\u201cSo, what\u2019s going on between you and my father?\u201d Irene asked, making my entire body freeze.<\/p>\n
It was the next day; the day after I won the competition. We were gathered in my suite, getting dressed for the celebration. I was a bit nervous about it as is because I really wasn\u2019t a fan of that much attention. There were going to be paparazzi there, and a lot of people were asking questions. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m ready to answer any of these questions or what I\u2019m going to say to anyone.<\/p>\n
I wondered if the competitors were going to say nice things about me, or if they were going to snub me.<\/p>\n
I shook the thought out of my head and then turned to Irene, her question registering in my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I asked her with a frown. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing going on between your father and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, please,\u201d Irene said, rolling her eyes. \u201cI saw the way you two were acting around each other earlier. There\u2019s a lot of hostility. Seriously, is everything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is fine,\u201d I said, trying to sound casual, though I knew I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure about that?\u201d Irene asked, raising her brows. \u201cIt seemed pretty hostile between you two.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned and shook my head, just as Nan walked out of the bathroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m positive,\u201d I tell her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre we almost ready to go?\u201d Nan asked, staring between the two of us. \u201cThe celebration is going to be starting soon, and Judy is featured in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I blushed at her words. I turned to look in the mirror one last time, straightening out the skirt of my dress with the palms of my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, yes, I\u2019m ready,\u201d I breathed, turning to face them.<\/p>\n
\u201cChester said he\u2019ll come later with Matt,\u201d Nan said, draping her arm through mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you and Chester doing?\u201d I asked as we headed out of the room. \u201cYou seem to be getting along better.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still complicated, but I agreed to go out with him once we get back to our territory. Baby steps,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known Chester for quite a while; he\u2019s worked for the family in the North mansion for a long time. He\u2019s a good guy, despite being a player. I think he had a rough breakup once and that was why he stopped allowing himself to feel,\u201d Irene said with a frown, getting both our attention.<\/p>\n
This was new information that I didn\u2019t know, and telling from the look on Nan\u2019s face, she didn\u2019t know either.<\/p>\n
\u201cA breakup?\u201d I was the one who asked when it was clear Nan wasn\u2019t going to. Irene nodded, a sad smile on her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I forget what her name was. Irrelevant to me at the time but Chester was head over heels in love with her,\u201d she said, shaking her head at the memory. \u201cShe broke his heart and shattered the little trust he had in women. Since then, he started sleeping around and didn\u2019t allow himself to commit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed the lump in my throat when I thought of Chester feeling so broken that he swore himself off normal relationships. I wondered why he didn\u2019t tell me; we had been friends when I moved into the mansion; friends since before he found out my best friend was his fated mate.<\/p>\n
So, why would he keep such information from me?<\/p>\n
The rest of the way to the ceremony was spent in silence as we processed this new information. Nan was completely lost in thought, and I could see the worry lines forming on her face.<\/p>\n
The moment we stepped into the ceremony, I was bombarded by more paparazzi. They were never going to leave me alone; at least not until I answered some of their questions, relieving their piqued curiosity.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, Alpha Levi and Alpha<\/p>\n
Jeremy were there to get me<\/p>\n
through the crowd, telling them I will answer all their questions later. They brought me over to where the other competitors were. Everyone dressed elegantly with champagne flutes and Most<\/p>\n
talking amongst themselvenoveldrama<\/p>\n
looked completely healed, some of them were from the very first round and got eliminated early on, like Chrissy, Alpha Levi\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
Before the first round of the<\/p>\n
competition started, I met Chrissy and her friends in the bathroom. They tried to intimidate me, but it<\/p>\n
didn\u2019t work. She was with the set<\/p>\n
friends I saw her with that day. They were talking and laughing amongst themselves, it was clear that Chrissy was the center of their attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudy!\u201d I heard a familiar voice, and my heart melted when I saw Tabby rushing<\/p>\n
towards me.<\/p>\n
She looked beautiful in her maroon<\/p>\n
dress that hugged her curves perfectly and her pixie styled hair. She had a bright smile on her face and looked way better than the last time Saw her on the arena ground. She was badly injured and taken away by medics; I had been worried about her, though I heard she was okay.<\/p>\n
\u201cTabby,\u201d I said, walking towards her, hugging her once she reached me. \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe you won!\u201d She shrieked. \u201cI am so happy for you! Of course, I\u2019m bummed I lost how and when I did, but I\u2019m so grateful to be given the chance and to fight along your side. You deserved this win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sara is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
We Built a Kingdom From Ashes That Still Remembered Love by Aila Frost 390 \u201cSo, what\u2019s going on between you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shadow-slave-by-author-novelnozi-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}