Chapter 49: "...you will remain my younger brother"
Ash sat there, sobbing, feeling his heart break with every shaky breath. Then, through his blurred vision, his eyes landed on the giant puppy doll lying innocently on his bed.
Without thinking, he stumbled over, grabbed it by the head, and began throwing wild punches. "Your liar!" he shouted between sobs. "You said I’m the only one, Adrian! Then go-go hump your Celeste instead!"
He bit the doll’s ear, shaking it like an angry puppy himself. "How does she even make you moan, huh?!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face.
Just then, his mother’s voice came from the outside. "Baby, are you asleep?"
She opened the door, and froze. Ash stood there, hair messy, beating up a giant puppy doll with tears running down his cheeks.
She rushed over, grabbing his wrist. "Why are you so cruel?" she said, half-shocked, half-amused . "You haven’t even named it yet, and you’re already beating it up!"
But when she saw the tears in his eyes, her expression softened. "Why are you crying, baby?" she whispered, cupping his face.
Ash broke down completely, hugging her tightly, crying louder. She sat on the edge of the bed, letting him lie across her lap. Her fingers combed through his hair as she hummed a soft lullaby, soothing him until his sobs turned into faint breaths.
When he finally drifted off, she gently laid him down, pulled the blanket over him, and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, baby," she murmured.
As she turned to leave, her gaze fell on the poor puppy doll. She picked it up, sighing. "What did you do to deserve that beating?"
Then she noticed one of its button eyes lying nearby. She picked it up carefully. "Don’t worry," she said softly, smiling faintly. "I’ll fix you."
She carried the doll out of the room, closing the door behind her.
...
Morning came. Adrian woke with a pounding headache, his head heavy, as if he’d been hit from every angle. The dull ache made him groan softly.
Through the haze of sleep, he felt warmth against him; the unmistakable weight of someone in his arms.
"Ash..." he murmured, half-asleep, turning slightly to the side.
But as his eyes fully opened, he froze.
Celeste was lying beside him, watching him calmly.
"How...how did I end up here?" he stammered, sitting up abruptly, chest rising quickly. He looked down at himself; bare chested, wearing only shorts, and then at her, half-naked under the blanket.
He took a shaky breath. "Did we...?"
Celeste’s eyes met his, and then she slowly pulled the blanket aside.
Adrian’s gaze fell on drops of blood on the sheets. His stomach churned. He froze.
"What do you think?" Celeste asked softly, her voice trembling.
"I..I don’t remember," Adrian admitted, confusion and guilt mixing in his tone.
Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. "Now you want to dump me," she whispered, voice breaking, "after you’ve already taken my virginity?"
Adrian’s chest tightened. He reached for her, gently cupping her face. "I didn’t mean it like that," he said, his voice low, sincere.
Celeste shook her head, sobbing harder. "Which Alpha will accept me now? I’m already...detained..."
He touched her face again, trying to calm her. "Stop crying," he murmured softly.
Her sobs only grew as she collapsed into his arms, but there was something else, almost hidden; a faint, mischievous curve of her lips, an evil little smile beneath the tears.
Adrian held her closer, unsure whether to soothe her and what would happen next.
Still confused and shaken, he dressed quickly. "Wash up and get dressed," he instructed, his voice firm but calm. "I’ll wait outside. I’ll drop you home."
A few minutes later, Celeste emerged, looking composed. They stepped outside together.
Paparazzi and journalists were waiting outside the hotel, cameras flashing. Adrian quickly took Celeste’s hand to guide her through the chaos.
The bodyguards moved swiftly, forming a protective barrier as they made their way through the crowd and into the car.
Question flew: "When are you going to redo the wedding?"
Adrian drove Celeste home, but once back in his office, his mind was still heavy with thoughts of that previous night.
The day before, Celeste had stormed into his office after he stopped her project. She insisted she could continue it if she wanted, claiming she had all the necessary documents to claim the market. Adrian knew she couldn’t truly be stopped when she had legal documents in hand.
He also thought of Bunny’s grandmother, who lived in that village, Ash’s village too. His chest ached at the thought of giving Celeste a way to claim the market, and he felt pity for the traders and farmers who depended on selling their goods there.
To resolve the situation, Adrian asked what she wanted in exchange for leaving the market. She surprised him by asking for a night date. He hesitated, hoping she would choose something else, but she insisted.
Reluctantly, he agreed; only to save the market, but set a strict condition: they would have just twenty minutes. Celeste accepted.
That night, he had taken only a few sips of wine. How he ended up in the situation he woke to the next morning remained a blur.
...
Adrian’s father stormed in, fury etched across his face, pheromones shimmering visibly around him. He held a tablet firmly in his hand.
Adrian saw him and immediately stood up, fear tightening his chest. Before he could speak, his father struck; one slap on one cheek, then another on the other. Blood trickled from Adrian’s nose.
His father slammed the tablet onto the tablet, his voice thundering sharply: "What is this?"
Shaking, still dazed from the blows, Adrian stared at the tablet. The screen displayed pictures of him and Celeste from the night of their date; one of them inside the hotel at night having drinks, another of them walking out hand in hand the following morning.
The headline read: "Alpha Adrian Leclair and his fiancee Celeste Johnson seen together: compromising situation before marriage."
Adrian’s chest tightened. He swallowed hard, trying to process the storm that had just erupted.
His father’s voice trembled with anger, pheromones faintly shimmering around him. "Both of you have brought shame upon yourselves...behaving intimately before marriage. And you have humiliated me in the process. Therefore..." He paused, letting the weight of his words hang in the room. "...the wedding will not be delayed. It will take place tomorrow!"
Adrian froze, opening his mouth to speak, but his father cut him off. "I do not want to be on the wrong side of Alpha Johnson. Almost three-quarters of our company’s funds are tied to his support. One wrong move, and he could pull out...leaving us buried in debt.
"Think about your stepmother and your brother," he continued, his voice softening slightly yet firm. "How will they survive when our home and everything we’ve built could be swallowed by debtors? I have already prepared everything. You have only one duty now- carry yourself to the altar."
Adrian’s chest tightened. His father’s words, heavy with responsibility and fear, left him torn between outrage and helplessness.
When his father left the office. Adrian remained restless, staring at the tablet his father had left behind. His pheromones shimmered faintly as he snatched it up and hurled it against the wall, the screen shattering on impact.
That night, Adrian drowned his thoughts at the club, glass after glass sliding across the bar. The noise around him blurred, until a voice cut through; raw, unmasked, and impossible to ignore.
Ash was on stage, singing, tears rolling down his cheeks:
"I held you close, gave you my all,
Now I watch you with her, and my heart falls.
The nights we shared, the promises we made,
Shattered and gone, like shadows that fade.
How do I breathe, when you’re already hers,
But my soul still bleeds for the love that was ours?"
The audience sat frozen, feeling every ounce of his pain. Adrian’s breath caught, chest tightening, each word a knife in his heart. He gripped the bar, powerless, consumed by the raw ache in Ash’s voice.
When Ash finished, the silence hung heavy. Adrian’s heart throbbed, a relentless reminder of what he had lost, and the weight of his own choices.
The applause around him felt distant, hollow. The air pressed down on him, suffocating. He couldn’t stay a second longer. Without looking back, he rushed out of the club.
From the stage, Ash saw him go. Panic surged through him. He scrambled down, running after Adrian, his tears blurring his vision.
Adrian reached his car, stopping abruptly. He turned, his face tight with exhaustion and controlled anger. "What do you want?"
Ash’s voice shook, tears streaming. "Why...why could you do this to me" You...you even sent me the picture of both of you in bed together!"
Adrian froze. Confusion clouded his mind; he hadn’t even checked his messages the day before. He hadn’t sent anything.
Ash’s voice broke further. "I saw the news...your wedding is tomorrow. Are you really going to marry her?"
Adrian’s father words reverberated in his mind: "Think about your stepmother and brother...How will they survive if everything falls apart?"
His fists clenched, his voice sharp, cutting through the night:
"Forget everything that’s happened between us. That...was just desire. Yes, I’m going to marry her. She’s going to be my wife. And you...you will remain my younger brother."
Ash collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably, trembling as he reached for Adrian’s hand. Adrian pulled away, voice hollow: "Bravin, take him home. I’ll take a taxi to the penthouse."
Ash stayed on the pavement, shoulders shaking, silent wails piercing the night. Bravin stepped out, gently trying to comfort him, but Ash could only cry harder, pressing his face into his hands, broken.
In the taxi, Adrian sat at the rear, tears streaking down his cheeks. Each drop weighed heavily, a bitter confession he could never speak. The city lights blurred past the window, mirroring the ache in his chest.