Chapter 3

"Charlotte!" Marcus's face darkened. "Why did you do that to Lydia? She's sick! That's not something she can control!" Lydia, teary-eyed, pulled Marcus's arm and mumbled, "Marcus, don't blame Lottie. I deserved it. Because of me, your wedding was canceled. It's all my fault!" Charlotte couldn't be bothered to watch Lydia act, so she hopped away. Elizabeth blew a raspberry at Lydia and Marcus and hissed sarcastically, "Yeah. It's not your fault. You never make any mistake! You're just feeling blue, and the whole world has to make way for you! We get it!" With that, Elizabeth directly turned around and followed Charlotte. Marcus wanted to catch up with them, but he controlled his urge after he saw Lydia's current state. "Marcus, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know it's all my fault!" Hearing Lydia keep saying sorry, Marcus began to take umbrage against Charlotte. He said to Lydia, "No. It's not your fault! She's way over the line!" And he told himself in his heart, 'Lydia didn't want to be sick! Besides, if it wasn't for Charlotte, Lydia wouldn't have become a mess like this!' When Marcus thought about the past, his face was clouded over. He feared Lydia would take things too hard, so he decided not to bring Charlotte up again. "You flew here in the morning. Tired? I'll take you back to the hotel to get some rest, OK?" Lydia looked at Marcus gingerly and nodded. "OK." Then, after Marcus turned his head away, Lydia dropped her pretense and smirked complacently. *** The second Charlotte reached home, her phone rang. When she saw the unknown number, she let out a cold sneer. Just as Charlotte expected, Lydia would get even with her after being slapped! Charlotte answered the call. "Shoot. What do you wanna say this time?" Lydia pretended to be shocked and said, "Lottie, how do you know it's me? Well. Don't get me wrong. I just want to remind you that tomorrow is you and Marcus's third anniversary. "Don't you want to marry Marcus?" Lydia chuckled, her voice carrying a trace of complacency. Lydia's words irritated Charlotte a bit. After all, Charlotte was hospitalized for over a month, and during that time, she couldn't sleep at night because of the excruciating pain. But to avoid letting Elizabeth and Greyson worry, she had to endure it and tough it out every night. Those sleepless long nights made her come to terms with the reality. However, now, except for anger, Charlotte had no other feelings toward what Lydia said. If it were in the past, Charlotte would be hysterical. But now, she was very calm. She even let out a giggle. "Lydia, I think there's a misunderstanding between us. What do you think I am? A trash recycling center? Do you think Marcus is the only man in the world? " Anyway, I've thrown the trash away already. But if you like it, feel free to keep it." With that, Charlotte directly hung up. Lydia was bummed that she didn't hear Charlotte's hysterical shouts, and the pain in her left face where Charlotte slapped her in the morning became even more unpleasant. Lydia screamed, and her eyes flashed with hatred. But then, she worked out another scheme in her heart and thought, 'Just you wait, Charlotte! I'll definitely make you lose it this time!' *** Among all the games that Charlotte played with Lydia, Charlotte never had a complete victory like today. She used to care too much about Marcus, so she would lose her mind when she confronted Lydia. Therefore, even though Charlotte knew Lydia rattled her cage on purpose, she still couldn't help falling into Lydia's trap. That was why every time Charlotte would make a fool out of herself. But now that Charlotte had come to her senses, she found Lydia's little tricks were actually not that clever. Charlotte felt that she was so stupid in the past! As she thought about how disgruntled Lydia was right now, Charlotte's mood was elevated. Then, she put down her phone and went to lie on the bed early as the doctor advised her to take more rest to speed up recovery. That night, Charlotte had a perfectly sound sleep. She even had a good appetite the next morning. When seeing Charlotte in a good mood, Greyson was finally relieved and went back to his company to deal with a backlog of work. To take care of Charlotte, Elizabeth asked for leave on and off for a month. So today, no matter what Elizabeth said, Charlotte refused to let Elizabeth keep accompanying her. After breakfast, Charlotte went to the piano practice room. She had to brush up on her rusty skills. When Charlotte touched the cold piano keys, she soon became immersed. If it wasn't for the ringing of her phone, Charlotte would've swum in the world of music the whole morning. Charlotte stopped playing and took her phone. When she noticed the unknown number, she frowned. She thought it was Lydia again and was surprised by her perseverance. After answering the call, Charlotte directly snapped, "Lydia, will you cut it out? Or why not ask Marcus to marry you today? Well, if you dare." "Ms. Bernard, it's me." A deep and charming male voice came through the phone. Charlotte was shocked. Her hand banged on the piano, startling all the birds outside the window. Charlotte realized she had mistaken for the wrong person and whispered embarrassedly, "Mr. Romero?" "I'm outside your villa, Ms. Bernard," Leandro said. Hearing this, Charlotte hurriedly pushed the wheelchair near the window and saw a Bentley downstairs. "Mr. Romero, what brought you here?" she asked. Due to her leg problem, Charlotte could only ask over the phone instead of going downstairs. But as soon as she finished her words, she remembered what Leandro was here for. Leandro realized something too. He paused and said in a flirting tone, "Ms. Bernard, are you playing hard to get?" Charlotte immediately sat straight and hurriedly explained, "No, it's not like that! Mr. Romero, I can explain. It's..." Charlotte was suddenly short of words, thinking, 'Explain what? Am I supposed to tell him that I was just too angry and wanted to piss Marcus off at that time? No, I can't do that! Well. I don't know what Leandro is planning, but I can tell he really wants to compensate me. So, Charlotte, don't be such a jerk!' At this time, Leandro asked again, "Ms. Bernard, you're playing hard to get, right?" Charlotte denied with a guilty conscience, "That's not true. Wait there. Let me get my ID card first." But right after Charlotte's voice fell, Leandro said right behind her, "Ms. Bernard, due to your leg problem, you may need my help, I think." She didn't how to reply to him. Looking at Leandro in her room, Charlotte felt like Leandro wasn't here to help her but to make sure she would bring the ID card with her. While Charlotte was still immersed in her thoughts, Leandro walked over and scooped her up in his arms. The woody fragrance from Leandro wafted into Charlotte's nose. Charlotte subconsciously hugged Leandro's neck. Then, Leandro straightened up, lowered his head, and glanced at her expressionlessly. "The wheelchair is too troublesome." With that, Leandro went out of the room with Charlotte in his arms. "Where is your ID card, Ms. Bernard?" "It's... It's in my room." Charlotte stared at his chin in front of her. Bewitched, she would answer whatever he asked now. Seeing Leandro put her ID card into his pocket, Charlotte subconsciously opened her mouth, wanting to say something. But when Leandro looked down, she choked a bit and chickened out. She didn't dare to lie to him. Two hours later, Charlotte sat next to Leandro and looked at the marriage certificate and the photo they just took in her hand, feeling it was incredible. She thought to herself, 'How did I end up getting the marriage certificate with Leandro? I was planning to explain everything to Leandro and apologize to him on the way, right? So what happened? Why did I suddenly become his legal wife?' Feeling complicated in her heart, Charlotte pursed her lips and tilted her head to look at Leandro beside her. She had heard the name "Leandro" for over seven years. But she had never thought that one day, this name would appear on her marriage certificate. When the car stopped, Charlotte's mind was still in a mess. "Mrs. Romero, are you not satisfied with the photo?" A deep male voice sounded from the side, making Charlotte snap back to her senses. The words "Mrs. Romero" really shocked her. As her hands shook, she dropped the marriage certificate on Leandro's leather shoes. Leandro bent forward to pick up the marriage certificate and handed it to Charlotte, saying, "Seems that you're indeed not satisfied with it." Charlotte glanced at Leandro in embarrassment. "It's not like that. I am satisfied actually." Then, Charlotte looked at the photo. She and Leandro weren't as disharmonious as she imagined in a photo. The photographer asked Charlotte to smile when taking pictures just now. At that time, she wasn't thinking at all and just smiled subconsciously. Charlotte had a pair of beautiful almond eyes. When she smiled, her eyes were bright and shining. Her warm smile somehow neutralized Leandro's sharp facial features. So, they looked quite a match in the photo. "Yeah," Leandro responded lightly and then got out of the car. He walked to Charlotte's side, leaned over, and carried her out of the car. Being held in Leandro's arms all morning, Charlotte felt quite embarrassed. She put her arms around Leandro's neck and pinched the marriage certificate with one hand. Leandro carried Charlotte all the way back to the room and put her in the wheelchair. Before getting up, Leandro suddenly stopped, looking at her from less than half a fist away. Charlotte's face burned up a bit under his gaze. She couldn't help but tilt her head. "You may go back to your work now, Mr. Romero." "In a week." Blinking his eyes, Leandro straightened up, looked down at her, and added, "Mrs. Romero, I will take you home in a week." Charlotte's eyes widened in shock at his words. When Leandro turned around to leave, she quickly reached out to pull him. She intended to pull Leandro's sleeve, but in a hurry, she wrapped around Leandro's index finger with her slender fingers.