Chapter 3

“This again, Willow?” John leaned against the door frame with annoyance in his voice. “There are around two thousand villagers here, and all of them know you’ve been my girlfriend for eight years.

“You want to break up? You can’t. Aside from me, no one will want a woman who has dated someone else before.”

Katherine stood by the side and teared up. “Willow, if it really bothers you, I won’t have my broadcast tomorrow… In any case, I’ve already gone through the engagement ceremony. I have no regrets now.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You did nothing wrong.” He turned to me. “Willow, listen to Katherine, and look at yourself. Aside from threatening me with a breakup, there’s nothing else you know how to do.

“Katherine is being considerate, but what about you? You’re petty and fussy about everything. You won’t even let someone else have your wedding.”

Suddenly, I laughed. “Yeah. I’m petty. So, I don’t want you anymore. I’ll marry someone else.”

John was stunned for a short moment before he snickered and said, “You’re marrying someone else? Who? No one will dare marry you in this village.”

He shook his head and said with a mocking tone, “Willow, do you even believe yourself?”

I said nothing else.

Perhaps thinking that he had crossed the line, John immediately tried to appease me with a gentle voice. “Enough. Stop throwing a tantrum. It’s just a wedding dress. You can wear it for tomorrow’s wedding, and Katherine will wear something else—”

Before he finished speaking, we heard a loud rip.

Perhaps accidentally, Katherine tore the wedding dress apart.

That was the last memento my mother left for me. She sewed that dress for me herself.

John was taken aback. “Um… It’s fine. I’ll have someone repair it tomorrow. I promise you, it’ll be as good as new.”

“Repair it?” My voice turned so shrill that not even I could recognize it. “How could you possibly repair it? That’s the wedding dress my mother made for me! Don’t you know that this is the last thing she left for me?!”

I charged at Katherine and slapped her.

“Willow!” John shoved me aside.

My back crashed into the tea table, and it hurt so much that I sucked in a sharp breath.

However, he did not even look at me and just squatted down to help Katherine up. “Are you okay?”

“John!” I tried to clutch my back and said with a quivering voice, “She ruined my wedding dress—”

“Enough!” He whipped his head around. “You already hit her. What else do you want? What’s the point of continuing to argue here? You want a breakup? Fine. Leave.”

He bent down and picked up the ripped wedding dress, along with the snapped golden threads and crooked silver jewelry. With all of them bundled up in a mess, he shoved them into my hands and pushed me outside.

“Aren’t you very tough? You’re going to marry someone else, aren’t you? Go! Marry him right now! I’d like to see who’d marry you!”

The door slammed shut in front of my face.

I hugged the torn wedding dress and stood outside. Behind the door, I could hear Katherine’s sobs.

“John, don’t do that… Willow was just acting rashly. No matter what, she’s your fiancee…”

Then came John’s voice. “She’s been spoiled and has become ungrateful. Ignore her and let her think about this properly. Once she has reflected on this, she’ll come to apologize.”

As I continued standing outside, my phone vibrated. I wiped away my tears and looked down.

It was a simple message from Luke.

[Willow, Samuel made a silver crown for you, and it’s a hundred times better than the one John made for you.]

I shut my eyes and prepared to cut ties completely.

Then, I removed the pendant from my neck. It was a love token between us in the past. I was going to return it to him.

The door soon opened, and John raised an eyebrow at me in amusement. “Nine minutes… I thought that you’d at least last until tomorrow morning—”

Before he finished speaking, Katherine came out, wrapped only in a towel.

John then opened his mouth to explain, “Willow, Katherine was only taking a bath—”

“You don’t need to say anything else.”

I took a step back and handed the pendant to him. “I’m giving this back to you. From this moment on, we have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

John’s expression changed, and he grabbed my hand. “Are you serious, Willow?”

“It’s over, John.”

I broke free from his grasp.

“Fine. You sure are ruthless, Willow.” He sneered and put the pendant around Katherine’s neck.

“If you don’t want it, someone else does.”

A subtle, smug look flashed in Katherine’s eyes, but she put on a shocked expression and waved her hands in refusal. “John, this is too precious…”

“Wear it.” John stared at me coldly. “Since she doesn’t want it anymore, it’s now yours.”

When I turned around to leave, I suddenly felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

John’s shouts rang out from behind me. “Willow, if you leave now, don’t ever come back! I’d like to see who else you can marry after leaving my side!”

At some point, it started raining outside.

The rain got heavier, but an umbrella soon went over my head.

Samuel tilted the umbrella to my side, and the rain fell on his shoulders, but he did not even frown. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”