Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 218

"Don't you know this game? It's super easy!" Daphne stood up and explained to Annalise, "We all form a circle. You say 'I love you' to the person on your left and 'shameless' to the person on your right. You cannot say more than three sentences consecutively between two people. If someone messes up, they have to drink!"

"I'm still confused..." Annalise pointed at Daphne, "Can you show me how it's done?"

Daphne gave Annalise a helpless look, and turned to the person on her left, "I love you!"

However, she had forgotten that Lionel was the one sitting on her left.

The room was dimly lit, and Lionel's eyes were sparkling under the light. He smiled at Daphne, who was standing on his right, "I love you too."

The expressions in the room instantly became complicated.

Daphne's face turned red. She angrily told Lionel, "Wrong! You should have said 'shameless'!"

Lionel seemed to enjoy seeing Daphne angry. He nodded obediently, "You're shameless."

"Not 'you're shameless', just 'shameless'! Just say it like that!" Daphne wondered if Lionel was genuinely clueless or if he was messing with her. She preferred to believe that Lionel was just being silly.

Finally, Lionel cooperated and said to Daphne, "Shameless."

Daphne turned to Julie sitting next to her, "Shameless."

Julie nodded, "Sure, I was indeed shameless back in school."

"Julie, can't you just play along?" Daphne glared at Julie.

Julie looked at Daphne with a smile, "I love you."

Daphne didn't have the courage to turn to Lionel and say 'I love you' again, so she turned to Julie again and said, "Shameless."

Then she explained to Annalise, "Because Julie and I have already exchanged three sentences, Julie now has to turn to Kieran and say 'I love you'. Do you get it now?"

"Oh!" Annalise suddenly understood. She slapped the table like Adeline usually does, "I got it! Let's get this party started!"

"Are we going with the current seating arrangement?" Dylan asked.

"This seating is perfect. My wife loves me," Kieran immediately replied.

"Disgusting!" Dylan looked at Kieran coldly.

The current seating arrangement indeed seemed interesting. Dylan suggested, "How about we do a trial run? Starting from Mr. Watson, okay?"

Marlon turned to Lionel on his right, "Shameless."

Lionel raised an eyebrow at Marlon, "I love you."

Marlon glanced at Harding on his left, but decided to turn to Lionel again, "Shameless!"

Lionel turned to Daphne with a big laugh, "Shameless."

Daphne turned to Julie on her right, "Shameless."

Julie turned to Kieran, "Shameless."

Kieran, "I love you."

Julie, "Shameless!"

Kieran, "I love you."

Dylan exclaimed, "Are you two messing around? You guys have already exchanged more than three sentences! Bottoms up! Kieran, you keep telling her 'I love you' tonight! I don't believe you two won't get wasted!"

Dylan handed two drinks to Julie and Kieran, "I propose they toast each other. Any objections?"

Everyone unanimously said, "No objections."

Kieran looked at Julie helplessly, "Darling, are you going to toast with me?"

"Or should I give you my drink, and you can toast yourself?" Julie raised her eyebrows, a naughty smile on her face.

Kieran's lips curled up in a smile. He leaned in and whispered, "What was that surprise you promised me last night?"

Julie smiled slightly, clinked her glass against Kieran's, and downed her drink in one go.

Round two.

Dylan turned to Adeline on his left, "I love you."

Adeline, who had Elliot on her left, looked into Elliot's eyes and said with a smile, "I love you."

This 'I love you' didn't sound like it was part of the game, but rather like a confession that had been suppressed for years. This left Elliot stunned. He knew that even if he called Adeline 'shameless' now, it would just be part of the game, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He turned to Annalise on his left and said, "I love you."

Annalise, without a second thought, turned to the person on her left and quickly said 'I love you', because she clearly remembered that Hayden was on her left. But at some point, the person on her left had quietly become Payne. Annalise's cheerful mood instantly dropped.

Payne, on the other hand, was thrilled since Julien was on his left.

He grinned and loudly said to Julien, "I love you!!"

Julien didn't want to engage with Payne, so she turned to the person on her left and said, "I...am shameless!"

Payne looked excited. He raised his hand and said, "I'll go first!"

He wanted to compliment Julien, so he immediately turned to Julien on his left and said, "You're beautiful."

"You're ugly," Julien retorted.

"You're very honest," Payne admitted, looking hurt.

Since they had already exchanged three sentences, Julien had to turn to Hayden to compliment him. Hayden seemed to enjoy it, as if he was waiting for Julien to compliment him. The first three people in each round can't quit voluntarily, or she'd have to either kiss Hayden or let Payne kiss her. Clearly, neither option appealed to her.

Payne said excitedly, "Julien, quit! Let me kiss you!"

In the end, Julien turned to Hayden and said, "You're handsome."

Hayden agreed. He said to Julien, "You don't love me. That's a flaw that needs to be corrected."

Although Hayden said this, she had to continue complimenting him, "You're tall!"

Hayden couldn't tease her anymore. He turned to Kieran and said, "You're trustworthy."

Kieran turned his head and looked at Julie, saying, "You're delicious."

If Kieran wasn't so strong, Julie would have kicked him into outer space. In the end, she responded, "You're full of yourself!"

"You're beautiful, and you're always right."

Julie was speechless.

Everyone thought that probably only Julie would dare to talk to Mr. Hernandez like this.

Julie turned her head to Daphne and said, "Daphne, you're a good friend."

Daphne responded to Julie, "You're always a brown-noser."

Julie laughed, "Daphne, you've always taken good care of me."

Julie's sincerity touched Daphne. Now it was her turn to compliment Lord Lion. The usually sharp-tongued Daphne turned her head and found Lionel's face almost a lash's length away from her own.

So, she forgot everything she had prepared to say. The only thing left in Daphne's brain was, "Great in bed!"

Luckily, Daphne had enough sense not to say that out loud.

She boldly reached for the drink in front of Lionel, ready to down it. At this moment, Julien, sitting across from her, suddenly frowned and said, "Can pregnant women drink?"