Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 206

Everyone in the office was gobsmacked.

Julie was surprised herself. Weren’t her and Kieran’s relationship supposed to be a secret? When did it

become so public?

Just as Julie was puzzled, Annalise took her by the hand and said, “Come, let’s go to the restroom

together.”

Julie was practically dragged away by Annalise.

While dragging Julie, she complained, “Kieran is so inconsiderate. I just got off the plane…”

Annalise took Julie to the balcony, and then said to her, “I was actually coming to confront you, you

know?”

She knew Annalise was referring to the matter about Hayden. She had promised Annalise that if she

saw Hayden, she would definitely tell her.

The last time Julie saw Hayden was on the day she was kidnapped by Davina, but she didn’t think to

notify Annalise.

Fortunately, Annalise, although looking serious, ended up patting her shoulder, laughing, saying, “It’s

fine. I was just poking fun. I came mainly today to clear up some rumors.”

“What rumors?”

“The love triangle between you, Kieran, and me. Didn’t you know?” Annalise asked in surprise.

Julie shook her head in confusion, “What love triangle?”

“The news reported it, saying you’re the third party interfering in me and Kieran’s relationship, and that

Kieran and I have been a couple since school. They even said you shamelessly ruined our

relationship.”

As she took out her phone and said, “Someone even leaked a photo of Kieran biking me home. You

were standing right in front of us. I found out that the photo was uploaded by that bitch Davina.”

While Annalise was speaking, she turned on her phone’s front camera, aiming it at her and Julie faces,

saying, “Smile.”

Julie obediently smiled. It wasn’t until Annalise took the photo that Julie realized how silly she had

been.

“Why did you take a picture?” Julie was confused.

Annalise posted their selfie, and the previous photo of her sitting on the back of Kieran’s bike, on

Twitter.

Julie took out her phone, and saw the two photos and the text that Annalise had just posted.

“Left: Ms. Annalise and her niece-in-law. Right: Ms. Annalise and her nephew.”

This was her way of clearing up the rumors?

Annalise said, “You retweet it.”

“Oh.” Julie was just about to retweet it when she saw Kieran had already retweeted Annalise’s tweet,

and said, “You didn’t even give us a wedding gift, how dare you call her your niece-in-law?”

Julie simply retweeted Kieran’s tweet without adding any text.

Annalise gave Julie’s shoulder a light tap, saying, “To help you clear up this rumor, now everyone

knows I’m part of the Hansen family. I reached my success today through my own abilities, but now

people might think I got famous because of my family background. I’ve done you a solid, right?”

Julie could only awkwardly smile and nod.

“So, considering all I’ve done for you, remember: if you see Hayden again, you must tell me his

whereabouts, okay?” When Annalise mentioned Hayden’s name, her eyes sparkled with unyielding

determination and strong anticipation.

Julie suddenly remembered what Kieran had said to Payne. Everything suddenly clicked.

She nodded at Annalise, laughing, “In two days, it’s Ivan’s birthday, and we’re throwing a party. Hayden

is his godfather, so he should be coming. I’ll let you know then, okay?”

Upon hearing this, Annalise’s face lit up, “That’s a deal! Don’t trick me!”

Julie nodded, “I definitely won’t trick you, but…”

Sensing Julie’s hesitation, Annalise asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Hayden is Ivan’s godfather, and you’re Ivan’s aunt. If you and Hayden… won’t that mess up the family

relations?”

“No problem! Why not let him upgrade from dad to grandpa?”

Julie said quietly, “That depends if he wants to upgrade…”

“What are you saying?” Annalise suddenly leaned in close to Julie.

Julie quickly shook her head and replied, “Upgrading sounds great!”

Satisfied, Annalise bent down and gave Julie a big hug, “Go back to work! Be sure to tell me the

location of your birthday party!”

After sending Annalise away, Julie finally relaxed. Thanks to Annalise’s fuss, Julie didn’t think about

Kyle again until she got off work.

After work, as agreed, Julie waited for Kieran at the company’s entrance.

She got in the car, buckled up, and then said to the man in the driver’s seat, “I invited your aunt to

Ivan’s birthday party.”

“We’re married now. She’s your aunt too,” he kindly reminded her.

Julie felt that Annalise was too young. She couldn’t think of her as someone from the older generation.

Kieran seemed to see what Julie was thinking, so he changed the subject, “Annalise wants to use this

opportunity to see Hayden, right?”

“Probably…”

“You set a trap for Hayden, didn’t you?” He asked, with a smirk.

Julie glanced at him, “Isn’t that what you taught me?”

Kieran didn’t deny that he did intentionally mislead Payne.

The car was silent for a while. Julie carefully said to Kieran, “I… have a question to ask you…”

“I won’t touch you tonight. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Who told you that?” She looked at Kieran anxiously. “I wanted to ask you, is Hayden falling for Julien?”

Kieran raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “What makes you think so?”

“Sixth sense, do you believe in it?”

“You’re saying your sixth sense tells you that he’s in love with Julien? Then why couldn’t it tell you that I

was in love with you all those years ago?” he quipped with a grin.

Julie replied matter-of-factly, “You hid your feelings too well. I only have a sixth sense, I’m not a God!”

Getting the answer she wanted, Julie quickly changed the topic. “The upcoming birthday party will

surely be a blast. Who should we invite? Are you inviting your business partners?”

“We can throw the party at home or at a hotel. Ivan is still young, so it’s not appropriate to invite

business partners. Jot down a guest list. When we get home, we can have Noah send out the

invitations.”

Julie took out a pen and notebook.

Kieran began to list names. “Hayden and Julien, Payne and Annalise, and QuadDylan. We should also

send an invite to Mr. Watson and Harding, although I’m not sure if they’re available. Oh, and you’ll be

inviting Ms. Daphne, right?”

Julie nodded. “Of course, Daphne must come. But I was thinking…

“Invite Adeline Sanches and Elliot Sanches too!” Kieran, as if reading her mind, voiced out her

thoughts.-

Julie immediately agreed with a laugh. “Alright.”

*

3

Ignoring the fact that Adeline had once kidnapped her, Julie genuinely liked Adeline. She probably liked

Adeline’s personality. She saw a reflection of her younger self in Adeline.

Even though Adeline had kidnapped her, Julie still believed that Adeline meant no harm, and would

never hurt her like Davina did.

The reason she wanted to invite Adeline was because she had been too busy dealing with chaos since

the incident, and hadn’t had the chance to catch up with

Adeline.

After arriving home, Julie prepared the guest list and gave it to Noah.

Ivan, who had just finished his homework, raced downstairs and jumped into Julie’s arms.

“Mom, did Kerry bully you?” he asked, looking up at Julie.

Caught off guard, Julie smiled. “Why would you ask that?”

“Do you want me to bully you?” Kieran scooped Ivan up, tossed him onto the couch, and asked, “Done

with your homework?”

“Yes!” Ivan replied proudly.

Kieran extended his hand. “Hand it over, let me check.”

“No!” Ivan shook his head firmly.

Just then, a small figure dashed down the stairs, clutching two notebooks. “Sillyvan, you made

mistakes again! The teacher said if you mess up again, she’s gonna have a talk with your parents!”

MoMo, holding Ivan’s notebooks, rushed down the stairs.

Julie had met MoMo. She knew she was an exceptionally bright and quick-witted kid.

As soon as Ivan heard MoMo’s voice, he became uneasy. “What nonsense are you talking about! I’ll

ace it next time!”

“Don’t bluff! You only scored ten points in the last test!” MoMo threw the notebooks in front of Ivan.

Julie was taken aback. “Only ten points?”

Ivan glared at MoMo. Noticing Julie standing nearby, MoMo quickly covered her mouth, her beautiful

eyes wide open in surprise. “Give me that eraser!”

MoMo hurriedly handed over the eraser. Ivan erased the wrong answers, replaced them with the right

ones, and sternly looked at MoMo. “If you don’t know how to solve a problem, you can ask me! Why do

you have to smear me? How could I possibly not know how to solve such a simple problem? The

reason I only scored ten points last time was so you could rank first in the class. Get it?”