Chapter Five
1098 Words
“Did Haynes Van Doren just say my name? And did he just propose knowing fully well that I am Seraphina and not Adeline?” Seraphina thought to herself, still in shock.
She had just arrived at the location when a man approached her and directed her to Haynes Van Doren's place.
When their eyes met, Seraphina couldn’t shake the feeling of how he looked at her. It seemed like he was shocked, as if he saw something he didn't expect. Like he knew how Adeline looked, and that wasn't what he saw in her. Or was it her beauty that attracted him? She was sure she looked exceptionally beautiful tonight.
Haynes approached her and pulled a chair from the table, beckoning her to sit. She took her seat while Haynes sat across from her.
“So, Adeline?” he asked, his voice tough and dark.
“Yes, Adeline. Adeline Everleigh,” Seraphina nervously responded.
Haynes leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing as if he were dissecting every breath she took. “Is that so?” His gaze dragged over her face, sharp, assessing, and unconvinced.
Seraphina swallowed hard. Her palms were already damp.
He tapped a finger against the table—slow, steady, and intimidating. “Interesting,” he murmured. “Because the woman standing in front of me looks nothing like the files I received.”
Her heart stopped. Files? Adeline had files?
“What do you mean?” Seraphina forced a small laugh, praying it didn’t sound as fake as it felt. “I… I just changed my hair.”
Haynes’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile. More like a man amused by a lie he planned to expose later.
“Adeline Everleigh,” he repeated, his voice low. “Busy today, wasn’t she?”
Seraphina stiffened. He knew. She didn’t know how he did it, but he knew.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Very.”
Haynes leaned forward, elbows on the table, eyes trapping hers. “Then tell me, Adeline—why did you send her to meet me?”
Seraphina blinked, confused. “Her?”
“You,” he said simply.
Her chest tightened. He was toying with her, peeling apart the lie with his bare hands.
She opened her mouth to explain, apologize, or rather escape.
“I swear, I didn't impersonate her to deceive you or anything. She was just caught up with something really important.”
But Haynes cut her off.
“Marry me.”
The words dropped like a bomb between them.
Seraphina froze. “Excuse me?”
“Marry me, Seraphina Anderson,” he repeated, gaze unwavering as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb instead of words. “I don’t like wasting time.”
She lets out a breathy laugh because surely, surely this man is insane. “I—I don’t even know you.”
“You will,” he says.
“Mr. Van Doren, that’s ridiculous—”
“It’s not a request.” His voice deepen. “You walked into my life the moment you sat down. And I’ve decided.”
“Decided what?” she whispers.
“That you’re mine.”
Her chair scrap back instantly as she stands, pulse racing. “Okay, I’m done. This is crazy. I—I have somewhere to be.”
Haynes watches her rise, expression unreadable.
As she turns to leave, his final words freeze her mid-step.
“Run if you want, Seraphina. But I’m going to marry you.”
She turns to face him and sees him leaning against the chair, smiling at her. He really doesn’t know how to smile. It is so awkward.
She walks away, still in astonishment. Is Haynes Van Doren known to be a mentally unstable man?
She already knows him as a ruthless billionaire that almost all young ladies has a crush on.
Yes, he is handsome, but she doesn’t really like him. Not for any particular reason, exactly. From what her cousin Ivy used to say, she knows Haynes to be a ruthless brat.
His father’s wife had only female children. He married Haynes's mother, his mistress, after she gave birth to a son for him.
Rumor had it that Haynes's mother killed her husband and his former wife. She was a ruthless woman who bred a dangerous man.
As she fades away, Haynes says to himself, “You are mine, Seraphina. You have always been and will always be.”
He receives a call. “Boss, their location has been found. Should we go get them now?”
“No, wait for my further instructions.”
Seraphina heads home but calls Adeline on the way. Adeline’s phone is not reachable. Seraphina guesses she is too busy with her boyfriend.
She gets home and gets some proper rest.
*****
Seraphina Anderson had learned early that life didn’t wait for anyone—not for the grieving, not for the broken, not even for the forgotten.
The hospital corridor smells like antiseptic and sorrow, but she walks through it almost every day with the straight spine of someone used to pain.
Her shift had ended an hour ago, yet she is still flipping through patient files, trying to ignore the message from one of her stalkers on her phone.
“Hey pretty, I can't live without you. Stop ignoring me.”
She exhales sharply, pushing the phone deeper into her pocket.
“Phina!” a voice calls.
She turns to see Adeline.
Today, Adeline looks… frantic.
Her heels click rapidly as she approaches. “You need to help me.”
Seraphina blinks. “Someone's dying?”
“Yes. Me.”
“What?”
“Alex proposed to me. He asked me to be his wife,” Adeline says sadly.
“And you told him you are already getting married, right?” Seraphina asks her.
“No, I couldn't. Alex would be completely broken,” Adeline replies. “I told him to give me time”
“Adeline, what are you doing? You don't plan to marry them both, do you?”
“I will try to cancel the marriage with Haynes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I will speak to him first.”
“You won’t believe what happened yesterday. That guy knew I wasn't Adeline.”
“Really?”
“Not just that. He knew my name.”
“What? He recognized you? How does he still remember your face?” Adeline asks, making Seraphina anxious, unable to fathom what she meant by that statement.
“What do you mean recognize my face?”
- Writer
