The Hijacked Marriage

On the day I was supposed to register the marriage with my girlfriend, the CEO of Whitmore Group, her scheming male assistant stepped in first and handed over his ID.

Just like that, the marriage certificate that should have belonged to me and my girlfriend became his and hers instead.

All I did was ask a couple of questions.

The assistant dropped to his knees in front of me, looking as if his world had ended.

“Nathan, this is all my fault. If I hadn’t needed to get my child registered for school, I never would have resorted to something like this and entered a fake marriage with Claire.”

Then he started sobbing and tried to slam his head into the wall as if he had to die to make up for it.

Claire Whitmore had always been sharp and levelheaded, but this time, instead of saying a word for me, she slapped me across the face in front of everyone.

“Ryan is a single father. Everything he did was for his child. Do you really have to be this petty?

“It’s just a certificate. Once Ryan’s child is enrolled, I’ll divorce him. What difference does it make if you get yours a little later? Did you really have to push him to the edge?

“Get on your knees and apologize to Ryan. Then give him half your salary as compensation. If you behave, I might let you borrow our certificate, take a picture of it, and show it off in your family group chat. Otherwise, don’t even think about getting one with me.”

I gave a cold laugh.

“Then forget it.”

And I did not mean only the certificate.

I was done with her, too.

At that, my girlfriend, Claire Whitmore, froze for a moment, as if she had not expected her threat to fail this time.

After a long pause, she seemed to think of something and let out a cold laugh.

“Nathan Reed, this is one of your little games, isn’t it? Why are you so petty?

“Ryan is raising a child on his own and trying to make it in New York City. That’s hard enough already. What’s wrong with me helping him out as his boss?

“You can get married anytime. If Ryan gets his marriage certificate too late, his child won’t be able to enroll in school. If that ruins the kid’s future, are you going to take responsibility?

“With you acting this cold blooded, how am I supposed to trust you enough to marry you and let you be the father of my future children?”

Listening to her righteous speech, I rubbed my cheek. The slap had left it aching and numb.

Yet inside, I felt calmer than I ever had before.

Maybe it was because things like this had happened too many times. I had gone numb a long time ago.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Ryan Chase, the male assistant who had just claimed he would smash his head into the wall to apologize to me. I almost laughed.

He moved as slowly as a snail. His forehead only tapped the wall lightly. At that force, forget killing himself. He could not have broken a piece of jelly.

The performance was laughably bad.

And yet Claire believed him.

This time, I did not swallow it like I always had. I shot back coldly, “Ryan stole my chance to get married today. Am I supposed to smile and thank him for doing such a great job?”

Ryan’s eyes reddened again. He made another move toward the wall.

“Claire, this is all my fault. I’ll pay for it with my life right now!”

Claire stopped him with a look of open distress, then turned and snapped at me.

“Nathan, are you done? Apologize to Ryan right now, then give him half your salary as compensation. You owe him that much!”

Claire had always favored Ryan.

If the smallest thing upset him, she would make me apologize and make it up to him. Once, Ryan wrote the wrong company name on a contract and cost Whitmore Group tens of millions. He was the one who caused the disaster, but she made me take the blame.

In the past, because I loved her, I compromised again and again.

Now, I did not want to give in anymore.

“I did nothing wrong. Why should I apologize? If anyone should apologize, it’s Ryan.”

Claire’s face flushed with anger.

“Nathan, you...”

Before she could explode, I had already turned and left without looking back.

By the time I walked out of City Hall, the sky had gone dark. Watching couples pass by on the street, I felt a bitter ache settle in my chest.