Ch 166 - A Loving Deception

"Well, a friend of mine wants to come over later. He likes me a lot, but he doesn't dare tell me. I just want to have someone pretend to be a robber and beat me up, so my friend can play the part of a knight in shining armor. That may make him confess his love for me," Rose said to Kelly.

Both Kelly and Sharon, who was sitting by the lake, were shocked.

"Don't be so surprised. I can't help it. This person likes me very much, but I'm too thin-skinned. I'm a girl. I can't tell him how I feel about him. Even if I wanted to confess, it would have to be in the right environment. So, I asked someone to help me by playing a part."

In reality, Rose didn't feel shy at all. Alex was a super-rich guy, apparently with dozens of identities, and she was more than willing to go after someone like that, even if she embarrassed herself in the process.

"Don't you think that's deceiving him?" Kelly asked in a soft voice.

"No, I don't think so. I know that he really likes me, and I like him too. In the end, we will be together. But the process is too long. I'm going to use this method as a catalyst, just to speed things up. How could you say that's cheating him?" Rose said after thinking about it.

She turned to Kelly, admiring her beauty. She could tell that she was a rich girl. "Don't you have someone you like?" she asked her casually.

Rose's question stunned Kelly and confused her for a moment. Naturally, there was someone she liked, but he was from a much better background and was a hundred times wealthier than she was. Also, he had been trying to push her aside.

"Of course, she likes someone, and the person she likes is a rich man. Even the boss of the Ferrari company is respectful toward him when he sees him, but this person does not..." Seeing that Kelly hadn't said anything, Sharon had started speaking for her. But she couldn't bear to go on. All she said in the end, was, "Kelly's here today to see the person she likes."

"Oh, dear." Looking at Kelly and Sharon's troubled expressions, Rose had already guessed that something must have gone wrong between Kelly and her love interest. She grabbed her hand in sympathy. "Your eyes are red. You must have cried for that person so many times. If you don't help me now, I'm afraid I'll just have grief and sorrow like yours to look forward to. Are you sure you don't want to help me pull this off?"

"OK, but let's not talk about it." Rose's words had tugged Kelly's heartstrings. She knew that the kind of lovesickness she was suffering was too painful. She didn't want any other girl in the world to go through something like that.

"Great, thank you, Kelly. If we become friends later, I'll give you an expensive car!" Rose said with a smile. Kelly smiled back indifferently. She didn't care about any car. The only gift she was interested in was for the man she liked to give her a ray of hope.

"Your boyfriend must be from a good family. What's his name?" she asked Rose.

"He really is wealthy and from a top family. I don't mind telling you his name—it's Alex," Rose said with a smile.

Alex! Both Kelly and Sharon were shocked.

"You say Alex likes—" Sharon started to ask Rose if what she had said was true, but Kelly held her back.

"What, what were you going to say? You don't know Alex, do you?" Rose asked her.

"No. We don't know him." Kelly's heart suddenly felt heavy. She thought that if she admitted that she did, she wouldn't be able to meet Alex that day. "Well, the person I want to see is coming soon. You can go and prepare for your own meeting," she said.

"OK, I won't disturb you. I wish you luck with your man," Rose said with a smile and left.

"Kelly, that girl said that Alex likes her..." Sharon muttered, looking at Kelly anxiously.

"Isn't it normal that a lot of people would like him since he's such a good man?" Kelly bit her lips, and her eyes started overflowing again.

Sharon sighed and didn't know what to say. No matter how it turned out, after meeting Alex today, Kelly would have to give up on him.

"Look, he's here." At that moment, Sharon saw Alex coming from a distance.

He was walking toward Kelly along the edge of the lake. His mood was complex and heavy.

"Kelly," he called out to her.

Kelly slowly turned around and saw Alex's face. She truly was infatuated. She looked at him in silence. Her eyes reflected resentment, reluctance, and helplessness, but mostly deep love.

At that moment, the tall man in the bushes saw Alex and muttered in a low voice, "The boy that the beauty loves is a loser."

"You're not a loser. What's your qualification to look down on a loser?" Rose, annoyed at the tall man, glanced at the lake. When she saw Alex, she did a double-take.

How can it be him? How can it be him? Rose wondered. It seemed that Alex had lied to her when he had said that he didn't want to meet her at nine in the morning because it was too early, and he might not get up in time. But it turned out that he was seeing Kelly at nine o'clock! Rose's heart was in shreds.

Is Alex in love with that girl or with me? No, it must be me. He's been so good to me, she thought. She didn't dare to think about what sort of relationship he had with Kelly. Her heart was in turmoil.

"You're here..." Kelly held back her tears and made herself laugh, but there was still a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'm here. Are you ok?" Alex thought Kelly looked haggard, and his heart softened.

"Good..." Kelly laughed and sobbed at the same time. "Thank you for coming to see me. We can stay here by the lake for a while, and then I'll invite you out to dinner later."

Kelly wanted to control her voice, but since seeing Alex, she had begun to choke and tremble. Looking at her like this, Alex was really distressed and worried. He clenched his hands behind his back.

"No, I'm catching a train at eleven o'clock. After meeting you, I'm leaving New York," Alex said.

Kelly's smile stiffened, and she asked, "Is it to go to her?"

"Yes." This one word made Kelly feel like she was falling into a void. Sharon held her and murmured, "Kelly..."

Rose, who had overheard their dialogue, asked herself, This man— who is this man? Who is he going to look for? He doesn't seem like himself. No, he likes me! He's not looking for anyone, that's just an excuse he's using to turn Kelly down.

"Alex, I want to ask you—haven't you got space in your heart for other people?" Kelly already knew the answer, but she didn't want to die.

"Kelly, eight out of ten things in this world bring unhappiness. You'd better think about that," Alex said with a deep sigh.

"Ah..." Kelly closed her eyes, and two tears slipped out. She repeated Alex's words in a whisper. "Eight out of ten things are unsatisfactory. Eight out of ten things bring unhappiness..."

She opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of Rose standing under the trees. She realized that the girl had also misunderstood Alex, and an idea suddenly appeared in her mind.

"If there's a girl deeply in love with you who, in order to make you fall in love with her, deliberately asks someone to act out a violent scene to let you be the hero who rescues her, and later she confesses her actions to you, would you accept her?" Kelly asked. She was asking for Rose and herself.

"No, I wouldn't," Alex replied, shaking his head.

"Ah..." Kelly looked at Rose quietly, hoping that she had overheard Alex's words, so as not to waste her time and increase his sorrow.

Rose shook her head. She still thought that she was the person that he liked.

"If you'd met me first, instead of Debbie, would you like me?" Kelly asked him, remembering again what he had said about unhappiness arising in eight cases out of ten.

"I don't know." Alex was stunned, as he had never thought about it.

"If there was no Debbie in the world, would you like me?"

"I don't know. There is no if in the world." Alex was very confused.

"Ah..." Kelly's tears changed into a smile, and she went over to him. "I've seen the answer in your eyes. If there were no Debbie, you would like me. If you'd met me first, you wouldn't have fallen in love with Debbie. I just lost you to bad timing."

Alex was stunned and didn't reply

"Thank you," Kelly tearfully said with a smile. "You've let me know that I'm in your heart. I'm your second favorite woman, which makes me very satisfied."

Debbie? How can it be? Alex likes me! Among the trees, Rose's skull was about to explode. She didn't want to believe the conversation that was taking place between Kelly and Alex, but she felt a growing uneasiness.

By then, she couldn't stop herself any longer. She wanted to ask Alex a question.

"Alex —" Rose cried out and emerged from under the trees.

"But wait, you—" The tall man who was hiding nearby was wondering why she had gone out without telling him. He quickly put the silk stocking over his head and prepared to carry out the task that Rose had told him.

"Rose..." Seeing Rose appear, Alex was surprised.

"Alex, is the person you like—" Rose wanted to ask Alex whether the woman he loved was her or Debbie, but before she could finish her sentence, a hand shot out from behind her and covered her mouth.

"Ah, what a beautiful girl. Come to a hotel with me to have a good time," said the tall man, following Rose's previous instructions. He tightened his hands around her neck.

"Let go of her!" Alex was shocked, and he was about to run to the rescue. But suddenly, what Kelly had said a short while ago flashed through his mind — "If there's a girl deeply in love with you who deliberately asks someone to act out a violent scene..."

Alex glanced at Kelly and knew that the woman she had referred to was Rose. He couldn't help but look at Rose with hatred, and then he said to Kelly, "Everything between us should be settled by now. I'm leaving." With that, he nodded at Kelly and walked away.