Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 136

The voice on the phone was clearly Kieran’s. No one could be more certain of this than Julie.

Kieran asked Ivan if he’d seen his mother, but the person Ivan had just picked up was Julie herself…

And Ivan had indeed just called her “mom”.

Kieran referred to himself as Ivan’s dad, so…

Kieran was Ivan’s dad…

Then…

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. After a long silence on both ends of the line, Julie finally found her voice, trembling slightly as she said, “This is Julie.”

“Beep…” Kieran hung up the phone…

Holding Ivan’s phone in her hand, Julie’s eyes sparkled with disbelief. So… her intuition was right. There couldn’t be two people in the world who were so similar for no reason. The reason Kieran and Ivan looked alike was because Ivan was the son of Kieran’s older brother, his true nephew.

According to the agreement between Kieran and Bertha, Ivan should indeed call Kieran “dad”.

What about Mr. Kennedy?

The man who said his name was Julian, the man who almost texted her every day, the man who had called her, the man whose ID was “J Kennedy”…

“J Kennedy”?

Julie quickly pulled out her phone and opened her chat with J Kennedy. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The last message was a suggestion she had given him yesterday morning, telling him how to win back his ex-wife…

Yesterday morning, on her way to Oakhurst Hospital, as soon as Julie opened WhatsApp, she saw a message from Mr. Kennedy sent around 3 a.m. the previous night, “Good night.”

Julie had replied somewhat surprised to Mr. Kennedy, “You stayed up late last night.”

She had said this just to express her feelings. She hadn’t expected him to answer her.

But Mr. Kennedy replied immediately, “Because I was on my way to chase my ex-wife.”

At that time, Julie was still surprised, “So you’ve already figured out your ex-wife’s wishes and thoughts? Do you know why she ran away?”

Mr. Kennedy countered, “What do you think is most important in love and marriage?”

Julie sat on the bus and after thinking about it for a good five or six minutes, she replied, “Honesty.”

After a while, Mr. Kennedy responded, “Is it?”

Julie said, “Deception and lies have no place in love. If you’ve deceived your ex-wife, it’s best to be honest with her.”

This was the last message Julie sent to Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy hasn’t replied to her until now.

At the time, Julie was wondering whether Mr. Kennedy and his ex-wife divorced because of a broken relationship or because Mr. Kennedy had deceived his ex-wife.

She actively suggested to Mr. Kennedy that if he had been dishonest to his ex-wife, he should now be honest with her.

Julie’s mind flashed back to the terrible advice she had given Mr. Kennedy… She had told him to give gifts to his ex-wife, hug her and kiss her forcefully.

She also suggested that he find the most reasonable way to increase the time he spends with his ex- wife.

She reminded him to understand his ex-wife’s wishes and inner thoughts first, and told him to be honest with his ex-wife… Ironically, Kieran followed all of these terrible suggestions.

No wonder, on the night she was homeless, Ivan called her to come to the villa to accompany him. No wonder he wanted her to be Ivan’s nanny, responsible for his food and lodging. No wonder she ended up moving into Kieran’s villa. No wonder she became his proxy lawyer…

So this was probably what she meant by “finding the most reasonable way to create time together”!

So.. from the beginning, Kieran was cunningly deceiving her. She fell into his trap like a fool and sank deeper and deeper.

She wasn’t sure how much she liked Ivan, but during the two days she was in Oakhurst, the person she couldn’t let go of was this child.

But if he was Bertha’s child, it meant… the one Kieran saved was Ivan. Kieran gave up their own child for Ivan…

Even though she knew better than anyone that Ivan was innocent, Julie’s legs gave out and she slumped onto the sofa.

Ivan came out of the bathroom dressed and saw Julie sitting on the sofa with a vacant look, as if all her strength had been drained…

Without thinking, Ivan ran over to Julie and said, “Mama Julie, I’m all clean now…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Julie, who would usually open her arms to him, suddenly turned away, avoiding his enthusiastic hug.

Ivan froze for a moment. He didn’t quite understand what was going on and asked carefully, “Mama Julie… what’s wrong?”

Ivan reached out his little hand to touch Julie’s face, but what came to Julie’s mind was the ultrasound picture of her own baby. That was the only picture she had with her baby. Although the baby was still in her womb, the seven-month-old fetus was also reaching out his hand, eager to come into the world.

How much she had looked forward to his birth…

But it all fell apart because of Kieran’s words. She would rather have died on the operating table than their biological baby…

Julie abruptly stood up, pushing away Ivan’s hand, and turned to run downstairs.

Right now, Julie wanted to understand all the truths she had once resisted.

Ivan watched Julie’s retreating figure, paused for a moment, then looked down at his slightly chubby belly and sighed deeply, “Mr. Dylan was right, women say one thing and mean another. Seems like she still dislikes me for not having abs…”

He mulled it over for a moment, feeling increasingly upset. He had seen the resistance in Julie’s heart when she had avoided him just

now.

How could it not hurt to be rejected by your own mother?

So…

Ivan pushed open the door and chased after her, “Mama Julie, wait till I grow up, I’ll hit the gym, okay?”

Julie had already left, completely oblivious to Ivan’s call.

Shannon, who had just returned from grocery shopping, saw Julie rushing out and couldn’t help but frown, “Mrs. Hernandez, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“To find Kieran!” Julie suddenly stopped and asked Shannon, “Do you know where he usually keeps his car keys?”

Shannon looked at Julie, puzzled, “Is there an emergency with Mr. Hernandez? Why don’t I have Noah take you there?”

If Noah knew about it, it would be a question whether Julie could leave smoothly.

She suddenly remembered something Annalise had said, “If you don’t believe me, you can go to Noblewood Retreat’s garage. Your bicycle and his sports car are still there.”

With that thought, Julie ignored Shannon next to her and ran towards the garage.

Annalise hadn’t lied to her. Julie found her old bicycle and hopped on it with a stomp of her foot.

By the time Ivan caught up, he saw Julie speeding away on her bicycle.

Julie was wearing a white T-shirt and light blue jeans, her beautiful long hair tied back in a ponytail, a few strands of hair fluttering in the wind. She wore white sneakers, looking like she had returned to her student days.

“Mama Julie is so cool!” Ivan was dumbstruck. Then, he turned to Shannon curiously, “Do you know where Mama Julie is going?”

“Mrs. Hernandez is off to find Mr. Hernandez. She probably has something important to discuss with him.” Shannon looked in the direction Julie had left, equally puzzled.

Ivan’s heart raced at the news. He paced in a circle, “Oh no! Mama Julie still prefers Kerry’s ripped abs!”

Ivan patted his chubby belly, “If Mama Julie and Kerry make up and have a baby with abs, won’t they abandon me?”

With that thought, Ivan looked up at Shannon, eager and anxious, “I have to find Mama Julie!”

At this, Shannon shook her head, “Mr. Hernandez is probably at the office now, so Mrs. Hernandez is likely heading there too. Mr. Hernandez has always made it clear that we are not to take you to the office. This rule cannot be broken.”

With that, Shannon picked up Ivan and turned back towards the villa.

When Julie arrived at the company on her bike, she didn’t expect that the reporters hadn’t given up even after so many days since the last scandal between her and Kieran. They were still camped out in front of the company.

So when Julie arrived at the entrance with her bike, she was instantly surrounded by reporters.

But Julie didn’t have time to answer their myriad of questions. At this point, it was no use not going into Simpo Co. So, she shot a glare at the journalists, maneuvered her bike around those blocking her, and wheeled it straight into the company lobby.

Only the people in the president’s office knew about Julie’s resignation. The receptionist was unaware, so she let Julie go upstairs…