Uncle Couldn't Stop Loving Me After I Married Someone Else Chapter 2

When I returned from Cletown unannounced, the entire room froze in shock.

Roger and my half-sister, Lisa, were in the middle of discussing their engagement.

Leona Quinn's face twisted in discomfort, though she forced a smile. "How long are you planning to stay?"

I set my suitcase down and answered directly, "I'm not going back to Cletown. I'm planning to find a job here."

The room erupted into murmurs, the air suddenly heavy with tension.

The looks my relatives gave me changed instantly, filled with disdain and derision.

Someone sneered, "After what you did back then, you've still got the nerve to show your face here?"

Another muttered, "Ungrateful brat. The Quinn family took you in, and this is how you repay them? Trying to climb up to Roger?"

Silence settled over the room like a thick fog.

They weren't wrong. I had come back to ruin the engagement.

Summoning all my courage, I stepped toward Roger, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Roger," I said, my voice trembling, "I like you."

Roger's expression remained calm as if I were nothing more than a naive child.

Lisa rose from her seat, her eyes welling with tears.

"If Mirea likes Roger too," she said softly, "then maybe we shouldn't get engaged."

Roger finally spoke, his voice cold and measured, "Mirea, stop this nonsense. I don't feel anything for you."

He didn't feel anything for me?

I stared at him, my composure cracking. "Then why were you so furious when I dated someone before?"

"You were too young. As your guardian, it was my responsibility to keep you from making mistakes."

"And the kiss? When I turned eighteen, you came into my room in the middle of the night and kissed me. Was that nothing? Don't tell me it was a mistake."

Roger's face didn't waver. "I was drunk. It was just a kiss; it didn't mean anything."

I let out a bitter laugh. "And what about the family heirloom bracelet? You gave it to me. Was that 'just nothing' too?"

"That was to make you happy," he replied, his tone flat, devoid of emotion.

It felt like a wall inside me collapsed. This gamble, this desperate, reckless bet, was a resounding loss.

Then Roger added, "If the bracelet caused a misunderstanding, you should return it. I'll need it back now that I'm getting married."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. "Fine," I whispered.

Lisa pouted, tugging on his sleeve. "It's just a bracelet, Roger. If Mirea likes it so much, let her have it."

The man who had doted on me pulled her close, his voice soft. "No, what's yours is yours."

Lisa leaned into him, her face glowing with triumph. "It's just a formality. As long as I have your heart, nothing else matters."

The way he gazed at her, tender and adoring, was exactly how he used to look at me.

I stood there in a daze as the room erupted into cruel laughter.

"She has no shame, asking something like that."

"They never should've let Roger take her in. Look at the mess now."

"Exactly. No wonder her parents didn't want her. She deserves it."

Even though I had prepared for the worst, the words still stung.

Leona couldn't take it anymore and dragged me aside, her voice a sharp whisper.

"What were you thinking? If you had to come back, fine, but why make things so awkward for everyone?

"Roger practically raised you. Sure, he's not your biological uncle, but he treated you like you were the center of his world.

"And Lisa is your sister. How could you be so jealous of her happiness that you'd try to tear them apart?"

She was right. Roger wasn't my real uncle.

He had taken me in as a child, and I had loved him in secret for seven years.

But was it my fault? He was the one who gave me hope, time and time again.