After 18 Wedding Escapes, I Married the Mafia King Chapter 01
Stefano showed up without his ID again on the day we were supposed to get our marriage license.
I’d reminded him three times the night before.
He’d smiled and said, “I know. I’m definitely marrying you this time. Nothing’s going to go wrong.”
Yet the moment we arrived, he patted down every pocket he had. Then he frowned and called Juliana.
“Juliana, did I leave my ID with you?”
Sitting in the waiting area, I suddenly laughed.
Thirty minutes later, Juliana arrived.
She handed the ID card to Stefano, but her eyes were red.
“Stefano, my stomach hurts so much.”
Without a second thought, he put an arm around her and rushed her out.
Before leaving, he glanced back at me.
“Lillian, wait here.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
I nodded. Just like the previous seventeen times, I watched him leave.
After he was out of sight, I pulled out my phone and sent a text.
[Are you here yet?]
Three minutes later, a man pushed open the door and walked in.
He handed our paperwork to the clerk.
“Hello. We’re here to get married.”
—
After Stefano left with Juliana, the staff at the City Hall gathered together.
Every glance they threw my way made me want to disappear.
“He left again? This is the eighteenth time already.”
“Come on, he didn’t forget anything. He just doesn’t want to marry her.”
“She’s way too patient. If it were me, I’d have lost it a long time ago.”
The moment those words landed, several people chuckled.
I gripped my residence permit so hard my fingertips went white.
No one had mentioned my name.
Still, I felt like every eye in the lobby was on me.
Heat rushed to my face. I had never felt so embarrassed.
The last time Stefano forgot his residence permit, I had broken down.
That day, I was so upset the tears just started falling.
Because my grandmother had already been unconscious in the hospital for three days.
The doctor said she probably wouldn’t make it through the weekend.
Whenever she woke up, she would hold my hand and say the same thing again and again.
“Lillian, Grandma wants to see you in a wedding dress. I want to know you’ve found yourself a home.”
I didn’t dare tell her that we could hold a wedding ceremony, but we still hadn’t managed to get legally married.
I was afraid she would leave this world with regrets.
So that day, for the first time, I grabbed Stefano and cried so hard I could barely stay on my feet.
“Stefano, please don’t go. Please.”
“Let’s just get the certificate today. Grandma really doesn’t have much time left.”
Back then, Stefano had hesitated.
As he looked at me, a flicker of emotion crossed his eyes.
He even took out his phone and was about to ask his assistant to bring over his ID.
Then Juliana called.
She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.
“Stefano, someone knocked on my door just now. I’m here all alone… I’m so scared!”
“Can you come stay with me?”
Stefano frowned.
I clung desperately to his sleeve, my knuckles turning white.
“Don’t go. Please!”
He stayed silent for a long time.
So long that I thought, just this once, he would choose me.
But in the next second, he slowly pried my fingers away.
“Lillian, Juliana gets scared easily.”
“We can register the marriage another time.”
He left quickly.
So quickly that he never saw me crouching outside, crying until I couldn’t breathe.
That night, my grandmother woke up once.
She asked me, “Did you get married?”
I held her frail hand. A lump formed in my throat, and I could barely speak.
In the end, I forced a smile and lied. “Yeah, of course.”
She finally closed her eyes and let go.
Early the next morning, she passed away.
And when Stefano finally showed up at the hospital, the scent of Juliana’s gardenia perfume still clung to him.
That was when I understood.
Some people weren’t late. They were just never coming.
So this time, when I watched him leave supporting Juliana, I didn’t shed a single tear.
The staff looked at me awkwardly, sympathy replacing their earlier amusement.
“Miss, are you still waiting for him?”
Maybe they remembered how last time, I’d waited there from morning until late at night.
I shook my head.
“I’m not waiting for him anymore.”
Then I sent a message to another number.
[Where are you now?]
