Her Substitute Groom

Next day

Connor Hughes

“Ugh! So annoying,” I groaned angrily after I pulled over at the parking lot of the hospital. Being here didn’t feel good, but what could I do when Mom insisted that I come check on that bastard that was supposed to be my brother? It’s annoying, but since the order came from Mom, I couldn’t have said no, right?

I stopped in front of the ward and I saw him laying on the bed and staring into space. His eye was still plastered, and he could only see with one. Seeing him like that gave me this satisfactory crazy feeling.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and walked inside.

“What are you doing here?” He asked me, not sparing a glance.

“Wow! Your eye is still sharp. Had no idea you knew that I’m the one. I came to say hi,” I replied to him sarcastically, sitting on the chair in the ward.

“How are you feeling now?” I asked him casually, even though I didn’t want to. I was just being nice because of Mom, and nothing else.

“Get out of here, this minute, Connor. I don’t want to see you,” he said between gritted teeth, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not here because I want to, Carl. Mom asked me to come here…”

“You could also tell her that you didn’t want to come, or that I don’t want you around, right?” He finally tilted his head to look at me, his eyes piercing at me with pain and anger written on it, and I bit my bottom lip.

“You know I’m the last person that would want to be here…”

“Just get the fuck out of here, bastard!” He spat on my face, and I close my eyes. Slowly, I clenched my fingers into a tight ball, I could feel my blood boiling in rage, my throat burning in anger, but I tried to hold it in. I might end up taking his remaining eye if I don’t control it.

“Ugh! You are so stubborn and annoying, Carl. Can’t you be a good boy?” I clicked my tongue and rolled my eyes. Good thing I had a handkerchief with me, so I wiped the spit from my face and sighed. It was pretty disgusting to have him do that to me, but fighting him here was the last thing on my mind right now. I didn’t want to hurt him again because of our parents.

“Haven’t you done enough? You took away the woman I love, and as if that was not enough, you took away my eye. What do you want now?” He yelled at me, tears trickled down his eye down his cheek, and I rolled my eyes.

“Your life…” I leaned forward and smirked at him, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Huh?” He blinked his eyes rapidly, and pulled back.

“Yeah… That’s what I would say and would take away from you if I could. You should be grateful that you’re still alive. That’s not because I can’t kill you, anyway. I’m only keeping you alive because of Mom and Dad,” I shrugged and reclined on the chair.

“Connor…”

“You can’t imagine how much I hate you… You are the bane of my existence, Carl. The more I see you, the more I want to kill you,” I couldn’t be any happier that I could finally air out my mind to him.

“I am your brother, Connor… I have been begging you for years to forgive me. Why can’t you forgive me for the mistake?” He yelled at me, obviously frustrated.

“Why should I forgive you because you are asking me to? And what if you have been begging for years? I also want to forgive you, Carl… I desperately want to forget everything that happened in the past, but seeing you every fucking day keeps reminding me of that horrible moment, and I can’t help but want to kill you!” I yelled at him this time, and he huffed, throwing his head back on the bed as more tears streamed down his cheek.

“You have every chance to kill me… Why didn’t you?” He scoffed, staring up at the ceiling.

Why didn’t I? You know the answer to that, Carl…”

“You would say because of Mom, but deep inside you, that’s not the reason, and we both know it. We both know that you are a coward that can’t even take your revenge because you are scared of your conscience judging you for the rest of your life,” He uttered, then giggled as more tears streamed down his cheek, and I slowly gritted my teeth angrily.

“You are only lying to yourself that it’s because of Mom, but you know it’s not. You can’t kill me, Connor. You can’t ever do it,” His eyes preyed on me this time, the corner of his lips twitched up into a smirk. I wanted to punch his remaining eye and render him blind for the rest of his life, but I wouldn’t dare do that now.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“You are right, Carl. I’m scared you would die an easy death… I want you to suffer so much that you’d beg me, not for mercy, but for your death. Why should I kill you, when I can make you feel dead while still breathing?” I grinned from ear to ear, staring into his eyes and picking my words one after the other, and the look on his face showed that he panicked for a moment even though it didn’t last for two seconds.

“Yeah… That’s the kind of expression I want,” I straightened my back then stood up and sighed briefly. I tucked my hands in my pockets and towered over him.

“You made me a villain, and I will show you how dangerous a desperate villain like myself can do. Well, that is until you come out of here. I’m rooting for you, and looking forward to having you out there. Wishing you a quick recovery, my sweet brother,” I winked at him, then straightened my back and adjusted my suit, stepping out of the ward after…