She Won't Marry? I'll Wed Her Illegitimate Sister

Bewilderment crossed everyone's faces when they realized that I wasn't joking. After all, this wasn't the first time that Iris Miller had stood me up at the altar.

I had never mentioned wanting to call off the engagement. Not even when the Swanson family was ridiculed for six months after headlines like "The Heir of the Swanson Family Cheated on Again!" were plastered all over the news.

Iris' grandfather, Daniel Miller, immediately stepped forward to comfort me. "Iris just isn't thinking straight. Please wait a moment…"

He then called Iris again. However, he barely got a word in before she interrupted him.

"Stop lying to me. Jasper will never call off our engagement, no matter how angry he is at me. Besides, it's not like I'm breaking up with him. I'm just accompanying Aaron for now. I'll come back after he feels better."

Aaron Trent's voice echoed from the receiver. "I'm also testing him for you, Iris. If he's still willing to marry you even after you abandoned him so many times, it'll prove that his love for you is true."

The corner of my lips twitched as I listened to Iris' and Aaron's banter.

"Are you that confident that I'll keep waiting for you?" I asked.

Iris paused, seemingly not expecting me to be standing within earshot. She softened her voice and said, "Aaron's parents passed when he was young, Jasper. He treats me as the only family that he has left. It makes sense that he can't accept the fact that I'm getting married.

"Why don't we postpone our wedding for now? We can have the ceremony after Aaron comes to terms with reality."

Wasn't it enough that we had already postponed the wedding six times?

When Iris and I had first become a couple, Aaron had immediately returned to the country to cause a fuss.

Iris had stubbornly insisted that she only treated Aaron as a brother. However, she eventually caused me to become the laughingstock of Olsana because of her dear "brother".

Daniel sounded incredibly frustrated when he exclaimed, "There are still three hours left before the wedding starts! I've already bought a plane ticket for you. Come back here right now!

"There are so many reporters camping outside, waiting for the next big scoop. Did you ever stop to consider what a difficult position you've forced Jasper into?"

"I…"

The hesitation in Iris' voice was clear.

My heart throbbed.

Aaron swiftly interjected, saying, "I already bought the movie tickets, Iris. I'll ask another woman to accompany me if you leave. Besides, you don't actually care about me, do you?"

"No!" Iris shouted in panic and frustration.

Her voice was colored with helplessness when she said, "I really can't leave, Jasper. You've dealt with this sort of situation plenty of times. I'm sure you'll be able to handle this one too."

Her careless words made it seem as if the humiliation and mocking that I was forced to endure in front of the cameras were utterly insignificant.

My heart ached terribly. I couldn't help myself and barked out a bitter laugh, saying, "Do whatever you want."

It no longer mattered to me whether Iris returned.

Iris was so distracted by her thoughts of staying by Aaron's side that she failed to notice that something was amiss. "Be good. Don't be angry. I even bought a present for you."

She then sent a photo to me, showing off a watch that dangled from her fingers.

I knew that the watch belonged to Aaron. It seemed that I had turned into a trash can for his unwanted items.

I still remembered the first present that Iris had ever given me. It was a men's watch with a light brown strap.

Although brown was my least favorite color, I had cherished the watch like a precious treasure simply because she had given it to me.

One day, when I sent the watch to the shop for maintenance, I discovered that Aaron was the previous owner by tracking the serial number.

Iris hadn't shown even a hint of guilt when I questioned her.

"I'm not good at picking out presents, so I asked Aaron to help me," she had replied. "Stop being so petty."

She claimed that she was bad at choosing presents. However, everyone in Olsana knew that she would book the most expensive observation deck by the beach just so Aaron could enjoy the extravagant fireworks show that she prepared every year for his birthday.

She would also get her hands on rare collector's items that only appeared in auctions and allow Aaron to have his pick.

In comparison, the effort that Iris spent on me wasn't even a fraction of the effort that she spent on Aaron.

Even at that moment, she wasn't bothered enough to buy something new for me to temporarily appease me.

Aaron also didn't pick out the mocking edge in my voice. "I chose the present that Iris gave you," he said provokingly. "Do you like it? No need to thank me."