A Wedding That Never Was Chapter 09
The words struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving Alexander’s mind in utter chaos: “Gone? But today is our wedding…”
“Didn’t you two say you were canceling the wedding over a month ago?”
He half-believed he was hallucinating; otherwise, how could the wedding have been canceled a month ago?
He rushed home in a panic. Arthur was drinking tea and looked surprised to see his disheveled state.
Alexander stood rigid, his breathing ragged: “Grandpa, what exactly happened? Where did Olivia go?”
Arthur took a sip of tea and said mildly, “Didn’t Olivia tell you?”
“Grandpa! Just tell me!” Alexander’s voice trembled, cracking at the edges.
“A month ago, on the day she was discharged from the hospital, she came to me. She said that marrying you would only hold both of you back and cause mutual torment. She wanted to cancel the wedding and leave with her father… I figured the debts of the previous generation shouldn’t bind you two together, so I agreed. I didn’t expect that the child never even told you…”
Hearing this, he stumbled and fell to the floor, gripping his hair tightly with both hands, his mind a swirling mess.
His indiscretion with Chloe happened after she had already proposed canceling the engagement. He couldn’t think of a single reason why she would insist on calling off the wedding. Was it really because she didn’t love him?
But if that were true, why did his insides ache with such agonizing pain?
Arthur looked at his curled-up figure and suddenly spoke: “Martha, go fetch the letter Olivia left behind.”
The envelope was placed in front of Alexander. He stared at it in a daze.
“Olivia asked me to pass this on before she left. She said to give it to you when you came asking.”
With trembling hands, he tore open the letter. The paper bore the smudged traces of tears, yet the handwriting remained as sharp as ever:
Alexander, you’ve probably always felt that my father and I were just leeches clinging to you by exploiting a past favor.
Actually, I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time: my father saving Grandpa was never about expecting anything in return.
You didn’t need to scheme and find an occultist to trick me into believing I had a cursed fate, nor did you need to rack your brains orchestrating eight accidents to delay the wedding. If you had just said you fell in love with someone else, I would have left immediately.
I’m sorry for trapping you for so many years.
Now, I am setting you free, and letting myself go too.
I wish you peace and happiness for the rest of your life.
Alexander stared at the letter, his head dizzy and throbbing as if it were about to explode.
Olivia had stepped aside. He was free. He could go and ask to marry Chloe now—this was literally the scenario he had dreamed of countless times.
But why did his heart ache so dully, as if it had been pierced by a nail?
Arthur watched him sit in a stupor for a long time before snatching the letter from his hands.
After reading its contents, he flew into a violent rage and slapped Alexander hard across the face.
“You are an absolute monster!”
He knew all about the eight disasters Olivia had suffered. Each time the wedding was delayed, it left Olivia battered and bruised. He cherished her like his own flesh and blood, and his heart bled for her.
Never in a million years did he expect that his own biological grandson was the one behind it all!
He was slapped to the floor, his ears ringing endlessly as his grandfather’s furious roar echoed through the hall: “No wonder Olivia was so determined to leave. So this was all your doing, you monster! Olivia’s father saved me of his own free will, and the arranged childhood marriage was my idea. If you were unhappy, you should have come to me. Why stoop to such despicable tactics!”
Kneeling on the floor, he felt his grandfather’s scolding was entirely justified; he was worse than an animal!
“Get out of my sight and kneel in the family chapel! Don’t you dare get up without my permission!” Arthur barked sternly.
Alexander made no argument. He knelt rigidly in the center of the family chapel, staring at the memorial plaques, his mind a tangled mess.
He despised his own vile actions, but back then it was as if he had lost his mind, pushing Olivia away time and time again while deluding himself that it would be the last.
It wasn’t until she truly vanished from his world that panic set in, and he finally understood what it meant to be consumed by agonizing regret.
Surging emotions nearly swallowed him whole. He used to lie to himself that all he felt for her was a sense of duty, but now he realized that duty had long been intertwined with a love he hadn’t dared to face.
Time seemed to rewind as countless fragmented memories flooded his mind.
As a child, she would trail behind him, sweetly calling him her big brother; as she grew older, she would save up her allowance just to buy him birthday gifts.
When she first came to the Sterling family, she cried every day over the loss of her father, and he had racked his brain trying to make her smile—a habit that had unknowingly lasted for over a decade.
His heart felt as though it were being crushed in an iron vice, a dull ache spreading through his veins.
Why did it hurt so much just to think of her?
Could it be that from the very beginning, she was the one he truly loved?
He tried to imagine it: if Chloe were to marry someone else, he would probably just offer his blessings from afar; but if it were Olivia… just the thought of it made his chest hurt so much he couldn’t breathe.
The answer was glaringly obvious. He had to get her back.
Alexander abruptly shot to his feet and bolted for the doors of the family chapel, only to be forcefully blocked by the bodyguards.
When he was thrown back into the family chapel, Arthur stood before him, his eyes as cold as ice: “Are you trying to rebel?”
He looked up at his grandfather with bloodshot eyes, his voice trembling: “Grandpa, I was wrong. Let me go find her. I need to make amends, please.”
Arthur stared at him for a long time. Seeing the raw sincerity in his eyes, he finally relented.
“Alexander.” Arthur called out, stopping him in his tracks. “When you find her, you must respect Olivia’s wishes. You cannot force her.”
His heart twisted in agony, but he knew that if he didn’t agree, his grandfather wouldn’t let him leave.
In the end, he gave a stiff, reluctant nod.
