Before the wedding ceremony began, my fiancé refused to let me walk down the aisle. He said my high cheekbones would bring him bad luck. So, he had his secretary go through the wedding process in my place.

As a bride, not being allowed to walk down the aisle during my own wedding ceremony was unheard of.aI sought help from my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Still, they were surprisingly unanimous in saying that this was just a temporary measure and that I should be more understanding.

My relatives and friends were all sitting in the guest seats, waiting to laugh at me and a few jealous colleagues had already raised their phones to prepare for the entire live broadcast group to mock me.

I sat directly next to my childhood friend. "Didn't you say that not marrying me was the greatest regret of your life? Then let's go get married now, shall we?"

My childhood friend was overjoyed. "Of course we should!"

Upon learning that I had married someone else, my ex-fiancé's family panicked.

——

I got up at midnight for a make-up and took photos, finally completing the entire wedding procession.

Just as I was about to change into my wedding dress in the hotel, Marcus Grant called my makeup artist away.

"Natasha, don't walk down the aisle for now."

I was stunned.

"What do you mean?"

"I had a fortune teller read my future. He said your high cheekbones will bring me bad luck. For the sake of my future health and fortune, I've decided to have Lexi take your place on the aisle to complete the wedding ceremony."

"Marcus, today is our wedding day and I'm the bride. You're telling me to let your secretary take my place in the ceremony, do you think that's appropriate?"

"Besides, when we were dating, you never mentioned that I'd bring you bad luck. So now you think if someone else stands in for me during the ceremony, I won't bring you misfortune anymore?"

Lexi Snow couldn't suppress her smile. "Natasha, I'm sorry, but Mr. Grant had consulted a fortune teller. Only someone with a round face like mine can counteract your ill fortune."

"I don't want to do this either, since there's no precedent for it, but there's nothing I can do—it's Mr. Grant's request."

I was furious.

"You know there's no precedent for this."

Given the large number of guests today, I must force myself to suppress my anger.

"Wedding ceremonies have always been conducted by the bride and groom together. If someone else takes your place, people might think today's wedding is between you and Lexi!"

"As long as my relatives and friends know who I'm marrying today, we don't need to care about what others think!"

Just then, Marcus's mother and sister arrived.

I quickly sought help.

"Mom, Marcus won't let me walk down the aisle and insists his secretary completes the ceremony with him!"

I thought his mother would definitely be on my side, but to my surprise, she said, "Natasha, Marcus knows your high cheekbones are said to bring bad luck to husbands, yet he still chose to marry you. You should be more understanding and tolerant of him, not nitpicking over such trivial matters."

"Exactly, Nat. Lexi is just helping you go through the wedding procedures. In the end, it's you who will register the marriage certificate with my brother and be listed on our family household register. What more could you possibly want?"

At that moment, I finally saw clearly that this entire family was siding with outsiders.

Marcus took my custom-made wedding dress without saying a word.

Just as I was about to chase after him, a woman wearing a low-cut dress deliberately bumped into me.

She was holding a cup of coffee, which just happened to splash onto my face.

I didn't know if it was intentional.

She looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! Don't you look where you're walking?"

I wiped my face with my hand. "Please, lady, you were the one who bumped into me!"

"Bullshit! You clearly ran into me. Now my dress is stained with coffee, you have to compensate me, a hundred thousand!"

"That dress looks fake. Are you trying to scam me?"

"Fake dress? This is an authentic product I bought overseas! Hurry up and pay for it, or you're not leaving!"

I took a closer look and suddenly remembered her.

She was Lexi's best friend, whom I had met once before at the company.

"Lexi Snow sent you to stall me, didn't she?"

The woman clearly panicked. "Who's Lexi Snow? I don't even know her."

I pushed her aside and rushed toward the banquet hall, holding onto the hem of my dress.

The woman screamed and chased after me, grabbing my hair and pulling me back with all her strength.

I seized the moment and kicked her foot with all my might.

She let go of me in pain.

With coffee all over my face and my hair in disarray, I pushed open the banquet hall doors.

Everyone's gaze immediately focused on me.

A wedding, two brides.

One, elegant and beautiful in a white wedding gown on the aisle. The other, dishevelled and frantic in a simple dress, stood across them.

Someone shouted, "Oh my, isn't that Natasha Wolf?"

I became a huge laughingstock in front of all the relatives and friends.

A jealous coworker who'd always made trouble for me at work immediately pulled out her phone and started livestreaming.

"The conniving homewrecker is getting what she deserves! Mr. Grant married her, but he won't even let her walk down the aisle for the wedding!"

"Our Lexi is Mr. Grant's true love! Even if that homewrecker managed to marry him, she doesn't even have the right to be part of the wedding ceremony!"

They kept saying more and more hurtful things and I couldn't bear to listen anymore.

"Shut up, all of you!"

"Did I say anything wrong? Even if you tricked Mr. Grant into marrying you, you'll never compare to Lexi in his heart!"

"That's right. If I were you, I'd find a place to hide right away. Don't make a scene here!"

Marcus hurriedly came down from the stage. "Natasha, we already agreed on this. Why are you causing a scene? Find a place to sit down quickly. Don't delay our wedding ceremony!"

"I'm in such a mess right now and you don't care what happened to me. You're only worried about not missing your auspicious time?"

"You're standing here perfectly fine now, aren't you? You're so lucky, you must be fine."

"Natasha, please. I'm begging you, don't make me lose face."

At that moment, I finally saw the man in front of me clearly.

"Alright, I won't make things difficult for you. Go ahead."

Everyone thought I forced Marcus to marry me, but the truth was the opposite.

To win me over, Marcus planted an entire estate of Damascus roses.

He also used a helicopter to hang a banner reading "Natasha, I love you" and circled the city's skies for three straight days.

He said he wanted everyone in the city to see his love for me.

To get me to accept his proposal, he, who had always been afraid of water, dived into the deep sea.

Just because I'd once said I'd marry him if he brought me coral from the deep sea with his own hands.

No matter how beautiful the past was, it couldn't compare to the humiliation he brought me today.

I stayed up three nights in a row to design this wedding venue.

From the large-scale stage decorations to the smallest decorative pearl, everything was carefully selected by me.

But now, the one standing there wasn't me.

I sat down at an empty seat and heard a voice beside me say.

"As today's bride, you're not even allowed on the aisle. Are you sure you still want to go through with this wedding?"

I turned my head and saw it was Lincoln Swartz, my childhood friend, who had grown up with me.

Back when I first started dating Marcus, he strongly opposed it. He said, from a man's perspective, Marcus was not trustworthy.

But at that time, I couldn't listen to him at all.

Because I was going to marry Marcus, Lincoln had a big fight with me and we almost stopped talking to each other.

"Are you here just to see how miserable I am?"

"I'm not that idle."

After a brief silence, Lincoln spoke again, "If you don't want to marry Marcus anymore, I'll take you away right now!"

I remained silent.

"You wouldn't still want to marry him after all this, would you?"

I still said nothing.

Lincoln slammed the table hard but didn't say anything else.

Marcus and Lexi's wedding ceremony proceeded smoothly.

As the ceremony reached its climax, Lexi suddenly started crying and Marcus wiped away her tears.

The emcee announced in a loud voice, "The groom may now kiss the bride!"

Without hesitation, Marcus leaned in and kissed her.

Their lips and tongues intertwined for a long time before they finally parted.

When they did, several thin strands of saliva stretched between their lips.

My heart sank to the bottom at that moment and a wave of nausea rose in my stomach.

I drank a large glass of water to suppress the nausea.

Seeing my pale face, Lincoln grew anxious.

"Are you okay?"

I grabbed Lincoln's arm. "Take me away."

Without hesitation, Lincoln pulled me out of the banquet hall.

Sitting in the passenger seat of his car, the nausea in my stomach subsided slightly.

The bright red of the peony flowers before my eyes was particularly glaring, as if mocking how foolish I was.

"Do you have any clothes? I want to change out of this."

Lincoln casually grabbed a bag from the backseat. "These are freshly dry-cleaned."

"Thank you."

I started undressing right before him and Lincoln's ears instantly turned red.

He opened the car door to get out, but I pulled him back.

"There's no need to avoid it. When we were kids, we used to bathe together in the same tub."

"Is that the same thing?"

"Are you afraid that if you see me, I'll cling to you?"

Lincoln muttered softly, "I'd be delighted if you clung to me."

I changed into my clothes as quickly as possible. Although his clothes were much too big for me, I could manage by rolling up the sleeves and cuffs.

"Lincoln, you once said that not marrying me was the greatest regret of your life. So, are we going to get married now?"

Lincoln was overjoyed. "Are you serious?"

"Of course. If you don't want to go, it's fine."

"We have to go!"

He immediately started the car and drove me to the City Hall.

Lincoln and I ended up getting married for no apparent reason. When we left the City Hall, it felt like a dream.

"Am I Mrs. Swartz now?"

"Of course. Mrs. Swartz, I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you."

"Let's hurry back to the hotel now!"

Lincoln's face turned bright red. "What? But I haven't even held your hand yet and we're already at that step?"

"What are you thinking? I'm telling you to come back to the hotel where I'm having my wedding!"

"Now we're going to attend Marcus and Lexi's wedding as a married couple!"

"Oh, okay, let's go!"

I teased him. "Why do I feel like you're a little disappointed?"

Lincoln smiled. "No. We're married now anyway, so there's no rush for that kind of thing!"

We returned to the hotel. I casually took an envelope from the front desk and stuffed three dollars into it.

The banquet hadn't ended yet and Marcus was leading Lexi around the tables to toast everyone.

Lincoln and I found an inconspicuous spot to sit down. After waiting for a while, they finally came to our table.