Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 173

Kieran hung up the phone right after giving Hayden a heads up.

Hayden stared at his phone, the one Kieran just hung up on, for a couple of seconds before he pocketed it and headed toward Julien’s room.

Julien’s room was next door to Hayden’s. The door was shut but unlocked.

Hayden knocked twice. No answer. So, he let himself in.

He heard the sound of running water from the bathroom as soon as he walked in. He glanced at the bathroom out of the corner of his eye, furrowed his brows, and then emotionlessly sat down on Julien’s bed.

Across the bed was Julien’s bathroom. But because the room wasn’t an open floor plan, he could only hear the sound of the water, not see the graceful figure of the woman inside.

The bed was a hard wooden one with a thin mattress. The dark grey bedsheet matched Julien’s personality. On the bed was a dark blue silk pajama set, shirt-style. Something spongy was wrapped in the middle of it, with black straps sticking out.

Hayden took a quick look. His long fingers followed the straps and picked up the spongy thing. It was Julien’s bra, a modest deep black, simple and elegant, but irresistibly seductive.

After her shower, Julien realized she’d left her pajamas outside. So, she just wrapped herself in a towel and stepped out of the bathroom, only to find Hayden holding up her bra by the strap, studying her dark undergarment.

Their eyes met. Neither of them said anything.

Hayden, still holding the strap, couldn't decide if he should let go or keep holding it.

“You do realize that’s my underwear, right?” Julien managed to talk in a calm voice, her icy gaze fixed on Hayden.

Hayden, back to his normal self, casually put down her bra, not avoiding another look, and then said, “You’ve grown a lot.”

Julien didn’t respond.

To her silence, Hayden added, “Ten years ago, you wore a size B. Now, you wear a C.”

Indeed, ten years ago, Julien had willingly crawled into Hayden’s bed.

Growing up, Julien had always been putting up with humiliation for her younger sister, silently growing up by Miles Simson’s side. She owed her life to a sentence from Hayden. Later, Hayden stood up for her in front of Miles, teaching her how to survive, how to fight, how to remain uncorrupted in a dark world.

She used to think being by his side would make her feel safer and happier than being with anyone else. He was the only man she ever wanted to spend her life with, the only man she had ever loved with all her heart and soul, and the only man she had never gotten despite all her efforts.

When she slept with him ten years ago, it went so smoothly that she thought she had finally won him over. But the day after their night together, he flew to another country to find the woman he loved. That’s when Julien realized how cheap her fantasy of love was.

She reached out and grabbed her bra, not expecting Hayden, who had just let go, to grab the other end of the strap again.

“Let go!” Julien demanded.

But Hayden wasn’t a man to take orders from Julien. So, naturally, he didn’t let go.

Julien wasn’t a patient woman, either. She aimed a kick at Hayden’s head. But he was quick and caught her ankle with his other hand.

She put all her weight on her one leg, pressing it against Hayden’s shoulder, pinning the hand that was holding her ankle to his shoulder as well.

Hayden was still holding onto Julien’s ankle. He let go of her bra, laughed, and said, “Your flexibility has improved a lot compared with ten years ago.”

Julien threw her bra at Hayden’s head, “Why don’t you keep it as a souvenir? Maybe even frame it in gold!”

Hayden rarely smiled, but today, his smile was even wider after hearing Julien's comment.

He replied, “Sure.”

Then, he let go of Julien’s ankle.

Julien quickly pulled her leg back, only to hear Hayden suddenly ask, “Why don’t they match?”

Just as Julien was trying to figure out what he meant, she looked up to find Hayden staring intently at the area below her belly button and above her thighs.

Then she remembered that she’d just wrapped herself in a towel. The moment she did the splits, her target was Hayden’s face, so...

The bra she threw at Hayden’s face was black, but her panties were white. They indeed didn’t match.

“Would you like me to change into a matching set for your viewing pleasure?” Julien kicked open the door to her walk-in closet and asked Hayden. Her face was as cold as ever.

Hayden pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and tossed it to Julien, “Recent call recording.”

The recording was the conversation Kieran had with him earlier.