I Spiked His Drink, He Drank It Anyway Chapter 08
I stepped out of the restroom.
Just as I reached the dressing room door, I heard Stellan and Iris talking inside.
Their voices were polite and distant.
“Where’s Tamsin?” Stellan asked.
“She went to the restroom.”
“Thanks. For out there.”
“It was nothing. Oh, by the way… you remind me of someone I knew in elementary school. What’s your name?”
“Stellan Hollister.”
There was a brief pause.
“It’s you! I’m Iris Chenoweth—we were classmates in elementary school. Remember?”
Stellan thought for a moment.
“Really? I don’t seem to recall.”
Iris laughed. “The only reason I remembered was because I found an old class photo a few days ago.”
“On the back, I’d scribbled, ‘Stellan owes me one eraser.'”
—
Stellan blinked. “Now that you mention it, I suppose I did have a classmate with that name. I’ll owe you an eraser, then.”
She waved him off with a smile.
“Forget the eraser. Go find Tamsin. Bye.”
I froze. Wait, what?
The comments exploded.
[Wait, what? They only recognized each other now?]
[Weren’t they pretending not to know each other before?]
[Then who gave Iris those coral roses wrapped in platycodon at Kai Sushi & Grill?]
[And who was she supposedly with all night?]
[Ugh, the author totally glossed over the details. I was so sure it was the male lead.]
[Wasn’t it?]
[Clearly not. They were acting like total strangers.]
[Doesn’t matter. Now that they’ve finally recognized each other, the plot can get back on track.]
[The leads are destined to end up together. The story will fix itself.]
Stellan walked out of the dressing room.
—
The moment he saw me, he pulled me into his arms, his voice trembling.
“That could have been bad. You almost…”
I could feel how terrified he’d been.
“It was close. But I’m fine now.”
He tightened his grip on my hand.
“Let’s go home.”
I gently slipped my hand free.
“I’m tired. I want to stay at my apartment tonight.”
He looked at me in confusion.
Just as he was about to speak, Iris stepped out of the dressing room in her street clothes.
She waved at me. “Tamsin, I’m off! See you tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Bye. Dinner’s on me another day.”
After Iris left, I changed, grabbed my bag, and headed toward my apartment. Stellan followed.
When we reached the pedestrian bridge, he caught my hand.
” Tamsin, can we talk?”
—
I stopped and turned to face him.
“Actually, I wanted to talk too.”
He spoke first, “Why have you been avoiding me? Why are you giving me the cold shoulder?”
I took a slow breath.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
“Stellan, let’s get divorced.”
He froze. “Divorce? Why?”
I spoke slowly, “Our marriage was never real.”
“I’m done pretending, and I don’t want to keep you tied down.”
“You should be free to marry the woman you truly love.”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“Tamsin, the one I love is you.”
“When Grandpa asked me to marry you, I looked into everything about you.”
“Your personality. The kind of person you were. I liked all of it.”
“If you hadn’t been exactly my type, I never would’ve married you.”
“I only said it was a fake marriage because I was afraid you’d say no.”
—
“I promised you a generous settlement because I didn’t want you to feel trapped.”
“After we got married, I realized you were pretending to be someone else.”
“But I never wanted that version of you. I liked the real you.”
“I even got drunk on purpose that night. I wanted to take things further. But you pushed me away.”
“I knew you didn’t love me. I knew you were focused on becoming Mrs. Hollister.”
“I used to care. But eventually I decided it didn’t matter.”
“If you don’t love me yet, I can wait.”
“I thought maybe, in time, you’d come to feel something for me.”
I’d never heard Stellan say so much at once.
When he finished, he reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a brand-new diamond ring and gently took my hand, ready to slip it onto my finger.
But I shook my head. “Stellan, snap out of it. Your ideal type is Iris.”
He frowned. “Iris? Who told you she’s my type?”
“Your profile. It said your ideal type was someone like her.”
—
I pulled up the screenshot I’d saved from three years ago.
He glanced at it. Then he let out a helpless laugh.
“My grandpa set up that account. He filled in all that nonsense himself.”
“I deleted the account as soon as I found out.”
I stared at him. “What?”