Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

Chapter 264

264 Valen’s schemes

When he returned, Fin was calmer than before. Even though he doesn’t love her, it doesn’t mean that he hates her. In fact, he likes her a lot and can do everything for her, but just can’t love her.

“Beverly, it’s late… you should go to sleep.”

“H–how can I? Y- you just said you’re… you’re breaking up with me.” She covered her face as she bawled her eyes out, trying to catch her breath.

Fin sighed. This was harder than he thought. He got into bed and pulled her into an embrace to calm. her down. “Beverly, we’ve tried but it isn’t working. Neither of us is happy, so what’s the point?”

“I’m only sad because you’re sad, and also… because… because you seem to hate me now,” her sobs got worse.

“Ok, that’s enough. I’m sorry,” he sighed and pulled her to sleep with his hand on her. They’ll finalize things when she’s mentally stable tomorrow. So he thought.

It was late into the night yet Valen couldn’t sleep, he was pacing back and forth in his room. It’s been almost a week since Jeslyn left the house and hasn’t returned.

“That woman mustn’t tell me that she meant what she said. He thought, then shook his head. ‘She must be joking!”

“You left me to grow up for 6 years before you came and now, you’re leaving me for another 3 years, are you joking? Mom, that joke is too expensive and I’m not finding it funny.” He mumbled. He paused to think, then started pacing again. 2

“I can’t believe Dad allowed this. I thought he was useful!” He bit his lip and glared daggers at the door, the lock mechanism on the door that was beeping, an indication that someone was entering the lock mechanism through the other side.

He waited patiently for the door to be pushed open before he yelled: “Why are you here instead of going to bring my mom back?!”

Maverick ignored him and went to sit on the couch, then pointed to the other couch, telling him to go

sit on it.

Valen did, looking like he just ate a fly. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

“Your mom needs to work,” Maverick said. He was here because Jeslyn begged him to help her explain to Valen who wasn’t picking up her calls or responding to her texts.

“Are we poor?” Valen asked.

“No,”

“Are we declaring bankruptcy?”

Maverick shook his head.

“Then why does she need to work? Can’t you pay her to stay with me?” The child’s voice went a tad low.

“It’s her dream, help her fulfill it.”

Hearing his father say that, Valen reclined in his seat with sadness on his face. 3 years is too long. He suddenly thought of something and his eyes shot open.

“Dad, if Mom gets pregnant with a girl, will she come back?” (1)

Maverick stared at his son speechlessly. Didn’t he just say it’s Jeslyn’s dream and should be allowed to

fulfill it?

“Don’t blame me for being selfish. You both are not considerate, so give me a sibling and I won’t stop Mom from pursuing her dream, I promise.”

Maverick knew it was an emotional blackmail, still, he loved that idea a lot. 1

“You want a girl sibling? I thought you hated to have one?” Maverick raised a brow.

“Uncle Damien used this word: Desperate times calls for desperate measures, so dad; I’ve been lonely for 7 years, now, I need a sibling to keep me company. Then I won’t care if you and Mom go far away for years.” He smiled. 1

“As you wish… but you’ll have to tell your mom that yourself. But before then, you should go He got up and walked out.

to bed.”

Valen got into bed with a victorious smile on his face. Who cares about a sibling? Once his mother gets pregnant, she’ll take a break to stay with him. “Hehe,” he chuckled after thinking of his plan.

Jeslyn would be making her debut a few days from now, yet there seems to not be any light coming from people or fans, still, the company went ahead to make preparations even though they might lose a chunk of money.

Naturally, in Fearless or other entertainment industries, an artist can only be allowed to debut when the company is sure that the artist has gotten enough fans whose ticket money would cover almost all the

expenses that the company would incur to host the artist’s debut.

Nevertheless, no money–driven company would dive into something with the 100% certainty that they won’t make a dime from it.

So for Fearless to go ahead and host Jeslyn’s debut in the midst of all the bad dramas surrounding her, means that they saw potential for money.

Jeslyn’s debut day finally came. Unlike Christine’s, hers was the opposite. The only people who spared time to attend her debut were her friends, and some juniors or trainees from Fearless Entertainment.

Standing on the stage with less than 20 people, she sighed. Her first debut at Delly Entertainment had around 100-200 audience members.

The anti–fans, the uncertain fans, and her 500+ true fans were all watching her on different platforms with different thoughts.

After Jeslyn closed her formal ‘Chatme‘ account, she thought her true fans would leave but instead, they followed her to her new account. She then had no choice but to believe that those were really her fans, worthy of her extra work, love, and happiness.

Some of her true fans were crying when they saw the empty seats. They wished they were in Country M or could afford transport fare but sadly, they couldn’t.

Some of those sitting on the fence didn’t know what to start feeling while some already made their decisions. How strong can one be to withstand such a public humiliation, yet didn’t burst out crying on stage?

Watching the girl wearing a long red gown standing under the spotlight and waiting for her music to begin with a happy smile on her face, made them realize that happiness wasn’t necessarily found in

success but in contentment and knowing how to be grateful for everything, including what people might consider worthless.

At that moment, a few tens of fence sitters joined the list of Jeslyn diehard fans who would neither waiver nor sway no matter the strong tornado that would try to sweep them off their love for Jeslyn in the future.