“Don’t get married. Wait for me; I’ll come back for you soon.”
With that, Ethan hurriedly left the house.
My mother snorted and shouted at his retreating figure, “You brat! Claire’s wedding is the day after tomorrow!”
Ethan froze mid–step, his body visibly trembling, before he rushed away.
With that, the chaotic room went silent, leaving just me and my mother. I kept my head lowered, silently squatting to clean up the broken shards.
My mother sighed deeply and softly called my name.
“Claire, I’ve known everything for a long time now.
“The day you came back, I had waited. I waited for you to kneel in front of your father’s portrait and confess the
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truth to me. But you didn’t.”
“Then that heartless man showed up to deceive me, and I waited for you to wake up and tell me yourself. But you didn’t.”
She looked at me disappointedly.
“Claire, are you truly planning to entrust yourself to someone like Ethan West?”
Her words broke me. I sobbed uncontrollably, wiping away my tears with trembling hands. My mother slowly wheeled herself to my side.
She told me how, years ago, she had a close friend living in the same city where I supposedly studied. That friend’s husband worked at the very school I had lied about attending. My mother had known the truth all along.
Still, she knew I was stubborn, and she had been afraid that I would keep hitting walls until I was broken beyond repair.
For seven years, her heart withered for me. Finally, she had no choice but to force me to come back and marry.
I cried even harder, realizing my mother did not hate me as I had feared. All this time, while I stumbled blindly, someone had been silently lighting my path.
“Mom, I’m sorry…I don’t like Ethan anymore. I won’t marry him… I’ll just pretend all my feelings were fed to the dogs…
“I’ll… I’ll go through with the wedding…‘
My mother patted my back gently, soothing me as she said, “That’s good. Ryan is a good man. He’s the right match for you. With Ryan around, Ethan won’t dare bully you again.”
I did not understand what she meant at the time.
The next day, Ryan took me out to buy a few new things for the wedding. He subtly checked on my mood, and when I told him my mother already knew the truth, he seemed relieved as he let out a long sigh.
In the distance, there was a crowd gathered around a street vendor selling snacks. Ryan smiled and told me to wait while he went to line up and buy some for me.
I smiled with my hands tucked into my pockets, feeling oddly at ease.
Suddenly, the honk of a car horn grabbed my attention. I turned to see Ethan, who had somehow returned from the city, striding through the crowd with a group of people holding up a large banner.
The words on the banner read, ‘Heartless woman Claire Thompson, who toyed with my love for seven years, now abandons me to marry someone else.‘
The village was small, and everyone knew everyone. Chaos erupted as neighbors swarmed around me, gossiping.
“Gosh, isn’t that the pride of the Thompson family? How shameless!”
“Didn’t she go to the city and lose herself? She learned some tricks to seduce men, huh? Now she’s back to find a fool to marry her.”
“That poor man! He must’ve been hurt so badly to chase her all the way here.”
Their hurtful words plagued me.
Ethan pushed through the crowd, looking haggard and disheveled as he approached. He suddenly dropped to his
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knees in front of me, red–eyed, clutching my clothes.
“Claire, I know I was wrong.
“I shouldn’t have been so close to Anna. She’s nothing like you. You’re the one who really loves me, who was willing to give everything for me.
“I’ll do anything for you now. I’ll give you the wedding you want. Come back to me, okay?”
I bent down and pried his fingers off me one by one as my stomach churned with disgust.
I stepped back, but Ethan seized the chance to whisper in my ear, “Claire, I’ve given up my pride for you. I ended things with Anna yesterday and forced her to have an abortion.
“Stop being unreasonable. Give me another chance, okay?”