Loving The Better Brother novel Chapter 59

Chapter 59 First Meeting

WILLOW

I sat there for a while, deliberately keeping my distance from him.

Tristan tried to move closer once, shifting slightly on the couch as thought testing whether I would tolerate the proximity. I immediately scooted farther away, hugging a pillow to my chest.

His lips twitched faintly, but he did not say anything about it.

Honestly, how was I supposed to react?

Tristan Hale just told me he likes me.

My brain kept repeating the sentence like a broken record.

Tristan Hale.

The same Tristan Hale who was named as the most wanted bachelor of the year. The same Tristan Hale. who has plenty of years of experience leading a multi–billion dollar company, and is also the older brother of my ex–husband.

That Tristan Hale liked me.

A polar bear living peacefully on a tropical beach sounded more believable.

I pressed the pillow tighter against myself.

Just then, Tristan sighed quietly.

“It must be a lot to take in,” he said.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

He had already stood up.

“I’ll leave you for now,” he added.

Something in my chest jolted unexpectedly.

“Wait.”

The word slipped out before I could stop myself. My hand shot forward and grabbed his wrist. Ther moment my fingers wrapped around him, I realized what I had done.

Tristan paused mid–step, then he slowly looked back at me,

Our eyes met. His gaze dropped briefly to where I was holding him. I immediately loosened my grip, but did not let go entirely.

“Are you not going to avoid me now?” he asked.

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Chapter 59 Furst Meeting

I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment before nodding.

His expression softened slightly.

“Good,” he said.

He returned to the couch and sat down again.

This time, we were closer. Still, I made sure to keep a respectable amount of distance.

I needed breathing room.

“So.” I said slowly.

“So,” he echoed.

I turned toward him.

“How?”

“How what?”

“How did you start liking me?”

He scoffed lightly.

“Is there a how–to like someone?”

I frowned. “You know what I mean.”

He leaned back against the couch, one arm resting lazily along the backrest.

“I really don’t.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Fine,” I said. “Then let me rephrase the question.”

He gestured for me to continue.

“When?”

His brow lifted slightly.

“When?”

“Yes,” I said impatiently. “When did you start liking me?”

“Ah.”

That one–word response already irritated me.

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Chapter 59 First Meeting

“Don’t say ‘ah‘ like that,” I complained. “Answer me!”

He smiled faintly.

“I might.”

I groaned.

“Tristan.”

“Yes, Willow.”

“We only met when Marcus and I got married,” I pointed out. “How could you like me in that process?”

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he said quietly. “That’s what you thought.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“That’s what you thought,” he repeated.

I stared at him, confused.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You asked me to pick you guys up once.”

My brows knitted together.

“When?”

“When Marcus got drunk at a party.”

The memory did not come immediately.

But then-

My eyes widened.

“Oh.”

The scene began to form slowly in my mind, like a photograph developing in a darkroom.

It was the second year of college.

It was a chaotic night, and Marcus and I were at the same party.

It had been one of those loud college parties that sexined to exist purely to destroy the following morning Music had been blasting from speakers that were far too big for the cramped living room of the house we

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Chapter & First Meeting

had gathered in. People were dancing everywhere, shouting over each other, laughing too loudly, drinking things that probably should not have been mixed together.

And in the middle of all that chaos, Marcus had been extremely drunk.

However, that was not the most memorable part of the evening. The most memorable part had been his sudden possessiveness.

“Don’t talk to her!”

I remembered turning around just in time to see Marcus shove a guy who had simply tried to ask me where the bathroom was. The poor guy stumbled backward in confusion.

“Marcus!” I scolded, grabbing his arm.

He looked at me with those wide, desperate eyes that always appeared whenever alcohol loosened his

emotions.

“Willow,” he had said earnestly. “You can’t like anyone else.”

I had stared at him.

“What?”

“You can’t like anyone else,” he repeated stubbornly. “You have to like me. Only me, okay?”

At the time, we were not even officially together.

Marcus had been flirting with me relentlessly for months, but we never made it official. But that night, his jealousy had escalated into something ridiculous.

After that, he drank like there was no tomorrow. Instead of leaving early. I was forced to take care of him. His drunkenness escalated to the point where he had to puke in the garden.

I stood behind him, holding his shoulders while he emptied the contents of his stomach into a poor bush.

“There you go.” I said gently, patting his back.

Eventually, when the worst of it had passed, I helped him sit on the curb outside the house.

He leaned heavily against me.

“You still like me, right?” he asked weakly.

I sighed. “You already know the answer to that, Marcus.”

“I want you to say it out loud.”

“I hike you Is that good now?”

“Him.” he hummed, then I felt the weight of his body getting heavier than before

“Marcus,” 1 muntered, but he didn’t respond. “Marcus!”

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Chapter 59 First Meeting

Fuuched

I sighed when I realized he had slept. I didn’t know where he lived, because he didn’t stay at the dorms. With that. I grabbed his phone. Fortunately, there wasn’t a passcode.

I went straight to his contacts to look for a familiar name, stopping when I saw the name Tristan. He was the only one I felt I could call at that time, so in the end, I clicked on the contact name.

The phone rang and rang until finally, someone answered.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end was deep and slightly tired.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly. “Um… I’m sorry to bother you.”

“Who is this?”

“My name is Willow,” I explained quickly. “I’m with Marcus right now. He’s… not in great condition.”

There was a brief pause. Then the man sighed.

“I see.”

“You were the only one I recognized in his contacts.”