My Amnesic Ex Married My Sister, So I Married His Uncle-Chapter 105: I Don’t Want Her to Like Me in Order to Repay My Affection

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: I Don’t Want Her to Like Me in Order to Repay My Affection

The moment he heard Owen Rhodes, Silas Jacobs lost all interest in the game. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed his cards onto the table.

Of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with the terrible hand he’d just been dealt.

It was simply because he was a man of honor, unable to stand by while a brother was in distress. He was sworn to take a blade for his brother, so he had to dedicate his full attention to solving the problem, distractions be damned.

He stretched out a long arm and draped it over Owen Rhodes’s chilly shoulder. "Come on, talk to me. I’ll give you some pointers, guaranteed to solve all your problems."

Nearby, either Wyatt Keating or Julian Chandler—it was hard to tell which—let out a blatant scoff.

Silas Jacobs shot a disgruntled "Tsk!" over his shoulder, then turned back with a smile to continue "taking Owen Rhodes’s pulse."p>Silas Jacobs’s handsome features crinkled into a smile, his black diamond earring glinting coldly. He looked just like a quack doctor who had finally snagged a wealthy sucker.

"Rhodes..." He paused, then switched to a more familiar tone. "Owen, how far have you and the missus gotten? Have you confessed yet, you punk?"

Although Wyatt Keating and Julian Chandler, who were sitting nearby, couldn’t stand Silas Jacobs’s smug, opportunistic bullshit, they couldn’t suppress their thirst for gossip.

The two of them froze as if someone had hit a pause button; their eyes were on their cards, but their ears were practically glued to Owen Rhodes’s lips.

Owen Rhodes cleared his throat awkwardly before managing a quiet, "Yeah."

His voice was quiet, but the others heard it loud and clear.

"And Stella Sterling? How did she react? Does she hate you? Or is she just indifferent?" Silas Jacobs stroked his chin, muttering to himself, "That can’t be right. I remember she was quite satisfied with your physique."

Owen Rhodes’s brow twitched, and a faint blush crept up the tips of his ears.

"She said... she thinks... she likes me a little."

For a man who had never confided in anyone his entire life, talking about such things felt almost as humiliating as being stripped bare for all to see.

The gratified smile of a proud father flashed across Silas Jacobs’s face.

"So you’re worried that this superficial affection Stella Sterling has for you isn’t enough to compete with the bond she has with Ethan Rhodes, her childhood sweetheart of over twenty years?"

Owen Rhodes didn’t speak, which was a tacit admission.

Silas Jacobs shot the other two men a look that clearly said, ’See? Told you so.’

Julian Chandler had no particular reaction, but Wyatt Keating looked a little surprised.

Wyatt Keating had known Owen Rhodes longer than Silas Jacobs had, so he had a better understanding of certain matters.

He and Owen Rhodes had known each other since college.

Back then, Wyatt Keating was the only son of a respected scholarly family, shouldering great expectations, while Owen Rhodes was the disfavored, illegitimate son of a nouveau riche clan.

The two, whose paths would have otherwise never crossed, were first pitted against each other in the unofficial competition for campus king.

It was an unofficial contest, of course, with their fellow students privately nominating them for the title of "Campus King."

Later, after working together on the student council, facing off in debate tournaments, and teaming up for competitions... the two grew closer.

Wyatt Keating discovered that this taciturn, illegitimate son of a wealthy family was not the uncultured, morally bankrupt person his father had claimed. On the contrary, he was a hardworking and serious individual with a clear plan for his future.

In short, the two of them had somehow muddled their way into a friendship that had lasted for over a decade.

Back in college, to say nothing of his impressive accolades, Owen Rhodes’s face alone was enough to make him a celebrity at the university.

But Wyatt Keating had never seen him get particularly close to any girl, let alone date one.

Of course, this complete void in his romantic life also led to Owen Rhodes receiving his fair share of confessions from other men.

Wyatt Keating still remembered one time when he’d been studying at the same table as Owen Rhodes in the library. A boy had nervously scurried over, tapped Owen’s shoulder, and shoved an envelope with a heart sticker on it into his hand.p>The indescribable expression on Owen Rhodes’s face at that moment was something Wyatt could laugh about for the rest of his life.

During their junior year, Wyatt Keating himself had fallen for a girl’s aggressive advances and had a brief campus romance, but Owen Rhodes remained as solitary as ever.

At first, he thought Owen Rhodes was simply ascetic, until he started to notice a pattern.

Even though Owen Rhodes disliked the Rhodes Family, he was certain to return to The Rhodes Estate once every month.

In the week following his return to campus, he would invariably find time to write a letter, then mail it sometime that week.

Once he figured out this pattern, Wyatt Keating felt as if he’d uncovered Owen Rhodes’s secret, and he was filled with an indescribable excitement.

It was probably because he himself was steeped in the sickeningly sweet throes of love at the time, so it was only natural that he’d become a bit of a gossip.

He deliberately chose the week Owen was due back from The Rhodes Residence and staked out the mailbox on the main campus road, waiting for Owen to come mail his letter.

And sure enough, his stakeout paid off.

His smile at that moment was just as smug as Silas Jacobs’s was now. He was even cheeky enough to snatch the letter away the very instant Owen was about to drop it in the mailbox.

A quick glance at the address on the envelope revealed it was international mail.

"So this is why you don’t date?"

Owen Rhodes’s glare was heavy, far from the friendly way he looked at him now.

The tall young man coldly spat out two words: "Give back."

Wyatt Keating dodged backward. "Tell me if it’s a guy or a girl, and I’ll give it back."

Owen Rhodes simply held out his hand, silent. The two of them remained at a stalemate.

Finally, seeing that the mail carrier was about to arrive for pickup, Owen Rhodes relented.

"A girl. Give it back."

Wyatt Keating smiled, satisfied, and, true to his word, handed the letter back.

He didn’t doubt whether he was telling the truth or not.

"Whoa, so that explains why you have zero interest in other girls. Turns out you have a girlfriend abroad. Why didn’t you go with her?"

Owen Rhodes didn’t answer, simply turning and walking away.

Later, however, Wyatt Keating figured it out. An unfavored illegitimate son like Owen Rhodes, who had to work part-time jobs just to cover his own living expenses—how could he possibly afford to go abroad?

Just when Wyatt Keating thought he had left, Owen, who was already several yards away, suddenly turned around. "She’s not my girlfriend."

Wyatt Keating: "..."

’Good God. It was a one-sided crush.’

After that, Owen Rhodes’s career began to skyrocket, his pace of progress so fast that Wyatt Keating was left in his dust.

Gradually, his own rather uninteresting campus romance came to an end.

After graduation, Wyatt Keating and Owen Rhodes stayed in touch, and Wyatt was the only one who knew about the letters—not even Silas Jacobs knew.

And because their friendship endured, Wyatt Keating knew that Owen Rhodes had continued writing those letters for a long time, even after graduation.

He had only stopped in recent years.

’When exactly did he stop writing?’

He couldn’t quite remember.

That’s why he’d been so surprised to hear that Owen Rhodes and Stella Sterling had registered their marriage.

On the one hand, he felt Owen Rhodes wasn’t the type to give up on someone easily. On the other hand, he felt it was high time Owen moved on from that love that had never seen the light of day.

In short, it was a contradiction.

But since the two were already married, there was nothing for him, an outsider, to say.

He had even asked Owen Rhodes, "What about your ’unforgettable one’? You giving up on her?"

Owen Rhodes’s reaction at the time had been quite subtle.

He also knew about the history between Stella Sterling and Ethan Rhodes, so at first, he’d assumed Owen and Stella’s relationship was more of a mutually beneficial arrangement.

’But what was this all about now?’

’He’s clearly fallen in love with her.’

Wyatt Keating snapped back to reality just in time to hear Silas Jacobs instructing with the air of a seasoned expert, "Chasing a girl is simple. You just have to be shameless. Rhodes, first, you have to open your mouth, you know? ’I like you,’ ’I love you,’ ’I can’t live without you’—you have to express your love."

Owen Rhodes frowned as he listened.

Silas Jacobs gave him a light kick. "What’s with the constipated look on your face?"

Owen Rhodes shot him a glare. After a long silence, he said with complete sincerity, "I don’t want her to like me just to return the favor."