Fake Date, Real Fate-Chapter 62: The Cousin, the Coward, and the Calm Before the Storm

When I heard my name, I froze.

I turned slowly and there he was.

Max.

Three months after our breakup but the memory of how it ended still hurt. He had been sneaking around with his cousin, and the betrayal stung.

I met his eyes, and my throat tightened. He stood only a few feet away, hands deep in his pockets, an awkward guilt hanging in the air like a thick fog.

"Isabell," he said softly, voice rough. "What are you doing here? And... who is that?"

His gaze flickered in a challenge toward Adrien I could see the hesitation in his eyes. He didn’t seem as confident as he wanted to appear.

I pulled my hand away from Adrien and set my stance.

"You have no reason to ask me that kind of question," I said, voice steady but cold. "We broke up. Remember?"

Max clenched his jaw. "Isa, you know I loved you."

Those words landed in my heart like a heavy stone. I swallowed hard, pain twisted into my ribs.

"Stop," I whispered, barely holding it together. "Just... stop."

Just before he was able to say something else, a loud voice broke through the tension.

"Pookie bear! I found the purse that was missing! It was in the trunk, all along!"

The voice was high-pitched and cheerful that it cut through the silence with a squeal. Max’s eyes widened, his face froze in embarrasement.

From around the corner of the building, a woman walked out—early to mid-twenties, blonde hair placed into a messy bun, dressed in brightly coloured leggings and a tank top that was more suited for the gym than a lunch crowd. She had a small, brightly patterned clutch purse raised over her head, like a trophy.

This was Madison. Max’s cousin. The girl I had walked in on him with in his apartment. Supposedly ’just family’.

And she had just called Max ’Pookie Bear’.

A strange laugh escaped me, mixing disbelief and the craziness of the moment.

Three months of torment, of feeling small and betrayed, and the universe’s punch line was here? Max, standing there looking like the heartbroken sincere ex and his lover waltzed in calling him Pookie Bear.

"Seriously?" I exclaimed, eyes locked on Max. "This is your life now? You dumped me by text and ran off to play family reunion with her?"

Max went pale; the directness of my tone had him flustering his eyes between Madison and myself. Madison, likely unaware of the undercurrent of hostility for a second, froze in her tracks when she saw us. Her smile freezing.

"Oh. Isa," she said, her tone instantly changing from sweet to ice. She smoothed a hand down Max’s arm – a casual, possessive gesture that made my stomach clench. "What a surprise to see you here."

"Pleased to see you both," I said with over the top sarcasm and fist clenched. "Together, again."

"Yes, well," Madison said, omitting the positive tone from her voice but replacing it with a gooey sweetness that grated on my nerves.

"Max and I were just about to have a lovely lunch. Family, you know. Always nice to catch up over a meal." She stressed the word ’Family’ a little too much, and confirming she absolutely knew what I had walked in on a few months ago.

I smiled coldly. "Oh, I know exactly how you two ’catch up’," I said with a low voice, very steady. "Just about enjoying a quick bite, were’nt you? Or was Pookie Bear helping you look for your lost things?"

Max flinched a bit and Madison’s smile disappeared completely, replaced with a hard glare. "Isabell, that’s uncalled for."

"Is it?" I asked with a challenging tone, looking Madison up and down once again and then back at Max. "What is uncalled for is lying, Max. What is uncalled for is sneaking around with your cousin and acting all heartbroken when you get caught." The words came tumbling out from three months of unfiltered hurt and it felt good to release them.

"I wasn’t acting!" Max protested, finally finding his voice. He stepped toward me but Madison pulled him back a little.

"Oh, you were adorable," I scoffed, ignoring Max and focusing on Madison. "Acting innocent about being the family member being concerned about his poor stressed out cousin. You deserve an Oscar for that one, Madison! Especially when you were practically hanging all over him."

Madison’s cheeks flushed a deep red. "We are family, Isabell! Max was just comforting me! We talked about this!"

"Yes, you talked about it," I agreed, my voice dangerously soft.

"Apparently, you also did other things. Things that involved conveniently forgetting you were my boyfriend, Max." I looked at him again. "Comforting her? Max, you dumped me over text the day after I confronted you two. Comforting? You ran to her as if you were frightened." freewebnσvel.cøm

Max was wrestling with himself, and his gaze dropped, only to snap back to me with a flicker of real hurt in his eyes. "It wasn’t like that, Isa. I made a mistake, a huge mistake. I did love you."

"Love?" I laughed, a short, sharp sound devoid of humour. "Is this love, Max? Sneaking, lying, and calling each other sweet names?" The absurdity of it was beginning to sit heavy again, weighing on me. "You don’t know what love is. Love isn’t hiding in apartments with your cousin."

Adrien stepped in beside me, silently supporting me and owning the ground. He gently placed a hand at my lower back. Just a simple gesture of support, but it felt like armor. His voice was calm and steady, little different from the brittle atmosphere.

"Isabell? Are you alright?" he asked, glancing over both of us briefly then studying me again. His tone was not confrontational; it was ... protective. As if it was a non-verbal powerful message.

Max’s jaw tightened further at the sight of Adrien’s hand placed on me. Madison’s eyes flicked to Adrien again, then back to me, a flicker of genuine curiosity mixed with suspicion on her face.

"Everything is just fine," I replied, forcing a small, tight smile that never even reached my eyes. "Just catching up with old... acquaintances." I put extra emphasis on the word, letting the disdain hover in the air.

"Acquaintances?" Madison scoffed, as she let go of Max and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that what you call three years, Isa? Pretty cold, even for you."

"Three years wasted," I shot back, the pain momentarily forgotten and now replaced with anger.

Max flinched at the bluntness of my words Madison turned red as a cherry; she was not ashamed, rather offended rage.

"You don’t need to be so resentful, Issa," he said while tilting his head to the side. "We just... weren’t working."

"Oh, no," I said, my voice cold. "We were working. You just couldn’t keep it in your pants."

Adrien hadn’t said a word yet. But I could feel him, standing still and silent beside me, his hand just barely brushing mine—steady. Protective. Patient.

Max scoffed. "Whatever. You obviously upgraded to the strong, quiet type anyway."

I shrugged. "At least he’s not sleeping with his own cousin."

"Shameless," Max spat, his eyes filled with venom. "Three months and you’ve already moved on?"

Then Adrien shifted.

He casually tilted his head towards Max, his eyes laser-focused on him, with the calm of a man who had already thought through all his options... then dismissed them because only one was worth his time.

When Adrien finally spoke, the tone was low. Smooth. Terrifying.

"Speak to her like that again," Adrien said, each word a quiet threat. "and I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life remembering what it felt like to have a jaw that worked."

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦