His Tardiness, Her New Marriage Chapter 01

His Tardiness, Her New Marriage Chapter 01

The day before my wedding, I found a marriage certificate in a drawer.

It belonged to Blake Harrington and his friend, Sloane.

I immediately took a picture and sent it to him. “Explain.”

I thought it was just a prank. Instead, a long voice message came back instantly. It was Sloane’s voice.

“Audrey, so sorry about this! We went a little crazy in Vegas yesterday. Blake and I got blackout drunk, and a bunch of people dragged us down to City Hall to sign the papers.”

“Don’t worry. As soon as the lawyers are done with the annulment process, probably in a month, we’ll get it taken care of.”

“I promise I’ll give him back to you, in one piece.”

I was silent for two seconds.

Then I blocked her number.

Three hours later, Blake came back to the apartment. I was just dragging my suitcase downstairs.

He glanced at the marriage certificate on the table, pressing the bridge of his nose.

“It was a stupid mistake. She was drunk and being an idiot. Are you seriously going to make a big deal out of this?”

“You’ve waited six years for this wedding. You can’t even wait a few weeks for an annulment?”

I smiled faintly, not denying it. “That’s right. I can’t wait anymore.”

…

Blake froze for a second.

He instinctively reached out to stop me. “Audrey, don’t be ridiculous.”

“The invitations have all been sent. If you leave now, how are our families supposed to handle this?”

I pushed his hand away and kept walking toward the door.

His voice finally dropped, turning cold.

“You’re going to throw away six years over a stupid piece of paper signed by a couple of drunks?”

I stopped and turned to look at him.

“Six years?”

“Blake, when you and she signed that paper, did you think about our six years?”

He was speechless.

He finally managed to squeeze out an excuse.

“Those guys in Vegas just kept pouring us drinks. Sloane was trying to block for me, and she ended up drinking a ton herself—she could barely even stand by the end.”

“Everyone was just egging us on… by the time I realized what was happening, we were already at City Hall.”

He paused, looking up, his usual calm composure returning. “It was a dumb, drunken mistake. We’ll just have it annulled.”

I looked at his nonchalant face and lost all desire to argue.

A dumb mistake?

If marriage could be dismissed as a dumb mistake, what in the world was supposed to be taken seriously?

Just as I turned away, his phone rang.

He glanced at it. “It’s Sloane. She knows she screwed up. She wants to apologize to you…”

I ignored him and pulled the door open.

But I never expected Sloane to be standing right outside.

She had a sharp, short haircut.

She was wearing a leather jacket, dangling the keys to a Porsche in her hand.

“Audrey, are you really leaving?”

I tried to walk around her with my suitcase.

Sloane clicked her tongue and snatched the handle of my luggage.

“Oh, come on. Fine, I apologize—happy now?”

“I was the one who talked him into signing it. I was the one who got him drunk. If you’re pissed, take it out on me. Stop making things difficult for Blake.”

Blake walked out from behind me.

His brow was furrowed. “Sloane, be nice to Audrey. Give her the suitcase back.”

Sloane not only refused, she pulled the suitcase further behind her.

“If I give it back, who are you going to exchange rings with tomorrow? The air?”

She turned her head, her eyes locking onto me.

“Audrey, I’m not like you. I don’t spend all day chasing after a man, with no career of my own.”

“But even I know that for a guy like Blake, networking events, charity galas, and the golf club are just part of his daily life.”

She took a step closer, her voice dripping with an undisguised sense of superiority.

“Blake and I have known each other since kindergarten. When he got into fights, I was the first one there to have his back. You were god-knows-where back then.”

“We have decades of friendship. So what if we got drunk in Vegas and did something stupid?”

She scoffed, looking me up and down.

“You’re really going to move out over something this small? Aren’t you overreacting? Grow up, will you?”

I met her condescending gaze and spoke calmly.

“Since you’re so mature, and so considerate of him.”

“Then you can go to the wedding tomorrow.”

“It’s perfect. You can be the main character, and you won’t even have to annul the Vegas certificate.”