“This girl Rhea, really! Letting you stand out in the rain like that. I’ll have a serious word with her later!”
“Mom?” I asked, confused.
Rhea glanced away awkwardly, clearing her throat twice. “I’ll go find you some clean clothes.”
After she left, Auntie Fiora smiled warmly as she handed me the ginger soup. “Rhea already told us, you two are getting married soon, so you might as well call me Mom.”
“Oh, I’ve waited for this day for so long. We’ll stick to the date your father picked before he passed. Nothing will change it.”
The date my father had chosen was next month.
It had originally been set for my wedding to Dione.
The ginger soup seeped warmth through my body. At that moment, I couldn’t stop the sting in my eyes.
The next day, Rhea arrived with everything we’d need for the wedding and made me go through each item carefully.
At first, I thought with such short notice, there wouldn’t be enough time to prepare, and maybe she’d have to settle for the old plan we had made before.
But to my surprise, Rhea had already prepared everything. There wasn’t a single thing left for me to worry about.
In wealthy families, marriages rarely came down to personal choice.
This was a political alliance, yet she carried it with such earnest care.
As for Dione, we had dated for five years, but if I hadn’t pushed for marriage, she never would have wanted it.
Every tiny detail of that wedding had been planned and managed by me alone.
Love or no love, the contrast couldn’t have been clearer.
Thinking about that, I called the original wedding planner and canceled the entire event.
No sooner had I done that than I got a call from Dione’s father.
“Atticus, has your brain completely melted? Throwing a tantrum one moment and canceling the wedding the next?”
“What on earth did Dione do to rile you up now? Can’t you just tolerate her a little and coax her? You’re a spoiled young master with a bad temper, only our Dione would marry someone like you.”
No one in the Silva family ever really liked me.
I used to think her mother was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, that deep down she cared.
That was until I heard what Dione said at the postpartum center.
Thinking of that, I replied calmly, “Uncle, Dione and I have broken up. Naturally, the wedding should be canceled.”
“Broken up? What did you do to upset her this time? Then apologize! You’re a man, can’t even soothe your own fiancée? In the future—”
I didn’t want to hear any more of his nagging and hung up the phone.
The next day, I went with Rhea to a bridal shop to try on wedding outfits.
Halfway through, she got a call for a video meeting and told me to go ahead and try things on first.
I slipped into the suit Rhea had specially flown in from Italy.
Standing before the mirror, I smiled.
A sound came from behind me. I turned with a grin and asked, “Do I look good?”
A flicker of surprise flashed in Dione’s eyes.
I forced my smile to fade, and that’s when I saw Rupert step out of another changing room.
Dione’s face darkened instantly. She stepped forward and yanked my tie off in one sharp tug.
“Oh really? You said you weren’t getting married, yet here you are sneaking off to try on wedding clothes. Playing hard to get, huh?”
Her grip was rough, the tie chafing my neck red. I frowned and let out a sharp, pained sound.
“Dione, can you stop flattering yourself for once?”
Rupert looked offended and added fuel to the fire.
“Brother Atticus, I never planned to marry Dione. I just wanted a wedding photo for keepsake.”
Dione laughed coldly. “Why bother explaining to a guy like this? Atticus, I thought you were just fussy, but I gave in again and again because I loved you. I never imagined you could be so selfish, canceling our wedding like it was nothing.”
“Fine! If you won’t marry me, then forget it!”
After saying that, she kicked my suit, trying to shove me out of the shop.
Just as the bodyguards moved to pin me down and pull off my trousers in front of everyone, Rhea arrived just in time, accompanied by her own guards, who quickly restrained Dione.
“My husband is trying on a suit, and you, a so-called ex-wife who should’ve disappeared long ago, really know how to make a scene.”
