Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 53

Daphne was a real go–getter, always quick on her feet and never one to dilly dally. She said she would call Porter and boom, she was already dialing. Porter agreed to let Julie start working the very next day Daphne left Julie’s number with him and hung up, only to find Julie pacing nervously on the spot. “What’s up?‘ Daphne asked.

“I lost my phone, did I leave it at the restaurant last night?” Julie frowned. Even though the phone was old, it was still important to her.

Daphne shook her head “When you left last night, Mr. Hernandez took your phone with him. So…”

“Do you know where I can get a simple, cheap phone? Just for making calls” Julie had no intention of asking for her phone back, or rather, she didn’t want to see Kieran in the near future

Daphne rolled her eyes at Julie You’re being a total wimp!”

She took out a spare phone from her bag and handed it to Julie. “Just use this for now. Judging by the way you were acting last night, I guess you don’t want to see Mr. Hernandez ever again”

“How crazy was I last night?” Julie asked Daphne incredulously.

“Crazy as a mad cow”

Julie decided to put thoughts of last night on hold for now. Since her phone was in Kieran’s hands, she didn’t have to worry about him calling to ask questions

However, she was being too naiv

When Julie took the bus home, she stopped by the market to pick up a couple of veggies to cook, then headed home.

As she reached the entrance of her apartment complex, Ada, her next–door neighbor, gave her a knowing look and said, “Julie, I was going to introduce you to my cousin’s son! But it seems you already have a boyfriend!”

“Boyfriend?” Julie frowned in confusion.

Ada chuckled. “That young man is very handsome, you know. You’re not getting any younger, better hurry up. Oh, I can’t chat now, my grandson is waiting for me to cook dinner!”

Ada walked off, leaving Julie standing there with two bags of groceries. After a few seconds of silence, she realized that the only men who knew where she lived and had come to see her were Elliot and Kieran.

At this thought, Julie glanced at the door just a few steps away. Whether it was Kieran or Elliot, she didn’t want to see either of them. So, Julie quickly turned around, only to bump into a solid figure. Her nose throbbed with pain. Julie rubbed her small nose and then saw a pair of shiny black shoes

She looked up and Kieran’s handsome face immediately filled her view.

Finally realizing who it was, she quickly stepped back.

“What exactly is it about me that makes you so eager to avoid me?” Kieran asked, a clear smirk on his face. He was likely amused by Julie’s clumsy

attempt to escape.

Without responding, Julie just picked up her groceries and headed for her apartment.

Kieran calmly followed behind, matching her pace.

Suddenly, Julie stopped and turned to face him. “What do you want?” she demanded.

“What do you think?” Kieran countered.

In the end, Julie gave in. She left her groceries at her doorstep, then turned to face the man behind her.

He was standing at the entrance of the staircase. The old, worn–out stairs of the apartment complex were overgrown with vines. He was wearing her favorite white shirt, standing quietly in front of her. The fading sunlight of the sunset filtered through the gaps in the trees in front of the stairs, casting a dim glow on Kieran’s white shirt.

The scene was as beautiful as any of Julie’s daydreams over the years.

She took a deep breath and said, “Let’s talk!”

“I just want to date you. There’s nothing else to discuss”

Julie was taken aback for a moment, then found her voice, looking at Kieran firmly. Then let’s not talk. Just leave. Don’t come to my house, or show up in front of me I’ll repay the money I owe you.”

He sauntered towards her, one hand in his pocket. With every step he took towards her, he seemed to get closer. Each footstep sounded like it was echoing in Julie’s heart. Finally, he stood right in front of Julie.

As Julie tried to step back, she was held in place by his warm, strong hand around her waist. His arm tightened, forcing Julie to close the gap between them. He looked down, meeting her defiant gaze. His deep voice resonated in her ears. “What about what I owe you? Don’t you want it back?”

What did he owe her? A child? Or a love? Either way, she didn’t want it back.

In Kieran’s arms, Julie’s gaze was calm and steady. All she said was, “I don’t care.”

At that moment, Julie was oddly looking forward to seeing Kieran’s reaction. Would he be angry? Or would he remain expressionless? But in the end, he just took out the phone she’d left behind the night before, waved it in front of her, and said, “I thought you’d care. But since you don’t…”

And with that, Kieran made a gesture to throw her phone away. Who would’ve thought that what Kieran owed her was just a phone. Women did have a wild imagination!

Julie quickly reached out, grabbing onto his wrist as if afraid he’d actually throw the phone away. Even standing on tiptoes, she barely reached hin shoulders. Kieran towered over her, his shadow engulfing her

Looking down at Julie, who was standing on tiptoes trying to snatch her phone from him, Kieran was reminded of a child.

Kieran suddenly fell silent, and Julie froze, realizing how intimate her actions were. She quickly let go of his hand But Kieran bent down, took her wrist, and placed the phone in her hand

“Don’t ever lose your phone again, he said, then turned and walked away

Suddenly, a clear memory popped into her head, from back when they were still in high school. One Christmas, Julie insisted on dragging Kieran to the supermarket to buy ingredients, then insisted on dragging him to the pedestrian street for dinner.

She wanted grilled skewers, but the line was too long. She told Kieran to wait for her, but when he turned around with a bottle of water, Julle was no longer in the queue.

Julie was short and easily got lost in the crowd. She managed to buy the skewers, but when she got back, Kieran was nowhere to be seen. So she started looking for him. As expected, with poor sense of

direction, Julie got lost at pedestrian street.

Kieran searched several blocks for her, only to find her squatting at his front door like a stray cat, her eyes red from crying, clutching cold skewers in her hand.

Seeing Kieran, Julie stood up and threw herself into his arms, clenching his shirt. You can’t leave me behind. There’s only one of me in this world, the only one who loves you like this. What if you lose me? I like you, only you. Even if there are millions of people in the world, none of them can compare to you. So you can’t lose me, you can’t lose me…”

The skewers smelled kind of nasty, and the all stains smeared all over Kieran’s white t–shirt. Despite being a bit of a clean freak, he finally touched her hair gently and said, “Don’t get lost again.”

Julie’s eyes welled up. Those old memories were awoken by a few words. It was not the same scene, yet Kieran’s simple sentence opened the floodgates of her memory, making it uncontrollable.

Some people, some things, were unforgettable. Although in the end, people didn’t always remember them.

As Kieran left, the setting sun once again illuminated Julie’s face.

His fading figure distracted Julie for a while. It took her a while to come back to her senses, then she looked down at her phone. She didn’t lock up when she got home and went into her room with her groceries.

She swiped her phone screen to call Daphne back, but as soon as she did, a scream came out of her phone. “You don’t want me anymore, you want to kill me. Do you hate me that much? Bro Kieran, how can you hate me like this? I don’t mind about you and Bertha, I don’t mind she’s carrying your baby, I

don’t even mind if you let her have the baby. I don’t mind anything, I love you so much, I don’t ask for your love, but why, why do you want to kill our baby, why!!”

“You tell me, what makes you so great? Why are you treating me like this? Why do you want to make me sad?”

“Today, I will make you surrender! Let’s see if you dare to keep appearing in my mind!”

Julie was instantly not okay, her phone dropped onto the carpet. She was extremely agitated, lying on the couch, her head buried under the pillow, holding the pillow, starting to feel desperate… She knew Kieran definitely wouldn’t be so nice to just give her the phone back for nothing!!

After a night of depression, Julie woke up with dark circles under her eyes the next day. She had to cover them up with foundation, then hurriedly took her resume to Porter’s law firm.

Porter had already arranged everything, and told Julie to report directly to the HR department. The HR manager Jacob took Julie to the office, then said to her, “Find a seat for now, we’ll give you work to do after the morning meeting.”

She chose a seat nearby. There was about ten more minutes before the meeting started.

Julie, who always kept a low profile, didn’t attract much attention, as everyone was gathered around the computer, passionately discussing. She was a

bit far from them, only catching bits and pieces of their conversation, “Mr. Hernandez is such a decisive man, really assertive! I like it.”

“Not bad, totally Kieran’s style! Creative Nexus Media is probably in big trouble now!”

Julie frowned, not quite understanding what they were discussing.