18 Vol 1 : Someone From the Past ⭐

James.

It has been a while since Faye has seen James since the opening of his old restaurant where the man ruined her happiness by asking to break up over the phone for no apparent reason.

James is a hobby of traveling, a lover of freedom, very different from Faye. They first met by accident when Faye was on a work visit with Aiden, her father. She met James while walking by the beach refreshing herself after a meeting.

They quickly bonded and dated within a week, but things didn't go well when Faye had to return, forcing them into a long-distance relationship for up to a year and breaking up after that long.

Remembering it still makes Faye's heartache.

"James?" Denis repeated Faye's words, breaking the silence.

Faye sighed, "He's my old friend," she said, glancing at James, who looked thoughtful with furrowed brows. She worried whether James heard their joke about contract marriage. She really hopes not.

Denis looked James from top to bottom before holding out his hand, "Nice to meet you."

James just glanced at Denis's hand without wanting to shake him, "James Keith. So it's true you are married, Fay?"

Faye glanced at Denis, who seemed annoyed at James's disrespect in public. She had to quickly end the conversation before Denis did something nonsense, "Yes, my husband Denis. He's a wonderful husband, understand me too~" she said in a cute tone, holding on to Denis who made those brown eyes stare at her. She smiled as sweetly as possible, hoping that Denis's emotions would go down by her seduction.

"I can see you guys are still newly married," said James, "congrats Fay."

Faye can hear a tone of dislike when James congratulates her, but unfortunately, she doesn't really care because there are ex-boyfriends like that. It was more important to see Claudia now, she was afraid that her mother would get angry if they were late.

Claudia has a strong grip, time is money.

Denis calmly said, "I hate to interrupt this little reunion, but we want to see Fay's Mama—"

James laughs suddenly making Faye and Denis raise their eyebrows together, "Are you still formal with Mama Fay? I, who was just a boyfriend, she was asked to call her Claudia."

Faye could feel Denis's arm muscles tighten behind his shirt holding back his anger from hitting James.

James is always like this, likes to look down on other people, especially men who have a close relationship with her, at least that's how James was when he was Faye's boyfriend. Sounds annoying, but James is a good man.

Wait! Why is Faye defending James?

Faye quickly defended herself, "That's because I kept Denis a secret from my parents," she said, tightening her hand on Denis's arm to stare at her, "they'd love Denis after we had dinner with my family. Denis was kind and most importantly loyal to me," He added, underestimating James who had asked to break up over the phone.

James chuckled, "We'll see, Fay. Then excuse me, I have things to take care of," he said, then walked away without waiting for an answer from Faye.

We'll see? What did James mean? James wasn't planning anything, was he? No way, is Faye still James's girlfriend? It's not.

"Your ex sucks," Denis immediately complained after James was out of sight in the crowd across the street, "he clearly hates me. He has a problem with me or something?"

"He's always like that, you know he's a bad boy," said Faye without hiding her dislike for James.

"I swear that if he tries to separate us, I will no longer speak formally to him," said Denis sharply.

"Why do you think that?" asked Faye in surprise.

Denis rested on his chin thinking, "I'm a man so I know better how he looks at you especially he doesn't respect me at all as if raising the flag of war at me, Fay."

"You watch too much drama, Denis," Faye scoffed. Her relationship with James did not end well, but it was from James who wanted to separate, if anyone wanted to do war, it was from her, not James.

Denis disagrees with Faye's remarks, but he prefers to change the subject by teasing again, "Oh yes, thank you for standing up and praising me, honey~"

Faye smiled a little, "I'm just doing what I have to do."

"Should I give you a small gift for defending our relationship?" Denis wondered with a serious face as if it was a precious thing.

Faye immediately refused, "No. Compliments enough for me, Denis." Whatever gift it was, she was sure it had to do with erotic things, which Denis had always been looking for opportunities to touch her.

As if knowing what Faye was thinking, Denis said teasingly, "I want to give you my food, honey~"

"Yes, you're absolutely right," Faye said softly. She believed Denis made the food, but after eating it made her disbelieve.

Denis laughed loudly and continued his way again to the cafe.