Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

471 Fans' request

Maverick glanced at his wife who looked terribly shocked and in utter disbelief as she stared at the screen. She subconsciously touched her stomach. It was still flat- or was it?

She frowned slightly. How did she not know all this while she was pregnant? And her stomach didn't show signs of protruding.

Maverick helped her sit up and hugged her. With his voice lowered for only her cars, he asked. "Should we run a DNA test?" Jeslyn shook her head.

"Do you want to see another doctor?"

Jeslyn nodded.

"Alright." However before he could say more, she added.

"Let's return home, Matt will do a better job."

Maverick smiled and kissed the middle of her head. He collected the scan from the doctors, carried his wife in a bridal style and left the ward.

They arrived at the Lu hospital where Matt ran a thorough test on her before he explained.

"You've been pregnant for almost 15 weeks without knowing. That's because you were focused on the stressful events that were happening at that period, neglecting the symptoms of pregnancy you had. "I'm sure you must have felt dizzy at some point. Fatigue, loss of appetite, mood swings and so on. Although some of those symptoms might be associated with stress, in your case, they were pregnancy symptoms.

"Also, the rainborite stone did its best to keep your body in shape, which helped you against miscarriage from the stress you endured.

"Congratulations, you'll be welcoming a daughter soon!"

Even with the news, Jeslyn was still not happy. Flashes of hickeys on her body kept flooding her mind as she stared at the ultrasound. It's been proven that her husband owns the baby, but she still couldn't let go of the thought that Reuben took advantage of her.

Maverick sat beside her on the bed and drew her closer to himself.

Noticing that something was wrong, Matt excused himself.

"He didn't do anything, I promise," He said.

Jeslyn turned to look at him as tears slowly welled up in her eyes. "I- I woke up to hickeys on my body. Then, he told me that he did- did it. Plum, there was evidence. I was wet." She whispered like she was scared that a third party might hear them.

"The wetness was as a result of liquid gel. The fake hickeys were made with alcohol-activated paint... I took videos before I destroyed the place." He brought out his phone and showed her videos of the objects.

Joy coursed through Jeslyn as she asked again and again to be sure she heard right. She was not

violated!

Maverick smiled when he saw life returning to his wife. The two shared a passionate kiss for a long

time.

Everyone in the Lu family was happy as peace seemed to have returned to the family.

However, Jeslyn's fans hadn't seen their idol for so long, so they started to make trouble, asking Fearless Entertainment to provide their idol. The story was that she traveled but no fan was buying that story anymore.

Manager Kate was starting to grow white hair from the trouble Jeslyn was causing her. She

immediately asked Jeslyn to show up at her house to discuss the way forward.

Inside a duplex, Jeslyn was seen, sitting on a kitchen counter while Manager Kate, who was drafting a green robe over black inner, was dissing some vegetables for her cooking.

"You know what, you are the most troublesome artist I've ever had and after you, I'll be retiring to nourish my health."

You don't say," Jeslyn laughed out loud.

"Yeah, you are still in the mood to laugh, I bet you won't be, in a while. Your fans want to see you make a public appearance and I'm so dead certain you have no idea how serious they are this time. They migh accuse us of cloning you," she snorted.

"What do you mean?"

"I said it. Well, some time ago, chaos broke out when videos and pictures of you were making rounds on the internet. Some said your husband cheated on you, then you were heartbroken, and you hooked up with another man, if I remember correctly, his name was Reuben. And then, you got pregnant for him and ran away together.

"Fans were enraged and they cursed your husband a lot. I guess he couldn't take the insults and took over the system. He prohibited everyone from saying a thing about the matter and those who did were charged to court for slander and defamation of character.

"Dear, a lot of things happened in your absence that I was lost and didn't know what to believe until your family told me what was going on.

"All the while that such rumours were flying around, your fans didn't see you come out to address anything. They were afraid that your husband might have done something to you, so now they are rioting to see you."

The stunned Jeslyn couldn't comprehend how things escalated that quickly, but remembering who was behind the wheel, she had no choice but to believe it happened.

"So, isn't it just for me to make an appearance?"

Manager Kate glanced at her as she chopped onions, "It would seem, but just appearing won't do a great job in shutting down doubts and restoring your reputation too."

"Then what should I do?"

2/3

"You need to come up with a project or something very important, like something heart-breaking that would make your fans, and even anti-fans cry for you. With that, they would believe that you indeed left the limelight to put yourself together. And in your absence, your husband's enemies took advantage of the troubles your family was going through and decided to throw dirt in your name, just to bring your husband down... Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Oh, yes, I do. Coincidentally, I did find something that is worth an excuse," Jeslyn smiled.

"Which is?" Manager Kate's interest was piqued as she stopped doing what she was doing. "Your food is burning," Jeslyn pointed to the stove.

"Oh! Holy!" She ran to the stove to turn it off while Jeslyn laughed at her dope reaction.