Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

“Your fiancee is really nice, sis,” Jeff uttered, and I scoffed silently. Nice, indeed.

We couldn’t talk yesterday because Carl was all over them acting like the gentleman he never was. It was supposed to be a beautiful morning, but no day would ever be beautiful for as long as I remained under this roof.

“Where is Mom and Dad?” I ignored him and asked instead.

“In their room,” He replied to me, and I left him in his room and left to go meet my parents. Carl was generous enough to have given them a room each and made sure that they felt at home.

I walked down the walkway that led to my parents’ supposed room, and when I arrived, I knocked on the door and the door opened almost immediately, revealing Mom in her ever-cheerful smile.

“It’s you, darling? Come in,” She left the door open for me, and I walked inside.

“Thank you,” I walked inside and met Dad seated on the bed. He smiled as soon as he saw me. It has really been long since we last saw each other, and I have been looking forward to meeting them again, but not this way.

“We’ve been waiting for you, darling. Come have a seat,” She held my hand and went to sit me on the bed.

“Where did you meet such a nice handsome man?” Mom asked and cupped her cheeks in her palms dramatically, and I scoffed.

“I’m glad you found someone as sweet, responsible, and humble as Carl. He is such a nice man,” Dad chipped in, and I glanced at him. If only these knew the kind of person Carl was, then I’m sure they wouldn’t even think of calling him nice.

“How did you meet Carl, Mom, Dad?” I asked curiously, the question I’ve been asking myself since they got here yesterday.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“Last week, Jeff said he tried to call you, but someone answered the call and said he was your fiance. He spoke with us later and asked if we would like to meet you. That’s how he brought us here,” Mom explained to me, and I sighed briefly.

“That’s not necessary. I thought it was that ugly guy. I was disappointed when he came to pick us up at the airport,” Mom further said, and I almost laughed. Well, Royce would be the last man on earth I would ever have anything to do with. I love cute men, and Royce is far from my kind of man.

“Mom… You all can’t stay here, OK? You can’t live here with me,” I held her shoulders and said to her.

“What do you mean? Is something wrong?” She asked as she blinked her eyes a few times, and I sighed briefly.

“Carl said we could stay here. Is something wrong?” Dad chipped in, and I sighed.

“Carl is a bad person. He is just pretending,” You weren’t expecting me to say that to them when I barely had any evidence against him, yeah? They are probably going to think that I made that up and I might end up looking like the bad guy here.

“Nothing happened. I just don’t feel comfortable having you all around here with me…” Mom’s face dropped disappointedly.

“No, that’s not what I mean, Mom… What I mean is that Carl and I are not married yet, and you know it won’t be nice for me to bring…”

“There is nothing wrong with that,” My heart skipped when Carl walked inside and I looked over at him. He was smiling sweetly, and I scoffed. Was he eavesdropping on our conversation?

“Were you listening to my conversation with my Mom?” I asked him, and he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on, babe. You know I won’t ever be as petty as that. I was coming to say hi to Mom and Dad and I happened to hear what you said,” He shrugged, and Mom smiled.

“Aww! That’s so sweet. Do you want to sit?” Mom quickly stood up for him, and he smiled at her.

“No, Mom. I just came to say hi to you and Dad. Are you comfortable? Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything, and I will have it delivered to you immediately…” He paused and smiled again.

“You are my family now since Janice and I will be getting married soon. And about what she said, don’t listen to her. You can stay here forever with us. I’m comfortable with it,”

“Thank you so much, dear. I’m happy to have you as a part of my family,” Mom squeaked excitedly.

“I am happier, Mom,”

“Uhm… Can I borrow my baby for a while, please? I want to spend some time with her,”

“Sure, you can. Go with your husband, Janice,” Mom turned to me and said, and I bit my bottom lip.

Left with no choice because I didn’t want Mom or Dad to suggest anything, I stood up from the bed and left the room with him, and as soon as we stepped into the walkway, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to his room. He threw me inside roughly and I almost fell to the ground. He then walked inside and slammed the door hard behind him.

“Why do you want them to leave?” His eyes were filled with rage as he glared down at me, and my soul left my body for a moment.

“Carl…”

“Now, listen to me…” He paused then walked over to me and pulled me close, our bodies pressing hard against each other, and his eyes piercing into mine.

“You are going to shut your mouth and do whatever I ask you to do in this house. You are not allowed to do anything stupid which includes telling your family to leave…” He paused then grabbed my hair and pulled it back.

“You are hurting me…” I cried out as I struggled to loosen his grip around my hair, but he tightened it more.

“If you give your family a bad impression of me, then trust me, you won’t like what I’ll do to you. You are not going to jeopardize only your life, but theirs as well, so don’t fucking mess with me!” He stated coldly, and I managed to nod my head as tears streamed down my cheeks.

He finally let go of me and sighed.

“Did I hurt you, baby? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” His tone softened as he arranged my hair for me, and I dared not even flinch.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to,” He said huskily as he pulled me into his arms and embraced me like he cared so much about me.

“Come on, don’t cry,” He patted my back, and even though I felt disgusted, I couldn’t push him off, scared he’d do worse than what he did to me earlier.

He pulled away from me and smiled.

“Don’t be like that, baby. Smile for me,” He pouted his lips and whined, and I forced a smile.

“That’s my girl. I’ll be away with Royce for three days. Let’s start planning our wedding when I get back, OK?” He stated coldly, and I bit my bottom lip.

“Don’t think of doing something stupid. My eyes are on you,” He threatened and hugged me one more time before he left the room, and I slumped on the ground and burst into tears. When will all these be over?