Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Maybe it was because of what Quinlyn said downstairs that shocked everyone. After she went back to her room, no one came to bother her.
Still, she figured it wasn’t that they didn’t want to-they were probably just busy.
Zachary was the Guzman family’s ideal son-in-law. He came from a powerful family and was more capable than most of the rich kids. Now that he had been upset by Quinlyn, of course the Guzman family had to stay downstairs to comfort him.
Quinlyn guessed the time. About an hour later, she had already washed her hair and taken a shower. Then, she heard a knock on the door.
She opened it, fully expecting to get into a huge fight with Yalena. But to her surprise, it was Chancey-the one who’d been up all night with a stomachache-standing at the door.
Chancey wore a black suit, looking sharp and serious. His face was stern, clearly showing his disapproval of how Quinlyn had acted.
“Quinlyn, I don’t want what happened tonight to happen again,” he said in a heavy tone, acting like a stern older brother.
Quinlyn lowered her head a little. Her long lashes trembled gently, like she’d been wronged.
For a moment, Chancey wasn’t sure what was going on with her.
Then Quinlyn lifted her head and nodded. “You’re right. Zachary went too far. Chancey, you have to stand up for me.”
Chancey was speechless. He’d actually meant Quinlyn had gone too far.
But Quinlyn kept talking anyway. “I’ve never even met him before. I don’t know what kind of relationship he has with Yalena. But no matter what it is, I don’t think he should’ve come to me.
“Chancey, you have no idea how hard I had to hold back from punching his head off.”
Hearing that, Chancey hesitated a little, and Quinlyn quickly asked, “Don’t you think so, Chancey?”
Her eyes were clear as glass, like she could see through everything-bringing to light all the things people had tried to ignore.
Chancey started to feel like Quinlyn had a point. After all, she had just come home, and now her so-called fiancé had shown up asking her to personally call off the engagement. All because he loved the girl who’d been swapped at birth.
Anyone would be upset if they were Quinlyn.
Quinlyn gave a faint smile, like she’d just figured something out. “So you don’t think it was wrong of him to come find me, huh?”
Her voice turned cold as she went on, “In your eyes, I’m probably the one who’s in the wrong, right?”
As she spoke, she slowly leaned against the doorframe. The light inside the room lit up half her face, leaving the other half in shadow-even the last bit of softness in her seemed to vanish.
When she looked at Chancey again, her gaze was no longer clear or gentle.
With a loud bang, Quinlyn shut the door right in his face.
Chancey had always been respected in the house. Yancy and Yalena would both get nervous when talking to him. He never thought he’d be treated like this.
1/3
Chapter 10
He rubbed his nose, feeling something strange inside. Part of him thought Quinlyn was just being difficult, but another part quietly admitted—maybe she had a point. Maybe he and the rest of the family really had done something wrong.
He went back downstairs. The rest of the Guzman family was sitting around the couch.
As soon as she saw him, Evelyn asked, “Well? How did it go?”
Logan was famously stubborn. If Quinlyn didn’t explain the breakup clearly herself, the whole family might be facing an even bigger mess.
They didn’t even want to imagine what people would say once the news got out.
Chancey said, “It’s no big deal. We’ll take it slow. From what I saw, she’s not interested in Zachary. She just needs time to think it through.”
In fact, Quinlyn wasn’t just not interested in Zachary-she almost wanted to destroy him.
Yalena sat on the couch, hugging a beige pillow.
“If Quinlyn doesn’t like Zachary, why doesn’t she just say it out loud?” she said. “We’re both turning eighteen in a few days. Once I’m an adult, Zachary’s family can start planning the engagement party.”
She lowered her head and muttered, “Maybe it’s not that Quinlyn doesn’t like Zachary. Maybe she just doesn’t like me. Maybe she thinks I stole everything that was supposed to be hers.”
Right after saying that, she suddenly stood up. “I’m going to call Zachary.”
“Yalena, what are you doing?” the others shouted in surprise.
Yalena shook her head. “I can’t let this mess ruin our family-or ruin the relationship between me and Quinlyn. She just came back, and right now, she’s pushing all of us away.
“I—I’ll talk to Zachary. I’ll tell him to treat Quinlyn better. Everything between us was just silly teasing between kids. It’s fine if he doesn’t marry me.”
With that, she ran straight to her room, ignoring her family calling after her.
She was fast. As soon as she got in, she locked the door behind her. The banging on the door was loud. Even Quinlyn could hear every sound clearly.
In Quinlyn’s previous life, this same thing had happened-right after she met Zachary but before the engagement was officially broken off.
She touched her chin, honestly impressed by Yalena. She even felt like giving her a thumbs-up.
As a character in a novel, Yalena was seriously dedicated to her role. Even though Quinlyn had already changed the plot, she still managed to squeeze in and push the story back on track.
When she called Zachary, her voice was full of sincerity and just the right amount of sadness. She sounded so heartbroken and selfless, like she was truly giving up her happiness for the sake of Quinlyn and Zachary’s engagement.
The tears in her voice, the pain and longing in her tone-all of it, paired with the background sounds of loud knocking and her family yelling her name, sent Zachary’s white knight complex into overdrive.
At that moment, Zachary couldn’t have hated Quinlyn more. After what she said tonight, he was nearly ready to kill her.
Yalena said through tears, “Zachary, let’s not talk again. I hope you and Quinlyn have a good life together.”
Then she hung up.
2/3
Chapter 10
When Zachary tried to call back, all he got was a message: This number has been turned off.
The next second, he nearly smashed his phone. But after taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down and dialed Quinlyn’s number-the one he’d just saved earlier that day.
He had planned to never call her in this lifetime. But here he was, giving in to reality faster than he thought.
Quinlyn was lying on her bed, listening to the chaos outside her room, when her phone buzzed.
The screen showed an unknown number. She hesitated for a second, then picked up.
“Quinlyn!” Zachary shouted, like yelling her name could let out all the anger he’d been holding in.
Quinlyn scratched her ear, bored, then suddenly giggled.
Zachary had just gotten ready to throw every mean word he could think of at her-when all of a sudden, he heard her say, with a chuckle, “Idiot. Why are you even calling me?”
Now Zachary really wanted to kill her.
