Chapter 5
Back in the day, I’d gone shopping with a friend, but she’d had to leave halfway through to attend to something. As I’d walked past a street without any street lamps, a group of thugs had stopped me.
Just as I thought my life was about to be ruined, a man whose face I couldn’t see clearly saved me. He’d dropped me off at home, and I’d stopped him before he could leave. “Thank you so much. Can I know your name so my family knows who to thank?”
He’d had his back to me as he’d said, “My last name is Stone, and my name is Skyl—”
Mom had interrupted him with a screech, saying, “Rory! You’re finally back, Rory! You scared the hell out of me!”
That was when love had begun without warning. It took root in my heart and sprouted into a towering tree.
From that day on, I started asking around about my savior and found out he was Tyler, the heir of the Stone family. His parents doted on him, and he was an only child.
I started pursuing him. He didn’t seem to like me much, but he also didn’t hate me.
Things changed when one day, he mentioned he liked a certain type of pastry from a pumpkin cake. I’d bought them and waited outside his house for him, getting caught in the rain in the process. I’d started burning up as soon as I’d gotten home.
Dad thought I was suffering for love and had swallowed his pride to ask the Stone family to get Tyler to marry me. Mary didn’t hate me, and Tyler was willing to do it.
Who would’ve known that he would abandon me on our wedding day?
People made fun of Dad whenever he left the house, and he was forced to bear all sorts of insults because of me. I couldn’t let him and the rest of my family become laughingstocks because of what had happened to me. Naturally, I was willing to marry Skyler if he was willing to have me.
Tyler’s lips trembled as he asked me, “You have a reason for doing this, don’t you, Rory? Did he force you into this? Is this part of a deal?”
I’d heard of Skyler even before marrying Tyler–he was the best and most handsome student in the school next to ours. He’d taken the world by storm even before graduating.
It was only after marrying Skyler that I realized he wasn’t as cold and aloof as the rumors made him out to be. He was very gentle to me. I slowly fell in love with him, and we had Calvin.
Skyler held Calvin and me as he looked at Tyler icily. “Have you had enough of this? Get out, then.”
Skyler now called the shots in the Stone family, and even Mary feared him. She hurriedly tried to pull Tyler away when she
heard that.
However, Tyler backed away. “I’m not going anywhere. Rory is my wife. How could you snatch your nephew’s wife, Uncle Skyler?”
It was becoming more evident that Tyler had left his brain abroad. No one but a psycho could say something like that. The news of him running away on our wedding day had made headlines, as had the news of Skyler and I getting married.
The whole world knew about it, but it seemed Tyler still refused to believe it.
I looked at him and said frostily, “Please have some self–respect, Tyler. Your Uncle Skyler and I have been married for seven years-that makes you my nephew. You might not care about your reputation, but I care about mine.
“Besides, isn’t Ms. Watson the one you want to marry? You should be more careful about what you do and say.”
Tyler gritted his teeth and sneered. “I was the one who proposed and planned the wedding. I’m the one who should’ve married you! I’m your husband!”
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He didn’t mention a word about leaving me jilted, though. Well, not that it mattered whether or not he acknowledged my marriage with Skyler.
Ruth’s face turned ashen as she listened to Tyler’s words.
I didn’t want to argue with a madman, and I was tired after everything that had happened. Skyler took Calvin and me back to our
room.
Once I handed Calvin to his nanny, Skyler wrapped his arms around me. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I just got kicked.”
That did nothing to appease him. He insisted on checking me. I had no choice but to let him do it.
Aside from my swollen cheek and a few scratches on my arm, the worst injury I had was the kick to my chest.
Skyler’s expression darkened when he saw the footprint, and he got mad at himself for not kicking Tyler a few more times.” That brat has been spoiled rotten by his parents. He doesn’t know where to draw the line!”
He got a first–aid kit and carefully tended to my wounds. When he was done, he even blew on them. I wondered where he’d learned that from.
He spoke to me like he was coaxing a child, “Be good, sweetie. They won’t hurt once I blow on them.”
I couldn’t help laughing. Then, I comforted Skyler and said, “They don’t hurt anymore.”
