All Chapters of One Night Stand With My Hubby's Cousin: Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Evelyn's POVBefore I could even process what he meant, Julian had already picked up his phone and made a call.“I need an emergency intake,” he said the second the line connected. “Right now.”The person on the other end said something I couldn’t hear. Julian paused for exactly one second before replying:“No. Not tomorrow.”His voice stayed calm.“It’s happening now.”Another short silence.Then:“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”The call ended.That was it.No discussion.No negotiation.I stared at him.“…Solved?”“Mm.”The answer came so simply it almost sounded absurd.Like we were discussing dinner plans instead of the impossible problem that had just been crushing me for the last ten minutes.I looked at him in disbelief.“In LA,” I said slowly, “at two in the morning… you found a fully functioning emergency facility willing to take in an unidentified possible laboratory dog with no paperwork and immediate diagnostic access.”I paused.“And you’re telling me that problem is

Evelyn's POVThe words came so naturally that I looked at him instinctively.Immediately.As if my body reacted before my brain could stop it.I searched his eyes almost defensively, trying to figure out what he actually meant, what game he was playing now.Don’t say things like that so casually.Don’t keep shaking me with jokes that sound too close to sincerity.Don’t blur the line between us until I can’t tell where it even is anymore.Because what are we, really?Not lovers.We're allies.At least… that’s what I kept trying to tell myself.Then finally, after letting the silence stretch just long enough to completely destroy my emotional stability, Julian spoke again.“I meant the sponsorship.”His voice softened slightly.“That part was serious.”And just like that, he looked away from me entirely and turned toward the doctors examining the beagle, leaving me standing there alone with the echo of the first sentence still ringing violently in my head.Coward.Half an hour later, th

Evelyn's POV“On the walk home, there were kids playing basketball beside the apartment buildings like there always were. Some older boys were cornering younger students near the alley asking them for money to buy cigarettes. When I came out of the convenience store, there was a homeless man sitting by the door asking if anyone had food.” I smiled faintly to myself. “Nothing special. Nothing dramatic. Just… a completely normal day.”Outside the car, another row of streetlights drifted past.“But I think life is strange like that,” I said quietly. “The moments that end up changing you forever almost never announce themselves beforehand.”I leaned my head a little more heavily against the window.“Usually the world looks painfully ordinary right before it happens.”“Yeah,” he said, his voice lower now, quieter in a way that made it sound as though he’d slipped into his own memories too. “The important things always seem to happen when you’re least expecting anything at all.”“Usually ri

Evelyn's POV“Honestly, my parents probably thought the same thing,” I said with a small laugh. “Because after that, I started promising them everything.”The memory came back so vividly now that I could almost hear my younger self speaking again in that overly serious childhood voice.“I told them I would take responsibility. Real responsibility. I said I’d feed him, clean up after him, take him to the vet, bathe him—basically every problem they could possibly imagine, I admitted to in advance before they could even argue with me.”Julian smiled quietly beside me.“And they agreed?”“They were emotionally blackmailed into agreeing,” I corrected gently.That made him laugh again under his breath.I looked back out the window as the city lights continued slipping past us in long blurred lines.“And after that, Jake just… became part of our family.”My voice softened unconsciously.“Those years were probably the happiest period of my life.”The words settled into the car slowly, carryin

Evelyn's POVI practically fled the car after that.The second the seatbelt released, I lowered my head so quickly it probably looked suspicious and climbed out before Julian could say anything else capable of shortening my lifespan.Unfortunately, escaping the car did absolutely nothing to save me from the embarrassment.Because then we had to take the elevator upstairs together.Three floors.Only three.And somehow those three floors became one of the longest emotional experiences of my life.The elevator hummed softly as it rose while I stood there staring determinedly at the glowing numbers above the door like they personally held responsibility for my suffering.One.Two.Three.Ding—Finally.The doors slid open.I stepped out immediately, already pulling my keys from my bag while walking much faster than necessary toward my apartment door. At this point my only goal was survival. If I could get behind that door, then maybe I could preserve the last fragments of my dignity befo