The Bride He Was Warned Not to Marry Chapter 01
On the eve of my wedding, I accidentally connected to William Harrington’s wireless earbuds.
I was about to disconnect when I heard him talking to himself from ten years in the future.
“Don’t marry Emily,” he said. “She’ll find out the marriage certificate is fake. And not only will she kill the first child you have with Sarah, she’ll hurt Sarah badly and ruin her life.”
In an instant, my mind went blank.
The Sarah he was talking about was my best friend.
Just moments ago, she had slapped William because he forgot to pull out my chair.
The two of them clearly couldn’t stand being around each other.
I stared blankly at William, who was smoking on the balcony.
He said casually, “Don’t worry. I’ll be more careful this time.”
“I won’t let Emily turn into a crazy woman, and I won’t let Sarah suffer any more.”
“I’ll protect both of them.”
—
When William came back inside, the slap mark was still visible on his face.
I felt a chill run through me as I listened to the man from ten years in the future curse me with such hatred.
I could barely breathe.
“Does it hurt?” I asked.
He pushed his tongue against his cheek. “You worried about me? Then when are you going to cut off that crazy woman?”
His voice carried the same old disdain for Sarah.
Just earlier, Sarah had lost her temper at William for not pulling out my chair for me.
She slapped him in her anger.
A flicker of hope rose in me, maybe what I just heard was an illusion.
Ever since William and I got together, Sarah had always been especially hostile toward him.
She thought a rich guy like William would never be faithful, that he didn’t truly care about me.
He thought she was trying to sabotage our relationship and would snap at her every time they met.
I used to be stuck in the middle, constantly trying to smooth things over between them.
But then the voice came through the earbuds again, the William from ten years later.
“Relax, will you? You and Sarah were just in the bathroom together. If I hadn’t reminded you to change your shirt, Emily would already be suspicious!”
I realized then that his undershirt was different from the one he had been wearing when he arrived.
And Sarah had disappeared after he left.
A wave of nausea rose in my stomach, and a chill spread through my whole body.
William asked, “Emily? What’s wrong? Why are your hands so cold?”
I shook my head. My throat was too tight to speak.
William quickly took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
He asked the kitchen to make my favorite soup, chicken noodle.
His eyes went to my ears. “How do you like the new earbuds? I had the R&D team design these specifically for you.”
Thinking of the voice I heard, my face froze. Before I could respond, Sarah appeared out of nowhere.
She grabbed the earbuds and threw them on the floor.
“What piece of junk is this? You think a prototype is good enough for Emily?”
“William, if you actually cared, you wouldn’t give her this kind of trash.”
That was when I noticed Sarah had changed her dress. There were faint red marks still fading on her neck.
I instinctively grabbed the earbuds back. My voice was cold. “I don’t need you interfering in my business.”
Sarah’s face went stiff. Her eyes reddened instantly.
“Emily, are you mad at me? These earbuds are just a test product. He’s giving you hand-me-downs!”
I didn’t answer. I just put the earbuds back in.
The future William sighed through the earbuds.
“Sarah is too kind. I offered her a custom pair first, but she insisted I give them to Emily. I can’t even give her a real title anymore. How could I let her suffer over something so small?”
“What was Emily thinking just now? Sarah was only looking out for her. Why the attitude? You don’t think she suspects something, do you?”
Panic flashed across William’s face.
He deliberately turned to Sarah and said coldly, “What I give her is between her and me. It’s none of your business.”
Sarah went pale. She stared at me hard.
When she saw I wasn’t jumping to defend her like I always did, she threw her hands up. “Fine!” she snapped.
“Emily, don’t come crying to me when William dumps you!”
She turned to leave.
“Watch out!”
Someone pointed at the ceiling and screamed.
The crystal chandelier overhead came loose and fell straight down.
In my peripheral vision, William, who had been closest to me, instinctively lunged toward Sarah.
He wrapped his arms around her, shielding her completely.
I was knocked to the ground, tiny glass fragments pricked my skin, a dull ache spreading across forehead and arms
Pain flooded my body.
Through a blurry haze, I saw Sarah push William away and run toward me.
“Emily!”
She dug through the broken glass with her bare hands, sobbing so loudly it echoed through the hall.
