Chapter 4 Standing in as his bride

The next day

The sound of the knock on the door pulls her out of her deep sleep, and she snaps her eyes open as she springs up to a sitting position. Glancing at the wall clock that's at 10:33am, she quickly jumps off the bed and rushes to open the door. It's so late in the morning, how come no one woke her up before now?

Pulling the door open, the hard glare of a young lady wearing the maid uniform welcomes her.

"Good..."

"Don't you know the time to wake up? This is why you're not losing weight. Gosh! You irritate me," She utters in resentment as she stares at me with a disgusted expression on her face.

"Good morning," She greets the maid politely instead. It isn't her fault to insult her, but her stepmother's. Maybe she wouldn't have been here in the first place if it weren't for her that sold her out to this monster here.

"Save it for who needs it, please. Mr. Ren is getting married today, and he will be having guests around later. Don't show your face in the living room. You will disgust the guests with your ugly fat face," The maid snaps at her, and her face drops sadly as her heart skips. She was bullied to bed yesterday and woke up this morning to be bullied again. A drop of tears slid down the corner of her cheek as she slowly drops her head sadly.

"You can ring the alarm on the bedside table if you need anything later. I'll send someone to bring it for you," The woman says before she walks away, while she clenches her fists as she stares until she's out of sight.

Walking back into her room, she drags her feet to the bed and slumps on it as more tears stream down her cheeks.

"It's too early to cry, Lilian. You'll be fine, OK?" She assures herself as she wipes off her tears. Standing up to her feet, she drags herself sluggishly into the bathroom...

An hour later at the church

"Son, you need to do something about this. We have our guests waiting at the villa for us," Ren runs his fingers through his hair frustratingly as he paces in front of the entrance door of the villa. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of his life, that he will finally be with the only woman he ever loved, but it seems like that is not going to work. Here he is, waiting for his bride for over two hours and calling her endlessly, but she never answered her phone.

"Mom, how can you say that? Tracy is nowhere to be found," He stops to look at his fifty three years old and young-looking mom who's beautifully graced in a long expensive red gown.

"The guests are already getting impatient..."

"They can wait for all I care, mom. We don't even know if Tracy is fine now, or not," He cuts her off.

The sound of his ringing phone pulls his attention, and he quickly slides the answer button when he sees his best friend's name displayed on the screen.

"Have you found her yet?" He asks as soon as he answers the call, and the silence from the other end tells him that there's bad news.

"Yes, I did, man. Tracy is fine, but she can't make it to the wedding," His heart sinks into his stomach and his mouth drops open in shock as he stares into space, his words replaying in his head.

"Why?" He asks weakly.

"She said that her brother got into trouble and she needs to be there for him. You can't fool everyone, man. Just find someone to stand in for her. You don't have to worry about her, I'll be here with her," The call drops dead afterward, and his hand drops to his side as he slowly clenches his fingers around his phone. What is he supposed to do now?

"What happened, son?" Worried, his mom questions him, but he ignores her and ran off to the parking lot where he hops into his car and drives roughly out of the compound.

Driving down the road a few minutes later, he keep hitting the steering wheel and venting all his anger on it. His eyes suddenly become red and full of rage. 'What exactly am I angry about?' He suddenly questions himself as he sighs briefly. He didn't want anything to stop his wedding with Tracy, he wanted to tie the knot with her today and they'll be together forever. Why does this have to happen? It's a relief to know that she's fine anyway. He wouldn't have been able to take the pain if anything happened to her.

Driving into his compound a few minutes later, he parks roughly at the parking lot and jumps out of the car. Rushing to the entrance door, he pushes it open and finds Lilian in the living room.

'Am I about to make a good decision?' He questions himself as he stares at her for seconds.

"Come with me," He says to her, and without waiting for another second, he storms out of the house while Lilian stares in confusion before she finally strides out of the living room to meet him in the car. He drives out of the compound afterward.

He drives recklessly on the road, and Lilian couldn't stop asking herself where they are going, and what the problem is. He doesn't look like he's OK. Did his bride ditch him or what? Those are the questions that run through her mind as he glances at him almost every second.

Arriving at the mall a few minutes later, he jumps out of the car and rushes to the entrance door, while Lilian trails behind him even if she is still confused.

Stepping into the mall, Ren walks briskly over to the wedding gown section. He picks out an extra large white gown and throws it to Lilian who grabs it in mid-air while still dumbfounded.

"Change into that, fast," He says to her impatiently, while she stares at him blankly.

"Don't give me that look, just be fast!" He sneers at her, getting the attention of the people in the mall, and that is when they all notice Lilian.

"Why's she so fat?"

"Gosh! She's ugly. Look at her face?"

"What is that hot handsome man doing with such an ugly fat short girl? Ewww! I can't stand her," She keeps hearing whispers from the two young ladies standing behind her. Hot tears stream down her cheeks as she slowly drags her feet toward the dressing room.

Stepping out of the room a few minutes later, graced in the white wedding gown while still having a sad and confused look on her face, she drags her feet to where he's sitting.

"Let's go," He walks ahead of her without even bothering to check out how she looks in the dress.

"Where are we going to?" She finally summons up the courage and asks him as soon as they hop inside the car and he drives out of the mall.

"Do I need to explain to you?" He asks sarcastically as he glances at her, and she bites her bottom lip.

Arriving at the villa a few minutes later, he parks at the parking lot.

"Behave yourself in there. You're going to stand in as my bride," Releasing the bombshell to her, she freezes on the seat as her eyes widen in shock...