When Fangirls Cry by Marian Tee Page A

rejected her when she tried to seduce him in his parents’ home.
                “Just please listen to her,” Yanna begged. “Look at how she’s telling the world over and over---”
                “It’s a goddamn act, Yanna.” Staffan did his best to keep his tone even, not wanting Yanna to bear the brunt of his anger. “She’s fooled all of us and she’s fooling you still. Even if it were my baby, she still fucking lied to me and I don’t even fucking know if she’s still seeing the prince or not.”
                “She married you---”
                “Of course she married me,” he exploded. “It’s fucking campaign season and her mother’s sick. I’m a face-saving excuse, that’s all I fucking am to her!” Bitterness filled him as the words left his mouth because he knew it was true. Pearl Beaufort was just the spark that set things in motion, but at the end of the day, the cold hard facts were undeniable.
                The fucking prince had a new betrothed, her senator father was running for re-election, and they needed a way to prevent Saffi from becoming a goddamn brick around their necks and not have the family pride stomped upon again.
                Yanna bit her lip in misery, stemming the flow of words that wanted to come out of her mouth. The cold hard look on Staffan’s face told her that whatever she would say or do would be futile. “I know you won’t believe me if I defend Saffi over and over to you, Staffan – but at least listen to me when I tell you that a woman in love knows when another woman feels the same way as she does. I love Constantijin with all my heart and everything I feel for him – I see it in Saffi’s eyes…and it’s all for you.”
                “Again, Yanna, you’re being fucking deceived. I have to go now. I’m going to meet with Chloe.” As he ended the call, Staffan did his best to forget the stricken look on Yanna’s face when she realized what he was about to do.
                The call from Chloe had been a shock, but it had not affected him in the way Staffan had thought it would. If he had to put a word to it, he was ambivalent about meeting her but his heart no longer felt it was being shredded at the mere thought of her. It just went to show, Staffan thought with hardening anger, how much Saffi had fucking destroyed him with her lies.
                Parking his car in one of the reserved basement slots for his family, Staffan took the private elevator to get to the café. When the doors parted, he was stunned by the first person he saw.
                Saffi.
                The way she kept rubbing her eyes was familiar, something she typically did to keep herself from crying. His heart squeezed at the sight, but Staffan told himself it was none of his fucking business if she cried or not. He shouldn’t fucking care since he had left their home this afternoon just for the sake of making Saffi think he was out to do shit.
                He deserved to hurt her. She deserved to be hurt. So if she was fucking crying now---
                Fuck.
                Staffan couldn’t believe how stupid he was. She was fucking crying because she probably knew Chloe was here – probably even spoke to her. She was just the type to confront Chloe even if she had no idea how such an encounter would turn out.
                Was she thinking he would be two-timing her just as she did him?
                He shouldn’t care if she did. She fucking deserved to be labeled a fool the way he had been labeled one ever since the news of her pregnancy broke out.
                Staffan was still telling himself that when he finally reached Chloe’s table. As he slid into the seat across her, he realized with unconcealed shock that Chloe looked old, and it was not because she was years older than