Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

Chapter 113

113 The truth about Valen

“Ehm…Maverick, I’ve been thinking… Well, uhm, I wanted to ask. What happened to Valen’s mom?” She looked at his side profile. She knew they weren’t close enough to talk about these things but curiosity got the best of her. D

“Why?” He asked without looking at her.

“I just… I’m wondering what would happen if she returns while we were still… you know, married.” She lowered her eyes at her wedding ring, then shifted her gaze to his fingers but there was no wedding ring on it.

This wasn’t the first time she noticed it. He doesn’t wear his wedding rings. Not that it mattered though, after all, the ring was never his size, so… but then, why was she feeling…disappointed? 3 Wait! Is this the feeling of disappointment? But why? It never mattered to her, so why is she suddenly feeling bad about it? This is stu pid. It must have been that she’s unknowingly stressed out because of Valen’s condition, yes, that’s right. She concluded. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“She left. She won’t return…she doesn’t want to return.” He replied with his eyes still on the road. He had searched everywhere for Vera but it’s like she disappeared into thin air. 5

Did he just explain to her? Like, he really answered her!

Jeslyn was elated. She immediately started to test the waters with the questions she had in mind for a long time, hoping he would answer a few, if not all.

“Did you two have a fight?”

“Hmm,”

“Oh…that’s bad. But you shouldn’t have let her leave. Why didn’t you go after her?”

Maverick flattened his lips into a thin line. After a long time, he parted his lips: “I did.” He replied without much interest. (10

Jeslyn immediately knew at once that he didn’t want to talk about that, so she changed the topic. “Valen missed her a lot. Although he looked tough, that child is a bunny inside, just like me.” She smiled bitterly. “He doesn’t deserve to be treated that way by the both of you.” She paused to rein in her emotions.

“Maverick, are you aware that that boy has so many traumas? He is literally like every other child that wants to cuddle up in the middle of his parents. Deep down, that boy wants to run around the compound laughing out loud with you and his mother playing with water guns. He wants to attend a regular school like every other kid out there. That child wants to wear colored clothes, and he wants to eat what every other child is allowed to eat, but Valen was forced to be reserved because of how you and that vixen raised him. And his mother too, I want to slap her across the face and say mean things to her when I see her one day.”

After she was done ranting, that was when she realized Maverick had pulled up and was staring at her. Jeslyn coughed awkwardly and blushed due to embarrassment. She knew she had crossed the line.

“I’m

12:35

sorry, I shouldn’t have interfered in how you raise your son, but I couldn’t help it.”

“Why did I marry you?” He didn’t sound angry nor joyful.

“I’m not sure.” She replied.

“I married you so you could change him.”

“Huh?”

“I brought you in when Mulan was still there and didn’t fire her because I wanted him to see the difference between you both and make a choice on how he wanted to live his remaining days.”

Maverick took a deep breath. He didn’t believe he would start explaining his actions one day. Here he was trying to explain his reasons to this woman. Why?

Jeslyn swallowed. Was he explaining himself to her? Maverick doesn’t do that, so why? He used to ignore her when she asked personal questions. So what changed now?

“Ah? What do you mean by ‘his remaining days’?” It finally hit Jeslyn that Maverick’s words were ambiguous.

Maverick turned his gaze to the road and started the car. After a long silence, he finally spoke up. “He’s si ck… the same virus as yours.”

you mean?”

Jeslyn got the biggest shock of her life after hearing that. “Wh- wha- what do you

He looked at her without answering and took his phone from the phone stand. With one hand on the steering, the other scrolled through his phone until he found what he was looking for. A chat between

him and matt.

He threw the phone on her lap and focused on driving.

Jeslyn mindlessly picked it up and started to go through the conversation. It was all about the progress of the sickness. She stopped reading when she saw the part where Matt said the child only has between a year and two to live. He also said that the symptoms wouldn’t be frequent nor would they be serious. Sometimes it might be a mild headache, other times it might be a cold or mild fever. When those signs show up, the child should be sent to the laboratory.

“Why haven’t you sent him there?” She asked in a tearful voice.

“Matt is out of the Country.”

“Th- then? Send Valen somewhere else!” Jeslyn felt a sharp pain tearing her heart apart. She clenched her chest as she let out a heart-wrenching scream. “Why? Just why should it be Valen? Why is he being made to go through so much pain? Why?!!”

Jeslyn cried so much that in no time, she started to hiccup. Why is everyone she loves leaving her? She had just gotten comfortable with Valen only for this to be happening. “Do the gods hate me this

much?”

Maverick brushed his fingers through his thick hair. “Valen will be fine.”

“H- how?” She sniffed with tears running down her cheeks.

He turned his head in her direction and said: “The research is almost complete.”

“Re- really?”

Maverick nodded. “He’ll think I made you cry”

“Who?”

“Your son,” he replied before facing the road. T

Jeslyn wanted to laugh but she couldn’t find herself laughing in this situation. She wiped her face with the back of her hands and sniffed. “Do I- do I look good now?”

“Messy”