My childhood sweetheart Juan Shaffer and I had been in a secret relationship for six years.

But my mother said she had chosen a suitable marriage partner for me.

I nodded obediently and agreed to the marriage.

It was because the day before, when I was dressed up and rushing to his birthday party, I accidentally overheard his conversation with his friends.

His friend said, “I heard that your first love is coming back to get married and you just watched her marry someone else?”

He sneered and said with a determined tone, “Impossible! As long as I am here, she will never be able to marry another man in her life.”

Another friend chimed in, “That's right. After all, she's been gone for six years and you've been alone for six years. Aren't you just waiting for her to come back?”

Thinking of their conversation yesterday, I looked at my mother with a faint smile and whispered, “Mom, Juan is the boss of the wedding company, why not let him take care of my wedding banquet.

“After all, we can trust people we know to do things for us.”

***

As my mother got my affirmative answer, the nervousness on her face changed in an instant.

Instead, she could not hide her joy.

"Okay, I will listen to you. I will contact Juan tomorrow and ask him to help you organize a grand wedding.”

At that point, she looked helpless and said earnestly, “I've said before that if you find a boyfriend before you are 25, we will not interfere in your marriage, but now, you are 26."

I smiled and nodded, reminding her, “I know you are all doing this for my own good. By the way, Mom, don't tell Juan who the hostess of the wedding is yet. I want to give him a surprise when the time comes.”

As my mother heard this, she looked at me with a helpless smile and said, “Okay, I will arrange this for you. Don't worry, your marriage partner was carefully selected by us and we won't let you suffer any grievances.”

At that moment, I laughed from the bottom of my heart.

“Yeah, I believe in my mother's judgment.”

Since my mother had a banquet to attend in the evening, she left after discussing business.

I stayed to enjoy the food alone.

Unexpectedly, when I finished my meal and was about to leave, I heard several familiar voices coming from the private room next door.

As soon as I looked over, I saw Juan and his friends sitting in the next box.

Next to him, there was a beautiful woman.

But I recognized it at first glance.

That was Juan’s first love.

That woman, Rosetta Kaiser, who left him abroad when his business failed and he owed a large sum of money.

In the box, Juan's handsome face was smiling and his deep gaze was fixed on the woman beside him.

She raised her hand and he understood and refilled her empty glass in time.

She glanced at the shrimps on the table and saw him, who was allergic to seafood, slowly put on gloves and peeled the shrimps for her.

Seeing that dazzling scene, my heart suddenly ached.

I love eating seafood, but after knowing that he was allergic to it, I no longer touched such things.

Whenever he was around, I always ordered according to his preferences.

But I had never seen him be so attentive to me.

Inside, everyone laughed playfully, “Hey, Rosetta doesn't even need to say anything. With just one glance, he knows what she's thinking. Is this what they call telepathy?”

“Of course. Back then, for Rosetta, he hid his allergy to seafood and ate a whole pot of seafood porridge with her. He was admitted to the ICU that night and he didn't even let us tell her. Isn't this a case of being in love?”

As they spoke, they looked at Rosetta's face.

When Rosetta heard them talking about the past, the smile in her eyes deepened a little, but what she said was not what they wanted, “Okay, this is all in the past. I'm getting married soon. Don't mention these things anymore.”

After she finished speaking, the smile in Juan's eyes disappeared and was replaced by a strong sense of unwillingness and undisguised anger.

Without waiting for her reaction, he reached out, pressed her head and kissed her forcefully.

Rosetta was stunned for two seconds, then she reacted and struggled symbolically, then fell into his fierce attack.

In the box, the booing continued.

But my heart cooled down a little bit from the noise.

The elders around him said that he was calm and steady, but they did not know that when facing his true love, he was so passionate and impulsive.

My expression darkened and I turned around to leave.

At that moment, the people in the box suddenly noticed my presence and jokingly called out, “Clara, are you here to see your Juan again?”

When Juan heard that, he subconsciously let go of Rosetta and there was a hint of guilt in his eyes.

And I caught his guilty conscience in time.

I sneered and said calmly, “No, I just happened to be passing by.”

Juan’s friends all knew that I was his follower and they all treated me as his sister, but no one knew that we had been together secretly for six years.

Someone urged me to stay and attend Rosetta's welcoming party.

Without waiting for me to refuse, Juan spoke first, “It's getting late, let her go home early, otherwise her family will worry.”

His expression was indifferent and apart from the momentary guilt that flashed through his mind, he did not seem embarrassed at all about being caught.

Rosetta was generous and said with a smile, “What's the big deal? We can just send Clara home later.”

She spoke a second ago and Juan responded the next second, “That's fine, but you can't drink anymore. You'll get drunk if you drink more.”

Rosetta gave him a coquettish look and nodded helplessly.

They arranged my comings and goings on their own without asking for my opinion.

I looked at Juan's thin lips stained by lipstick, laughed at myself and said, “No, I just had dinner, so I won't disturb you guys from reminiscing about the past.”

Hearing my unhesitating refusal, Juan, who had been staring at Rosetta, rarely looked at me. But there was inquiry in his eyes.

After all, in the past, no matter who invited me, as long as he was there, I would follow him.

“Clara, stop messing around. Come and eat something first. I'll take you back later,” Juan said.

But i refused, “Juan, I came here with my mother. She is waiting at the door now. If you don't believe me, you can come with me to take a look.”

Juan’s mother and my mother were best friends and the two families had a very good relationship.

To my mother, he was like her son.

Before we were together, he often came to my house for meals.

But since we confirmed our relationship, he had come very rarely, for fear that my parents would find out.

Just like at that moment, as soon as I mentioned my mother, his expression changed. “Forget it, you should go back with Aunt Clarice as soon as possible, don't let her wait anxiously.”

Seeing his refusal, I smiled faintly, said bye perfunctorily and turned away.

I got home and before I even put down my bag, I received a message from him, [I was drunk today, don't mind what happened with Rosetta just now.]

He knew whether he was drunk or not.

I was silent for a moment, then replied, [It’s okay, I understand.]

The next day at noon, I had just finished work and was getting ready to eat.

I saw the message Juan sent five minutes ago.

[I'll wait for you at the usual place. Be ready in ten minutes. I have something to ask you.]

After seeing the message he sent me, I did not want to go at first, but thinking about what I said to my mother last night, I went anyway.

It was a fast food restaurant not far from his company.

As soon as I sat down, I heard him ask, “Is a relative of yours getting married?”

I paused for two seconds while putting down my bag, then quickly responded, “Well, my cousin is getting married, why are you asking this?”

Hearing that, his serious expression relaxed and he sneered, “Aunt Clarice asked me to help arrange the wedding banquet, but she didn't tell me who the protagonist of the wedding banquet was. And it seems that you are the only eligible person in your family. I thought you were going to get married.”

Speaking of that, he himself found it a little funny.

Yes, people my age in my family were already married and some even had two children.

But in their eyes, I was still a loner.

But I could not smile, so I pulled the corner of my mouth slightly and asked tentatively, “Then, when will you marry me?”

Hearing that, his expression suddenly changed, the smile in his eyes disappeared, revealing an unruly. “Clara, I have no plans to get married now, please stop making trouble.”

Hearing the warning in his words, the little bit of anticipation I had just felt quickly dissipated.

I knew clearly that it was not that he did not want to get married, he just did not want to marry me.

I looked into his eyes and whispered, “My cousin waited until she was 30 to settle down for a scumbag. Although she is past the marriageable age, I would like to trouble you to plan the wedding with the best specifications.”

“Of course, but Aunt Clarice didn't tell me what kind of wedding the bride wanted. Why don't you ask her?”

I nodded and took out my phone, pretending to send a message to someone.

Half a minute later, I said, “My cousin said that she will let me take care of the wedding. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly.”

After all, I was the bride of this wedding.

Afterwards, Juan called the waiter to serve the food.

He ordered hot spicy menus as usual.

Looking at the unsimilar food in front of me, I pursed my lips and called the waiter again, “Please give me a normal burger with a diet cola.”

Hearing that, Juan's eyes flashed with surprise, “You don't like these dishes?”

Yes, I could not eat spicy food. I had had a bad stomach since I was a child and could not eat spicy food.

But every time I always endured it in order to cater to his taste and curiosity in every new menu.

I vaguely remembered the first time I ate out with him.

That day he got the collaboration he was dreaming of and happily treated me to spicy food.

I could not bear to spoil his mood, so I ate with him.

That night I was rushed to the hospital with a stomach ulcer.

And every time he came to my house for dinner, the nanny at home always cooked two of the same dishes. One spicy, one not spicy.

However, after so many years, he still had not discovered it.

That shows if his heart was really not with me.

‘Juan, since you don’t love me, then I don’t want to love you anymore,’ I thought. 

I poured a cola into my glass full of ice and said, “I have a bad stomach and cannot eat spicy food.”

As I said that, he was typing on his phone and nodded perfunctorily in response to my words.

When he looked up again, Juan's eyes were filled with a smile and he said, “Since you don't want to eat it, I'll pack it up and bring it to Rosetta. These are all her favorite dishes."

As Juan spoke, he seemed to realize that what he said was wrong and explained, “After all, we spent money on it. It would be a waste if we don't eat it. Clara, you can't bear to waste food, right?”

When I heard that, I wanted to laugh.

But I could not laugh at that moment.

Since I did not say anything, he started to feel guilty.