The Substitute Bride

Chapter 8

I shook my head one after the other, which was Mom's offer.

"It's okay Mom, I can handle it." And then I got up from my seat, Dad also listened to me.

"Powder room." Mom said immediately, Dad nodded and since there were a few other guests they were talking to at our table, I inexcuse myself as well. I don't really pee, I shook my head one after the other, which was Mom's offer.

"It's okay Mom, I can handle it." And then I got up from my seat, Dad also listened to me.

"Powder room." Mom said immediately, Dad nodded and since there were a few other guests they were talking to at our table, I excuse myself as well. I don't really urinate, I leave our table to look for Travis but as I walk I can't help but think that maybe that's why I can't find him because he didn't attend my party.

I immediately felt disappointment at the thought, he did not promise that he would come but his siblings are here as well as their parents. They were able to make time for my birthday so I can't understand in case he's not here because he's busy with work.

As I was walking down the hallway, a few guests greeted me. There are more of you I don't know but I'm still grateful I was still with them and then smiled and said goodbye. 

I simply looked around hoping to see Travis but I had a stronger feeling that he wasn't really here at my party.

"I saw Travis!" A woman beside me whispered. I immediately slowed down when I heard what the woman said but I didn't turn to their side and she might notice that I was listening to their conversation with her.

"Where?" Excited said his companion. I was stunned by what I heard. The trick really is!

"Of the Forger brothers, Travis is my best bet!" Said the third woman. Fortunately, my gown has a secret pocket so I pocketed my phone in my gown. 

Supposedly I was busy there on my phone so I stopped walking so they wouldn't notice that I was listening to their conversation.

"Me too! The handsome one is still strong! ”

"And then they are younger and don't look ready to settle down unlike their older brothers."

“But aren't the Forgers known for marriage for convenience. Maybe Travis has already promised the girl! ” Somewhat annoyed one of them said.

They got my attention even more from what I heard. I was still acting like he was going to call me and I answered immediately, I leaned against the wall not far from where they were talking. I was just the right distance from them so I could hear what they were talking about.

"I don't know if the news is true but Kim is the one who is promised to Travis." Who is Kim? I asked myself.

“I'm sure it's just gossip! If it's true that the Forgers have promised their sons then why Rush isn't married yet? What I know is that he's twenty-nine or twenty-eight! He should be married at that age!"

"What I heard is that he had an issue with his fiancée. The girl said she already has a boyfriend so she rejected Rush." Girl number 1

"Wow! Is she that pretty to say now to Rush for marriage? What the hell! She's f stupid for what she did!" One of them said again. Girl number 2

"Because she didn't know before that Rush was the one who was promised to her!"

These girls are full of gossip! They were talking about Travis and now it was easily shifted to Rush.

But only now did I find out that apart from the luxury life, the Forgers are also in favour of marriage for convenience.

Even though I'm only thirteen years old, I know what that marriage for convenience is. What I don't understand is why the Forgers are in favour of it, like they are rich. Rich af!

All I know is the main reason why some families agree to have an arranged marriage is that they are struggling and before they end up bank crap they will marry one of their children to the family who will help them run their business.

Forgers, on the other hand, do not seem to be losing money in their business based on the luxury parties that take place in their mansion and here in the city or at luxury hotels, where they are business partners of the hotel owner.

"And I heard Rush's ex fiancée wanted to continue the marriage, she said she wanted to marry him but Rush refused and I heard he is already in a private relationship with this unknown girl." I am amazed by the amount of news they have about the Forgers. Are the Forgers also business partners of their parents? Now, I wonder where they all got this news.

“Let’s go back to Travis. Rush is older than us so we have no chance anyway.” I saw in my peripheral vision how thick their make -up was. I couldn't help but make a face as my reaction to what I am seeing right now, while at the same time watching them nod at what one of them said.

"Did you say earlier that the name of Travis' rumored fiancé is Kim?" One of them nodded again as an answer.

"Her full name is Kim Madrigal."

"The socialite who is always in Paris because all the luxury brands always invite her to watch the show and value her opinion about fashion?"

"Yeah!"

“Oh my God! I am feeling frustrated! I mean I love her, the way she dresses, how sophisticated she is, her angelic face, the way she speaks, she sounds so nice and her accent. I love her British accent! And now I will find out that she's into Travis Forger too! Now, I am starting to hate her!"

"Isn't her family the owners of one of the big fast food chains here in the Philippines?" One of them nodded again.

“No wonder the Forgers promised one of their children to the Madrigals! The latest news is that the net worth of the Madrigals is already at eight hundred million." My eyes widened from what I heard!

"But the Forger's network is already at $1.8 billion, and is still unbeaten." Travis' wealth is horrifying. I can't imagine how many zeros that 1.8 billion dollars this big sister Marites is saying!

But at the same time, my hands are itching to google who Kim Madrigal is. Socialite and daughter of the owner of one of the largest fast food chains in the Philippines and her family have 800 hundred million net worth.

Speaking of net worth, I have no idea how much we have in my family. We own a shipping line here in the Philippines but we only cater to the Visayas and Mindanao because large ships are not allowed in the highlands.

"I wonder as well, when will Noah get married?" Another question from one of them, I was losing my mind with their conversation so I walked away and went straight to the powder room like my original plan.

I went inside the cubicle to use google without any interruption. Fortunately, even though there were people in the powder room, I was not required to speak with them since I don't know them even though I am pretty sure they are my guests. I went straight to one of the cubicles and then I used my phone for real this time.

I opened google and then I searched for Kim Madrigal's name. I immediately got a result on google.

Below her name is written 'Philippines Socialite'. She and Travis are the same age, she is twenty-three years old and my eyes almost popped out of my eye socket when I saw that they also got the same birth date! Wow! Just wow! Is this a sign they are meant for each other? Or just a coincidence?

And speaking of Travis' birthdays I haven't tried attending even just one of their parties. What I remember is Travis and his other two older brothers don't throw parties for their birthdays. They treat that special day like a normal day. I have known them for years and I never got an invitation from them about their birthday. They are rich but they seem to be stingy when it comes to their birthday.

We were only invited to their thanksgiving party every summer and then to the engraving birthday party of the Forger couple.

I also asked Mom and Dad about that and they told me that the siblings don't celebrate their birthday because they are busy with work. They are the owners of the company, I'm sure they have the privilege to take a break from work anytime they want. That's weird!

The truth is I don't believe that reason, for sure they are celebrating but maybe the only ones invited are those close to their age, maybe they are having a party like the shows I watch on Netflix.

Suddenly I thought when I'm of legal age, can I be invited to their party? But I feel like before it will happen it will be too late for them because my age is far from the Forger sibling age. I'm sure they are already married when I am allowed to go to parties in the club. Sigh.

Okay, let’s get back to Kim Madrigal.

Here I am again overthinking things, but I just can't help thinking if Kim and Travis were together when they had their birthday? Did they have a party at the club and like what happens on Netflix shows? I shake my head one after another to remove unnecessary thoughts in my mind. Okay, this is annoying. My imagination is going wild.

Again, I went back to reading Kim Madrigal's information on google and there I found out that apart from being a socialite, sometimes she also models for luxury brands but more on clothes and lingerie. Talking about clothes, she's into Chanel! I wonder if Mrs Forger and her are close? Do they go out and talk about fashion? Or Chanel clothes? Does Mrs Forger send Chanel gifts too in her place? My stomach feels sick just by thinking about it!

I also looked at her pictures, her profile picture here on Wikipedia. She is wearing a white suit and there's a one while flower design on my left side of her suit, the flower is level on her left boob. I nodded, because she looks very professional here in her picture. When I read the description of her picture, it says it was taken in 2020, at the Élysée Palace.

I looked at the Élysée Palace location and found out it is still in Paris and the Élysée Palace is like our Malacañang here in the Philippines. Home of the Excellency of Paris. So, why did she visit the Excellency of Paris? To meet Paris' Excellency of course!

**

The amount of achievement he has in life while I am just happy with what I have now.

While they are busy proving each other to him his way here I am when I want a luxury brand, I will just soften Dad and Mom later you already have what you want whether it is a bag, clothes or shoes.

After I read Kim's info on Wikipedia, I went back to google to check in what else info about her, there I saw that there was news about Travis and Kim. My heartbeat immediately quickened in a painful way but that wasn't enough for me to stop reading what I was doing, I was aware that there was a chance that this news was not true but my curiosity really prevailed.

Kim Madrigal shares intimate pictures from the pool day with Travis Forger. Next I swallowed what I read. That was the first article I read and the date that the news was posted was just yesterday.

Maybe that's the reason why Travis isn't here for my birthday today! I feel like I'm getting softer from what I'm reading, it's really good and I'm sitting now because maybe if I was standing, I would have fallen down on my seat earlier.

Kim Madrigal asked Travis Forger to shower with her as he finally made his debut in the trailer for Season premier of her reality show. My eyes widened, so he had a reality show but it wasn't mentioned on Wikepedia.

See Travis Forger's 'bar code' tattoo dedicated to his first girlfriend with Kim Madrigal.

I didn't even notice that I would have cried, if my tears hadn't dripped on the screen of my phone.