Stolen love: In love with my sister 's fiance-Chapter 13: Rumors

As the days progressed, Adrian and Elaine grew closer as friends. Elaine joined the girls' basketball team, and to no one's surprise, she played exceptionally well. Sometimes, she and Adrian would compete against each other, and he couldn't help but admire her skills—there were moments when she played even better than some members of his own team.

Despite their growing camaraderie, Elaine saw Adrian purely as a friend, nothing more. However, her friends, Mary and Ryan, never missed a chance to tease her about it.

"So, Elaine," Mary grinned mischievously, nudging her. "Care to explain how you managed to melt the ice around Adrian Blackwood?"

Elaine rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her drink. "I didn't melt anything. We're just teammates."

"Teammates?" Ryan smirked. "You two spend more time together than the actual team does."

Elaine sighed. "That's because I'm actually trying to improve, unlike you two, who just sit on the sidelines causing trouble."

Mary gasped dramatically. "How dare you! I am an excellent moral supporter."

Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, by supporting Adrian instead of Elaine."

Elaine shook her head with a laugh, brushing them off. "Nothing is going on. End of discussion."

Adrian, on the other hand, had formed a friendship with Mary and Ryan as well, though he remained mostly silent. He spoke only when necessary and never fully opened up—not even to Elaine. She didn't mind; she had her own distractions, and basketball was one of them.

___

Meanwhile, Alexander found himself drowning in regret. The guilt of how he had treated Elaine weighed heavily on him. He had tried multiple times to apologize, but she was always busy—too busy to even acknowledge his efforts. The few times he saw her were brief, mostly when he visited the villa. But she was always in her room, never around long enough for him to say what he needed to.

Elaine, of course, was intentionally avoiding him. She refused to let herself get caught up in false hope again, only to have her heart shattered once more. She simply didn't have the energy to go through that pain again.

Alexander, on the other hand, was struggling. His guilt and distractions started affecting his work, and people within the company began noticing his declining performance. His father, always observant, blamed Elaine for his son's behavior, assuming she had done something to him. In reality, Elaine was doing nothing—simply trying to move on with her life. But being the child of a mistress had already cast enough shadows over her existence.

As if that wasn't enough, someone leaked her secret to the entire college. Rumors spread like wildfire, and Elaine remained blissfully unaware that a storm was heading straight for her.

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