Nonreciprocal Love (COMPLETED)

Prologue

A/N: Hey y'all! I'm officially releasing this book as of today 🎉 Yay! In terms of updates, I will try to update at least once every two weeks for now since I will be busy in school and often times I lay low on my social media accounts during mid-term season and exams. I will try to do my best to update but after this semester's over, you can expect updates to be every week!

Anyway, without further-a-do, here ya go! Happy reading :)
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Prologue

"What is the meaning of this, Chloe?" Ace furiously asked as he carelessly threw her diary on her bed. The diary in which Chloe had written all her confusing and forbidden feelings for Ace. She knew how wrong it was to feel such love for her 'brother', but was it really wrong when they weren't even related to one another? She would often warily thought in her head. "Answer me!" Ace screamed, snapping her out of her trance.

Chloe could feel her heart thumping loudly against her chest. She didn't know if it was due to the fact that he was standing only an arm-length away from her, or the fact that he found out how she truly felt for him. "I-I'm... I can- I'm ju-just-..." She stuttered helplessly.

"Just what? Just in-love with me?" He asked in ridicule. He was staring at her as if she had grown another head she wasn't aware about and Chloe felt so small by his fiery, blazing gaze. "We're siblings, Chloe, I'm your brother! What you're feeling for me is ridiculous." He reminded her and Chloe could feel her heart shatter with his piercing words. She knew it was wrong to have such feelings for him, but she couldn't help herself. Every time she was around him, she couldn't help but feel something that she shouldn't be feeling towards a sibling.

"Stop it right at this moment!" He demanded her. "Whatever it is that you're feeling, end it! Do you hear me?! You can't be in-love with me. You're not in-love with me. I think we just need to stop hanging out with each other. We spend way too much time together that's why you're starting to have these absurd thoughts and feelings for me. It's wrong, Chloe. What you're feeling for me is wrong and you just have to-" He started ranting but Chloe cut him off.

"What's so wrong about it?" Chloe interrupted him with the same fire dancing in her eyes. She wasn't angry at him, she was irritated that he didn't even let her explain herself and he was already deciding what they needed to do for the both of them. He didn't even bother to ask her or care about what she would feel. "What's so wrong about me being in-love with you? Ace, we're not siblings! We're not blood related at all. I'm not Dad's real daughter and you were just adopted by Mom. Why is it so wrong to like someone like you? Why can't I do that?!" She argued with him and a tear that she wasn't aware of had travelled down her cheek.

Lucas, their father, and Hilda, their mother, were each other's first love. They got married and had Kelsey and Kyle, Chloe and Ace's older sister and brother. But when Hilda was pregnant with Kyle, their second child, Lucas left his family to protect them against his own father, who was against their marriage because Hilda came from a low-class family. Lucas left because he cared and loved his family, it was the only thing he could think of to protect them.

Lucas was then fixed in a marriage by his father to a woman named Carla, a daughter of one of his father's business partners. Lucas was against it but he knew better than to challenge his father, so he decided to just follow all of his father's orders if it meant that his family were safe. However, when Lucas had found out that Carla was pregnant with a man who was only after her money, Lucas wanted nothing to do with her. But Carla had begged him to marry her, not for the sake of love or business, but for the sake of her child. She had found out that she had breast cancer during her pregnancy and it wasn't safe to go through it. Her option was to abort the child and go through therapies right away to prevent her cancer from worsening. But Carla couldn't do it, she couldn't lose her child.

Carla pleaded with Lucas and asked him to marry her for the sake of giving her child a good future and a responsible father to look after her daughter. Lucas obliged at the end and went through the pregnancy with Carla. She struggled and had many sufferings along the way, but she was glad that her daughter was born lovely and healthy. A few weeks after her labour, Carla had passed away with contentment in her heart that her daughter was well and that her daughter had someone to love, cherish, and look after her. From then on, Lucas had raised Chloe as his own.

Ace was another story. He was left at an orphanage when he was only a baby, but he never did like living in such a place. So one day, at the age of four, he snuck out of the orphanage on a stormy night and headed to a nearby grocery store. There, Hilda had found him soaking wet and took her home for the night. She told him the next day that she was going to return him back home but the kid had cried and begged her to let him stay. Hilda had then found out that he was an orphan and she arranged all the papers that were needed and legally adopted him.

Later on, after a decade, Lucas and Hilda had crossed paths again. The love that they once had for each other were still clearly visible in each other's eyes. They got remarried and now, they have a complete family with their four children. So technically speaking, what Chloe was feeling for Ace wasn't entirely wrong. It was totally normal to feel something different for someone who wasn't blood related to her at all, right?...

"The problem is we were brought up and raised to treat and love each other as siblings. And that's all we'll ever be." Ace reminded her as another tear had escaped from her eye. "You know how much we'll hurt Mom and Dad if they find out about this? Not to mention the reputation of our company. What do you think will happen if the public finds out that there's some sort of relationship forming between a brother and a sister? We'll ruin Dad, the company, our family!" He explained as he paced the room back and forth while running his hands down his face in frustration.

Chloe couldn't utter a word as she shamefully stared at the floor. She hadn't really thought about what her family might think or how they would feel. But one thing was for sure, Ace was right. She had to stop herself from completely falling in-love with him. But what if she was already too far in deep? Could she contain herself and her feelings for Ace? Would she be able to prevent herself from loving him?

Once he had finished pacing and had slightly calmed himself down, he stood in front of her and stared at her in all seriousness. "Don't be selfish, Chloe. Do this for the sake of our family. This is the last time we're going to talk about this. I better not hear another word about this topic from you, ever again." He lastly uttered before leaving her alone and slamming the door shut behind him. Chloe slid down the bed until her bottom was fully situated on the carpet of the floor. Her tears endlessly flowed down her cheeks as she felt her heart slowly and tortuously getting torn into tiny pieces.

It was these moments that Chloe would always think and wish that Lucas and Hilda hadn't gotten remarried. She would wish that Lucas hadn't took her in or that Hilda hadn't legally adopted Ace. She knew how selfish she was being, but it wasn't bad to have wistful thinking at times, right?

All she knew was that everything was about to change between her and Ace and she didn't know if she was prepared to what was to come...