My Sister’s ‘Secret Boyfriend’ Was My Fiance Chapter 09
I smiled. “Yeah. He’s coming to pick me up.”
“How long have you two been together?” she asked.
“We started dating six months ago.” I picked up my glass and took a sip of water. “It hasn’t been that long.”
As soon as I finished speaking, everyone instinctively glanced at Graham.
The atmosphere turned awkward. Talking about my current boyfriend in front of my ex was bound to make people uncomfortable.
The woman seemed to realize that too and changed the subject with an awkward laugh.
“Enough about that. We’ve still got an after-party to get to once dinner’s over!”
As the reunion dinner was winding down, I got up to use the restroom.
When I came out, Graham was standing a short distance away.
I pretended not to see him and walked straight past, but he caught me by the wrist.
“Nora, I want to talk to you.”
I pulled my hand free. “Sorry, but I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
Graham stared at me with red-rimmed eyes.
—
His lips trembled as he asked in a hoarse voice, “Where did you go? I looked for you for so long…”
He paused, his voice growing even rougher.
“Do you really have a boyfriend?”
I looked at Graham.
He had not changed much over the past year.
During that time, he had contacted my friends and my parents, asking where I was. None of them had told him anything. Once my parents found out what had happened, they tore into Graham.
Even Lila had been hit.
To them, having one daughter steal the other’s fiancé was an unbearable humiliation.
But Lila was still their daughter, so they asked me to forgive her, stop holding it against her, and let the whole thing go.
I was used to it.
I had heard enough of those excuses.
I did not go home. Instead, I traveled from city to city, saw countless new places, and met all kinds of people.
Reid was someone I met on one of those trips.
Once we started talking, we discovered that we clicked in a way neither of us had expected.
Over the next six months, we went from traveling together to
—
becoming a couple.
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
The color instantly drained from Graham’s face.
For the past year, there had not been a single day when Graham had not thought about Nora.
He had bought the condo back for twice the price. Every corner of it was still painfully familiar.
He had imagined seeing her again.
He had even thought about what his first words to her would be.
When he learned Nora would be at the reunion, he came too.
Yet he had not managed to say a single word to her.
And now she had a boyfriend.
“Nora, I’m sorry. I let you down, and I broke my promise. I never intended to be with Lila. I just…”
He almost said that he had felt sorry for Lila, but swallowed the words.
He could not bring himself to look at me. He had no idea what else to say.
“I’m sorry. I hurt you,” Graham said, his eyes turning even redder.
I waited until he finished before answering slowly.
“But you got together with her anyway.”
—
“Graham, we ended a long time ago.” I looked at him. “An apology doesn’t change anything. The moment you got involved with Lila, you should have known it would be the end of us.”
“No one would accept her boyfriend getting together with her own sister.”
“She had feelings for you, and you agreed to be with her because you felt sorry for her. But did you ever think about me? Did you ever wonder how it would feel to wait an entire year for you, only to find out you were with Lila?”
Graham parted his lips, but no sound came out.
After a long silence, he finally forced himself to say, “But there’s nothing between us anymore.”
“Nora, please give me a chance to make it up to you,” he begged.
I fell silent.
Then I shook my head. “Graham, it’s over.”
“Let’s leave it at that. Don’t look for me again, and stay out of my life.”
With that, I turned and went back to the private dining room.
When Graham returned, everyone could tell that something was wrong.
The woman beside me asked what had happened. I smiled and told her I did not know.
Once dinner ended, everyone else planned to head to the after-party.
—
I stopped when I saw Reid getting out of his car and said with a smile,
“I’m going to skip it. My boyfriend is here to pick me up.”
Everyone turned to watch Reid walk toward us, their gazes eventually settling on the two of us.
Reid nodded to the group and said with a smile, “I’m going to take Nora home. Have fun, everyone.”
The others immediately began teasing me.
“Nora, are you sure you’re not coming? Bring your boyfriend. The more, the merrier.”
“Exactly. He can come with us.”
I shook my head.
“No, you guys go ahead.”
They did not press me any further and started pulling Graham along with them.
Graham did not move. His gaze remained fixed on me.
“I’m not going either. You guys have fun.”
After everyone else left, only the three of us remained.