Chapter 9 "I didn't come here for you, Lawrence. "I'm married." I pushed away Lawrence's hand and took a step back. But he didn't buy it at all. He grinned and stepped closer. "I know you're upset with me, so you cooked up this fake marriage license just to pro- voke me, didn't you? "Come on, Harriet. Cut it out." I frowned and dodged his extending hand, a wave of disgust surging through me. "I'm not joking. I am married." He let out a condescending chuckle and showed me his phone, displaying a confirmation for a marriage license ap- pointment. "See? I already had Clarissa book an appointment for us. If you were truly married, the system would have rejected it outright. "And let's be honest, Harriet, who else would you even marry but me?" An overwhelming urge to wipe that smug smirk off his face shot through me. My eyes darted around the room, but Austin was nowhere to be seen. A wave of instant regret washed over me. I should have stuck by his side. "Lawrence, I never received this message. "Perhaps you should check exactly whose names Clarissa used for that appointment." I pulled out the message Clarissa had sent to me and showed it to Lawrence. He frowned deeply at the sight of it, Then he turned around, glaring at Clarissa, his gaze icy. "You've got some nerve, sending that text to Harriet. "Did you book the appointment for you and me?" Clarissa tried to speak, but Lawrence cut her off by slapping her hard across the face. 0.0 % 08:17 : "You pathetic bitch. Do you honestly believe you could be my wife? "I only helped you because I felt sorry for you. That's it. How dare you presume anything more?" Lawrence lashed out at Clarissa sternly. She burst into tears, apologizing nonstop. "I'm sorry..." Ignoring her, he smiled at me fawningly. "She made a mistake again. This time, I swear I'll fire her. "Harriet, please don't be mad. "I'll book the appointment myself this time." He immediately tried to submit the application on his phone, but the system kept rejecting it, even after several at- tempts. "My application failed? Why? "This is impossible!" Lawrence's frantic demeanor reminded me of how I had hysterically questioned him. "Because she's married to me." Just then, a cold, aloof voice rang out, attracting everyone's gaze. Austin walked toward me with a huge bouquet of red roses in his arms. There were 999 roses in total, and the bouquet was so enormous it could almost cover my entire upper body. "Do you like them? "Claire told me you like red roses, so I had them flown in from France this morning." As my gaze fell upon the dew still fresh on the petals, tears welled up in my eyes. "Yes, I do." Austin stroked my head dotingly and then took my hand, standing in front of Lawrence. "Austin?" Lawrence gawked at Austin, his heart sinking to the bottom. It never occurred to him that Austin was my husband. "Harriet, you actually married him instead of me? 37.4 % 08:17 Chapter 9 "Don't you know he's a divorced man? Are you dumb? How could you choose him over me?" Lawrence was absolutely furious-so much so that his words turned nasty. 11 288 Vouchers Yet, Austin wasn't offended in the slightest. He simply watched with calm detachment as Lawrence lost his compo- sure. Soon, the elders of the Chavez family gathered around, and Lawrence's mother, Olivia Chavez, rushed over. "Enough with the nonsense, Lawrence!" She covered Lawrence's mouth at once, urging him to behave. Then she came to me and grabbed my hand. "Harriet, sweetheart, I know these days have been so hard for you. "I've been abroad lately and haven't been able to keep Lawrence in check. "But I believe he now realizes he was wrong. Don't be mad at him anymore, alright? Don't make the wrong choice by marrying the wrong person out of spite. It'll only ruin your life." When my mother was alive, Olivia and I used to be very close. Later, after my mother passed away, she treated me like her own daughter. 08:17 74.7 %