Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom novel Chapter 90

90 Ray’s dilemma 

Ray’s office door burst open and his sister strode in. With her momentum, it was clear she was angry. (1) “Ray! What is wrong with you?! Today marked three months you have been inside this office and wouldn’t come out. I bet you have forgotten the road to the house. What is going on? You don’t tell me anything anymore. M om, dad, grandpa, and everyone else are worried about you. The security 

you barred them from coming into the company. How could you do that to your family? What is wrong with you?!” 

said 

“How did you get in?” Ray raised his head from the keyboard and asked his sister. 

“Wh- what?!” Sharon was totally flabbergasted. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. 

At the gate earlier, the security men refused to let her in. Not until she called Frank who spoke with the chief security officer was she allowed in. She had thought her brother would react differently when he sees her, after all, she had been his most beloved person since young. She didn’t expect he would ask her this with a plain look on his face like he was addressing a stranger. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked again. 

“Sharon, what are you doing here?” Ray pushed his seat back and got up. He walked towards the floor-to-ceiling window and stopped to look at the dark city with sparkling lights coming from the tall buildings. 

“Ray, it’s me, your older sister-” 

Ray turned to look at her. His hair looked disheveled, and his wh ite shirt, although looked clean and well-ironed, was left flying over his black trousers. 

He wasn’t wearing shoes but slippers instead. His sleeves were folded up to rest just below his elbow. Totally unlike Ray. 

Sharon swallowed when she saw the look he was giving her. If not that she knew her brother was allergic to dirt, she would have vowed that her brother hasn’t bathed for a few days. 

“You are the last person I want to see.” He said. 

“Wh- why?” 

regret. I 

“What else do you want from me? Haven’t you used me enough all your life? Ever since we were little, you have never stopped manipulating me. You made me do things I never thought I would had thought you were the motherly figure you made me believe you were. Mother and father were never there for us while growing up… they were always busy, so I relied on you and opened my heart to you, which was why you could manipulate me to your satisfaction…. Not Anymore… not anymore, Sharon.” 

Sharon’s lips fell apart in disbelief. She couldn’t fathom what her little brother was telling her. Yes, he was right. Ever since young, she had been the only one who cared about him… no, she was the only one who had time for him. She gave him a listening ear, gave him a shoulder to cry on, took care of him whenever he was si ck, fed him whenever he couldn’t eat… She was literally everything to him because their parents were busy trying to stabilize their grandfather’s failing business. 

12.26 

1/3 

Even after their parents realized that neglecting their children was a bad trait, it was already too late. Ray couldn’t love or rely on anyone anymore. His feelings and trust for his sister had overwhelmed what any man could feel for another. 

“R- Ray…” 

Ray raised his palm to stop her. “Don’t try. It won’t work. You and Emilee have succeeded in killing Jeslyn even after I warned you all not to touch her. I might have been stu pid all this while, I might not have known what I felt for Jeslyn at that time, and I might have thought I loved Emilee, but now that I know what my feelings truly were, it’s already too late. There’s nothing left in me for you to drill anymore. Sharon, I’m only a shell now… please, I beg you, leave me alone to wallow in sorrow. It might be that I’ll be able to join Jeslyn and ask her and her family for forgiveness in the afterlif-” “Stop it! Stop talking, you fo ol!!” Sharon couldn’t take it anymore. 

The brother standing in front of her right now looked like a stranger to her. How could her fierce and decisive brother look so tired of life? How could her proud brother sound so down? All because of Jeslyn?! How dare that vixen?! 

Although Sharon was mad, her face looked sorrowful. She forced tears to run down her cheeks- just like she always did.