Love the Second Time Around Novel

Chapter 1 He Is Back

I did not know that someone as happy-go-lucky and playful as Julius Keaton would be upset when he discovered, on our wedding night, no less, that I was not a virgin.

To be honest, I was struck by a moment of guilt then. Had I known that this would be a big deal to him, I would have gotten a discreet procedure at the hospital. It might have preserved the harmony of our marriage.

That night, Julius seemed moody as he asked me about “the guy.” He tried to mask his emotions but failed miserably. Who would blame him? After all, I was not who he perceived to be. Looking at the devastation written on his face, I could not bring myself to utter the name buried deep in my heart. Thus, I apologized meekly instead.

Maybe it was this incident that had caused irrevocable cracks in our arranged marriage. Yet, little did I know that a more dangerous crisis would befall our already rocky marriage.

I was a comic writer. In cruder terms, I had been freelancing in the industry for many years. Though I had never gotten a significant breakthrough, I earned enough to pay the bills.

However, a call from my editor, Shannon Harper, changed my life forever.

She told me that my first work, I Only Want to Be With You, had caught the eye of Galaxy Entertainment’s CEO. They were interested in buying the rights to my comic to make a movie.

the VIP room on the fifth floor of the

who received praise for their work would naturally be ecstatic… Except

was also perplexed at their interest. Why does it have

toward the designated room, trying to come up with ways to reject the offer that would not end with Shannon strangling me. After

to ponder the issue a moment longer before I pushed

entered my sight was a set of massive floor-to-ceiling windows. Sitting before the windows was a man in a wheelchair. With his back to me, he seemed to be looking at the scenery beyond the window in intense concentration. However, he was so focused that he did not notice my

explain why, but his silhouette seemed oddly familiar to me. In

I met

distance away. “Hello. Are you the one interested in obtaining the rights to

the sound of my voice. Gradually, he turned around

careful smile on my face froze when I saw who he was. I could feel the blood rushing to my brain through my veins, giving me a numbing

wouldn’t I, when my whole world was about to be turned upside

an old friend? Let me introduce myself again, then. Hi, I’m Dominic Hartnell,

Hartnell. The name that lurked in the depths of my heart, and the very same one that I could not tell Julius on our wedding