I stood frozen outside the private room of penthouse, my hands trembling around the Ferrari keys I'd planned to surprise Ken with. nine years of love, of building a future together, crashed around me like shattered glass.

"How much longer are you going to string Giggy along?" A deep voice cut through the door.

My heart stopped at the sound of my name. The Ferrari keys dug into my palm.

"Come on, Now that your true love has returned, Ken Brooks, what will happen between you and that backup little sister?”" Another voice chimed in, followed by the clink of glasses.

"To think you've been dating Cody's sister all this time." Someone laughed. "Does he even know his best friend's been sleeping with his runaway sister?"

My brother's name hit me like a punch to the gut. Cody. My brother Cody. The same brother Ken claimed was just a friend he'd met.

"The look on his face when he finds out..." The voice continued.

"He won't." Ken's familiar voice finally broke through. "Giggy was just... convenient. A replacement while Poppy was gone."

"Nine years is a long replacement." Someone whistled.

"She made it easy. So desperate for love after her family problems." Ken's words dripped with cruel amusement. "All those stories about knowing her brother, about waiting to tell him until we were married. She believed every word."

The keys slipped from my hand, hitting the marble floor with a betraying clatter. The voices inside went quiet.

Each word hit like a dagger to my heart. nine years. nine years of love, patience and unwavering support—and this was how he saw me? As someone with no other option?

Later, my family arranged for me to meet someone they thought would be a more suitable match. The day I was to marry this stranger was the same day Ken married Poppy.

As Poppy’s wedding day approached, he couldn’t shake a sense of unease. Something felt wrong. He warned his groomsmen to keep an eye out, worried I might crash the ceremony.

One of them hesitated before speaking. “You haven’t heard? Giggy’s getting married today too.”

___

“What made you decide so fast, Giggy Robert? Did someone hurt you?”Cody sounded worried as he asked.

I felt a stab of pain in my chest at the question.

I drew in a shaky breath and let it out as I answered him, “It's not like that. It's just that I've decided. Besides, I'm going to marry someone eventually, who I marry shouldn't be that important.”

Even though he couldn't see me, I smiled as I added, “Then there's our family's opinion of my groom-to-be. The fact that it is an arranged marriage means that you guys have done every background check possible on him.”

My words seemed to convince Cody and he chuckled as he said in a light-hearted tone, “I'm happy that you've finally decided! So when should we expect you to return? Also, don't you want to go on a date with him first?”

“I don't have to. Arranging the marriage as soon as possible would mean solving our bakery's bankruptcy right away! So talk to his family and begin making arrangements for the wedding day.” I replied, accepting my fate.

“Alright, and are you still talking to Ken or have you guys drifted apart? News is that his fairy has finally returned. Chat him up, he might be available to party with you and probably attract good fortune.” He asked as he laughed again.

It was shocking that Cody had all the details about Ken and Poppy's relationship. It now made sense why Ken wanted me to hide my relationship with him from Cody.

There was that stabbing pain in my chest again and I let out a shaky breath as I tried to mask it.

“Don't disturb him, bro. Besides, we're just acquaintances.” I said as I walked out of the bedroom and ran into Ken.

I knew that I couldn't talk for long, so I said, “Listen, Cody, I need to go.”

He didn't ask me any questions and readily agreed, “Okay, sure. Talk to you later!”

“Who are you talking about? Who are you just acquaintances with?” Ken asked me as I hung up the call with Cody.

“I'm just acquaintances with you!” I exclaimed truthfully.

A shocked look showed on his face then it was gone the next second, replaced by a mischievous one.

He cupped my face and moved his head closer to mine as his captivating blue eyes captured my brown ones.

His voice was low as he asked, “Is that so? How is it that we're just acquaintances when you've shared countless romantic moments with me?”

His eyes staring into mine made my tummy tighten into a knot, but then the effect was gone as soon as I remembered what I discovered in his bedroom today.

As his face drew closer to mine, I got a whiff of a woman's perfume from his neck.

Did she spray it on him so that I would become suspicious? And did he want to see me jealous? Was that why he let her to do as she wished?

Suddenly, pain filled me as my wounds from the cuts reopened.

A gasp left my lips and a pained expression showed on my face as I tried to contain the pain I was feeling, making Ken stop.

”Giggy, what's going on? Are you not okay?” He asked me as a worried look appeared on his face when he saw my pained expression.

I glanced at my fingers and he moved his gaze there.

His eyes widened when he saw the cuts on my fingers and hands.

Worry was evident on his face as he asked, “What is this? Did your hands become like this today? You should have told me sooner.”

He acted like he wasn't there when my hands became like this at the welcome party.

I didn't know how to reply, so I stayed quiet as I thought of whether I should help him recall and make a fool out of him or not.

“Calm down, Giggy! I'm going to wrap some band aids around your cuts, okay?” Ken murmured as he caressed my shoulder in a comforting manner.

He turned around and walked to the bathroom to get the first aid kit as he asked, “Huh, you're a woman with high tolerance, yet you looked like you were in so much pain. What would have happened if I wasn't here?”

I almost scoffed at him as I glanced at the cuts on my hands.

“Of course, he has treated me so good for the past nine years. What would happen if he hadn't been here?” I asked myself.

I shook my head as I muttered, “You don't matter to me anymore, Ken. I'm not willing to stay in a false relationship.”

By morning, my wounds worsened and throbbed painfully. I noticed this as soon as my eyes fluttered open.

I groaned in pain as I stared at my fingers which had band aids covering them.

Ken noticed this and grabbed my arm to make me sit up.

I groaned once again as I wrenched my arm out of his grip. However, he gave me a flirty smile and wrapped his arms around me.

I resisted the urge to kick him away. Fortunately, the hug didn't last long and it wasn't too intimate.

“Morning, sleepy head.” He murmured.

I moved back and shuddered, feeling repulsed as I yelled, “It's so early in the morning. Can't you let me sleep peacefully?”

A worried look showed on his face as he asked, “You look so pained and you were hurt pretty badly yesterday. So I'm driving you to the hospital.”

Even though I wanted to protest since I wasn't too hurt and my heart was broken by him, I sighed and climbed out of bed.

As we entered the hospital, we spotted Poppy standing in line at the pharmacy stall and there was a bandage on her forehead.

Ken’s bright and caring personality quickly dimmed.

He left me and jogged to Poppy. He touched her bandaged forehead gently as he asked, “What's going on?”

Poppy grinned at him and then her gaze landed on me.

“It's just a head wound. So you guys came to the hospital to see a doctor too?”

Ken looked nervous as he moved his gaze back to me and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

He nodded, “Exactly. My younger sister's hands were cut up yesterday and it became worse this morning. We're here to see a doctor.”

I was so accustomed to Ken calling me his younger sister.

Since he made me swear to keep our relationship a secret, he has always referred to me as his best friend’a younger sister whom he was watching over.

It was just a few of his tightest friends that were aware of our secret relationship.

Poppy’s grin widened, “Since she's your guest, you must watch over her and take care of her. Anyway, you guys can move on now. I'm heading home after I pay for my drugs.”

She pointed at the pharmacy and we followed her gaze to see that it was her turn.

She paid for her drugs and Ken walked closer to her then turned his back to her as he said, “Climb on. I'm going to give you a piggy back ride to your car.”

He glanced at me as he said, “Giggy, don't go anywhere, I'll be right back.”

When this scene unfolded in front of me, I felt dizzy and I gripped the door beside me, unable to reply.

He didn't even care to ask if I was okay with it. As soon as he said that, Poppy climbed onto his back and he took her out of the hospital to the parking lot.

The truth was that, even though he pretended well, his true emotions peak out whenever he sees Poppy which shatters his pretence.

However, he didn't seem to take notice.

I laughed sarcastically as I shook my head then made my way down the hallway to the doctor's office.

It turned out to be very serious. The doctor examined my wounds and said that they have been contaminated because of not using first aid immediately when I got the cuts and bacteria have landed on the cuts and multiplied.

I felt worried for my health and I wanted to find Kena and tell him about my condition like I usually told him everything. However, I remembered that I couldn't do that anymore.

I laughed sarcastically again as I watched Dr. LeBron clean my wounds.

“After I'm done, I'll write a prescription and you'll go down to the pharmacy to pay for your drugs.” Dr. LeBron informed me.

“Okay.” I replied with a sigh.

As soon as he was done cleaning my wounds, I made my way to the pharmacy and bought my drugs.

However, I was having a headache and it made it hard to open my eyes.

There was no sign of Ken and I had no idea if he was going to return to take me home.

I had no way of getting back home since I didn't have any money on me and he drove me there. So I had to contact him.

I texted him, [Where are you? I'm waiting for you at the hospital.]

He texted back after a few seconds, [I apologize for leaving you there. I was going to return to take you home, but when we reached Poppy's house, she started experiencing migraines and I had to stay to take care of her.]

When I saw his text, I called him since he didn't say whether he was returning or not.

“Here are your tickets for the movie, Mr. Ken Russo.” I heard a man say as soon as he answered the call, but he sounded far away.

“Alright.” Ken replied to the man, his voice also sounding far away.

I heard them even though he pulled the phone far away.

So I tried to comfort myself as I said, “Don't worry, I can take care of myself.”

However, he said, “You should take a taxi home. I'll tell you all that you want to know when I get back.”

It was obvious that he was just going to tell me more false information.

I was so angry that I ignored him and hung up.

I remembered that I could call an Uber driver to take me home since I didn't have any cash on me and Uber uses online payments.

So I ordered an Uber and it took me home.

However, Ken didn't return home for that night or the next night.

I couldn't sleep because of a party that was going on in an expensive club that was in the next street. The music was too loud that I could hear the lyrics clearly and the beats.

When I walked out earlier, I saw lanterns floating in the sky and I knew that the party goers were setting off floating lanterns into the sky.

I grabbed my laptop and continued working on a design since I was a graphic designer for a film industry.

As I was creating my design, I received a notification from my Facebook on my laptop and I checked it to see a story.

Poppy had posted a video of the floating lanterns as music from the club blared on.

I could hear Ken's voice in the video while he stayed off screen, "After years of wandering, I find my way back home, and here, the lanterns float high in the sky, a warm embrace in all their splendor!”

I watched the video over and over again, unable to stop the sadness I felt in my chest at the realization that they were still together.

I wanted to research their relationship online, but then I realized that I really didn't care, so I continued my work.

That afternoon, I handed my transfer request letter to my Boss, Mr. Dan.

He sighed after I told him that I wanted to transfer to another company back home since I was tying the knot soon.

However, he smiled as he said, “I can't believe I'm going to lose such a hard working employee.”

I was speechless, so I smiled back at him and said, “You're the best boss that I've ever had!”

I texted my co-workers that I was leaving, and they pressed on taking me out for Karaoke night to honor my approaching wedding.

So I agreed and made arrangements for us to go to a Karaoke club that Ken and I usually went to.

It was the only Karaoke club that I knew and Ken told me it was the best in town.

We arrived at the Karaoke club, and when the second person of my friends was singing, I felt thirsty.

So I went to the bar to order a drink when I saw Poppy collecting a sprite from the bartender.

Her lips stretched into a smile, “I didn't know you would also be here! By the way, Ken took me out on our first date to this place back when we were in high school. After that, this place became a second home to us.”

“Oh.” I muttered, not wanting to talk to her.

I glanced at the bartender as I said, “A sprite.”

He handed me one and I turned around to go back to our table since we were strangers.

However, she thought otherwise and said, “Ken bought you a sprite the last time too. You also don't drink alcohol?”

A frown fell on my brows when I heard that.

Honestly, I could drink alcohol. It was just that Ken always stressed on buying non-alcoholic drinks for me and making me avoid alcoholic ones.

He would then say that good wives don't drink alcohol.

To me, it seemed like he wanted me to maintain a good image and good health.

However, I've now noticed that he was just used to doing it.

I never really liked sprite anyway, it was Poppy that liked it.