Chapter 7

Mark said, “Did she actually break up with him, or are you just making assumptions?”

Nancy shot back, “What do you think?”

Mark did not ask again.

“By the way, the one abroad has been wanting to come back lately,” Nancy said with a sneer. “Says he misses his woman. Selfish bastard. Now he wants to act like he has a heart. I think he’s just looking for an excuse to return.”

Mark said indifferently, “The price of coming back is high. He won’t be willing to give up everything he schemed to take.”

“If he really does give it all up, then maybe he actually does love her,” Nancy teased.

Katherine waited until their conversation moved on to something else before stepping forward as if she had just arrived.

She smiled brightly and called, “Dinner’s ready. Grandpa asked me to come get you.”

After saying that, she did not wait for their response. She turned and left in a hurry, her steps a little too quick, as if she were flustered.

Mark also started toward the private room.

“Your wife does have a certain charm,” Nancy said, watching Katherine’s slim figure from behind.

There was a softness to the way she moved.

Mark looked at Katherine’s uneven, hurried steps not far ahead and said nothing.

.

The dinner between both families was awkward, but the things that needed to be discussed were more or less settled.

More accurately, the Winter family had arranged the wedding entirely on their own.

Mark drove Katherine and her parents home afterward.

Katherine could tell that her parents were far too polite to this son-in-law. They were not close to him. In fact, they seemed a little afraid of him, even though Mark behaved perfectly properly.

Katherine understood where that fear came from.

It came from the unknown.

The high-end restaurant where the Winter family dinner had taken place, the work and lifestyle Mark mentioned when he took calls, all of it belonged to a world her parents had never touched.

Then there was Mark’s natural distance and indifference. Her parents could sense that too.

Mary was worried. In the middle of the night, she still could not help going to her daughter’s room.

“Are you really sure about this marriage?” she asked.

Katherine could not help teasing her with a smile. “Isn’t a son-in-law from a good family, with a good education and a stable job, exactly what you’ve always dreamed of?”

“But his family is too good,” Mary said. “His family business is huge, and his uncle is a mayor of the city. What if you get hurt later?”

Just thinking about the possibility of her daughter being wronged made Mary’s eyes redden.

Katherine’s heart ached a little at her mother’s worry, so she comforted her.

“They’re actually nice. Look, they helped find you a specialist and paid for everything. They were very attentive. And Grandpa is very kind.”

Luther really was kind.

Only then did Mary’s uneasy heart settle a little.

“His family will probably look down on ours for not having much,” Mary said. “If he ever mistreats you, divorce him.”

Katherine promised her seriously, “Okay. I won’t let myself be mistreated. If I can’t make it work, I’ll leave.”

But after overhearing Mark’s conversation with his cousin, she kept having a feeling that he might bring up canceling or postponing the wedding in the next few days.

Nothing happened.

The wedding arrived as scheduled.

Neither Katherine nor Mark wanted to make it complicated, and Grace did not want to announce her son’s marriage too widely. The wedding was small, with only close relatives from both sides invited.

On Katherine’s side, only her uncle, her cousin, and Tessa, who was acting as her bridesmaid, came.

Mark was still performing surgery at the hospital that morning. He arrived in a rush just an hour before the ceremony, yet still managed to greet her uncle and cousin with perfect courtesy.

“Your husband is really busy,” Tessa complained to her. “He can’t even clear one full day for his own wedding.”

Maybe he just did not care.

But Katherine only said, “That’s just how his job is.”

“If he’s that busy, do you think it affects his performance in bed?” Tessa wiggled her brows at her and gave a wicked little smile. “You’ve had the license for a while now. You two must have done it, right?”

They had not done anything after getting the license.

But they had done it before, so Katherine did not deny it.

“Was he good?” Tessa asked curiously.

“He was fine,” Katherine said vaguely.

“Was he about this big?” Tessa held up her hands to show a length.

Katherine refused to answer.

Tessa loved teasing her and was about to keep pushing when she suddenly saw an uninvited guest.

Isla Jensen.

She stood far away, her body stiff and straight. She did not come closer, and from this distance, it was impossible to see the expression on her face.

“Your husband invited his ex to the wedding? What was he thinking?” Tessa wanted to say Mark was not marrying Katherine just to spite Isla, was he?

But she swallowed the words.

“She can’t let go of your husband,” Tessa said instead.

That much, she could be sure of.

“After all, he was her youth,” Katherine murmured.

She had once had a youth like that too.

Later, during the ceremony, Isla came a little closer. The man standing beside her was her fiancé, tall and handsome.

Katherine figured Isla had probably come with him.

Katherine was a little distracted, so she did not notice that the man beside her was distracted too.

Still, they did not miss any of the steps.

The vows.

The rings.

The kiss.

Katherine was the one who initiated the kiss.

She was afraid that if he refused to kiss her in front of everyone, it would be humiliating. So she took the first step, wrapped her arms around his neck, and brushed her lips lightly against his.

Mark instinctively placed an arm around her waist.

But when she lifted her eyes and met his gaze, her face turned red.

Mark could not tell if she was genuinely shy.

He saw a hint of girlish embarrassment on her face, paired with those bright, puppy-like eyes. It was, in its own way, rather endearing.

He turned his head slightly and glanced down at the audience.

He saw Isla’s red-rimmed eyes.

Katherine saw them too.

The blush on her face vanished instantly.

She thought of her own past love as well.

After stepping off the stage, she hesitated again and again before finally hardening her heart.

She blocked Calvin on her phone.

Then she deleted him.

She forced her tears back.

People had to move forward.

“Did you invite Isla Jensen?” Katherine asked Mark after they returned to the bridal suite.

He was taking off his suit jacket. Hearing her question, he glanced at her.

“No.”

Then he went into the bathroom.

Katherine looked around his room, which was now their bridal suite.

She only looked and did not touch anything. Everything seemed expensive, and she had no intention of invading his space.

When Mark came out, he had changed into casual clothes.

“I need to go out for something. Don’t wait up,” he said casually.

Katherine hesitated, then asked, “So… should I sleep in your room tonight?”

Mark paused.

He turned back to look at her.

On a wedding night, the word sleep always carried a certain suggestive warmth. He could not tell whether she was trying to tempt him on purpose.

“Do whatever you like,” he said flatly.

.

Mark went to meet Calvin.

“You can come back,” Mark said, looking at him coldly. “But you should know the price.”

“The money and the properties, I’ll return all of it to the Winter family,” Calvin said. “I won’t ask the family to acknowledge me again either. After I come back, I’ll avoid your mother and stay out of her sight.”

“More than twenty years of scheming, and now you don’t want any of it?” Mark’s mouth curved in a cold, thin smile.

Calvin’s mother had taken advantage of Marcus Winter when he was drunk and seduced him, then gave birth to Calvin.

All for money.

The agreement back then had been simple.

Calvin would take the money and leave the country.

Something flickered in Calvin’s eyes, but his voice remained calm.

“I don’t want it anymore. I have my doctorate now. I can get into a good company and earn a decent income. Besides, as long as my puppy is with me, she won’t be afraid of living a hard life.”

Mark had no interest in Calvin’s private feelings.

He glanced at his watch.

That one word from Katherine, sleep, had stirred a few thoughts in him after all.

“In a rush to go back for your wedding night?” Calvin asked.

He knew Mark had gotten married today.

Mark had no intention of responding.

“The Jensen girl?”

“Landon,” Mark answered perfunctorily.

Calvin actually smiled.

“What a coincidence. The woman I love is a Landon too. Do you have a wedding photo? Let me see.”