Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

"You are joking... right?" he smiled nervously. A part of him wished it were true but the other didn’t want to believe that he had been living a life of lies for 26 years!

Pink let go of his hands and sighed before she wheeled her chair forward and started telling her side of the story.

"Your father and I met when I was sent by the Half–heart to kill him. He was level headed, intelligent, and charming that I fell for him without knowing he had a messy break–up with someone called Nancy. After dating for almost a year, some Assassins started visiting me more than usual. At first, I thought they were sent by the Half–heart until I realized they weren’t.

"One day, a lady approached me and introduced herself as Nancy and told me that Hwang Min’s family would be facing extinction if I don’t stay away from him. At first, I thought she was bluffing until Hwang Min disappeared on me to fight the war that was started against his family. I volunteered to help but the Hwang family chased me away when Nancy told them I was the reason that Half–heart started the fight against them.

"Hwang Min couldn’t fight against his family, so I stayed back as he told me to... He said after the war, he’d come back to me and we would elope. I prayed day and night for his success.

"When I saw that things weren’t looking too good on their end, with my influence, I sent them, manpower, money, and also doctors to help out. Except for Hwang Min, no one else knew the help that came out of thin air was from me, because the Hwang family might turn it down.

"When my aid arrived, the tables turned but somehow, Nancy found out it was my doing and she rallied more enemies against the Hwang family.

"Left with no other choice, I went and bowed to your grandmother’s family (The Zhu family in Country M). I endured humiliation for seven days before they gave me a thousand troops with top-notch ammunition, but by the time I arrived, the Hwang family and Half–heart had come to a treaty. Not just that, it was Hwang Min and Nancy’s wedding.

"I was enraged, I wanted to disrupt the wedding, but found out they already did court wedding two days before, meaning they were already married..." she paused to look at her son who had tears in his eyes. Pink smiled bitterly before she continued.

"I left Sin City and returned to Rose City to be with my family but the humiliation I endured in my maternal family was made known to my parents, to mock them. With that, your grandmother got a heart attack and your grandfather was very angry at me. As for my sister, she didn’t blame me that much because she was also in love and knew how stupid one can be.

"To cut the long story short, I realized I was pregnant but before I could rejoice and take time to care for myself, the Half–heart and Nancy came after me, so my life became a race for survival. I fought my family and made my father disown me so they don’t end up in danger.

"In the end, I gave birth and left the child in my sister’s care, then went back so I could right my wrong. Who would have known that Nancy didn’t give up on her chase?... she stole you in the hospital and ordered your twin sister to be killed..."

"Was she killed?"

Pink paused, then shook her head, "Your cousin who was also born on that day was killed in her place by mistake."

"Who is my twin sister?"

"...Jeslyn!"

Brian’s eyes almost popped when he heard that. Jeslyn is his sister? Wow! So those unsettling feelings and excitement he had been having over the years because of her was because of the ’twin telepathy’?

Incredible! Just unbelievable!

"Does my father know this?"

Pink shook her head, "I doubt he does..."

"Now, I do!"

Mr. Hwang’s voice came from behind them. The two were startled and when they looked back, the man was standing there with a domineering air.

"Why didn’t you tell me all these years?" he frowned while walking towards them. He had been there for a long time but none of them noticed.

"I thought you abandoned me when my family was losing the war...that was what that witch told my father and me which caused me to drink a lot and fell into her scheme."

Pink sighed, "It’s in the past now. I hope from now on, we won’t be separated again." she glanced at Brian, he hasn’t said whether he agreed or not.

"You are my mother, so naturally, I’ll choose you, but first, what happened to you? Why are you in a wheelchair?"

"I was sleeping when I felt the smell of something burning. When I opened my eyes, I saw smoke seeping into my ward through the door. From my years of experience, I knew that opening the door would be more dangerous than jumping down from the window..."

"You jumped down from an eight-story building?!" Brian screamed in alarm. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"When you are determined to survive, nothing is impossible," she smiled.

Brian nodded, the eight-story hospital building she was admitted to was burnt to a crisp by that evil woman. Brian’s face changed and he immediately said;

"Hope you aren’t badly injured?" he asked.

"I broke some bones, but I’ll be fine with proper treatment and rest."

With the way she warded it, Brian knew she was badly injured. He balled his fist as a thought came to settle on his mind.

"I should warn Jeslyn to be careful... though I’m sure Maverick is capable of protecting her."

"It’s too late to warn her now, she’s already in the city." Hwang Min narrowed his eyes.

"What?!... When?"

"F*ck!"

Pink and Brian both screamed.

"She came in last night with some people from High Race cooperation...Heard she has a shoot today."

Pink and Brian glanced at each other, it seemed Brian’s recommendation is the cause of this trouble.

"What hotel is she at?" Brian asked.

"For some reason, she chose to stay at Delight Hotels...room 200...the same room as you," the man said while looking at Pink.

Pink sighed, "she guessed I’m in trouble and she’s here to investigate... stubborn child." She smiled faintly before her gaze lingered on Brian, "could you help me drop a message for her?"

The mother and son’s minds were too occupied to think of why Mr. Hwang was keeping tags on Jeslyn.