𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐱-𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭 (𝟏𝟖+) 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 ✓

Chapter 38

"I guess I'll start before my parents passed away. I was going off to university and planned to live on campus. I finished at the top of my grade and I had a scholarship for school so I didn't need to worry about tuition fees," I start.

"I knew you were smart but I guess I never realized how smart. You're getting sexier every day angel," he interrupts kissing my cheek.

"I've always been sexy," I reply, pecking him on the lips quickly. "But anyway, my parents were so excited and proud they splurged and bought me a car. If you're wondering how I paid for a Mercedes, it came from them," I explain.

"Not surprised they're proud of their amazing daughter," he chuckles.

"They wanted my brother and me to have the best. They helped fund Cody's schooling a bit and at the same time he was working so they worked together to cover his four years. Since I didn't need any help financially, they wanted to do something for me and that's what it was," I continued.

"So what happened after?" he questions, pulling me closer to him.

"Things were going well. I was starting my second semester as a first-year student when I got a call from Cody about our parents. They were driving home after work since they both work in our family business," I tell him.

"What do you guys specialize in?" he asks holding onto one of my hands

"The company is split into two sections, architect and construction. We get clients that want to build their house from scratch, and that's where the architect team comes in with designing their dream home. The construction part, well that's pretty self-explanatory," I explain.

"Why didn't you join them then?" he asks and I hear the confusion in his voice. "Didn't you want to work together with your family?"

"Not really because it wasn't my passion. Cody was the one that loved the architectural part and he studied for that alongside minoring in business. He's also helped in construction when he was in high school and university so he's pretty familiar with it. I can design a home with proper dimensions, have the skill to sketch it but it just wasn't my thing," I explain. "That being said, I have helped Cody whenever he's in a pinch."

"I can see you more as a teacher than an architect, it suits you," he tells me and I turn to look up at him, my lips tilting into a smile.

"Thank you but let's continue. They got into a car crash that night, and it was so bad that they died at the scene. Cody came to my dorm in the middle of the night to tell me and we went to the hospital together to identify them. That was the worst day of my life," I say thinking back to the hospital, seeing my parents in the morgue. Their skin was so pale yet at the same time burned from the crash.

"I can't imagine what either of you was going through," he whispers kissing my head.

"From that day I completely shut down. We settled everything with our family lawyer after the funeral. Of course, Cody became the next CEO and our parents each left us quite a lot of money. That's how I was able to afford such a big house although the design of it was completely Cody's idea," I explain to him with a wave of my hand.

"Cody designed your place? I did think it was modern when I first got here, like something you'd see in a catalogue," he muses.

"Oh yeah, Cody went crazy. He just said to buy the house and he'd take care of the rest. I think he wanted me to have a fresh start here after university, start clean and he thought since he's my big brother he had to go to such lengths," I clarify.

"Since you shut down right?" he says, repeating my earlier words.

"Yeah, I just fell off the face of society. I wasn't a social bug, and I talked to a couple of classmates for school but other than that I kept to myself. After their deaths, I just stopped talking with everyone, including Cody and Cleo. I was handling grief in my own way, and I just wanted to be left alone," I say with a half-hearted shrug.