“I’ll sit with Eric in the second car,” Lily Harper said.
I thought I had misheard.
Staring at Eric Collins in shock, I asked, “So the groom today is… this dog?”
Eric nodded impatiently.
I cried out in anguish, “What about you? Aren’t you the one I’m supposed to marry?”
Eric replied, “Lily read my fortune with Tarot cards. If I go through with the ceremony, it’ll bring me misfortune. So the dog will take my place.”
“I’ve raised this dog since I was a child—he’s like family. What’s wrong with letting him be my stand-in?”
“Sophia, you’re usually so understanding. Can’t you just make a little sacrifice for me?”
I nearly fainted from anger. “Eric! So it’s because I’m understanding that you think you can bully me like this?”
“What kind of bride marries a dog? Is there such a thing anywhere in the world?”
“You know how much I’ve been looking forward to this wedding. You know how much I love you.”
“How can you bear to make me the laughingstock of everyone?”
The more I spoke, the more it broke me, until I covered my face and sobbed.
Lily piped up cautiously, “Sophia, a wedding is just a formality. Why make Eric risk misfortune just for something that doesn’t really matter?”
“Would you rather he suffer harm, just to satisfy your vanity?”
Hearing this, Eric’s eyes grew even colder as he looked at me. “Sophia Bennett, do you even love me?”
I lifted my tear-streaked face and stared at him. “Do you love me? If you did, would you humiliate me like this?”
At that moment, Eric’s phone rang.
On the other end was Margaret Collins, his mother.
“Why aren’t you back yet? The guests are getting restless,” she barked.
Eric answered, “Sophia refuses to come.”
Margaret exploded, “Put her on the phone!”
I took the call, but before I could say anything, she was already shouting:
“Sophia, where did you pick up this nonsense? The limousine is here and you’re throwing a tantrum? Trying to raise your price, are you?”
“Let me tell you, the Collins family may be wealthy, but we’re not fools. If you don’t want to marry, there are plenty of women lining up to take your place.”
I quickly tried to explain, “No, it’s not that! Eric and Lily brought a dog and want me to go through the ceremony with it.”
Margaret was a very traditional woman, so I thought she’d stop Eric. But to my disbelief, she said lightly, “I already knew.”
“Lily’s reading showed that Eric would face misfortune if he held the wedding. Better safe than sorry—let the dog do it.”
“You’re marrying my son, so you should put his well-being first. Stop making trouble out of nothing.”
Then she hung up.
I stood there, stunned.
Eric sneered. “Still not getting in the car?”
I looked at the dog inside and shook my head.
“Forget it then,” Eric said coldly.
He took Lily’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Lily asked softly, her voice brimming with joy, “Eric, are you not holding the ceremony anymore?”
Eric replied indifferently, “Of course it will be held. If Sophia wants to throw a fit, she can take a cab to the venue herself.”
“But it looks like she doesn’t want to get married anymore,” Lily said.
Eric glanced at me through the window and mocked, “Not marry? She wouldn’t dare. Give her some time—she’ll swallow her pride and come crawling over.”
With that, the wedding convoy drove away.
Tears fell silently from my eyes.
Everyone assumed I couldn’t bear to lose this wedding.
Eric thought so too.
