Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother

"Zara, I'm leading a team in a competition and we're on the way to Denville. I heard that it's quite pretty there. How about a spontaneous trip?"

She seemed to be waiting for my message as she replied instantly, "I have a colleague who's from Denville. She said there's a place where the air is especially fresh during this season. Unfortunately, I can't take any leave now."

"Let me go and take a look to see if it's as good as your colleague said. If it's good, then we can invite Jade along and have a great six-person holiday."

"Six people?"

"Yes. You, me, Jade, and our partners. Isn't that six people? I'm bad at math, but I'm pretty good with addition and subtraction within the first ten numbers. Hmm, how about during the winter vacation?"

It became silent for the next five minutes.

The screen kept showing that Zara was typing, but there was no reply.

My heart started sinking.

It was as if I could see her sad face.

Colin was right. Zara probably knew about Chris' affair. At least, she wasn't completely unaware.

"Let's talk more later. Our bonding time doesn't have to involve the men."

"Haha, that's true. By the way, Zara, did Chris get promoted? He has always been so outstanding."

"Mm." Zara didn't say much.

I had nothing else to say, so I deliberately steered the conversation toward Chris.

"Zara, I'll be done with my projects soon. After that, I'll have plenty of time. You guys should come over to Jinovy. I'll take you out and enjoy the local sights. If Denville is too far for you, we can just forget about it. But Jinovy is only a few hours by car. I'll be angry if you still couldn't come to visit me."

There was another long silence on the other end until my phone got locked. I unlocked it, only to wait until the screen got locked again without any replies. I repeated this several times until I finally heard the notification for an incoming message.

Zara replied with just a few words, but it made my heart break and my eyes swell.

"I broke up with Chris. It was an amicable breakup."

Despite not seeing each other, I could totally imagine her biting her lip while pretending to be strong as she fought back tears.

Thinking back to that scene, I couldn't really bring myself to agree with the term "amicable breakup."

Zara was a fool to still defend him after being hurt by him. She was truly a hopeless romantic and hadn't met the right person.

"When did it happen?"

"Four days ago."

"Four days ago?"

Wasn't that when...

I didn't know if Chris changed so suddenly or if cheating was already part of his plan.

Considering his cold attitude when he was with Zara and his enthusiasm when he hugged the other woman that day, his attitude clearly showed his emotions. Chris was not really a decent person.

But he would never find someone who loved him more than Zara in this lifetime. It was his loss for missing out on her. What would he feel when he fully realized this?

I hope he would be miserable. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to Zara, who loved him wholeheartedly.

I tapped on the screen, writing and deleting words repeatedly. I could find the right words to comfort the silly woman who put all her thoughts on that jerk.

"What's so hard about sending a

message? You were so quick with words when you were arguing with me." Winston opened his eyes at some point and was glancing at my fingers with disdain. Then, he snatched my phone from me. Without asking for my agreement, he quickly typed a message and sent it. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

By the time regained my senses and grabbed my phone back after some struggle, the message had been sent successfully. Zara must have seen it, so there was no point in retracting it.

"If the guy's a scumbag, just dump him. Good riddance! There are many other men in this world, so you don't have to be so fixated on him. Move forward courageously and start anew. There are better men waiting for you."