Loving The Better Brother novel Chapter 26

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Lenovo The better Brother

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Chapter 26 The Rocky Path

WILLOW

You might think that after that incident, it was smooth sailing.

From how he protected me, it seemed he fell helplessly in love.

However, it wasn’t like that at all.

The truth no one tells about boys like Marcus Hale is that they were kind to

everyone.

All throughout high school, he was hailed as the best guy. He helped freshmen carry boxes. He stayed late to tutor struggling classmates. He never let anyone get publicly humiliated if he could stop it.

Teachers adored him.

Parents praised him.

Girls worshipped him.

I knew his treatment of me wasn’t anything special. However, the more I saw him being kind to others, the more I fell in love with him.

After that, we went back to our own circles.

I graduated top of my class just like I had promised. Due to that, I was offered multiple scholarships and had the privilege to choose one of the best universities in the city.

Kath, on the other hand, decided not to proceed to university and started a small coffee business instead.

I was determined to forget about my feelings for Marcus Hale during that time. However, when I thought we wouldn’t cross paths anymore, I saw him again.

It was the campus charity gala, and going meant we were given extra–curricular points. Nearly everyone from the school went, and I wasn’t an exception.

12:37 pm

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I found Marcus near the bar, laughing with his fellow classmates in Business. I tried to avoid him that night, but just as I was about to leave, I saw him sitting outside the venue on a bench with a bottle of beer in his hand.

He looked different from the Marcus I knew. Somehow, he looked broken.

Then, it hit me that Tristan Hale had already been appointed CEO of Hale.

He was only twenty–five when it happened, and he became one of the youngest CEOs to ever lead such a massive empire.

The business magazines wouldn’t shut up about him.

And Marcus-

Marcus had been… what?

The spare?

The one photographed at galas but never quoted in headlines?

Sitting there on the bench and drinking the beer nonstop, I saw it.

His resentment.

He spotted me. Recognition flickered across his face.

“Willow?” he said, surprised.

I was also surprised that he still remembered my name.

“Hi,” I replied.

That night, we talked a lot. It was the first time we talked for more than five minutes.

We continued bumping into each other more often after that.

I caught him at another party three months later.

12:37 pm

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(Clos Se The Rocky Path

He stood on the balcony alone, tie loosened, and collar open.

He didn’t look happy.

He looked restless.

“Not your scene?” I asked, stepping beside him.

He glanced at me, smirked faintly. “Is it yours?”

“No.”

We stood in silence for a moment.

I had never expected him to open up to me, but that night, he spilled his feelings like a broken dam.

“My family overlooks me,” he started off. “They think I’m irresponsible. Reckless. Not fit for any good position.”

“My brother gets all the gold,” he said bitterly. “All the praise. All the power. I’m just… Marcus.”

“Marcus Hale,” I said gently.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does.”

“Not in my house.”

I turned to face him fully.

“You don’t have to do all this,” I gestured vaguely to the party inside. “You don’t have to prove anything by being reckless.”

He scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say.”

“You’re enough,” I said quietly.

He went still.

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12:38 pm

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No the Rocky Path

brushed

“You are,” I repeated. “But if you want to be better, then be better. Not out of spite, but because you truly are better.”

He stared at me like I’d said something outrageous.

“No one believes that,” he muttered.

“I do,” I said, holding his gaze.

Silence.

The music thumped behind us.

“I believe it,” I repeated.

Then, it was different. He started seeking me out in study sessions and late–night coffee runs.

By junior year, he had gotten clingier.

He’d wait for me after lectures.

He’d call me when he couldn’t sleep.

He’d complain about Tristan.

I became his quiet place.

His listener.

His reassurance.

And I waited.

By the time we were seniors, we were both twenty–two. I thought he would finally ask me to become his girlfriend.

However, he didn’t.

He dated a millionaire model. Even though I hated to admit it back then, they

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12:38 pm

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Chipley de The Rocky Path

were perfect for each other. I tried to avoid them, but they were photographed everywhere.

I pretended it didn’t hurt.

I buried myself in my thesis.

I told myself I had imagined everything.

Then graduation came.

And after the cameras were gone-

He found me.

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