My Sister Reborn Took My Groom Chapter 02
By the time I snapped out of it, I was already standing in the living room, a glass of wine in my hand that Aiden had just passed to me.
The entire ceremony went off without a hitch.
Aiden’s parents were far more easygoing than I had anticipated, but near the end, his mother stared at me for a long moment.
She suddenly gasped, leaned in close to Aiden, and whispered, “Aiden, she’s gorgeous, but she doesn’t really look like the description the matchmaker gave us.”
“I heard the Cole family two blocks over is also hosting a wedding today. You didn’t pick up the wrong bride, did you?”
She looked at Aiden with pure suspicion.
My breath hitched. My fingers tightened around my cup as I instinctively glanced at Aiden.
He merely rubbed his nose, looking at his mother with feigned annoyance.
“How could I pick up the wrong person? You and Dad saw her photo before. Did you forget?”
A photo?
What photo?
Before I could wrap my head around it, Mrs. Hettler laughed warmly.
“Right, right, I remember now. Look at you, finally getting what you wanted.”
She then dropped the subject entirely, taking my hand and introducing me to the gathered relatives.
The Hettler family was large, but the atmosphere was incredibly welcoming.
Looking at their close-knit family dynamic, I couldn’t help but think of the Cole family just two blocks away.
The bullet chat was right; Harrison really did end up a billionaire.
But if Yvonne thought being a billionaire’s wife would be easy, she was in for a rude awakening.
After all, the Coles weren’t exactly…
Never mind.
I shook my head slightly, cutting off the thought.
I focused instead on helping Aiden’s mother prepare the gifts. According to local tradition, a bride had to return to her parents’ house within a week of the wedding with a generous layout of gifts.
How grand those gifts were depended entirely on the groom’s wealth.
In my past life, I had nothing to bring back except two bottles of wine. It had been humiliating, and my stepmother had never let me live it down.
This time was different.
The Hettlers were wealthy. Designer coats, high-end wine, and boxes of daily luxuries packed the trunk of their car.
Looking at the sleek sedan, I felt a wave of contrast.
It was only 2000, yet the Hettler family already drove a brand-new Cadillac, while the Coles only had a beat-up bicycle.
As fate would have it, Yvonne and I arrived at the Vance residence at the exact same time.
I stepped out of the Cadillac just as Yvonne hopped off the back of Harrison’s bicycle.
Our eyes met. She blinked in surprise, glanced behind me, and asked, “Shirley? You came back alone? Where’s your husband?”
“He’s busy,” I replied evenly.
Yvonne let out a knowing hum, turning a bashful gaze toward Harrison as he parked the bike. A smug smile tugged at her lips.
“Harrison had an urgent faculty meeting this morning, but he canceled the whole thing just to accompany me.”
One look at her expression told me everything. She was convinced I was miserable, assuming my husband couldn’t even be bothered to show up for family day.
In reality, an emergency had hit the Hettler Group right before we were supposed to leave. Aiden and his father had rushed over to handle it.
He had suggested his mother come with me, or that I postpone the trip so we could come together.
I hadn’t wanted to cause a fuss, so I just came on my own.
But I saw no need to explain myself to Yvonne.
“Good for you,” I muttered, brushing past her provocations and walking inside.
Behind me, their voices drifted through the air.
“Harrison, Shirley came back alone today. I bet her husband is out partying somewhere. She’s just being stubborn by saying he’s busy. Poor thing.”
Then came Harrison’s cold, detached voice.
“Pity is wasted on the pathetic. You’re just too kind, Yvonne.”
My footsteps paused for a fraction of a second.
Then, I crossed the threshold without hesitation.
