“Professor Lukyn saw you the last time you went to the City Hall,”
Vincent said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, his tone sharp and distant.
“Juliana will be at the alumni gathering tonight. Come with me and clear things up.”
That’s when Alice remembered how, in her previous life, she got too excited during the alumni gathering and shared a photo of their marriage certificate with her classmates.
That night ended with Juliana throwing a tantrum in front of Vincent.
Now, in this life, even though she hadn’t done anything, she still couldn’t avoid the same mess.
She replied calmly, “Alright.
“I’ll explain everything.”
The black Maybach stopped in front of a five–star hotel. Without saying a word, Vincent grabbed her wrist and hurried her toward the banquet hall.
Suddenly, as they passed a corner, he pushed her against the wall and looked at her with warning in his eyes.
“Say you were helping your cousin with some documents. If you say anything else…”
“I get it,” Alice cut him off, clearly uninterested in hearing more.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone think we’re married.”
After all, it was Juliana’s name written clearly on that marriage certificate. She was just returning it to its rightful owner.
Once he heard her promise, Vincent released her and walked ahead into the banquet hall.
He said, “Juliana is right over there, so go talk to the others first.”
As soon as she opened the doors to the golden banquet hall, loud voices and shouts instantly filled the air around her.
Alice!”
Her old college class representative was the first to rush up to her.
“The group chat is blowing up–people are saying you and Vincent were seen at the City Hall!”
“We’ve all heard the rumors!” the arts representative said, eagerly waving her phone. “You really kept it a secret from us!”
A group of seven or eight girls quickly circled around her, their voices excited. “Hey, bride–to–be! Come on, spill it! When’s the wedding?”
Alice’s eyes drifted toward Vincent, who wasn’t far away.
She saw him carefully draping a coat over Juliana’s shoulders, while Juliana tightly gripped the edge of his sleeve with her pale fingers.
“That’s not true!” Alice suddenly raised her voice, loud enough for Vincent to hear clearly.
“I only went there to drop off my cousin’s ID card. It wasn’t me getting married.”
“Drop off your cousin’s ID? Come on, who would believe that?”
One of Alice’s old college roommates wrapped an arm around her
Chapter 3
shoulder.
“Back in junior year, you had a high fever and still brought Vincent an umbrella in the rain. You ended up in the hospital with pneumonia for a week.”
“And during graduation, you drank to stop him from drinking too much. and landed in the emergency room with alcohol poisoning…”
Alice faintly remembered the time she almost died from alcohol poisoning, but what stuck with her the most was hearing Vincent say to Juliana through the hospital window, “See? This is what happens when you insist on pestering me.”
But now, she was only 22, just six months out of college, and she still had her whole future ahead of her. Since life had given her a second chance, she had no interest in getting involved with Vincent ever again. She reached into her bag, pulled out the single status affidavit she had brought along, and showed everyone the part that clearly said “single” under the statement. Once they saw it, they finally believed she wasn’t married. A few people looked surprised. After reading it, the arts representative suddenly said, “Wait… then who did Vincent go to the City Hall with?”
“Probably Juliana!” someone nearby jumped in right away, excitedly.
“Remember how at the college’s opening ceremony, he said he’d never marry anyone else but her?”
“But Juliana’s family…” the class representative muttered, lowering his
voice.
“Her dad took his own life last year because of gambling, and her mom’s still in a psychiatric hospital. There’s no way the Seibert family would accept that…”
“You don’t get it!” Vincent’s roommate cut in quickly, clearly worked up.
Chapter 3
“Vincent’s been running the Seibert Group for a while now!
“Last year, he even froze the family investment fund just for Juliana- forced Sir Seibert to personally get her mom out of the psychiatric hospital for treatment!”
Alice stood there listening to all of this, and suddenly, she found the whole situation laughable.
Everyone else had seen the truth clearly, but she was the only one who naively believed that the guy who broke her heart would ever come back to her.
Just then, Vincent showed up with Juliana by his side. Juliana glanced around, puzzled by what was going on.
“Propose? What do you mean, propose?”
A sudden thought seemed to hit her, and her heart started beating faster. She quickly turned toward Vincent, her eyes full of hope.
“Vincent… are you about to propose to me?”
Vincent almost said “no,” but when he saw the hope on Juliana’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
He was aware that she had always dreamed of him proposing, but the truth was, he had already legally married Alice. There was no way he could become Juliana’s husband now.
He wanted her to keep living and smiling, but he didn’t want to be the reason behind her crushed hopes.
After thinking for a moment, he glanced over at Alice, then turned back and gave a slight nod.
“Yes, Juliana… I do want to propose to you.”