How to Train Your Ex-Billionaire novel Chapter 82

"'By the way, Karen, I heard from your father that you have a boyfriend?' Queena asked suddenly.

Karen nodded. 'Yes, I do.'

Queena smiled. 'How long have you been dating? Why haven't you brought him home for us to meet?'

'Not long, just over two months,' Karen said. 'I'll bring him around once we're more settled.'

'That's good,' Queena said with a sigh. 'You've got it figured out, Karen. Finding a boyfriend all on your own, without your father and me having to worry. It's not like Winifred... She's a few months older than you and still single.'

Winifred kept her head down and focused on her food.

Hunter gently tugged on Queena's sleeve. "Winifred is an amazing woman, you don't need to worry about her. It's just a matter of fate. When the right person comes along, nothing can stop it. Isn't that right, Winifred?"

Winifred offered a small smile but didn't say anything.

Queena scoffed. 'With her gloomy personality? She'll find a boyfriend when pigs fly.'

Karen quickly changed the subject, and for the moment, the atmosphere at the dinner table remained relatively pleasant.

After dinner, Winifred offered to do the dishes, but Hunter shooed her out of the kitchen, insisting that such rough work wasn't for a young woman's delicate hands and that he would handle it.

Winifred relented.

Karen approached her. 'Winifred, want to go for a walk?'

Winifred knew she had something to say, so she stood up and grabbed her coat. 'Okay, let's go.'

The two of them walked in circles around the neighborhood.

Karen asked, 'How have you been lately? Are you okay?'

Winifred replied, 'Same as always. Nothing good, nothing bad.'

'Bullshit!' Karen spat. 'I can't believe he had the audacity to say that. Never forgot you? It's been seven years, and he's just now contacting you. How romantic.'

'But he seemed sincere,' Winifred said, her eyes downcast. 'I could see it, feel it. He wasn't lying to me.'

If he were lying, he wouldn't have broken down and cried on the street like that after she left, completely disregarding his image. The pain on his face was real.

Karen was stunned. 'Seriously, Winifred? Are you still as naive as you used to be? He says one line about not forgetting you, and you actually believe him?'

'And have you forgotten all the pain you went through back then? You suffered so much, and it was all because of Yvan.'

Winifred pressed her lips together and voiced a daring thought.

'Karen, do you think if I hadn't been so impulsive and broken up with him back then... maybe none of the bad things would have happened?'

'What are you talking about?' Karen said, exasperated. 'Why do you always blame yourself for everything? The fact that Yvan could say those things about you in front of his friends proves he never really cared about you. His regret now is just wounded pride. Men always want what they can't have. It's their fatal flaw. Snap out of it, Winifred!'