Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 116

Annalise only told Julie that she had blocked a lot of suitors for Kieran but didn’t mention how many

pointless suitors Kieran had helped Julie dodge behind her back.

Nor did she tell Julie that the reason Julie had been able to chase Kieran for so long was because

Kieran had never thought of rejecting her.

While it was true that Annalise came over that day with a heart full of gossip and curiosity about what

was going on between Kieran and Julie, she didn’t come specifically for that.

The real reason was different.

“Hayden Simson has been back for more than half a month; why didn’t you tell me?” Annalise turned

her head and asked Kieran.

Kieran knew the reason Annalise came over was probably because of Hayden.

“If I told you, could you win his heart?” Kieran asked calmly, as if he already knew the answer.

Annalise shot Kieran a glance, “So Hayden really is back; I wasn’t seeing things? Who’s that woman

with him?”

She walked over, shoved Julie aside, and said to Kieran, “I was in a great mood this morning. I went

shopping and saw someone who looked just like Hayden. But that’s not the point; the point is, he was

shopping with a woman, even picking out lingerie for her! Lingerie! The cold Hayden, how could he be

picking out lingerie with another woman? Don’t you agree? So, I thought I must have been seeing

things. I originally came to ask you to confirm, but I got the answer just by asking casually! I care so

much about you, yet you didn’t even tell me!”

“Hayden, you mean Kieran’s friend?” Julie asked casually.

In her mind, Hayden was indifferent to women. Saying Hayden was picking lingerie for women, Julie

would rather believe Hayden was picking lingerie for men. In other words, she was more willing to

believe that Hayden liked men and wouldn’t be with a woman.

Her comment immediately grabbed Annalise’s attention.

She excitedly looked at Julie, “You know him too?”

Julie then realized what it meant to put her foot in her mouth, so she quickly covered her mouth and

shook her head.

But Annalise still walked over and said, “I knew you must know him; you’ve been married to Kieran for

over three years. You must have met him. So… have you seen Hayden since he came back?”

Just as Julie was hesitating whether to nod or shake her head, Kieran’s eyes became deep, and he

frowned, “Have you seen Hayden?”

Originally, Julie wanted to shake her head, but hearing Kieran’s tone, she immediately looked at Kieran

and answered, “Yes, we met, so what?”

“That’s great!” Annalise came over, hugged Julie’s shoulder, and said, “Then you must know how to

contact him, right? Let’s do this, I’ll treat you to a meal first. What do you think?”

Originally, Julie was planning to reject Annalise’s invitation, but seeing Kieran’s thoughtful gaze, she

suddenly felt that going out to eat with Annalise was the right decision.

So, she smiled at Annalise, then turned her head and loudly said to Kieran, “Mr. Hernandez, I’m taking

a day off today. If your don’t agree, you can fire me!”

With that, dulie quickly left with Annalise.

Watching them leave, Kieran smiled.

Fire her? He had no such plans!

The crowd at the entrance was waiting to see the outcome in the office.

All of them were anticipating who would come out of the office heartbroken..

However, no one expected that, in the end, Annalise would leave the office with Julie.

Not only was Annalise gently holding Julie’s arm, but she was also smiling at Julie and asking, “What

should we eat next?

How about French food? Or fast food?”

Julie turned her head and smiled at Annalise, “Either is fine; you decide.”

Kieran’s office door opened again, as if nothing had happened. He said to Tina, “Call Karl.”

Seeing the boss finally step in, everyone put away their curiosity and returned to their posts to work.

In the end, Annalise randomly picked a fast-food restaurant and walked in with Julie.

In Julie’s memory, Annalise was a cool beauty, a rich girl with a good family background, good at

studies, good at sports, an all-around excellent student, the teacher’s pride, and an idol in the hearts of

her classmates.

However, at the moment, that idol was sitting across from her eating fast food, which felt somewhat

unbelievable to Julie.

“Actually, my relationship with Hayden isn’t as good as you might think. I know him because I was once

married to Kieran…” “I didn’t ask you to be a spy, what are you so nervous about?” Annalise laughed,

“Whether you’re close with him or not doesn’t matter, actually, if Kieran hadn’t stopped me, I would

have wanted to have a good chat with you a long time ago.”

Faced with the gentle and generous Annalise, Julie was a bit surprised, pointing at her own nose and

asking Annalise, “You want to talk to me?”

In the past, Julie considered Annalise a thorn in her eye. In order to chase Kieran, although she didn’t

do anything to Annalise, she certainly didn’t give her a friendly face.

However, what she didn’t know was that because Annalise didn’t consider Julie a love rival, Julie’s

pursuit of Kieran seemed especially cute.

Annalise smiled at Julie and said, “Yes, I want to talk to you. If it weren’t for Kieran not wanting his

classmates to know he has such a young aunt, we might have become friends a long time ago. We

should have a lot in common!”

“Like what?” Julie asked, pulling a face. She noticed that Annalise seemed livelier than before, totally

unlike the Annalise she remembered.

Hearing Julie’s question, Annalise brightened up. She winked at Julie and said excitedly, “Like, we

could chat about how to bag the guy you’re crushing on.”

Julie was speechless. She saw it coming.

Laughing, Julie turned down Annalise. “If you want to discuss this with me, you’re barking up the wrong

tree. Look at me. and Kieran now. Love can’t be forced. If neither party’s into it, it’s just a torture

chamber.”

“So, you mean Kieran’s been hassling you?” Annalise asked while munching her food.

Who’d have thought that elegant-looking Annalise could be such a savage eater?

Julie shook her head,

hat’s not what I meant…”

‘That’s good. You two will end up together anyway…” halfway through, Annalise suddenly clamped her

mouth shut, realizing she’d said something wrong.

But Julie just brushed it off and changed the subject.

Annalise quickly diverted the topic. “Your way of pursuing Kieran is worth learning! Kieran’s so aloof,

but he still married you!”

“But we’re divorced now,” Julie reminded Annalise.

Annalise didn’t seem to care, “I’ve studied your tactics before; the first step is to pop up in front of the

one you like by hook or by crook, right?”

“I wouldn’t advise that.” Julie said sincerely.

“Why?” Annalise frowned.

Without answering, Julie started reminiscing about her school days.

No one was better at making ‘coincidences’ to chase a guy than her.

After a pause, Julie looked at Annalise and said, “You must’ve heard about my staged ‘coincidental’

encounter with Kieran on the playground?”

Annalise burst out laughing. “That’s legendary! Everyone in school knew about it!”

Julie blushed at Annalise’s reaction.

Julie and Kieran went to different universities. Julie pulled all the strings to get access to Kieran’s

university. She’d heard that Kieran would sometimes jog on the campus playground, so she planned to

jog with him. Despite hating sports, she got up early for Kieran. She even dragged Daphne along to

pick out her favorite sportswear.

That morning, she wore a new black tank top and black and white shorts, showing off her sexy, long

legs. She got to the playground half an hour early to wait for Kieran.

Julie was pretty and well known. With her public pursuit of Kieran, virtually everyone recognized her. So

many guys came

over to watch the show.

As luck would have it, Julie finally ran into Kieran in his white sports attire. She ran up to him,

pretending to be surprised, “Kieran, what a coincidence! You’re jogging too?”

But Kieran didn’t even look at her. He just took off, leaving Julie panting and unable to catch up.

Julie told Annalise, “After that public ‘coincidental’ encounter, he never jogged on the playground again.

This shows that trying to attract attention by pretending to have a chance at meeting someone can

backfire.”

Hearing Julie’s self-deprecating tone, Annalise laughed, “Do you know why he never jogged on the

playground after that?”

“Probably because he found me annoying!” Julie said nonchalantly. She knew he didn’t feel the same

way about her and understood that unrequited love wouldn’t end well.

Annalise laughed even harder, “He stopped jogging because of you, but not because he found you

annoying. It was because you were too sexy! Many guys saw you in all your glory, so he got jealous!”