A Toast To A Love That Never Was Chapter 22
“Happy birthday, Mel.”
The sound of Dustin’s voice snapped Melanie out of her thoughts. She pursed her lips and put on a blank expression.
“Thanks,” she said softly.
Just as she was starting to get lost in her thoughts again, a cake was placed in front of her. When she lifted her head, she saw Dustin smiling at her.
“You don’t need to be so formal with me,” he said. “The preparations were kind of rushed this time. Next year, I’ll make sure to throw you a bigger and better celebration. What do you think?”
Melanie didn’t respond and took a bite of the cake instead. The expensive buttercream tasted smooth and sweet. However, she found it incredibly bland.
She subconsciously tightened her grip on the bracelet she was holding. The crystals clinked against each other as she clenched her fists.
If she were to be honest, she didn’t like any of the gifts Dustin had gotten her. What she truly wanted was to leave the villa and return to Zachary.
“If only Zachary were here,” she thought to herself.
She was starting to miss him. She wondered if he was frantically looking for her or if he’d gotten any leads on her whereabouts.
Once she finally managed to return home, she’d definitely choose to stay put. If she had to venture outside, she’d make sure to tie Zachary to herself so he could be with her at all times.
This was the first time she’d ever had an uneventful birthday after she’d met Zachary.
After having some cake, Melanie returned to her bedroom. She stared at the star–shaped decoration on her vanity table and started to feel slightly upset.
They’d already agreed on the signal they would use to locate each other if they ever got separated, and it had already been days since she’d been taken to the villa. Why hadn’t he come to get her?
She sighed as the thought crossed her mind. Then, she decided to let the matter go.
The Carter family had spent the last few years focusing on business ventures overseas, while the Hart Group was an extremely dominant company in the domestic market. So, the Hart family’s influence was undoubtedly stronger than the Carters ‘ in Wystoria.
Ultimately, she decided to wait for a while longer. However, if Zachary didn’t come to get her before their wedding day, she’d give him a piece of her mind once she returned home.
Initially, Melanie thought that Dustin was only keeping her in the villa so he could try and change her mind. To her surprise, he actually had bigger plans.
One week before her wedding day, he suddenly blindfolded her before leading her somewhere else. Once he took off the blindfold, she found that her surroundings had been elaborately decorated.
She saw white roses arranged in the shape of a heart. A small distance away, the words “marry me” were spelled out with moth orchids.
Standing before her was Dustin, dressed in a neat, black suit.
Every single strand of his hair looked as though it had been meticulously styled. It clearly showed how much attention he’d put into every little detail.
Harry and the rest of Dustin’s close friends were standing around them.
The smile on Harry’s face looked incredibly stiff. When he met Melanie’s gaze, he looked slightly guilty.
Dustin, who was also surrounded by the group of men, got down on one knee. When he lifted his head to look at her, he looked extremely nervous.
“I love you, Mel. Could you give me a chance to take care of you and spend the rest of my life with you?” he asked.
After he popped the question, he felt as though time had come to a standstill. Eagerly waiting for her to answer, he was thinking about two possible outcomes when his proposal was interrupted by a sudden commotion.
He frowned in annoyance and got to his feet. Before he could ask about what was going on, he saw Zachary pushing past his housekeepers and marching toward them with a group of policemen.
“Police! Freeze!”
“Melanie!”
After being locked in Dustin’s villa for an entire week, Melanie finally heard the voice she’d been waiting to hear.
She turned around the minute Zachary called out to her. She instinctively began to walk toward him, but Dustin reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could take another step.
“Can you please stay, Mel?”
The moment Dustin saw Zachary, he realized that his time with Melanie was coming to an end. However, when he saw her get up to leave without a shred of hesitation, his heart couldn’t help but ache.
Upon hearing Dustin’s hoarse voice, Melanie turned around and glanced at his hand.
Dustin’s hand was tightly wrapped around her wrist. On top of that, there was even a ring on his finger. It matched the one he gave her when she’d first arrived at the villa.
As she stayed silent, both parties began to feel anxious. Dustin wasn’t the only one who was afraid that she wouldn’t choose him -Zachary was afraid, too.
Zachary was also scared. He was worried that Melanie would end up choosing her first love over him.
Fortunately, after a brief pause, she began to pry Dustin’s fingers off of her one by one.
“No, Dustin. You need to move on. If you continue to dwell on the past, you’ll miss out on a lot more than you already have,” said Melanie.
