The Pretender and The Prince novel Chapter 62

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With no one else to turn to, she went looking for Ellis. She scanned the grand ballroom but couldn’t find him anywhere.

In a quiet courtyard behind the hotel’s event hall, Ellis stood under a tree, lighting a cigarette. He checked his phone again, but there was still no reply from Ondine.

Back in the ballroom, as guests had offered their congratulations and wished him and Chantal a long and happy life together, his mind had been filled with only one person: Ondine.

“Ondine, where the hell are you? How can you be so indifferent that you wouldn't even show up now that I'm getting engaged? Do you really not care at all?”

The thought of being tied to Chantal for the rest of his life filled him with an unbearable restlessness. He didn’t want this, but no one had bothered to ask what he wanted. He had always believed his parents loved him, but when their own interests were at stake, he saw with bitter clarity that profit was all that mattered to them.

It felt like Ondine was the only one who had ever loved him unconditionally.

Why had he ever lied to her? He had pushed her away with his own hands.

Ellis exhaled a frustrated ring of smoke. As the white vapor dispersed in the wind, a faint redness crept into the corners of his eyes. “Ondine, I miss you so much.”

“Did you guys hear? When Ellis was at Riverdale, he pretended to be poor to date this girl. They were together for over two years, and he never spent a dime on her. He even had her working part-time jobs to support him. She was in it for love; he was just playing a game.”

“What a scumbag. I heard he convinced her they’d get married right after graduation, so she gave up a guaranteed spot in a master’s program for him.”

“Ugh, that poor girl, running into a jerk like Ellis.”

“I thought my brother was bad, but this Ellis guy is on another level. At least my brother spends money on his girlfriends. Ellis is a cheapskate on top of everything else. It’s pathetic.”

A group of young women had gathered to gossip about Ellis. The lush greenery of the garden shielded him from their view, and they had no idea he was standing right behind them.

“I heard from Melvin that he saw that girl, Ondine, today.”