to his terms, as long as we send his mother away, and as long as our own company goes public, he can be with Octavia Gills without any unwanted baggage in tow,” Woodrow explained it in defense of his good brother.

“Then why didn’t you just tell Octavia Gills directly? We all thought Tredan Davi was going to marry Lilian Drye, dumping Octavia Gills completely.” Domino was angry.

“That’s not true, it was because Tredan feared that Octavia Gills would worry too much?” Woodrow was also anxious.

“You big men, you’re all so full of yourselves, do you know what we’d worry about? Have you ever asked us? We don’t need your protection, we want to share the sweetness and the bitterness of life, it’s not like you’re going to throw everything you have at us or build us a nest so we can live in it in peace, we want to build that nest with you, do you understand? You don’t understand, you only know how to act in the name of love and selfish personal heroism!”

Domino couldn’t hold it in any longer and fell to the carpet in tears.

“You always say that you love me, that you’re doing this for my good, for our future, but no one is a worm in anyone’s belly, so how could we know what’s on your mind? Is Davi in love with her?”

Domino hid her face in tears, for Octavia Gills and for Tredan Davi, who was dying of drunkenness inside the cellar.

Woodrow was frozen.

In his world, everything was simple, including this relationship with Domino, who had never been the girl to make things up, to speak up when something was wrong, to cry when she wanted to cry, to make a scene when she wanted to make a scene, to be good when all is good, and to be bad when something is bad.

From the start of their relationship up to now, they have been fighting and splitting up, but never in such a sadistic way. Isn’t love supposed to be simple?

This Ten Commandments song, however, clogged his heart.

Woodrow dropped to his knees on the floor and slowly wrapped his arms around Domino, stroking her back, “Domino, let’s not be like them, my Domino is the best, and I will never be a personal hero like that bastard Tredan Davi, we will be honest, we will be open, we will face our problems together, we will share them, we will never leave each other. We will never leave each other, we will never leave each other, and we will grow old together…”

Domino burst out laughing and pushed him away, “Who’s going to grow old with you, I’m not!”

Woodrow pulled her back and kissed her hard on the cheek, “I’ll grow old with you!”

Domino struggled sheepishly, “Nasty, stop it, let’s watch your brother.”

Woodrow frowned, stood up, and watched Tredan Davi who was vomiting in pain, saying, “If I had known, I would have just snatched Auntie Althena out of the house, regardless of Gu or Qin, it would have killed him.

Half an hour later, Domino’s cousin arrived at the old Davi Family home.

He was shocked to see Domino with red and swollen eyes, “Domino, what happened to you? Did this boy bully you?”

He looked at Woodrow with an unkind eye.

Woodrow waved his hands, “No, no, absolutely not.”

Domino laughed, “Cousin, it’s none of his business.”