Chapter 6

Cosmo realized there was no getting through to Julian. She pushed his hands away and looked up.

"Can't you understand what I'm saying?" she questioned seriously. "I said I won't apologize to Selene! If anything, she should be the one apologizing to me!"

"You're downright heartless!" Julian was instantly enraged. He grabbed her by the throat and snarled viciously, "You're going to apologize today whether you like it or not! Because of you, Selene won't eat or drink. How can you sit here perfectly at ease when she's falling apart?"

Her throat ached from his grip. Cosmo looked at the man in front of her, who was so cruel to her now, and felt nothing but numbness inside.

She remembered that when she was little, Julian had stood up for her when a classmate bullied her. He pinned the kid to the ground and beat him, then warned every classmate watching never to mess with Cosmo.

Their teacher, Thelma Ortega, called Julian to the office and told him he wasn't allowed to hit his classmates, only for him to say, "I don't care. I'll beat anyone who bullies Cosmo!"

Ms. Ortega was so angry that she gave him detention. When asked whether he'd still hit his classmates in the future, Julian held his head high and answered, "Yes, I won't let anyone bully Cosmo!"

After that, all through middle school and high school, no one dared to bully Cosmo.

But now, the very man who'd once protected her had become the one who hurt her.

"Julian, don't waste your breath on Cosmo. Just drag her over there. Selene's health is what matters most right now," Gloria urged from the side.

"Yes, Julian, take her away," Cathleen murmured as well. "Do whatever it takes to get Selene to forgive her. Plenty of relatives are still at the hotel to see you two get married, so you'd better not leave them hanging again tonight."

"Come with me!" Julian ordered, roughly dragging Cosmo to Selene's hospital room.

The moment Selene, who was lying in bed, saw Cosmo, she became utterly hysterical. She climbed down from the bed and knelt on the floor, slapping herself across the face again and again.

"I'm sorry, Cosmo. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have betrayed you. But I'm paying for it now—my baby's gone. Cosmo, my baby with Julian is gone! I never meant to deceive you.

"I was going to hide it from all of you for the rest of my life, but I found out I was pregnant when I went to your place this morning. I didn't have a choice! I really didn't!

"I'm in the wrong here. I was jealous that you two were getting married today and that you'd have a wedding of the century. Meanwhile, I was like a rat lurking in a filthy gutter, only able to steal your happiness from the shadows.

"Cosmo, I really am sorry. Please forgive me."

Watching Selene slap her own face until it was swollen and disfigured, Julian pulled her into his arms and comforted her tenderly.

"There, there. It's not your fault, Selene. It's Cosmo's. Look, she's here. She's come to apologize to you."

"Really?"

Selene seemed a little unhinged, but Cosmo couldn't be bothered to figure out whether she was faking it or genuinely losing it.

Instead, she just stared at the two of them tangled together and said flatly, "Yes, I've come to apologize. To make up for it, I'll give you tonight's wedding."

Julian stiffened at those words.

"Cosmo, what are you talking about?"

"I said, I'm letting Selene be the bride at tonight's wedding."

"Really?" Selene lifted her tear-streaked face. "Cosmo, are you really giving the wedding to me?"

"Yup," Cosmo replied with a nod. She then slipped the wedding ring off her own finger and slipped it onto Selene's ring finger.

"Here's the wedding ring—it's yours. But I've already cut up the wedding dress, so have Julian take you to buy a new one."