Her Substitute Groom

Connor Hughes

I watched as the feminine man make her up, and although he was annoying, I couldn’t deny the fact that he was really good at what he does.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Nick. Hoping to patronize you soon again,” She said to him with a warm smile after he was done, and he finally left.

“I want to get dressed. Aren’t you leaving?” She turned to face me, and I shrugged.

“Why should I leave? This is my house and I can stay anywhere,” I shrugged, and he scoffed.

“Whatever!” She rolled her eyes then went to her closet and picked out a short white flowery gown then left for the dressing room.

“Is this just for a concert? Is she hanging out with a man?” That shouldn’t have been any of my business, but I couldn’t help asking myself endlessly without an answer.

“She’s just your assistant, Connor. You don’t love her, so stop meddling in her affair,” Again, I tried to convince myself, but it wasn’t working because my curiosity was getting the best of me.

After fighting the urge to stay for a while, I was finally able to pull myself up to my feet, ready to leave the room when the dressing room door opened, and my heart dropped at the sight that welcomed me when I looked in the direction. As always, Janice was looking super hot. She was the definition of perfection, and she looked like a fallen angel in that dress, if they really existed. For a moment, my heart stopped beating as I scanned her all over for a few seconds, taking in the details of how she looked, and marvelous was the least of the compliments I would give her.

“Why are you drooling at me like that?” Her voice disrupted my thoughts and brought me back to reality, so I turned my face away and bit my lip. How could I have allowed her to catch me?

“Who said that I was drooling? You must be kidding me,” I huffed nervously and swallowed the lump in my throat. My heart was beating so loudly and fast that I feared she would hear the sound of it.

“Wh… where are you going?” I stuttered, looking everywhere else except her face. I was suddenly scared of looking her in the eyes.

“I told you I had a concert to attend,” Her reply was filled with touches of sarcasm, so I looked at her and found her shrugging.

“Are you going alone? I mean, you can’t go alone… You are only new to Texas and not familiar with places here. Don’t you think you should go with someone that already knows here very well if you should go to the concert?” I found myself saying, trying desperately to convince her even though I didn’t want to do this.

“It’s going to be dangerous there, especially for a woman, so…”

“So you have nothing to worry about, Sir. I met my old classmate on Tinder, and we are hanging out together. We are going to the concert together,” My heart dropped when she said that, and I blinked my eyes rapidly.

“Wh… what! Your classmate? A guy or a la…”

“A guy. Now, if you will please excuse me. I think he’s here,” She winked at me, then grabbed her phone from the bed and checked her reflection in the mirror one more time.

“Janice… You can’t go with him, OK? I don’t even know this person you are talking about. What if he harms you? I mean, you can’t trust him like that just because he was your classmate, OK? Nobody does that,” I tried to convince her as I followed her down the hallway, but she didn’t stop to look at me until we got to the living room and finally outside the house.

“You can come meet him if you want to know him. He’s right outside the gate,” She said to me, and I scoffed.

“Are you kidding me? Why should I meet him?”

“Then leave me alone and stop bothering me. I’ll be fine,” She stated bluntly and headed toward the gate.

“Ugh! She’s going to make me lose my mind,” I mumbled and had to follow her outside the gate for no reason.

A black Lambo was already parked outside my gate by the time I got outside, and a young man in his late twenties hopped out of the car. He was cladded in a black leather jacket, black baggy trousers, and a big sunglass sitting on his nose bridge. His thick raven hair was parked up in a ponytail with some strands falling at each side of his face, and finally, some strands curled up on his forehead. It was my first time seeing such a crazy hairstyle.

“What kind of crazy people has Jamie been meeting, please? Oh, my creator! What is happening?” I thought to myself.

“Ace!” She squeaked excitedly, and right under my nose, she fucking went to hug the dude. At that moment, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and my blood boiled in rage. I already had enough anger to last me till eternity, and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop. Not anytime soon.

“It has been a while, Janice. I’ve missed you so much. I never thought I would see you again,” The guy spoke in his deep voice as he kissed her cheek, and I coughed as I choked on my spit.

“Me too. You are looking really great,” She pulled away from him and complimented his look after scanning him with her eyes for seconds, and I scoffed. When has she ever complimented me?

He took off his glasses and finally saw his pair of cat-like eyes, just like that feminine man from earlier, but this guy’s didn’t seem like he was wearing lenses or whatever they call it. His own were natural.

“Look at you,” She gushed over him, and I scoffed. It was almost as if I was invisible because she didn’t even glance at me neither did he.

“Am I a ghost?” I had to ask myself because I didn’t understand what was going on here.

“Wait! Is that your boyfriend?” He finally noticed me, so he asked her.

“Oh, he is…”

“I’m her husband,” I cut her off before she could finish her statement, pulling her close to myself, and his face dilated in shock.

“You got married? How come you never told me about it?” He raised one of his eyebrows as he looked at Janice.

“Don’t mind him. He’s my boss, and I’m his assistant. I’m not married to anyone. He’s just messing with you…” She paused then leaned close to him and whispered to him. “He is delusional. I think he has a crush on me, but he’s not my style,” Her whispers were loud enough for me to hear, and I knew she did that intentionally for me to hear. Wait! Me? Delusional? Is she kidding me?

“Huh? Are you kidding…”

“Oh, I see. You are super hot, so it’s only fine for men to be crazy about you. Come on, let’s go already. We are wasting too much time,” He held her hand and pulled her away from me, while I stood like a log of wood. I couldn’t even come up with anything at that moment because my head wasn’t working right.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“It’s nice to meet you, man. See you some other time,” The bastard even had the gut to pat my shoulder before he left with her in his car.

“What the fuck just happened?” My eyes narrowed and my jaw dropped. Waves of anger spurred through me, and I slowly clenched my fingers until my hand started to hurt.

“Have I really fallen in love with her? What’s this feeling? Am I jealous?” I asked myself to be sure of the crazy things happening to me lately…