The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Chapter 5

Jeremy tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes while staring at the small balcony that connected to the empty attic. After two seconds of silence, he whispered an order, “You can lead the guys in for now.”

“Well, uhh…” Tommy was surprised, but he did not dare to question Jeremy’s order. He could only do as he was told and wave his hand to give the men behind him a signal. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Everyone, come on in with me.”

The Holdens’ wedding entourage was blocked by bridesmaids begging for gifts at the door of the Carews’ villa, making for a particularly lively atmosphere.

No one noticed that the groom had gone around to the back door of the compound.

There, a girl was strolling and humming ‘Wedding March’ as if no one would recognize her.

She had barely taken a few steps when a hand grabbed the back of her neck by force. Her entire body had been lifted into the air, and both her feet were dangling like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

“Did you think you could just run away?” The man’s voice was as sonorous as a cello. There were strong hints of aggression in his tone, and it sounded rather cold to the ears.

Corinne might not be facing the man who attacked her, but she immediately recognized that the voice belonged to Jeremy.

She was surprised that Jeremy had recognized her from that distant glance earlier. Even so, she was ready for that eventuality.

Corinne turned her head to look at Jeremy and spoke with a lisp in a feigned tone. She stammered and said, “M—M—Mister? Who are you? Why are you p…pulling my arm?”

Jeremy was given a small fright when she turned around. He let go of her hand in an instant, almost as if he had seen a ghost.

The woman in front of him had plenty of moles on her face, a unibrow, sausage lips, and eye shadows in all colors of the rainbow.

Her appearance was exceedingly ugly, and one could even say that it was much worse than gag scenes of cross-dressing men in movies.

Corinne reveled at the sight of Jeremy’s expression after he had been frightened by her ugly appearance.

She acted stupid once more and said in a daze, “Mister, you’re getting m—married, yes? You went t—t —the wrong way! You need to go the fuc—

“I mean, the f—front door! Your b—bride is waiting there!”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, stared coldly at the ugly girl in front of him, and nearly believed her act. His thin lips curled up in a smile and said, “Is that so? Then why are you wearing the Holdens’ unique engagement ring?”

As soon as he said that, he grabbed her hand and raised it to gaze upon the diamond ring on her ring finger.

Corinne was speechless. Her ruse had been exposed!

It was not that she forgot to take it off, but rather, the ring seemed to have taken root on her finger. She was unable to take it off, regardless of how much soap she used.

Jeremy’s charming eyes were dark and discerning. He could see what she was thinking, so he opened his mouth to offer an explanation for her doubts. “You don’t need to waste all that effort. The body of this ring is made of platinum that has been mixed with some special materials. The only way to take it off is to lubricate it with a special essential oil.”

Corinne gritted her teeth.

That was some trick he had up his sleeve, and she finally conceded that there was no escape for her.

“Now that it’s come to this, I suggest that we have a frank conversation with each other. I know that you don’t really want to marry me, and that you only need a wife in name for some ulterior reason. Am I wrong?”

Jeremy did not answer, but he had to admit that she was a smart woman.

Corinne pursed her lips and said with a smile, “In that case, my sister Sherlyn is more than willing to marry you. She’s more beautiful than I am, and her figure is so much better than mine. Everything will work out perfectly if you marry her!”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, wondering if the girl in front of her was that averse to marrying him.

In fact, she seemed to be trying to avoid him!

The experience was a novel one for him. All the women he met in the past had tried their level best to get his attention and become his woman. However, he wanted someone who was not clingy.

Jeremy pursed his thin lips and said, “I’ll only marry the person who’s wearing my engagement ring.”

Corinne frowned. “That should be easy then. Bring me some of that special essential oil. I’ll take the ring off at once and return it to you. Then you can just give it to Sherlyn!”

Jeremy shrugged. “I don’t have any.”

“Then go buy some!”

“Nobody produces it anymore. It’s not something that can just be bought.”

“Oh, I see…” Corinne gritted her teeth. With a half-smile, she suddenly raised her hand and pointed behind the man, “Mister, look! It’s a rainbow-colored pig!”

Jeremy put on a poker face as the corners of his thin lips began twitching subtly.

‘How childish.’

The next second, Corinne, who was about to run away, was grabbed by the nape again. Jeremy picked her up and brought her away nonchalantly, despite Corinne’s attempts at trying to kick him.

…

Back at the villa compound, Tommy had just led the handsome entourage to the living room when his phone rang. The caller was Jeremy. Tommy stopped and answered the phone with the utmost respect, after which he turned and made his way out in a dignified manner with the other groomsmen.

Upon seeing that, the smug-faced Lilliana went blank for a moment and walked up to them at once. She asked, “Where are you going, Mister Tommy? The bride is waiting right inside.”

Tommy looked at Lilliana and said, “Mister Jeremy has already gotten his bride.”

Lilliana was stunned. “He has? But how? Sherlyn is still inside the house!”

Tommy frowned. “Sherlyn? Ma’am, you must be mistaken. The woman whom Mister Jeremy intends to marry isn’t named Sherlyn!” After ending his sentence, he walked past Lilliana icily and led his men away without looking back.

Lilliana was frozen stiff, and her face was as pale as paper.

Her first thought was, ‘I’m…mistaken?’

All their relatives and friends began to whisper among themselves.

Marvin, who had been the subject of much praise and flattery by all the relatives that surrounded him earlier, soon turned into everyone’s object of ridicule. He was ashamed, and his expression was as ugly as ugly could be.

He turned around and lashed out at Lilliana for causing him to make a fool out of himself. “What the hell is going on, Lilliana? Didn’t you say that Mister Jeremy was going to marry Sherlyn?”

Lilliana could only put on a helpless look. “I… I don’t know how this happened! When the Holdens came to deliver the betrothal gifts to us that day, they said it was because they wanted to marry your daughter. They had all the gifts delivered to us! You saw that, didn’t you, Marvin?”

Marvin went up and gave Lilliana a tight slap. “Our family has become the butt of jokes thanks to you! How could you make all these arrangements without confirming everything beforehand?”

Sherlyn, who had been waiting too long for the groom to come and get her, heard her parents quarreling outside. She lifted her wedding dress slightly and walked out of the room, asking, “Dad! Mom! What are the two of you doing?! Where’s my groom? Where’s my Jeremy?”

“Sherlyn, Mister Jeremy’s people just said that there was a mistake. They’ve already left with the real bride!”

Sherlyn turned pale in shock. “What? How could there be such a huge mistake, Mom? Wasn’t Mister Jeremy going to marry me?”

Lilliana covered the side of her face that had been beaten by Marvin. “Please don’t blame me, Sherlyn. I’m confused too…”

The relatives who had long been fed up with Sherlyn and Lilliana’s characters began to rub salt into the wound.

“No point making a scene now that things ended this way, Sherlyn. When you think about it, it’s pretty obvious that someone with Mister Jeremy’s status would never want to marry a scandalous actress like you!”

“Honestly, I was still trying to wrap my head around how you managed to establish a connection to a first-tier family like the Holdens. Turns out, it was all a mistake!”

“You should just go back to being an actress, Sherlyn! After all, that’s the only time you get to marry your handsome, no-nonsense company president! Hahaha!”

Sherlyn could not bear the ridicule from all her relatives, so she gave Lilliana a resentful look before dashing off to hide in her room.

Their snide remarks were infuriating, and she felt ashamed to face anyone ever again.

One question remained unanswered: how could the mistake have happened?

‘Didn’t Mister Jeremy give me a ring?’ She found it hard to accept reality, and she could not believe what was happening. ‘Who did Mister Jeremy bring away?’

After all, there could not have been another person with the same surname living nearby…