All Chapters of One Night Stand With My Hubby's Cousin: Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

Evelyn's POVShe sighed wistfully and stared into the fire.“Honestly, though, this one was annoyingly close to my type.”“Uh-oh.”“I know.”The disappointment in her voice sounded almost genuine.“He had the whole package. Broad shoulders, tiny waist, legs that should probably be regulated by federal law, an eight-pack that looked photoshopped even in person, and one of those faces that belong in an Abercrombie campaign where some suspiciously attractive college student is smiling while holding a football for absolutely no reason.”I laughed despite myself.“That's very specific.”“Because that's exactly what he looked like.”She pointed her marshmallow stick toward me again.“And the worst part was that he knew it.”“Dangerous.”“Extremely.”Maddie shook her head.“He was nineteen.”“Ah.”“Exactly.”That single syllable carried all the tragedy necessary.“Maybe it's because he was so young,” she continued, “but he was unbelievably stupid, and you know how much I hate stupid men. A b

Evelyn's POVThe concern in her voice made something twist inside my chest.For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.The wind moved through the trees.Someone in another campsite laughed.A guitar strummed somewhere in the distance.And eventually, I let out a long breath.“Okay.”The word escaped me more like surrender than agreement.“Okay,” I repeated softly.Because maybe I was tired.Maybe I was lonely.Maybe I was exhausted from carrying the same thoughts around in circles every day without ever saying them out loud.“It's because he lied to me.”The confession hung between us.A burst of sparks rose from the fire and disappeared into the darkness overhead.Maddie didn't interrupt.Didn't rush to fill the silence.She simply waited.And somehow that made it easier to continue.“You know what happened in Seattle?”My voice felt strangely tight now.Like speaking the words gave them more weight than they already had.“Well, it turns out Julian was the one who brought them there.”I

Evelyn's POVI shook my head and laughed again, although this time the sound carried more frustration than amusement. The entire situation felt so melodramatic that if I had read it in a novel, I probably would have complained that the author was trying too hard. Real life somehow managed to be even more ridiculous.“Honestly, it sounds like the kind of plotline people would accuse a television writer of making up.”The emotion hit me unexpectedly after that, rising so quickly that I had to stop talking for a moment and look away from the fire. I could feel my throat tightening around words I wasn't sure I wanted to say out loud, and the harder I tried to swallow them, the more impossible it became. Eventually, I gave up and let them come anyway.“The worst part isn't Seattle.”My fingers tightened around the mug.“The worst part is that it worked.”The confession sat between us for several seconds while neither of us moved. The wind shifted through the trees, carrying the smell of sm

Evelyn's POVMy voice dropped lower.The firelight flickered across the surface of my mug while I turned it slowly between my hands.“Imagine waking up one day and realizing that one of the most important decisions you've ever made wasn't entirely yours.”The words felt uncomfortable even as I said them.“Maybe the person influencing you had good intentions.”I swallowed.“Maybe the outcome genuinely improved your life.”The wind moved through the trees again.“Maybe everything they wanted for you turned out to be right.”I tightened my fingers around the mug.“But even then, part of you starts wondering.”The confession came out quietly.Dangerously quietly.“You start wondering which choices were actually yours.”The fire cracked softly.“And which choices somebody else carefully guided you toward without you realizing it.”For several seconds I simply watched the flames move.The question had haunted me all week.Not because I had an answer.Because I didn't.And not knowing was be

Evelyn's POVAt the time, I hadn't wanted to examine those moments too closely.Now they haunted me.Because none of it felt fake.None of it felt rehearsed.And none of it felt like the performance of a man trying to impress somebody.It felt real.Painfully real.It felt like the look people carried after loving someone for so long that the feeling had become part of their bloodstream.The kind of love that survived disappointment.The kind of love that survived distance.The kind of love that stopped being an emotion and became a permanent condition.“That wasn't acting.”My voice dropped almost to a whisper.“I've spent enough time around people lying to me to recognize the difference.”The firelight blurred again.“When he talked about her, there was this look in his eyes.”I swallowed hard.“And every time I saw it, I felt like I was standing outside a locked room watching somebody else's life through a window.”The confession left me feeling strangely exposed.Because I had nev