Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 227

The surveillance system had recorded everything crystal clear.

As Shannon had mentioned, it was indeed Hayden who had dropped him and Julie off last night. It

seemed that Julie was way more sober than him. They had first entered the master bedroom together

after getting home, then he followed Julie into the bedroom again.

He remembered going downstairs wrapped in a towel last night. Watching the surveillance footage, it

all came back to him. In the video, he was on the phone while opening the bedroom door, then he went

downstairs to grab a bag and went back upstairs.

The night vision footage was a bit blurry, but he could clearly see himself entering the master bedroom.

During this time, Julie didn’t leave the secondary bedroom to go to the master bedroom, but he woke

up in the secondary bedroom this morning. This meant that the two bedrooms were connected last

night. However, when he woke up today, the two rooms were separated again.

There were no cameras in the bedrooms, so he really had no idea what happened in the bedroom last

night, but he did clearly remember wearing a bra on his head.

The only person who might know the truth was Julie, but he couldn’t get a hold of her now.

He was worried something had happened to Julie. Just as he was about to start looking for her, his

phone suddenly rang. Seeing it was Julie’s number, he was relieved.

“Are you awake?” Julie’s voice came from the other end of the phone.

He asked directly, “Where are you?”

“I’m at the shop.”

“What shop?”

“The shop you gave me. Don’t you remember?” She countered.

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten. He furrowed his brow, then hesitated before saying to Julie on the other

end of the phone, “Last night…”

“Are you still hungover?” She suddenly interrupted him.

He rubbed his temples. He hadn’t been this drunk in years. It would be strange if he wasn’t hungover.

Julie said, “You drank too much last night. When we got home, you kept saying you wanted more

booze, so you drank half of the red wine that Dylan had sent over, even spilling it on the sheets in the

master bedroom. I had someone take the sheets to be washed. I also drank too much. When I woke

up, you were still asleep, so! didn’t wake you. I’ll pick Ivan up from school in a bit.”

“Do you remember what I went downstairs to get last night?” He asked. He didn’t find the bag he was

seen carrying in the surveillance footage in either of the

bedrooms.

“I don’t remember,” Julie responded immediately. “I fell asleep before you did last night.”

That’s not a lie. She really did fall asleep before him, and that was before he had finished making love.

Suddenly blushing, Julie quickly said, “I got something to do. I gotta go.”

After hanging up the phone, Julie put a hand to her chest. She had no idea how to face him after

setting such a trap for him. Should she tell him that after they got drunk last night, he had tried on her

bra and even worn it on his head like a hat?

And during their game of Rock Paper Scissors, she said a lot of sweet nothings she thought she would

never say.

She still had her dignity!

Julie ran a hand through her hair. Being drunk was such a hassle! Especially for someone who can’t

handle alcohol like her.

Just as Kieran hung up the phone, he received a call from Dylan, “Kerry, are you still alive?”

Dylan was obviously joking, but Kieran on the other end of the phone was silent.

“Kerry, are you okay?” Dylan suddenly asked with a hint of worry.

Kieran was silent for a moment before replying, “You didn’t drug my drink last night, did you?”

“Drugged? What kind of drug?” Dylan was startled, “Am I that kind of person? Mr. Watson and I barely

managed to get you drunk. In the end, we were both carried home! If I really drugged you, would I have

been carried home?”

Mr. Hernandez coughed uncomfortably, “I’m not talking about date rape drugs.”

“Could it be… Oh my god! Is Julie okay?” Dylan suddenly caught on, “Alcohol can prolong the effect!

With your constitution.

“Bring a scalpel when you come over this afternoon. A sharp one.”

“For what? I’m not going to your place this afternoon!”

“Don’t you want to commit suicide with a knife? Then you can hang yourself.” Kieran abruptly hung up

the phone. He shouldn’t have bothered talking to that idiot!

But Dylan’s call came through again very quickly.

Kieran hung up.

Dylan called again.

With a resigned sigh, Kieran answered the phone.

“What do you want?!” Kieran’s tone was not pleasant.

Dylan tried to hold back his laughter, “I just wanted to ask, in what position did you guys wake up?

Hahaha! Never mind, don’t tell me. I can imagine it myself.”

Kieran thought for a moment. Though Dylan was always so unprofessional, his professional knowledge

was very solid, especially his study of basic deduction methods. So after thinking for a long time, he

said to Dylan on the other end of the phone, “When I woke up, Julie was already gone. And my

position…

“What position?” Dylan’s eager voice came from the other end of the phone.

In the end, Kieran said, “I was lying naked on the bed. The bed was covered in paper. My hand was on

that part. What do you think might have happened last night?”

“You masturbated all night?” Dylan’s voice instantly went high. Kieran quickly moved the phone away

from his ear.

Even without Dylan saying it, Kieran couldn’t help but think the same. After all, the position he woke up

in was really strange. Coupled with the blank memory from last night… he’d rather believe he had

masturbated all night long than believe that he had danced around with a bra on his head last night.

Dylan was still excitedly talking on the other end of the phone, but Kieran had already hung up.

Dylan knew Kieran wouldn’t pick up his call again, so this time he chose to text him.

Kieran swiped his phone screen and looked at the text message Dylan had sent, “What’s wrong with

you! A man can’t always hold it in! You need to see a doctor!” Kieran threw his phone aside, sat on the

sofa in silence for a while, then picked up his phone again and opened the call history. In the

surveillance footage last night, he was clearly holding the phone in the middle of the night, but he

couldn’t find the corresponding call record on his phone. Weird!

He picked up his car keys and drove to Feliz Gastro House.

This restaurant was right across from Simpo Co., just one street away. It’s smack dab in the middle of

downtown, so it’s always packed. Julie loved the decor, but we needed to switch out a couple of chefs

and hire two dessert masters. Tina had got all that squared away, and Julie’s here today to sample

some sweets.

i

When Kieran rolled in, Julie was in a pickle deciding which two dessert chefs to hire. Without giving

Kieran a chance to chime in, she plopped him down on the sofa and said, “Give these a whirl! Out of all

these desserts, which of them do you think is better?”

She practically shoved the desserts into his mouth.

1-

After being forced to do a taste test, Kieran made his decision on the dessert chefs. Then he turned to

Julie and asked, “How did you get so plastered last night?” The woman sitting next to Kieran looked a

bit guilty as she answered, “After we got home, we polished off the wine that Dylan had gifted us, so we

got drunk.” “When we got drunk, we went straight to bed, you know? Do you remember what went

down last night?” he asked tentatively.

Julie didn’t remember a thing, but the security cameras did! The vivid footage and the things she said in

her excited state, she’d rather forget. So, she shook her head and shot back, “Do you remember what

happened last night?”

The only image in his head was of him dancing with a “straw hat” on. It felt like a wild dream.

So, Kieran shook his head firmly, “I don’t remember.”

Julie breathed a sigh of relief. If he brought up what happened, it would be the most awkward thing

between them.

“Did I do anything to you after I got hammered last night?” Kieran probed. The image was too real, yet

too bizarre, like something that would only happen in a

dream.

Julie thought about the pose she deliberately set up for him in the morning and felt even more guilty.

But she tried to keep her cool, “Think about what you did last night. When I woke up this morning, I was

sprawled out on the carpet. I was worried about Daphne, so I went to look for her and didn’t bother

waking you up.”

“Didn’t you check if I was still alive before you bailed?” he asked.

Looking into his deep eyes, Julie replied with a guilty conscience, “Aren’t you alive now? I was only

thinking about Daphne at the time and didn’t pay any attention to you… What’s going on with you

anyway?”

Kieran seemed lost in thought. After a deep breath, he suddenly turned to Julie and said, “Honey, I

think I might be sick.” “What?” The sudden shift in topic caught her off guard. Julie thought this lost and

helpless look didn’t suit Mr. Hernandez. He looked up suddenly and beckoned to her. Julie, utterly

confused, bent over and cautiously brought her ear close to his mouth.

“I had a dream last night, I dreamt I was wearing a……never mind.” he said quietly, before abruptly

closing his mouth. Julie had an inkling of what he was about to say. Holding back her laughter, she

feigned curiosity, “What dream was it?”