Chapter 94


    Talking about love After I had drank three more sses of wine, I knew a little more about Jack’s and


    Chris’s personal lives, not that I was asking about it though… Nheless, I found out that Jack got


    married to his high school sweetheart, and they happily became husband and wife as soon as they


    graduated. He told me how he decorated a bower that stood at the back of their school with over three


    hundred red roses just to propose to his girlfriend. It was amazing to discover his romantic soul. He was


    the guy who had never forgotten his wife’s birthday or their anniversaries. I could see the love in his eyes


    when he talked about his wife…


    “But we weren’t meant to be together…” He shrugged, ending his fairy-tale love story in a sad tone.


    “What do you mean? What happened?” I asked, feeling emotionally engaged in his story. Jack smiled


    faintly. “She wanted to have a child, but she didn’t want the child’s father to have a dangerous job. She


    tried to force me to change my upation, but I’ve always loved my job, and I still do. We got divorced a


    year ago…”


    My heart ached as I heard his voice nearly crack at the final note. I could partially understand his wife;


    she wanted to be sure that her husband woulde home every night and that he would be safe. At the


    same time, Jack seemed like a guy that girls often dream of; someone worth making some adjustments


    in your values and in the way you want your life to be. It was sad to find out that sometimes love is not


    enough to make two people stay together.


    Listening to Jack, I could say that he was the type of man that had only one true love throughout his life,


    while Chris was Jack’s exact opposite. He fell in love every day, changing his girlfriends faster than he


    changed socks. I bet that girls were drawn to him like moths to a me. He was intelligent, handsome,


    tall, well-built, and he knew how to talk to women. He must have been a charmer, the one who could


    sweet-talk every ice princess and melt her heart. . “Of course, I got pped and cursed a lot,” he


    admitted with a dry smile. “But I didn’t think of myself as a bad guy, and it wasn’t always about getting


    laid, you know? It’s just that my heart opened quickly, but I got bored even more quickly. I guess it was


    my system telling me that that girl wasn’t the one I was looking for.” I leaned back on the sofa, amused


    by his cockiness and smug style. “And have you ever found what you’re looking for?”


    “Yes… and no,” he replied, shooting me a crooked grin. “Exin.”


    “Once I met a beautiful woman, tall and slender, brte with a perfect body. She was the hottest female


    I’ve seen in my life. No offense.” He winked.


    I chuckled. “None taken.”


    “Unfortunately, I met her when I was apanying Aren at the Expo, and she turned out to be his


    businesspetitor, bidding on the same auction… which Aren won, and she got extremely pissed off. I


    found her afterward drinking alone and decided to join her… We spent a pleasant night together; she


    gave me her number, and it was the first time I thought that this


    TERVE


    might actually work…” He paused and emptied his ss.


    “So, what happened next?” I inquired impatiently.


    “Aren encouraged me to research her before I decided to work on the rtionship. I thought that it was


    stupid at first, but in the end, I checked her right before going on a date… I found out that her whole


    identity was false and that she was engaged in a few illegal businesses. Even knowing that much, I still


    decided to go on that date, which ended in her apartment. However, as she took a shower, led by


    suspicions I decided to get up from the bed and look around her ce. I found nothing extraordinary, but


    as I was getting back to bed, I noticed that she stupidly left her phone by the bed, and someone just


    texted her asking if the date worked. It could have been her friend, and I wanted to ignore it… but


    somehow it was driving me crazy. As soon as she fell asleep, I used her finger to get to her phone and I


    read her messages…” He took a deep breath and chuckled coldly. “It turned out that she only contacted


    me to get into Lan Diamond Corporation, using my ess and steal data.”


    “Wow…” I gasped, thinking that when it was about rtionships, he was as pitiful as Jack. Then I


    decided that I was drunk enough to get up,e over to their side, and give them both a hug. “I’m sure


    that both of you will find someone you will love for the rest of your lives, just like I…” I paused. My smile


    disappeared as I suddenly reminded myself that my marriage was still on two-year contract terms.


    “You love Aren, don’t you?” Chris smirked teasingly.


    “Well, isn’t that obvious?” Jack answered before I could. “I knew that the first time I saw those two


    together. Lucky son of a bitch.” Jack drank what was left in his ss and went to Chris’s bar to pull out a


    bottle of whisky. “On the rocks or straight?” He didn’t bother asking if we wanted to drink something other


    than wine. He made that decision for us…


    “Straight,” Chris said. “Right decision,” Jack approved. “Cora?” “On rocks?” I smiled nervously.


    Jack gave me the look, but quickly sighed and pulled out ice cubes from the fridge. I guessed that he had


    been drinking and hanging around Chris’s apartment many times to know exactly where the sses and


    everything else were. I had a feeling that contemting my happy rtionship overrge amounts of


    alcohol triggered some kind of annoyance in him. I figured that it was time to change the subject… a


    little. “So… what was Aren like as a student?” I was dying to ask that question from the moment I found


    out that Chris and my husband were roommates.


    Chris thought for a while, scratching his head. “Well… he was secretive and cold, and it took me a year


    to get to him… which happened only because the girl he slept with tried tomit


    suicide, and I helped him take care of the situation.”


    “Wait… W-what?!” That wasn’t the kind of response I expected. I suddenly regretted that I chose to even


    start that subject.


    Chris smiled coldly and leaned forward, cing his elbows on his knees. “I know that it wasn’t what you


    wanted to hear, but from the two of us, I was the good guy.”


    I exhaled in a rush, feeling a cold chill running down my spine, but since I had asked the question, I


    should at least hear a full answer. I grabbed the ss of whiskey Jack had just put on the table and


    drank half of it in big gulps before locking my eyes on Chris. “Tell me everything,” I demanded.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    “As you wish.” Chris smirked slyly as he watched me drink and then said, “The Aren Lan I met first was a


    quiet guy, always studying and staying out of trouble. One day, I think I even saw hering home from


    a date. He looked like he was in love…” My chest squeezed painfully as I heard the word “love.” I


    instantly started to wonder if Chris meant the rtionship Aren had with Lanfen. “Anyway, I never


    imagined that he could fight. Furthermore, he didn’t even look like he could defend himself, but one night


    he came back to our room veryte, and he was bleeding all over. His knuckles were torn, and he had


    huge stains of blood on his shirt and pants. When I suggested that I take him to the hospital, he refused.


    A little after that, I realized why-it wasn’t his blood that he had on his clothes. The only injury he had was


    a little cut on his brow and those torn knuckles.” “So… did he tell you what happened that night?” I


    asked, my heart thundering. “Not that night, but a few yearster, he told me that it was the night


    someone tried to assassinate him. There were four against one, but he survived,” Chris exined.


    “He killed those assassins…” I muttered breathlessly. Jack walked over to my sofa, sat beside me, and


    ced his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t judge him too harshly, Cora. It was self-defense.”


    I smiled nervously and nodded. I felt like an idiot for reacting the way I did. Aren kept telling me about the


    assassination attempts and about him getting his hands dirty. I didn’t know what I expected… that he


    used sleep darts on them? Nheless, I had a hard time imagining my sexy husband as a ruthless


    killer. “It must have been the first time he had real blood on his hands,” Chris continued. “I know that


    because he changed after that night. He became the most merciless and cold-hearted son of a bitch I


    have ever met. He fucked every pretty girl on the campus and dumped her right after. He also got into


    fights. One night, I tried to stop him because he kept hitting some piece of shit, and I was afraid that Aren


    was going to kill him. It was a hard few months for him until he sorted it out with himself and calmed


    down a bit.”


    I emptied my ss of whiskey and smiled numbly at Chris and Jack as I had finally put all the pieces


    together. “He didn’t change because he killed someone…”


    “He didn’t?” Jack raised his eyebrows at me. “Then why did he change?”


    “His heart was brutally broken by his girlfriend, who left him that day. It was also her family that organized


    the attack on him,” I said, as my heart ached more with every word. “It was all because of his girlfriend,


    Lanfen, the girl from his past who has been seen recently in New York.”