Seven Failed Weddings, and He Still Let Her Ruin My Marriage Shoes Chapter 07

Seven Failed Weddings, and He Still Let Her Ruin My Marriage Shoes Chapter 07

Tessa stared at him, looking wounded.

“I’ve been by your side all these years. Did you really never feel anything for me?”

Nolan cut her off with a frigid stare.

“Never. The only woman I have ever loved, from day one, is Elara. I was only kind to you because I pitied you; that’s it. Stop harboring these delusions, or I will make you regret it.”

After saying that, he turned and left, ignoring Tessa’s crying.

He boarded the plane at the last possible minute.

He had to bring Elara back as soon as he could.

—

When Elara Bennett got off the plane, a light rain was falling.

She stood in an unfamiliar place, unsure where to go next, when an umbrella suddenly opened above her head.

She turned and found herself looking into a pair of deep, steady eyes.

Her eyes widened slightly, and she said uncertainly, “Callum Hayes?”

I was stunned.

The man chosen for my family alliance was actually my childhood friend?

The boy majored in a different department back in college?

Callum offered a warm, gentle smile.

“I didn’t expect you to remember me after all these years.”

The boyish softness I remembered from our college days was entirely gone, replaced by a sharp, mature steadiness, but those eyes were unmistakable.

“I really didn’t expect my marriage alliance match to be you,” I said as I got into Callum’s car, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice.

Callum smiled calmly. “It’s surprising to you. But for me, I waited seven years.”

His sudden honesty made heat rush to my cheeks.

So during the seven years I had been waiting for Nolan to marry me, someone else had been waiting for me?

“So… the ten pairs of bridal boots. Did you make them yourself?”

I looked at Callum and saw that the tips of his ears had turned visibly red.

He offered a sheepish nod, clearing his throat nervously.

“I’m swamped with corporate work most days, and I’m terrible at embroidery, so the designs are a bit basic. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course I don’t,” I blurted out.

At the same time, I finally understood why my alliance match knew our tradition.

Callum’s grandmother’s house was not far from mine.

When Callum was in elementary school, he would stay with her during summer and winter breaks every year.

That was how we got to know each other and became close friends.

I had told him about this tradition when we were children.

We talked the whole way there, drifting from one memory to another.

The suffocating dread of being exiled to a strange city had vanished entirely by the time we reached his home.

I had met Callum’s parents once when I was little.

They were still the way I remembered them, with warm smiles on their faces when they saw me.

Mrs. Hayes, especially, took out a family heirloom bracelet the moment she saw me and slipped it onto my wrist.

“Elara, this bracelet has been passed down through generations of the Hayes family. From now on, I’m leaving Callum in your hands.”

“You and Callum should support each other. If he ever mistreats you, you come straight to me. I’ll handle him.”

Warmth flowed through my chest.

Ever since my mother passed away, it had been a long time since anyone had said they would stand up for me.

I had once placed that kind of hope in Mrs. Whitaker.

But she had never liked me.

When she was hospitalized, she expected me to come take care of

her.

Once she was discharged and back home, she complained that I was annoying and told me to stop showing up so often.

Callum gave his mother a dissatisfied look.

“Mom, Elara is the woman I waited years to marry. How could I ever mistreat her?”