Chapter 10
Leon, Zane, and Steve went back home after arranging Giselle and Aaron’s accommodation.
The three of them were just about to leave home to visit Giselle at the hospital early the next morning when they each received the parcel that Cheryl had mailed to
them.
Leon stared at the sapphire bracelet inside his box. Wait, did Cheryl not choose him after all?
Why not? Didn’t Cheryl like him the most?
Cheryl was the one who always loved running after him when they were younger. She even had a specific pet name for him back then–Lennie. She often told him that she was going to marry him when they both grew up.
So, who did she choose instead? Zane or Steve?
The same situation was happening simultaneously at the Thomsons and the Laurents.
Zane and Steve each stared at the marriage token inside the box they held in their hands, feeling a little jealous. How much better was Leon compared to them both, anyway? How were they any inferior to him?
Like clockwork, they all went to each other’s homes but happened to miss each other.
In the end, they messaged their chat group and agreed to meet at the private dining room where they usually gathered. It was only then that they finally met up with one another.
When Zane an
Leon was already waiting inside. They looked at the marriage tokens in each other’s hands and thought that Steve was the chosen one after all.
Both of them remained silent.
When Steve arrived, however, he stared at Leon and Zane in confusion before taking out his marriage token and presenting it to them.
“This is the ruby brooch passed down from generations in my family. Cheryl returned it to me. So, which of you was chosen?”
Leon and Zane were even more confused when they saw the brooch in Steve’s hands. They then produced their own family heirlooms and marriage tokens.
“Cheryl returned
my token.”
“Mine, too.”
The three of them descended into silence.
“Who else would she have chosen if it’s not the three of us?” Steve asked, finally speaking up.
“There are only four prominent families in Southstead, and that’s us. Nobody else has the qualifications to marry her.”
“Maybe Cheryl’s just sulking. She probably wants us to go and coax her or something,” Zane said, trying to convince himself and the others.
“Yes. That has to be the case.”
“It has to be.”
The three of them were still adequately confused, coming up with different excuses to try and justify the situation.
Suddenly, someone’s phone started ringing loudly, interrupting them mid–thought.
When Leon saw that it was Giselle calling him, he suddenly didn’t feel like answering the phone, though he just couldn’t explain why.
He let the phone ring until Giselle gave up. Subsequently, Zane’s and Steve’s phones also started ringing.
Similarly, neither Zane nor Steve felt like answering the phone. It wasn’t until Leon’s phone rang again for the second time that Zane and Steve urged him to answer the call.
“Answer it. What if something’s go?” they said in unison.
Leon finally answered the call
turned on the loudspeaker.
“Hello, Gigi? What’s up?”
“Leon, are Zane and Steve with you?”
“Yes. You’re on loudspeaker now, by the
They
n hear you,” Leon said. He could tell that Giselle sounded delighted on the phone.
“Oh, Leon, Zane, Steve, I’m so touched! I can’t believe that you all were willing to go against your families‘ wishes to reject Cheryl’s marriage alliance!”
The trio looked at each other in deep puzzlement. Even if they were unwilling to go through with the wedding, they had never rejected it outright. Realizing that something fishy was going on, they interrupted Giselle’s excited babble and asked, “What happened exactly, Giselle?”
“Huh?”
Now, it was Giselle’s turn to get confused. She responded, “Didn’t the three of you reject Chery!? Isn’t that why she decided to marry the bastard from the Sterling family in Northdale?”
“What?”
Leon, Zane, and Steve were shocked when they heard that.
Cheryl was marrying into the Sterling family in Northdale? When and how? Why didn’t any of them know about it?
They were all heirs to wealthy and successful families–of course, they had heard about the Sterling family and their business before.
1
The ‘bastard” was Dylan Sterling. While the trio couldn’t deny that Dylan had a lot of potential, they also knew that children born out of wedlock were taboo to affluent families like theirs.
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Chapter 10
So, how did a bastard child like Dylan Sterling deserve to marry Cheryl Jenner? Was Cheryl seriously sabotaging herself just to get back at them?
