Her Substitute Groom

Khan POV

‘You are not my style’ Those words won’t stop replaying in my head and I couldn’t help the scoff that would always tear through my throat each time I recalled it.

I glanced at her through the rearview mirror, and she was staring out of the car while resting her head on the headrest.

“Hey! Are you hungry? Should I get you something to eat on our way?” I broke the silence, but she ignored me.

“I’m talking to you…”

“I’m not hungry,” She replied to me flatly without even sparing me a glance, and I shook my head unbelievably. Here I was, crushing on this little girl little did I know that she was this rude.

We finally arrived at my apartment, and I pulled over at the parking lot. Aside from working as Connor’s secretary, I also managed one of the most popular restaurants in town, so I can only say that I’m well-to-do. I just enjoy working under someone, that’s why I had to work as my best friend’s secretary.

She walked ahead of me as soon as she stepped out of the car, and I scoffed.

“It’s your first time being here. How can you be so comfortable?” I shook my head and trailed behind her, but she ignored me and didn’t even spare me a glance.

“I’m comfortable anywhere I go. Come and show me to my room. I don’t have all the time in the world. I’m sleepy already,” She spoke to me rudely again, and I scoffed unbelievably. When Connor referred to her as the crazy girl in the Hughes family, I didn’t want to believe him and thought maybe it was just sibling stuff, but she just changed my mind. Well, I still like her, anyway.

“Your house is beautiful… A bit beautiful, actually,” She stated when we got into the living room, so I scoffed.

“Here…” I threw the keys at her and she caught it.

“Go through that door. The first room on the left is where you will be sleeping. Everything you need is there. Good night,” I said to her and started to walk away.

“Connor never told me his friend is this rude. Are you going to leave me to do this by myself? It’s my first time here,” I stopped and scoffed.

“You are the one being rude here. I came all the way to your house in the middle of the night to help you, and you couldn’t even thank me for that…”

“I didn’t ask you to come save me. It was my brother that did, and you could’ve just told him you couldn’t come. Not that I will die by just sleeping alone in the dark, anyway,” She rolled her eyes at me, and I huffed unbelievably.

“You…”

“Anyway, do you have a phone charger in the room? My phone battery is flat and I need to get it charged,” She asked me sarcastically, but I couldn’t even say a word as I only stared at her. It was worth getting mad at her, but instead, I found her cute. I normally don’t like rude and spoilt brats, but this girl has captured my heart and I couldn’t even get mad at her.

“You will find it there,” I guess it was the reply she needed because she didn’t spend another second in the living room after I replied to her.

“She’s cute,” I scoffed and slumped on the couch, rubbing my fingers gently on my forehead.

My phone started to ring, and I checked to see that it was from Connor.

“Hey! Look what you did. I can’t sleep now,” I whined as soon as I answered the call, hoping he’d at least appreciate me for what I did for his sister, but hell nah!

“Where is she now? Is she safe?” He asked worriedly, and I rolled my eyes. The way he loves, cares, and protects his sister makes me jealous, and wish I had one myself, but since I was an only child, what could I do?

“Hmm. She’s safe. I didn’t have money on me then to lodge her at the hotel, so I had to bring her to sleep here…”

“Bring her to sleep where? In your house?” He shrieked, and I rolled my eyes. I was expecting that, anyway.

“What’s up with the drama? You can’t even thank me for going out at midnight to help your sister, what the fuck are you saying?” I snapped at him angrily, and he scoffed.

“Hey! Don’t you dare touch my sister, ok? I know you too well… More than anyone ever knows you, so don’t fucking do anything to my sister. I’m going to kill you if you do…”

“Do you want me to throw her out then? Dude! Are you being serious right now? Ugh! I shouldn’t have helped you,”

“I don’t care about your regrets. Don’t try shit with my sister. I’m warning you,” He snapped at me and the call finally disconnected.

“Is he for real?” I mumbled angrily and scoffed. He woke me up from sleep, made me risk my life, and drove through the thick darkness to go rescue his sister, and all he could do was say trash to me?

“Connor is crazy. He is fucking crazy,” I spat angrily and stood up, dragging myself to my room.

I heard someone whimpering as I walked down the hallway minutes later, so I stopped and wondered where the sound was coming from.

“Who is that?” For a second, I forgot I was not alone in the house like every other day, and as the realization dawned on me that Claire was in the house with me, I became worried about her.

I was going to open the door to check on her, but I stopped when I recalled what my annoying friend said earlier.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“She can cry all she wants. That’s her business. Not that she’s going to die, anyway,” I mumbled and was going to leave, but a part of me grew even more worried about her, and many thoughts came parading my mind. What if something happened to her back there before we left earlier? What if she’s having a nightmare? I asked myself, but in the end, I pushed the door open and walked inside only to find her sitting on the wall beside the door and burying her face between her knees which were hugged to her chest tightly. She was crying.

“Claire? Are you ok?” I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and squatted down to her level.

“Claire?” I called softly as I reached for her hair hesitantly and tucked it away from her knees.

“Are you ok? Why are you crying?” I whispered, and she finally raised her face to look at me, and as her charming eyes pierced into mine, my heart stopped beating for a moment. It was the first time I was going to see her face so closely, and I could only say that she was the prettiest girl I’ve ever set eyes on. Everything about her was charming, from her pair of Caribbean blue eyes, long eyelashes, thick eyebrows, sexy lips, and her skin tone. Everything was screaming nothing, but perfection, and when I stared at her lips for a moment, I felt my heart thumping so hard against my chest as the thought of what they would taste like clouded my mind.

“She is your guest, Khan. She is your best friend’s sister, and Connor will kill you if you do anything stupid to her,” My subconscious mind screamed at me, and I was forced to get rid of the crazy thoughts.

“Are you ok?” I finally found my voice, but what she did next left me frozen on the spot. She threw herself into my arms and hugged me so tightly that I forgot I was a living thing because I literally stopped breathing. She whimpered.

“Stay with me, please. I’m scared,” She whimpered, and I sighed. Now, this is going to be another long night of staying up…