Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 192

Daphne figured Julie was just talking smack, but she did indeed invite her to stay the night.

Because of Julie’s accident yesterday, Daphne straight up asked her company for annual leave. The

interview she did with Lionel sold out as soon as it hit the internet, which got the editor-in-chief pretty

stoked. So, they gave her the go-ahead for the leave.

Daphne always worked her butt off. Pretty much every year, she didn’t take her leave and just cashed it

in for a bonus. But this time she decided to give herself a break and took a whole week off. So, she

agreed to crash at Julie’s place tonight.

After dinner, Kieran holed up in his study, leaving Julie, Daphne, and Ivan watching TV in the living

room.

Ivan was seriously studying his ABCs. Daphne looked at Ivan and asked Julie, “He’s just a kid, and

he’s already hitting the books this hard?”

Julie shook her head. “We just follow his interests. If he likes it, we support it, and if he doesn’t, we

don’t push it.”

Daphne admired, “You’re a genius mom. You handle everything so well.” Ever since Daphne met Ivan,

he had grown on her.

Julie got up to use the bathroom.

Ivan suddenly put down his iPad and called out to Daphne, “Godmother Daphne!”

Daphne turned to look at Ivan. His voice was so soft and sweet, it melted her heart.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Daphne moved over and hugged Ivan.

“Do you know who Julien is?” Ivan asked suddenly.

Daphne was surprised, wondering why Ivan would bring up Julien.

Ivan thought Daphne was having trouble remembering who Julien was, so he quickly explained, “You

know, the short-haired woman who always wears black. She’s gorgeous and a total badass. Don’t you

know her?”

Daphne replied, “Yeah, I know her. But why are you asking about the queen?”

Upon hearing this, Ivan nodded, “Oh, so she’s the queen. The kind of woman who holds a scepter and

is super powerful?”

Daphne thought for a moment. Her impression of Julien did indeed match that of a strong woman, a

type she admired. There were three kinds of women she admired: powerful women like Julien who

seemed capable of ruling the world, beauties like Adeline who could dazzle you with a mere blink of an

eye, and women like Julie. Julie didn’t have the aura of a powerful woman, nor the extreme beauty of

Adeline, but she had a special charm. She had the ability to make Kieran pamper her unconditionally,

which made her seem like she deserved the best of everything in the world.

Compared to them, she was just plain Jane.

She reached over and stroked Ivan’s adorable face, “Julien is the kind of woman who can be a badass

even without a scepter. Because if she wanted to, she could create a world of her own. But you may

not understand that yet. Just know that Julien is an incredibly attractive and charismatic woman.”

“I don’t want her to be my godmother,” Ivan suddenly said, looking very serious.

Even though Ivan was still a kid, he was so serious when he spoke. It was like looking at a mini Kieran.

Daphne, a little puzzled, glanced at Ivan, “But Julien would be your godmother. She’s your mom’s

friend.”

“Can you tell me how to contact her?” Ivan asked Daphne hopefully.

Daphne shook her head, “Not unless you tell me why you don’t want Julien to be your godmother.”

Ivan seemed to be contemplating whether or not to tell Daphne the reason.

Daphne was clear about Ivan’s reaction. She said firmly, “If you don’t tell me the reason, I definitely

won’t tell you Julien’s contact info. I won’t just spill her beans!”

“Alright then.” It seemed Ivan really wanted Julien’s contact info.

He looked at Daphne earnestly and said, “Because I want to marry her! How can I let her be my

godmother?”

Daphne was still reeling from the shock when she heard Kieran’s voice from behind the couch, “If you

want to marry Julien, you need to get the green light from your godfather.” Julie had just come out of

the bathroom and overheard their serious discussion.

She walked over to Kieran, “Ivan’s godfather is Hayden, right?”

“Who’s Hayden?” Daphne asked.

Julie replied, “Hayden Simson.”

Daphne gave Ivan a serious pat on the shoulder, “Sorry kiddo, but I can’t help you with this one.”

She took Ivan’s phone, typed in Julien’s number and said, “Here’s Julien’s number. As your godmother,

this is as far as I can help.”

After that, Daphne and Shannon headed to the guest room.

“Julien will eventually become your another godmother, now off to bed,” Kieran said. He then asked

Julie as they walked hand in hand towards their room, “Are we sleeping in your room or the master

bedroom?”

“What do you think?”

“Definitely the master bedroom,” he responded.

Julie nodded, “Alright then. You sleep in the master bedroom. It’s settled.”

The crafty woman spun on her heel and went into her room.

Kieran stood at the door with a smile, then turned to open the door to the master bedroom, grabbed his

bathrobe, and headed for the bathroom. He didn’t push to follow Julie into her room.

In fact, Julie’s bedroom door was not even locked. It wasn’t until ten minutes later, when there was no

sound of Kieran opening the door, that Julie turned to go to the bathroom. However, when she came

out, she found that Kieran had already made himself comfortable on her bed.

Julie wasn’t surprised. As she dried her hair, she asked, “What are you doing on my bed?”

“Warming it up for you, and waiting for you to get in,” he replied nonchalantly.

Julie glanced at the room’s air conditioner, “The room’s warm enough as it is. What if I don’t need the

bed warmed?”

“I feel cold,” he confessed.

Julie couldn’t help but laugh, “You should see a doctor for that.”

“What if I feel lonely?”

“Stop talking nonsense,” Julie said, sitting on the edge of the bed drying her hair.

Kieran suddenly sat up, pushing the quilts off him. He pressed the button that connected the two

rooms, and then turned to leave.

“So, Mr. Hernandez, you’re just gonna warm up the bed and bail?” Julie was surprised by Kieran’s

abrupt move. She tossed him a question while drying her hair.

He paused, turned back and said, “Go to sleep, babe.”

Julie stared at his retreating figure, baffled. “Kieran, are you just trying to tease me?”

The phrase “tease” was spot on. Kieran turned back again, “Stop provoking me. You’re still recovering.

I don’t want to overdo it.”

His words were filled with ambiguity.

“Then get out of here!” Julie chucked a towel at him and burrowed under the covers, wrapping herself

up like a cute burrito.

Kieran chuckled and went back to his room. Julie peeped out from under the covers, watching Kieran.

Rather than getting into bed, he was rummaging around in the dark.

Just as she was about to ask what he was doing, he came back with a medical bag.

Under her intense gaze, he sat on her bed, took out two tubes of ointment from the bag, unscrewed the

tops and pulled her fair arm out from the covers.

Julie then realized he was going to apply medicine on her.

“You got all your wounds wet in the shower, and you didn’t even flinch. You’re tough.” He scolded her in

an affectionate tone.

Julie knew this wasn’t a compliment.

She wordlessly held out her arm, watching him as he carefully examined her wound. Suddenly, she felt

that this man truly cared for her.

“Do you remember when I got hit by a basketball in sophomore year?” Julie asked, looking at Kieran.

Kieran nodded. Back then, Julie had volunteered to be the school basketball team’s manager just to

get closer to Kieran.

She said, “I still remember that the guy who hit me was named Peyton Tyler. He was nicknamed

Peanut, remember?”

Kieran nodded, “You were knocked out cold, but you have a good memory.”

Why did she feel like Mr. Hernandez was hinting at something?

“This is a deep-seated memory, okay?” She said seriously.

He teased, “Why is it so memorable? Because of Peyton?”

“Because…” Because that was her first real contact with him.

Julie didn’t say it out loud, but as she thought about it, her cheeks turned red, reminded of her innocent

and sweet high school days.

“Yes, because of Peyton!” Julie gave Kieran a small smile. Peyton was from their high school, but not

from their class. She reminisced, “I heard Peanut got into Harvard. I always thought he’d continue

playing basketball.”

“If he did, god knows how many people he would’ve injured, considering he had a habit of chucking

balls at people’s chests.”