6

Emma Whitcomb

“Let's get married,”

Mr. Cole's face drained of colors, and for the next few seconds, he stared dumbfounded.

By then, silence had already thickened in the air, that even the sound of a pin drop would be heard at that moment.

Then the almost silent whispers came on.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Why is she standing with Mr. Cole instead of Daniel?’

Mr. Cole finally spoke up, his voice firm, “what are you doing?”

Just one stride, and I stood so close to him, our bodies almost touching. I moved my hands to his neck, pulled his face down, and pecked his lips without a warning.

He stiffened.

Gasps echoed behind me.

As I pulled away, my hands still wrapped around his neck, a small smile curled round my lips as I said, “play along,”

Then I turned around, my eyes meeting Daniel's face.

He stood there, his eyes widened, and face pale, like he'd just seen a ghost.

I let my eyes wander to mom and dad. They both stared with disbelief.

“Thank you, everyone for coming tonight, but there'll be no more engagement for today…” I paused, my eyes shifting to Daniel, a smirk pulling at my lips.

“I'm calling off the engagement,”

Daniel's eyes widened, his lips parted, but he didn't say anything.

“Emma!” Mom's angry voice tore through the hall, but before I could look at her, someone grabbed my hand.

Cole.

He dragged me out of the hall, and to his car, throwing me in the backseat before hopping beside me.

“Drive…” he muttered, and I blinked as the car started.

My eyes flicked to the driver's seat, and I noticed a young man in black suit sitting there.

Oh… His driver was already in the car.

I glanced at Mr. Cole. He was staring out through the window. Not even a word to me.

Sighs. He must've been shocked.

I fidgeted with my fingers as memories of what happened clawed back into my mind, the weight of everything pressing down on my chest, aching my heart.

I gave them my all… My loyalty, my life… Every inch of me, just to show them how much I was grateful, and death is what I got in the end?

They will regret everything. I will make them pay for everything in this lifetime.

The car suddenly made a loud screeching sound before halting abruptly, slamming me back to reality.

My eyes flicked to the car window. It was dark outside, but I could see that we were parked on a bridge.

The driver stepped out of the car, leaving just the two of us.

My breath caught in my throat as Mr Cole turned to me for the first time, his eyes fixed on mine.

I swallowed hard, my back pressing hard against the seat.

“What was that?” he asked, his voice firm, with no trace of anger.

My chest pounded nervously.

Now that I think about it, what the heck was I thinking?

Yeah, he cried when I died… He tried to save my life… but still, how could I have done that when I could've walked away from that engagement?

Revenge? Ugh! Mr. Cole should've been the last person to think of.

You must've not known this yet, but Mr. Cole is the hottest cold bachelor in the city of New York.

Rumour had it that he has never been in a real relationship, and the ones that his grandpa managed to set up for him, never lasted for a week.

Some people whisper that he must be into men, because how could he never find anyone attractive? And some said that his personality just sucks so much that no woman wants to be with him.

Either way, I shouldn't have thought of this.

The atmosphere tensed awkwardly, our eyes still locked.

And just when I wanted to get out of here so badly, my phone rang.

My eyes flicked to the screen. Daniel.

“Uhm… I should take this outside,” I said, my facial muscles aching as I forced a smile.

I didn't have plans to answer that jerk’s call. I just wanted to get out of here and breathe.

I reached for the door in a bid to step out of the car, but he held my hand and pulled me back.

I gasped.

“You haven't answered my question yet, Emma…”

“Why did you change your mind about marrying Daniel back there?”

“What are you up to?” He stared suspiciously.

I took a deep breath. Looks like I don't have a choice now.

“Nothing… I just realised Daniel wasn't a good fit for me,” I shrugged, as if he was supposed to fall for that crap.

He raised a brow, his eyes lingering on me longer than it should, and just as I was getting uncomfortable under his gaze, he scoffed, pulling back to his seat.

“He wasn't a good fit for you…” He huffed, more to himself than to me.

“What made you think that I'm a good fit for you?” He turned to me again, his eyes fixed on me.

My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard.

Oh shit! What do I say now?

Then something crossed my mind… His engagement to Melissa Houston, a popular runway model.

Although this has not been confirmed yet, but a few weeks before I died, rumours had been flying around that his grandpa set him up with her, but he's not interested in her one bit.

“We have the same goal… Melissa Houston…”

Colors drained from his face, and he raised a brow.

“You don't want to marry her… and I don't want to marry Daniel either, but my parents want me to get married into the Hart's family…”

“Marrying Daniel is like a life commitment…”

Yeah, a life commitment into misery.

“And I assume the same thing applies to you if you should get married to Melissa… How about we use ourselves to get away from this mess, hmm?”

His eyes darkened, brows drawing together, “how did you know about Melissa? Have you been stalking me?”

I scoffed, “stalk you? I don't have so much time on my hands to do that…” I muttered, more to myself than to him, and as I turned to him, I smiled, “why would I stalk you?”

“Not like it's a secret… It's on almost every blogging page on i***a,” I muttered again, looking away.

He didn't say anything else.

“My username is Emma underscore Whitcomb on i***a… Send me a DM when you make your decision,”

Then I stepped out of the car…