Married the "Old Geezer", Now They All Cry!

Chapter 1

The day before my foster sister Lilian Lewis's wedding, she suddenly burst into tears completely out of the blue.

Figuring she was just upset about leaving home, I tried to comfort her. "I know this is an arranged marriage, but honestly, he's a decent guy, and he'll be good to you. And you can always come back home anytime you miss us."

But out of nowhere, my mother slapped me and snapped, "When are you ever going to leave Lillie alone? Back then, just because she scored higher than you on the SAT, you lost control and said you were going to kill yourself. Later, just to spare your feelings, she ended up going to a community college instead of somewhere better! And now you're making her marry someone she doesn't love at all!"

I hurried to grab Lilian and begged her to set the record straight for me. "Didn't you tell me you liked that guy? And back then, you made up all those lies about me…"

Before I could even finish, my boyfriend, Howard Ingram, stepped in front of Lilian, who was totally terrified, blocking her with his body.

"Lillie used to give in to you on everything and hand over whatever you asked for. Would you please just stop ruining her life? To tell you the truth, Lillie and I had been in love all along. The only reason she ever gave me up to you was that she was putting up with your instability. But now, we both regret that decision."

He looked at me, his eyes full of hatred, and added, "If you think that stranger is such a wonderful catch, why don't you go ahead and marry him yourself?"

My parents chimed in as well, "After all, you're our real daughter, and you've enjoyed a comfortable life all these years. It's only fair that you be the one to take on this arranged marriage."

Watching everyone I loved turn their backs on me like that, I suddenly felt completely drained.

It finally dawned on me that all the kindness they had shown me over the years had never been genuine.

"Alright," I said. "I'll marry him."

A few seconds of silence passed.

Then, my mother let out a sudden laugh, her eyes filled with that same look of contempt she had given me back in my sophomore year, when she saw me trying to kill myself.

"No way you'd be willing to sacrifice yourself and marry that man. You've always considered yourself above all that. Didn't you swear you would only ever marry Howard? I bet your next line is going to be telling Lillie to just bear with it, and then you'll find some way to trick her into marrying him first."

I stared at her in disbelief, never imagining that my own mother would think so poorly of me.

And then everything came rushing back, that midterm exam in sophomore year when Lilian placed first and I came in second.

Someone started a rumor that she had cheated her way to the top. Lilian got so upset that she told everyone I had forced her to get that score. She claimed I had threatened to break her legs if she didn't, and that she had no other choice.

That rumor got me bullied at school, and after several breakdowns, I ended up on that rooftop, where my mother had given me that same look back then.

Later, I told them the truth, and everything seemed to shift. Somehow, they seemed to have given me all the love they had shown Lilian all those years.

I thought they had finally believed me and wanted to make it up to me, and maybe even give Lilian a little warning at the same time.

But now, I realized that they had never actually believed a single word I said, and Lilian had been deliberately twisting the truth all along.

Even now, my mother was still thinking the worst of me.

"Maybe I should just leave," I said, since there was no point in staying in a family like that.

But before I could even move, Lilian grabbed my arm and pleaded, "Bella, don't go. I didn't mean it that way, and neither did Mom or Dad."

I shook her off and snapped, "Would you stop pretending? Isn't this exactly what you've always wanted? You told me to my face that you loved that man, and you came to me before, apologizing for making up those lies that got other kids to bully me. Now look at you. You've been twisting the truth the whole time, not to mention..."

Before I could finish, my father pushed me aside.

My mother snapped, "We've had it with you. The only reason we've tolerated you all these years is that Lillie was terrified you might try to kill yourself again!

"After all these years, you still refuse to leave Lillie alone. If I'd known it would come to this, I would have let you jump off that roof back then!"

At that, my throat closed up, and I couldn't force out another word.

It finally dawned on me that they never really cared about the truth and only ever believed what they wanted to believe, just like right now, no matter how hard I tried to explain, they would always see it as me refusing to "leave Lilian alone."

Lilian said, "Bella, I told you before, I don't like that man, but you threatened to throw me out and kept reminding me I'm only a foster daughter. I had no choice but to swallow my disgust and go along with the whole thing. How could I possibly like him or want to marry him when I've never even laid eyes on him?"

Looking down at Lilian, who was crying so pitifully with tears streaming down her face, I almost found myself believing her if I hadn't known she was setting me up.

Howard gently helped her to her feet, looking at her with nothing but tenderness.

When he turned his gaze on me, there was nothing but hatred burning in his eyes.

"Isabelle, that's enough. You've stolen years of love meant for Lillie. If you ever treat her like this again, don't expect us to go easy on you."

My parents led Lilian away, and then Howard turned to me.

"You should learn a thing or two from Lillie. She was willing to give me up just for your sake. If you ever manage to be that generous, you can come back to me, and I might still take you back, but make no mistake, I'm going to marry Lillie."

I stared at Howard and realized he had become someone I didn't even recognize anymore. "Howard, you make me sick."

Howard's face twisted with rage. "Let me make one thing clear to you, your parents aren't going to keep indulging you the way they used to. You'd better know what's good for you. Word has it that the man they want you to marry is some old geezer. When that time comes, don't come back to me, begging me to take you in."

He spun around and walked off without another word.

I pulled out my phone, found the number I had long since memorized by heart, and typed.

Isabelle: I can finally marry you.

My parents had no idea that the very first boyfriend they had ruthlessly driven away before was none other than Lilian's so-called arranged match, Timothy Cruz.

And me? I had been wanting to marry him all along.