Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ex-Periment: Fake-Dating My Sister's Ex: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

TiaraThe Shelby-Lemptons scandal.That’s what they’re calling it these days. Everything that happened back at Ocean City, Maryland.I don’t mind because to be honest, they got some really good angles of me and Ryan and most people were all in for the two of us. I even get occasional motivating and condolences message from numbers I don’t recognize every now and then.And thanks to the publicity, the studio is doing really great too.So I guess not everything turned to shit after Ryan and I ended.I plop down on my couch just as my phone pings from under my butt. Scowling, I retrieve the device and peer into the screen. It’s a social media notification, with a tag on my instagram account and when I tap it open, a picture of Ryan and Ciara, strolling on the streets of New York, hand-in-hand pops up. She is in a designer outfit, her hands linked through his as they make their way through the crowd.Even after all my resolutions, the image clutches at my heart as I see the smile on her f

Tiara“You forgot?” Ryan voice is cold, judgmental.I throw my hands in the air, “Well, I’ve not exactly been thinking about that lately.”He is in a formal suit, although it’s hard to associate his boyish looks with the word ‘formal’. He adjusts his tie as he regards me. “Didn’t you get my text?”“I thought you meant to send ‘em to someone else!”He shakes his head, stepping into my apartment. “When has that ever happened?”I try not to think too much about being in the same room with him as I scroll through my phone, unarchiving Melody’s contact. She has sent me a half dozen text telling me to get ready for the show and I’m sure she tried to reach me a thousand times too.Fuck!I shoot her a text; “Almost done, I’ll meet you there.” before throwing the phone back on the couch.Ryan’s gaze is still on me when I look up. “So…”“I’ll go get dressed. I don’t take up a lotta time getting ready.”I’m halfway across the room to my bedroom when I spin around and face him again. “Why did you

Tiara“This is a sunset in Greece,” I narrate to Ryan, pointing at a picture on the wall, “it’s a copy of the one I took with my dad. The original is in my apartment.”“Are you supposed to put out copies?”“No but this is exactly the same thing as the original. Even better because of the upgraded edits. I only kept the original because of the memories it holds.”We are at the space provided to showcase most of my works and I’m itching to ask him if he is the anonymous buyer. It’s cheesy I know, especially if I do ask him and it turns out he is not the one but I’m dying to know and if he is, I’m dying to know his reasons.Surely, he couldn’t hate me much if he paid all that money to purchase my work.Could he?“And that?” he points at a picture or a sleeping squirrel taken at an angle that shows the squirrel in a perfectly detailed angle.“That was just something I took last year when I was bored.”He walks up to another picture and I hold my breath as he scrutinizes it. “I recognize t

Tiara: Are you okay?I look down at the text from Melody sent last night. My eyes are heavy because I’ve not had any sleep and not because I’ve been crying.Or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself since I got home.Ryan was right. He is a jerk. A big time jerk complete with a ‘J’ in bold caps.How could he . . . kiss me like that and tell me right after, to my face, that he would ‘likely’ get married to Ciara. She is his endgame.I should stop torturing myself like this. Ryan isn’t mine, he has never been and never will be. Now, if only my heart can accept that then perhaps I’ll be okay.Blowing an exasperated breath, I decide to reply Melody’s text because I know she can easily decide to show up here at any moment if I leave her on read one second longer.I text: ‘Yeah. Never been better,’ and hit send.She must have seen through my lie like a detective because a second later she starts typing back.: Bringing him was a bad idea. How bad was it?I shoot back:: It wasn’t a

Tiara“The doctors said you’ll be fine.”Grace nods her bandaged forehead, “I know.” Her tired eyes search the room, “Where is Ciara?”I wonder if she’ll still search the room for her if she knew Ciara deemed it right for Donald to hit her, “She went to get some clothes,” I say instead, “she’ll be back in a while.”“But I’m here,” Melody announces, tramping inside the hospital room with three bars of chocolate in her hand, “and I brought snacks.”I roll my eyes at her. “I don’t think she can eat that, Mel.”“Why not?”I give her my best are-you-kidding-me look, struggling to hide my smile. “Because she is recovering.”“Oh she definitely can eat these,” she plops on a seat beside the bed, opposite me on the other side, “it’s nutritional and besides, I saw a super cute doctor downstairs who gave me the go ahead . . . and his number,” she winks.That gets my mother to chuckle, “Well, it’s a good thing I ended up in the hospital then.”“Definitely,” Melody jokes.“Right. I’ll keep that in