My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 74

I looked at Jessie.
“You brought him here just to say that?”
“…Having a witness will make it easier for you to believe me.”
A witness is only as good as the witness themselves.
I eyed Marius with suspicion as he continuously sniffled despite showing no signs of a cold whatsoever.
Based on his name, he appeared to be of European descent, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Jessie.
While his facial features were decent enough when examined individually, there was something about him that didn’t sit right with me.
His rapidly blinking eyes and pupils dilated even in broad daylight created an unsettling sense that something was off about him.
‘Where have I seen someone like this before?’
A server approached me as I continued observing without lowering my guard.
“Your coffee is ready.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The moment I took a sip of the warm latte, it came to me.
The drug addict in the educational video the school made to prevent substance abuse looked exactly like Marius.
“….”
I paused mid-sip and set the cup down.
Surely not. That couldn’t be it.
He was probably just naturally scattered.
Suspecting someone of drug addiction on a first meeting was quite rude.
I stopped observing Marius and turned my attention back to Jessie.
“So you’re saying you really did spend the entire night at a party with alcohol and women.”
“I didn’t touch a drop. I swear.”
“Fine. If that’s what you say, then that’s how it is.”
Jessie’s brow furrowed at my utterly dry response.
“Lili, you… don’t believe me right now?”
Before he could finish, Marius beside him burst into raucous laughter.
He laughed so loudly that other customers in the cafe turned to look at him.
I wanted to shout that I had nothing to do with him.
“Hey, Jessie. If I were her, I wouldn’t believe you either. You think she’d fall for that?”
“Shut your mouth, Marius.”
Despite Jessie’s clenched-jaw warning, Marius didn’t flinch in the slightest.
“Just sitting there at the party doing nothing? God, that’s hilarious even as I say it. I saw exactly how you party.”
He laughed so hard that tears began streaming down his face.
“Marius!”
“What? You think I’m scared when you call me like that?”
Marius brazenly shot back and grinned at me.
“Looks like you were raised well in a wealthy household, so you should know a thing or two.”
“What exactly should I know?”
I had no desire to engage with him, but I had no choice.
When I asked, Jessie rose from his seat and positioned himself between us.
“Lili, get up. You don’t need to hear this.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
I brushed off Jessie’s hand and turned to face Marius.
He seemed thoroughly amused at having put Jessie in such a difficult position.
“Haven’t you ever found it strange? Jessie works every single day without fail, so logically the entire world should be plastered with his photographs.”
Harry had actually wondered about that before.
Compared to how constantly Jessie worked, she rarely saw the actual results.
The only thing she could recall off the top of her head was an advertisement of Jessie she’d seen at the Shopping Mall when she went to buy a homecoming dress.
“That’s because Jessie doesn’t only do modeling work.”
“Marius, shut your mouth.”
Jessie was growling as he forcibly pulled me to my feet.
But Marius was faster.
“Jessie’s been deceiving you. He’s also working as an escort.”
“An escort?”
What kind of work was that?
From the sound of it alone, it didn’t seem particularly strange….
Seeing my bewildered expression, Marius doubled over in laughter.
“Unbelievable—you don’t even know what escort work is. You really are a sheltered young lady, aren’t you?”
Marius was laughing so hard the cafe seemed to shake, while Jessie stood silent with a flushed face.
No one offered a clear explanation of the situation.
Unable to bear the frustration, I grabbed Jessie and demanded answers.
“Jessie, tell me yourself. What exactly is this escort work he’s talking about?”
“Simply put, it’s a dating service.”
The answer came from Marius instead.
“If you pay extra, you can get more than just dates….”
He trailed off with a suggestive tone, and I went silent in shock.
It felt like my head had been struck hard.
‘There’s no way Jessie would do something like that.’
I tried to deny it, but it was useless.
Julia, Chloe, and countless other women who never seemed to stop coming around….
Had Jessie been taking money from them for dates?
Was that why he’d rejected the wristwatch I’d given him as a birthday gift?
Because it felt like a gift from those women?
My stomach churned.
With a pale, ashen face, I stumbled backward and bolted out of the cafe.
“Lili…!”
Just a few steps away from the cafe, Harry caught Jessie’s arm.
“Let me go.”
I tried to shake him off, but it wasn’t easy.
Jessie was just as desperate.
“Lili, what Marius said isn’t true. He’s not in his right mind. Damn it! I never meant to bring that drug dealer here!”
“You’re really saying he uses drugs?”
“Shh, shh! Keep your voice down, Lili.”
I hadn’t misread the situation.
Marius was indeed a drug addict, and what infuriated me even more was that Jessie knew him—that they were acquainted.
“Jessie, have you completely lost your mind?”
I didn’t even know where to begin.
Should I ask how he’d ended up associating with a drug addict?
Or should I confront him first about why he was doing this disreputable work under the glossy name of “escort”?
As I stood there, overwhelmed and unable to speak, Jessie seized the moment and clung to me.
“I only did it for a very short time. I never intended to do it long-term. If you don’t want me to, I’ll quit right now. I mean it.”
His words, contrary to his intention, only inflamed my anger further.
“So you were planning to keep doing it if I didn’t object?”
“That’s not what I meant….”
“You shouldn’t have done this kind of work in the first place! You knew it was wrong—that’s why you’ve been hiding it from me all this time.”
Right after Marius dropped his bombshell, I was too shocked to cry.
Only after the initial numbness faded did tears finally well up in my eyes.
The hands now holding me had surely held other women’s hands too.
And perhaps… these lips now pleading with me had kissed other women as well.
For money.
“You’re disgusting.”
“Lili…?”
“Don’t touch me!”
I couldn’t bear to be near Jessie anymore.
If he had simply dated another woman, I would have been sad, but not angry.
But meeting women for money?
“Lili, please, I’m begging you.”
No matter how much I struggled, Jessie wouldn’t let me go.
He instinctively knew that if he released me now, he would lose her forever.
“If you needed money, why didn’t you just tell me?”
The reproach in Harry’s eyes cut him deeply.
“Tell you? What could you have done for me?”
“I could have told my parents….”
“So I could receive charity?”
“Why do you see it as charity?”
Harry wanted to pound her chest in frustration.
Even if Jessie hadn’t grabbed my hand, I would have done the same.
“We’re family. We’re practically the same as family. It’s natural for us to help each other when things are hard.”
“You might think that way. But do you think your parents feel the same?”
“What…?”
In that moment, my words caught in my throat.
“Lili, you don’t understand anything. You don’t see how your parents’ eyes have gradually changed when they look at me.”
“….”
“Those people who once treated me like their own child now look at me like I’m a beggar on the street. They pity me. Every time that happens, I….”
“Are you blaming my parents right now?”
Now I wasn’t just at a loss for words—I was speechless with indignation.
At her counterargument, Jessie finally vented the resentment that had accumulated within him.
“Then what was I supposed to do? My father is sick, my mother is sick, and my entire family is about to end up on the streets. Was I supposed to just stand by and watch?”
“Don’t rationalize it. You simply chose the easy, quick path.”
“….”
“You chose to sell your body rather than lose that precious pride of yours. You picked a wealthy woman and consoled yourself with that, didn’t you?”
“Lili!”
“What. Am I wrong?”
How many people had wanted to help Jessie?
His high school teacher, my parents, and even Mr. Huntington.
If he wanted to, he could have chosen a different path anytime.
Yet it was Jessie who chose not to.
“You said you loved me? That you wanted me to give you a chance?”
I repeated his words back to him with a hollow laugh.
“You were going to see me while secretly hiding that you were doing this?”
“Regardless of what you think, I really do love you, Lili.”
Jessie’s hands trembled as he desperately clutched at me.
At his untimely confession of love, tears streamed down my face.
“Jessie, do you know something?”
At her voice, Jessie cautiously harbored hope.
Perhaps she might forgive him after all?
“You were my first love, no matter what anyone said.”
“….”
“But now I regret loving you with all my heart.”
Through the blur of tears, my confession of love also lost its way.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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