Chapter 13 The Newly Weds
Clarence had such an inflated opinion of himself. Honestly, I had stopped wanting to be with him a long time ago.
His wedding to Ivana was a lavish affair. They even sent me an invitation, but I didn’t go.
However, Ansel did. Afterward, he couldn’t stop ranting. “You wouldn’t believe what your ex pulled. And Ivana? She’s the real shocker.”
It turned out Ivana’s entire extended family from a small rural town had shown up at the wedding. Clarence, in fact, had never intended for them to be there at all. They were from completely different worlds, after all.
He wanted the event to make an impression, so he had invited a long list of business associates.
Ivana’s family, on the other hand, came from the countryside. Clarence didn’t exactly look down on them, but he knew things could get awkward. Thus, before the wedding, he’d talked to Ivana about it.
At the time, she had promised, “My parents won’t bring the rest of the family. I’ve already told them we’ll throw a separate reception back home.”
Clarence had been perfectly happy with the arrangement, and he figured the Todds would be, too.
But to his horror, the entire Todd family showed up at the venue–not just Ivana’s parents but a busload of her relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. Todd led the way as they marched into the hall.
“Come on in, everyone! This is our daughter’s big day. Please enjoy yourselves!” Mr. Rodd directed.
Mrs. Todd added cheerfully, “Go ahead and grab a seat inside!”
By the time Ivana and Clarence realized what was happening, it was already too late. Her relatives had flooded the place.
The invited guess Dafely had a moment to react before they were being shoved aside. Being civilized, they didn’t stand a chance against the kind of crowd the Todds showed up with. They simply stood there, stunned, while Ivana’s relatives began helping themselves.”
The seafood platter had barely touched the table before it was gone.
At first, when Ansel told me all this, I didn’t think much of it. I figured the Todds just didn’t care about formalities, and maybe they were a little rough around the edges.
But then, Ansel showed me the video. After watching it, I was speechless. Didn’t the Kirks do any background checks?
Back when Clarence and I got engaged, my family followed every protocol. The Kirks had a long list of requests, and they dictated every single detail of the wedding.
My parents were respected figures in their own right, yet they barely got a word in. Clarence had final say on everything, right down to the flower arrangements. Now, after what the Todds had pulled, I was sure Clarence would blow up at Ivana.
In the video, her relatives acted like they hadn’t eaten in days, grabbing food with their bare hands. Worse, some even started packing up leftovers before the meal had officially begun.
The wedding unraveled into chaos before it could even properly start.
Then, Ansel showed me another clip. This time, Clarence was confronting Ivana. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You wanted your family to humiliate me, right?”
“Honey, I swear I had no idea my parents would bring everyone,” Ivana replied, looking all innocent,
But Clarence was livid. At that moment, he didn’t care about any of it and lashed out at her on the spot.
To my surprise, Mr. and Mrs. Todd stormed over when they caught the sharpness in his tone. Without warning, Mrs. Todd slapped Clarence and shouted, “You bastard! How dare you talk to my daughter like that?
“You should consider yourself lucky she even agreed to marry you. If your family weren’t wealthy, she never would have chosen you!”
Every word she spat stripped Clarence of whatever little pride he had left.
His cheek was already red and swelling when he turned to Ivana. “So you’re just going to stand there and let her hit me?”
“Clary, if you hadn’t yelled at me, my mom wouldn’t have gotten upset,” said Ivana.
