Love Against All Expectations

In a luxury car, heading back to Atheton.

Kaylee Hadley was sitting quietly in the back seat, wearing a plain white dress. A nasty scar covered nearly half of her petite face.

Sitting next to Kaylee was her younger sister, Gemma Hadley. The latter looked at Kaylee's ugly face with secret relish.

Kaylee had always been very beautiful, which had always made Gemma very jealous. Unexpectedly, Kaylee ended up getting a huge scar on her face.

"Mom, Kaylee looks like one of those beggars who rummage for food in the trash. Won't the Stephens family be revolted when they see her?" Gemma glanced at the bag beside Kaylee in disgust. It was filled with ancient medical books and an old laptop.

Their mother, Josie Hadley, waved her hand and said dismissively, "An ugly woman like her is a perfect match for that illegitimate bastard son of the Stephens family."

Speaking of the man that Kaylee was about to marry, Gemma wrinkled her nose in disgust. How dare they pair her up with a notorious love child?

Gemma was Josie's biological daughter, while Kaylee was just adopted. Nine years ago, the family had even driven Kaylee out of the house.

The Hadley family and the Stephens family had made an agreement to marry their children a long time ago. Thus, Gemma was supposed to marry the second son of the Stephens family, Elijah Stephens.

But Elijah was a promiscuous playboy. He had a bad reputation for jumping from woman to woman, showing up with a different girlfriend almost every week.

Naturally, Gemma didn't want to marry him.

The Hadley family didn't dare to cancel the engagement with the Stephens family, so they had no choice but to track down their adopted daughter, Kaylee, and force her to marry Elijah.

Kaylee didn't want to waste her breath arguing with Gemma and Josie, so she kept looking out the window, as though she couldn't hear them.

Seeing this, Gemma felt determined to pester Kaylee even more, so she continued to make sarcastic remarks.

After all, Gemma wanted to feel superior to her sister, and insulting her was one simple way to do that. "Mom, look at Kaylee's laptop. It's so old and banged up. I've just bought a new laptop, so what if I give my old laptop to her? If she goes to the Stephens family with that, she'll disgrace our family!"

Hearing Gemma brag, Kaylee lowered her head and chuckled, but still said nothing.

Unbeknownst to her stupid sister, Kaylee's shabby laptop was full of programs she designed on her own, and the hardware had been modified by her as well. On the black market, someone even offered Kaylee half a million dollars for her laptop.

Gemma was still chattering away when they finally arrived at the Stephens family's house.

Clutching her bag close, Kaylee got out of the car and strode straight inside the house.

However, as soon as she stepped foot past the gate, she was stopped by a servant. "Excuse me, but who are you? Beggars are strictly not allowed to enter this grand villa!"

Kaylee didn't feel embarrassed at all. She explained flatly, "I'm the daughter of the Hadley family. I'm here to fulfill the agreement between the two families."

Hearing this, the servant's eyes widened in disbelief, which quickly turned to disgust. She looked Kaylee up and down and wrinkled her nose in disdain.

Kaylee looked both ugly and shabby. She looked nothing like a lady from a rich family. How could she be Elijah's future wife?

Just as Kaylee was about to walk past the servant, the latter stopped her again. "Stop right there! Your shoes will dirty the floor!"

At this point, Kaylee had had enough of this arrogant servant's provocations.

Her eyes turned cold as she turned to look at the servant. "You are just a servant. I'm about to marry the son of the Stephens family. I am above you, understand?"

The servant was frightened by Kaylee's oppressive aura. Before she knew what she was doing, the servant was already fetching a pair of indoor slippers for Kaylee.

When Kaylee entered the living room, she saw a woman rushing in from the backyard.

It was Elijah's elder sister, Haisley Stephens.

Haisley practically shouted, "Is the daughter from the Hadley family here yet?! The wedding's about to begin!"

The Stephens family didn't hold a big wedding precisely because they knew that Kaylee was very ugly. They just held a simple ceremony in the backyard of their house. They didn't invite many guests, since they didn't want the public to know that such an ugly woman would marry into their elite family.

The servant pointed at Kaylee and said cautiously, "She's right here."

Haisley's eyes followed the direction the servant pointed at. As soon as she saw the massive scar on Kaylee's face, her jaw went slack.

She had long heard that her brother would marry an ugly woman, but she didn't expect his bride would be that ugly!

How embarrassing! How could they let this woman marry into their family?!

Kaylee returned Haisley's dumbfounded gaze calmly.

Unbeknownst to all, the scar on Kaylee's face was actually fake. She wasn't disfigured at all. She only pretended to be ugly, because her beauty had caused her a lot of trouble before.

Haisley gritted her teeth angrily and hissed, "Why haven't you gotten her changed yet?"

Ignoring Haisley's rudeness, Kaylee followed the servant to the dressing room and quickly put on her wedding dress.

Soon, Kaylee walked out of the dressing room in a white lace dress. She had a slender waist and a graceful figure, and thanks to the dress' low back design, the rose-shaped birthmark on her back between her beautiful shoulder blades was exposed. From behind, she actually looked quite stunning.

Haisley urged the servant, "Quick! Put the veil on her! The wedding will begin in ten minutes."

After getting dressed, Kaylee was led to the wedding venue in the backyard.

She looked around, but there was no sign of Elijah, her groom-to-be.

She asked one of the servants beside her in a low voice, "Where's the groom?"

Hearing this, the servant blushed and glanced at the second floor of the villa hesitantly. She hemmed and hawed, as if she felt too embarrassed to explain the situation.

"What's going on?" Kaylee asked with a frown.

The servant averted her gaze, looking embarrassed. "Mr. Stephens is in his room on the second floor. He said... He's with a beautiful woman and has no time to get married."

As soon as the servant finished speaking, the few guests that were present all burst into an uproar. Some of them pointed fingers at Kaylee and laughed, while others felt sorry for her.

It was no secret that the second son of the Stephens family was rumored to be a fickle-minded playboy. Now, it seemed that he was only proving the rumors right.

How could he leave the bride at the altar and mess around with another woman on his own wedding day? They had never seen such an irresponsible man before.

Gemma pretended to be angry, but secretly, she reveled in Kaylee's misfortune. "Even though my sister's not that pretty, Elijah has gone too far this time. How can he embarrass her like this?"

Lifting the hem of her heavy wedding dress, Kaylee walked a few steps forward and politely said to the servant, "Which room is he in? Please lead the way."

As she spoke, Kaylee lifted up her veil without thinking, revealing her hideous and scarred face to the crowd. Everyone gasped in shock.

"I mean, I heard that she wasn't pretty, but I never thought she'd be that ugly!"

"No wonder Mr. Stephens left his bride at the altar. Just look at her face-he'd have nightmares every night of their marriage!"

Kaylee turned a deaf ear to these harsh words. She followed the servant calmly to the door to Elijah's room. The guests also tagged along, excited to watch the fun.

However, instead of madly knocking on the door as expected, Kaylee said to the servant calmly, "Please open the door."

The servant faltered, "We don't have the key..."

Kaylee glanced around her surroundings until her gaze landed on the flower vase by the corridor. She plucked one of the flowers from the vase and easily picked the lock with the stem.

Thanks to her sensitive hearing, picking an ordinary lock like this one was a piece of cake.

Inside the room, Elijah heard the sound of the door unlocking. He turned his head in surprise.

It had to be said that Elijah was indeed a handsome man.

His face was impeccable, as though God himself had chiseled the man's face.

But to Kaylee's surprise, both Elijah and the woman with him were neatly dressed, as though they hadn't been messing around just now.

Kaylee looked at Elijah and asked in confusion, "Have you started yet? Or are you done already?"

Her question caught Elijah completely off-guard, so he answered without thinking. "We just finished."

As soon as he said this, he noticed that the ugly woman in front of him looked at him as though... She felt sorry for him?

"Oh, really? Then... Well, that was fast." Kaylee looked Elijah up and down with pity.

The servant beside her tried her best to stifle her laughter.

Elijah's expression darkened.

Truth be told, he didn't even touch that woman. The reason why he behaved so ridiculously on his wedding day was that he simply didn't want to get married.

He asked in a low voice, "Did you pick the lock on my door?"

As he asked this, his eyes landed on the flower in Kaylee's hand.

Did she use that to unlock the door?

Ignoring the angry expression on Elijah's face, Kaylee met his dark eyes and said, "Yes. Now that you're done with her and fully-clothed, please go downstairs to the backyard and marry me first."

Her tone was flat, as though she was talking about a simple chore.

Elijah's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He thought that any woman would go crazy if she knew that her husband-to-be was messing around with another woman on their wedding day.

"And what if I said no?" With a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, Elijah stared at the monstrous looking woman in front of him.

Kaylee eyed him coldly and then suddenly grabbed Elijah by the arm. She dragged him out of the room, declaring, "I'm sorry, but we have to get married today."

It was true. She had to marry into the Stephens family.

Nine years ago, because Gemma kept sowing dissension between her and the rest of the family, Kaylee was driven out by her adoptive parents, who obviously favored their biological daughter Gemma. Kaylee became homeless. It was Diana Byrd, an old janitor, who found and saved her. Kaylee treated Diana as her own grandmother, and she was Kaylee's only family in the world from that day on.

Unfortunately, a little while later, Diana was poisoned. Kaylee hadn't found a way to cure her, but she was able to trace the source of the poison back to the Stephens family.

So when the Hadley family asked her to marry into the Stephens family in Gemma's stead, she readily agreed. She wanted to take this opportunity to get to the bottom of the poison that was slowly taking her grandmother's life.

Elijah tried to free himself from Kaylee's grip, but before he could make a move, his eyes landed on the small, dark red birthmark on her back.

It looked familiar... In fact, it looked exactly the same as that rose-shaped birthmark on that woman's back.

All of a sudden, Elijah stopped in his tracks.

Memories flooded into his mind, and all he could think about was that girl's smiling face from years back...

That certain girl had such a radiant smile, and it was the only source of light in Elijah's dark days fifteen years ago.

At that time, the Stephens family hadn't accepted him yet, and he had been living a hard life with his mother. Back then, his mother wasn't in a good mental state and often lost control of herself like a madwoman. His peers always mocked him for not having a father and for having such a crazy mother.

During the day, he'd attend school, whilst at night, he'd work several part-time jobs to support himself and his mother. Day in and day out, he had to work hard until midnight to finally put his feet up and enjoy his late dinner-a bowl of instant noodles.

Who would've thought that the second son of the prestigious Stephens family would live a very hard life?

He was trampled underfoot like mud, and it was only natural that he felt nothing but despair. But one day, a young girl appeared.

She saved him from the darkness.

He still remembered her sweet scent when she got close to treat his wounds. He still remembered how soft her voice was when she asked him if it hurt.

The girl had a dark red birthmark on her back, shaped like a beautiful blooming rose.

He was fifteen years old back then. It was his first time having a crush on someone, and those feelings never changed over the years.

Thinking of this, bitterness filled Elijah's eyes. He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white, his nails digging into his palms.

Because later on, that girl had drowned at sea.

When her dead body was fished out of the sea, her face had been horrifically disfigured after being soaked in the salt water for so long. However, he immediately recognized the white cotton dress she was wearing.

Every time he recalled this scene, Elijah's heart ached, as though an invisible pair of hands was squeezing the life out of it.

He subconsciously took a step forward and tried to get a closer look at the birthmark on Kaylee's back, but at this time, Kaylee put the veil back on, and it covered her back.

Kaylee held his hand and strode forward. In a daze, Elijah followed her without thinking.

It wasn't until Elijah was dragged into the wedding venue that he came to his senses. His usual frivolous expression was gone, and his face was unusually serious.

He couldn't help but start to ask, "Are you-"

But before he could get another word out, Kaylee cut him off. "Just finish the wedding procedures as soon as possible, and then you can go back to whatever you were doing."

Elijah fixed his eyes on the veiled Kaylee, trying to find any trace of his first love.

But he got nothing.

His sharp eyes made Kaylee feel a little uncomfortable. Scalp tingling, she frowned slightly.

All of a sudden, Elijah came to his senses and forced a smile. "You saw her dead body with your own eyes," he told himself. "What the hell is wrong with you? How could this woman be her?"

Elijah stood still all throughout the wedding ceremony.

After they exchanged the wedding rings, the ceremony was officially over. Since it was impossible for the two to kiss, they skipped that part and directly started the lunch.

Ever since Elijah had shown up, Gemma couldn't stop staring at his handsome face, her eyes filled with disbelief and jealousy.

She didn't expect that the second son of the Stephens family would be so handsome. Her bitch of an adopted sister was so lucky!

What pissed Gemma off the most was the idea that Kaylee lived a better life than her, which was why she was always so determined to ruin her life. Now that she saw how handsome Kaylee's husband was, she made up her mind to marry an even better, more handsome man.

Gemma had come here today to see the Reynolds family, who were also attending the wedding.

The Reynolds family and the Stephens family were both top clans in Atheton. But in comparison, the Reynolds family was much more powerful than the Stephens family in every aspect.

If she could marry into the Reynolds family, then she'd become a real rich lady.

When the lunch was about to end, Keegan Reynolds, the head of the Reynolds family, climbed onstage and gave a speech.

He enjoyed high prestige and commanded universal respect in Atheton. Naturally, he was the most suitable person to make the speech.

But to everyone's surprise, as soon as he started speaking, he suddenly turned pale and started clutching at his chest. The next moment, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell down in a heap.

Chaos broke loose.

The members of the Stephens family panicked and hurried to call the most famous doctor in Atheton to check on Keegan.

Just as everyone was anxiously waiting for the result, the doctor came out.

With a serious look on his face, he told them that Keegan's condition was very tricky, and that he had never dealt with a case like this before.

The doctor looked around at the anxious faces, at a loss as to what to do. "Mr. Reynolds' condition is only getting worse, but I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about it."

Keegan's wife, Molly Reynolds, burst into tears. "Even the best doctor in Atheton can't save him. What're we going to do?"

Frowning, the doctor thought for a while and then cleared his throat. "There is someone known in the medical field as Tide. He specializes in all kinds of difficult and rare diseases. If you can get Tide to see Mr. Reynolds, there's a high possibility that he will be saved."

Molly's eyes lit up with hope. "That's wonderful! Where can we find Tide? I'll reach out to him now. I'm willing to pay whatever he asks!"

As soon as they mentioned the name "Tide", Kaylee coughed and scratched her neck uneasily.