Her Substitute Groom

Claire POV

I sat in the backseat of Christian’s car as he drove us to wherever our apartment was.

“How was the trip?” He asked, breaking the silence that had taken over the atmosphere, and I nodded.

“It was fine,” I replied to him bluntly, and I could bet he glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

“Hmm,” I heard him hum, but I didn’t bother to look at him as I looked out through the window. I had so many things going on in my mind and getting distracted by him was the last thing I wanted.

I had no idea how long we’d been on the road, but the car stopped moving and I was forced to come back to reality, and I realized that we were in the compound of a beautiful bungalow mansion. My jaw dropped to the ground because there was no way this was a student house. I mean, it was too beautiful for students.

“We are here,” I was already out of the car before he said those words. He stepped out of the car too.

“It’s my Dad’s house here where he comes for vacation. He rarely comes here, and since the house is kind of close to our school, he asked to stay here instead of the dormitory,” He explained to me like he read my mind.

“I got your bags. Let’s go inside,” I was still checking the house out when he spoke behind me, and I turned to see him holding my suitcases. Of course, our house is bigger and prettier than this, I was just shocked because I wasn’t expecting something like this.

“Uhm… I’ll lead the way,” He muttered and led the way to the entrance door, and I was even more awed by the beauty and the setting of the living room.

“Have you been here for long?” I had to ask him because of how neat the house was.

“Hmm. Like four years now. I started my first year here,” He replied to me, and my eyes narrowed in shock.

“That’s confusing. Are you in your finals now?” I had to ask him for clarification.

“No, I’m in my fourth year in school, and will be in my finals in the next two years,” He explained to me with a smile on his face, and I wondered how old he was to have been in that class. Earlier before now, he looked like he was twenty-two or thereabout, but it seemed like I was missing something here.

“How old are you?” I asked him, and he shrugged.

“Twenty-seven,” I blinked my eyes a few times confusingly when he told me his age, finding it hard to believe him. To start with, he didn’t look like he was that old, and secondly, how could he still be in school at that age? He was supposed to have graduated.

“Twenty-seven?” I asked him to be sure I heard him right, and he shrugged.

“Yes. I already graduated with a first-class degree in nursing, and came here for a five years course in medicine,” He explained to me, and I slowly nodded. Now it was making sense.

“That’s nice,” I had to admit and commend him.

“This way to your room,” He said and led the way to my supposed room while I followed him. He stopped in front of one of the rooms, pushed the door open, and we both walked inside. The room was large and designed to my taste. The theme of the room was pink, my favorite color, and I loved it so damn much.

“You are welcome here,” He said to me for the first time, and I nodded.

“Do you need help unpacking your things?” He asked me, but I quickly shook my head.

“I’m fine,” I replied to him.

“Alright. Call me if you need anything,” He said and I nodded before he finally walked out of the room and left me to sort myself out.

I took another admiring look around the beautiful room and I couldn’t deny the fact that I was in love with the room. I breathed out as I dragged my feet toward the queen-sized bed and slumped on it, then reached for my phone and scrolled through it. I had expected at least a text from Khan, but I was disappointed when I checked my phone and saw nothing. Maybe I should really let him be. Maybe I should just pretend nothing ever happened and just start a new life here while learning to get over him.

I was about to drop my phone on the bed when it started to ring and I checked to see a strange number displayed on the screen.

“Who is this?” I mumbled as I tried to recall if I’d seen the phone number before, but it didn’t seem like I had, so I tossed my phone on the bed and went ahead to unpack my things.

“Who owned that number? Could it be him?” I stopped halfway into unpacking my things and asked myself, weighing every possibility that it was Khan, but why would he call me with a strange number? I asked myself.

“Should I call him back?” I mumbled as I reached for my phone, but I changed my mind almost immediately. He would call me back if he wanted to speak with me. With that conclusion, I tossed my phone on the bed and continued to unpack my things, and when I was finally done, I arranged them in the closet in my room and went to the bathroom to have a long and relaxing bath.

I paused when I walked back into my room minutes later and found my phone screen on.

“What is wrong with it?” I muttered, almost inaudibly as I walked over to the bed while holding the towel wrapped around my chest tightly so it wouldn’t fall off. When I checked the phone, I saw that it was a text from the number that had called me earlier. Anxiously, I sat on the bed and quickly opened the message, but I was confused when I read through the content of the text.

‘You have still not changed. I thought you were going to answer the call when you barely knew who the caller was. I’ll be in California in a few days. Let’s meet and talk. I’m sure you’ll be glad to meet me again’Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Wh… who is this?” I mumbled confusingly as I read through the text over and over again, trying to get a clue about who it might be from, but I couldn’t think of anyone because there was no way this could be from Khan, so who the heck sent the text?

I immediately dialed the number, but my mouth dropped open in shock when the number that texted me barely two minutes ago didn’t go through again.

“What the fuck is going on?” I mumbled, staring at the screen of my phone…