Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 266: Pursuit
“An answer?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him.
“That’s right. You asked me a question, and that was my answer to you,” the prince replied as he stared directly into my eyes.
His gray gaze was steady as he looked back at me, and I could feel his sincerity and that bothered me even more than before.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about...” I muttered quickly before looking away.
“Are you sure that you don’t understand or is it more like you don’t want to understand...” the prince pointed out without willing to let it slide.
“Regardless, you shouldn’t have kissed me right in front of everyone like that. Do you realize what you’ve done? Photos of us kissing will be everywhere for everyone to see!” I could no longer control my anger and ended up raising my voice at him.
I sucked in a deep breath before rolling my eyes backwards and clenching my fists tightly as I imagined the mess that this scandal would create.
“Be my girlfriend,” the prince said, and I could tell that he was being completely serious.
My mouth hung open while I thought that things couldn’t get any worse and more complicated between us.
“I can’t be your girlfriend,” I turned him down without a second thought.
“Why is that? Do you already have a boyfriend?” he asked although I knew that he probably already knew the answer.
“I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that I want to date you,” I replied honestly.
“So, what’s the problem? Why don’t you want to date me?” He asked as if there was supposed to be a logical reason that could explain why I wasn’t in love with him.
I didn’t think that the prince would be this persistent about it. The way his gray eyes stared at me as he waited for my answer made my heart clench painfully in my chest. I didn’t understand the mess of feelings that I felt, but then I started blaming myself. Although I knew that it wasn’t truly my fault, I felt slightly guilty for making the prince feel like he wasn’t good enough. The truth was my decision had nothing to do with the prince.
The prince was as perfect as can be, and I found it difficult to imagine anyone who would turn the prince down. Undoubtedly, with his social standing, his looks, his intelligence, and his charm, Prince Desmond was the perfect candidate for anyone’s boyfriend. The fault didn’t lie with the prince, the fault lied with me. The truth was it didn’t matter how good or how wonderful the prince was, simply because he wasn’t the one that I wanted.
I stared into his eyes before I had to look away. I didn’t know how to explain this to the prince, but I felt like if I didn’t explain myself properly, the prince might end up blaming himself or thinking that he wasn’t good enough for me. The truth was he was beyond good enough and that he was actually too good for me. I let out a long sigh before I bit hard on my lower lip. I should have realized before that the reason that I didn’t like what the prince was because I was still so in love with Anthony. It felt impossible for my heart to hold more than one person.
No matter how hard I tried to fool myself that the prince could somehow become Anthony’s replacement, I knew that things wouldn’t work out so easily that way. After trying for almost my whole life to replace my sister, I should have known that people cannot easily take each other’s place just like that. No one can act as anyone else’s replacement, the prince would never be Anthony, and because of that, he wasn’t who I wanted and who I was in love with. However, to explain this to the prince meant that I needed to confess that I was in love with Anthony, and that was something that I wasn’t ready to unveil. At the same time, I knew that the prince wouldn’t simply let the slide if I didn’t give him a good reason for turning him down. I felt so troubled as I weighed out my options.
Should I just tell the prince that I already have someone that I’m in love with?
“Actually, the truth is...” I said before trailing off into complete silence.
It wasn’t that I was embarrassed, but I just couldn’t spit it out. I couldn’t tell the prince that I already had someone in my heart, and above all I couldn’t tell him that it was Anthony.
How could I possibly tell him or anyone that the person that I was in love with was my own sister’s fiance’? It felt so absurd and fate felt so cruel to drop me in such a situation. I took in a deep breath and decided that I needed to turn the prince down properly before things spiraled any further out of control.
“You said that you don’t have a boyfriend. If that’s not it then, do you have someone that you like?” The prince asked with intense interest.
Although he was asking me all these questions, I could somehow tell that he wasn’t judging me. It felt like he wasn’t hoping for anything, and that nothing that I said could possibly surprise him. I couldn’t answer his question right away as I debated with myself whether or not I wanted to admit that there was someone that I already liked.
“I see...” the prince murmured as if he took my silence for an answer in and of itself.
“That’s not...” began to deny although it felt like it was already too late.
“It seems like you already have someone that you like. I wonder who that lucky guy is. Do I happen to know him?” The prince asked before he smiled slyly at me. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
It felt like I had swallowed a large piece of ice and it was now making my stomach feel cold. That was how much I dreaded that the prince might find out about my secret. The way his gray eyes stared deeply into my eyes as if he was actively searching for an answer, made me feel like he could see through me and into the truth that I was hiding.
–To be continued...
