He Pushed Me to Marry an Old Man, Then Cried When I Said Yes Chapter 02

He Pushed Me to Marry an Old Man, Then Cried When I Said Yes Chapter 02

Vivian slipped into my bridal shoes, satisfaction written all over her face.

“Ethan, these fit me perfectly, like they were made just for me.” She smiled with fake, sugary sweetness. “Where did you buy them?”

Ethan had made those shoes himself.

When he was twenty, he had crocheted them stitch by stitch with cotton thread and a crochet hook.

He pricked his fingers countless times making them.

But he had said, “Harper, it doesn’t hurt. When we get married one day, you’ll wear these shoes. I’m going to make you a pair of bridal shoes no one else in the world has.”

He had said, “Harper, I want to give you the best of everything.”

Back then, Ethan really had been good to me.

He could not bear to see me suffer even the slightest grievance. If he could, he would have given me the whole world.

But after Vivian appeared, everything changed.

By the time I came back to myself, Ethan had already put the plain canvas flats on my feet.

The rough fabric scraped against my skin, making my feet ache.

The bridesmaids did not notice the tension between us. They all started chanting, “Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Ethan couldn’t take all the teasing and leaned in to kiss me.

But at that exact moment, Vivian stumbled and fell right into his arms.

She tugged Ethan forward.

Their lips met with perfect timing.

In an instant, the entire room went silent.

Claire was furious. “Vivian, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry. I just lost my balance…”

“You could have fallen anywhere. Why did you have to fall into the groom’s arms?”

“Enough. Stop arguing.” Ethan helped Vivian up, his expression darkening. “Vivian twisted her ankle today. It’s normal that she couldn’t keep her balance.”

“Besides,” he said, looking at Claire with a cold, distant tone, “is this really worth getting angry over?”

“This isn’t nothing—”

Claire was so angry she looked ready to curse him out, but I stopped her.

Over the past two years, Ethan had called far too many things “nothing.”

Last year, Vivian stole the proposal I had spent three months working on, and he said it was nothing. Six months ago, Vivian third-wheeled our anniversary dinner, and he said it was nothing. Last month, Vivian fed something fatal to the cat I had raised for six years, and he still said it was nothing.

Every time, Ethan told me not to hold it against Vivian.

This time, I truly had no reason to argue anymore.

As the standoff dragged on, Ethan’s mother, Mrs. Shaw, walked in with a warm cinnamon roll on a small plate.

“Harper, I finally get to see you all grown up and getting married.”

Mrs. Shaw held a bite of the cinnamon roll to my lips. “Here. Eat it while it’s warm. Start your marriage off sweet.”

Looking at the bite in front of me, I went still.

I had lost my parents when I was young. For more than ten years, the Shaw family had taken me in and treated me like one of their own.

But now, the two people who were the closest thing to family I had left were working together to throw me to the wolves.

I knew exactly what swallowing that bite meant.

Still, I opened my mouth and swallowed it.

Someone called out, “It’s time. The limo’s waiting.”

Ethan lifted me onto his back and carried me downstairs step by step.