WE FIXED OUR UNCLE'S LOVE LIFE

“Uncle, want to take her boyfriend’s place?” Just days after our final high school exams, our parents kicked my brother and me out and sent us to stay with our uncle.

He let us run wild in his huge house, but he always looked utterly lost. At first, we thought we were the ones getting him down. Then we found out he was heartbroken.

The woman he’d secretly loved for years had chosen someone else. My brother and I stared at our uncle.

Mature, loaded, impossibly goodlooking, and somehow insecure beneath all that grownman charm. We just couldn’t understand it. How had he lost?

Chapter 1 My brother and I were twins, a boy and a girl. Just days after our final high school exams, our parents kicked us out. Mom kicked me in the butt.

Dad kicked my brother in the butt. And just like that, they heartlessly threw their own children out of the house. “All I did was break the oven and the rice cooker.

Was that really necessary?” my brother muttered, rubbing his butt. After our last finals, he’d decided to become a food blogger and thrown himself into the kitchen.

In addition to feeding us a neverending variety of culinary horrors, he’d singlehandedly ensured that every appliance in the kitchen got replaced.

Dad’s wallet had suffered terribly.

I patted my own butt and muttered, “All I did was argue with the neighbors’ dogs…” The neighbors had several dogs, and we weren’t on the best of terms.

A few years back, before I’d developed anything resembling a brain, I’d liked to bark at them. We’d really gone back and forth.

Once my last high school finals were over and I was hanging around at home, the dogs started barking whenever they saw me. How was I supposed to let them win?

But my parents said I was disturbing the neighbors. Without further discussion, they decided to send us to our uncle’s. He was only eight years older than we were.

He’d helped his older sister look after us since he was a kid himself, so the three of us were very close.

Actually, by the time he was born, his sister—our mom—was already in college. They were so far apart in age that there was no comparing them.

Naturally, the family company had gone to Mom to run. But our uncle had done well for himself.

While he was in college, he’d used the funding and resources Mom provided to build a successful business of his own.

My brother and I each dragged a suitcase along as we made the familiar trip to our uncle’s. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t our uncle who picked us up at the airport this time.

It was his butler. “Mr. Fletcher, where’s our uncle?” Mr. Fletcher cleared his throat. “He got held up.

He asked me to pick you up, Owen and Paige.” I thought nothing of it and got into the car with my brother.

Our uncle was over twentysix and still single, and his big house was quiet and empty. Owen and I each had our own room there, both prepared well before we arrived.

Our uncle didn’t get home until the early hours of the morning. He was drunk. For Owen and me, that was still early. He wore a suit and dress shoes, his hair slicked back.

With that bone structure, those features, and a perfectly proportioned body, he was very easy on the eyes.

We’d been glued to him since we were little, and I couldn’t say his looks had nothing to do with it. “Uncle!” “Uncle!” He looked up at our voices and spoke after a moment. “Why are you two still up?

You’ve had a long trip. You didn’t have to wait for me.” Clearly, he wasn’t familiar with our current sleep schedules. “I’m gaming, Uncle. Why were you out so late for work?

And why did you drink so much?” “Uncle, it’s been ages! I missed you so much!” I said. Seeing me hug our uncle’s arm, Owen refused to be outdone.

He sat down on the other side, grabbed our uncle’s other arm, and shook it. “Uncle, I missed you too!” … Chapter 2 Our uncle tried to pull free. “Paige, Owen, I reek of alcohol,” he said helplessly. “You don’t want to be breathing that in.” Neither of us let go.

When we were little and our parents were busy, he was the one who put us to sleep. We were close. Still, he managed to coax us upstairs. I looked back once.

His eyes were lowered, his thoughts somewhere else. He looked miserable. Completely lost. On our second day at his mansion, Owen resumed his foodblogger project.

After two hours in the kitchen, the chef practically begged him to leave.

I was yawning my way downstairs when I heard the chef on the phone with our uncle, complaining that in all his years in the profession, he’d never seen food that looked so bizarre. … That was putting it mildly.

My brother’s food wasn’t fit for human consumption. Our uncle’s neighbors didn’t have dogs, though.

With nobody to argue with, I felt a little lonely for the first time in ages. “Paige Watson, don’t you think something’s off with our uncle?” Owen asked out of the blue a few days into our stay.

Our uncle left early and came home late every day. He looked busy, but he was clearly unhappy. “I asked Mom. His company’s doing great, so it’s not work,” Owen said.

If it wasn’t his professional life, it had to be his love life. Family, friends, romance—we could rule out the first one right away. We were as close to him as ever.

Just yesterday, we’d scored a cash drop from him. He was way more generous than our parents. As for friendship and romance… neither of us knew much about those parts of his life.

But— Owen pulled out his phone and showed me pictures he’d taken of a photo album.

Every page featured the same young woman. “He’s heartbroken.” I recognized the background as our uncle’s study. My eyes widened. “Owen Watson, how could you sneak into his study?

Do you have any manners at all?” “I’m looking out for him,” Owen said, sounding much more righteous than he had any right to. “Besides, I’m only telling you.

I haven’t even told Mom and Dad. The album was right in his desk drawer.

Aren’t you curious who she is?” “…Who is she?” “No idea.” “Then you’re just making stuff up.” “But she’s in his high school graduation photo,” Owen said confidently. “And there are selfies from when she was in high school in this album too.

He probably printed them off her social media. Either they broke up, or it’s unrequited love.” Yikes. If they’d broken up, fine.

But if she didn’t feel the same… Could someone as ridiculously well put together as our uncle actually be pining for someone who didn’t want him?

The girl in the photos was beautiful. Exactly the kind of girl you’d fall for in high school and never get over.

Of course people fell for her. “Paige, Owen, there’s an auction tomorrow night.

Want to come?” Our uncle had probably finally noticed how much excess energy we had and decided to take us out to see a little of the world. Naturally, we had no objections.

On the night of the auction, I wore a little black dress. Owen put on a suit and dress shoes and did a convincing impression of a respectable human being.

The auction hadn’t started when we arrived. People immediately gathered around our uncle to shower him with compliments. My brother and I couldn’t hang around for that.

We were gone in a flash. The venue was huge. Carpet covered the floor, muffling almost every click of my heels. We wandered to a deserted corner beside a stairwell.

Just as we were about to turn away, we heard voices coming from below. An argument. Chapter 3 How were we supposed to resist that? Staying out of sight, Owen and I peered down.

Our gazes fixed on the couple arguing below. The woman looked very familiar. I’d just seen her on my brother’s phone—in a photo from our uncle’s study.

Owen and I exchanged a look and both quieted our breathing. “Rebecca Simpson, what is your problem? My family arranged for me to get engaged to Hailey. I never agreed to it.

She’s like a sister to me.” The man’s voice was cool and faintly arrogant. “A sister?

Does a sister call herself your fiancée, move into your house, wear your clothes, and post photos of it on social media?” “I told you, she got caught in the rain that day.

She didn’t have a change of clothes, so I lent her a shirt. There’s nothing going on between us.” “Nothing? Is the business partnership between your families fake too?

You’ve even set a date for the engagement. Do you think I’m an idiot?” “It’s a publicity stunt for the partnership. The engagement is just for show.

I’m not going to marry her.” The argument paused for a moment. Then the woman’s cool voice came again. “Derek Prescott, spare me the promises.

Since you’re getting engaged, we’re done.” “Rebecca, you’re breaking up with me?” His voice turned angry. “What else am I supposed to do?

Wait until you have an official fiancée and become your dirty little secret?” “Rebecca, haven’t I been good to you?

I was the one who found the surgeon for your mother and covered her medical bills. I took care of you when you were sick too.

Can’t you put up with this for a little while, for the sake of our future?” … That seemed to hit a sore spot. Her voice grew quieter. Owen and I didn’t stay to hear any more.

The farther we walked, the less sense it made. The guy was decentlooking, and he sounded like some rich family’s son.

But he was a bastard who held a favor over her head, let his parents pick his bride, and still refused to let her go.

He was determined to saddle her with the label of “the other woman.” How had our uncle lost to him?

Our uncle was mature, loaded, ridiculously goodlooking, and somehow insecure beneath all that grownman charm. We still hadn’t figured it out by the time we got back to our seats.

With both of us staring at him, our uncle looked confused. “What is it?” The auction was about to begin, and guests were taking their seats.

The woman named Rebecca Simpson walked gracefully in, wearing a white dress with her arm linked through her boyfriend’s. Our uncle’s eyes seemed to lock onto her automatically.

There it was again: that faint look of being alive but dead inside. Try telling me he wasn’t into her. I wouldn’t believe it.

Owen suddenly nudged him and asked in all sincerity, “Uncle, want to take her boyfriend’s place?” Our uncle choked on his own spit.

He gave us a warning look. “Don’t talk nonsense in public.” Oh. The auction didn’t last too long. Whenever Owen or I wanted something, our rich, generous uncle paid for it.

Not far away, the woman who seemed to be his longtime crush was bidding too, along with her boyfriend. One of the items was a ruby ring. Mr.

Prescott kept raising his bid, until I heard people talking behind me. “The Garrisons’ daughter said her fiancé was coming to buy her the Heart of Devotion.

Well, he’s here, but why did he bring that assistant of his?” “I hear there might be something going on between Mr.

Prescott and his assistant.” Chapter 4 “We all know what’s going on. Men are men.

Besides, with the Prescotts’ standing, how could he possibly marry a woman with no family connections?” … What?

So not only was he buying the ring for someone other than his girlfriend, he was keeping their whole relationship a secret? I was sitting right beside my uncle.

If I could hear them, so could he. The auctioneer was still talking.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my uncle’s fist tighten a little. “Uncle, I want that ring.” Everybody wanted to play the hero sometimes.

At that moment, I didn’t care whether I liked the ring. I just didn’t want that Prescott bastard getting his hands on it. My uncle seemed to have put up with enough too.

Before I’d even finished speaking, he raised his paddle. A man who couldn’t even choose his own bride couldn’t compete with my uncle financially.

Unsurprisingly, my uncle won the ring. But as we were leaving, someone stopped us