Chapter 4
1654 Words
RUBY
"Why are you hiding your face, Lily? Do you lack confidence now that you have been caught?" Margie asked.
Mr. Thompson grabbed the microphone to speak. “This man you are seeing here is a doctor from Procare hospital. He has been caught for fabrication of several reports, including this one.”
He paused a bit for the words to sink in and continued. “He will now confess everything before everyone, then I will hand him over to the police.”
One of the security guards dragged him to the front of the stage to face the crowd and gave him the microphone.
The hall became quiet, everyone expecting answers from the Doctor.
He hesitated. His hands were shaking, and he looked down in shame, unable to face the crowd.
“Speak!!” Margie shouted impatiently.
"I… I was offered a huge sum of money by that woman," he said, pointing to Lily.
“She...she told me to fabricate pregnancy and abortion reports for her.” He said, his voice trembling in fear.
“Is this your first time committing such a terrible offense?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“This isn't my first time fabricating reports. I come in contact with various people daily who are willing to pay anything in order to fabricate reports”.
He swallowed and continued, “But I knew one day a thing like this would happen, that is why I always take voice recording in secret to avoid taking the fall for everything after the truth is revealed.”
“Where is the voice recording?” Mr. Thompson asked.
The doctor brought out a device he used for the voice recording and played it for everyone to hear.
The conversation indeed was one between Lily and the doctor about how to fabricate the pregnancy and abortion reports.
The crowd began to murmur at the divulgence of the truth.
"Listen up everyone," Mr. Thompson commanded.
“As we can see, the truth about this matter has been revealed. This case has been reported to the police. Those who are guilty will be arrested, investigated, and charged. The police are on their way to catch these criminals.”
The police siren was heard as soon as he finished his statement.
They were dragged out of the hall. Lily made a move to defend herself.
"At least not everything was a lie. We slept together, Stanley, so you are not worth getting married to this b***h," she said, pointing fingers at Ruby.
"This is not the end!!. I will come back for you. I will take my revenge." She threatened as she was dragged out of the hall.
Ruby heaved a sigh of relief.
" What? I'm relieved? Why? Aren't I supposed to be sad that the marriage I didn't want so badly will eventually happen? Aren't I supposed to be thankful to Lily for almost ruining the marriage I didn't want? Why do I feel hatred towards her? What is wrong with me? "
Those thoughts kept ringing in her mind. She couldn't decipher why she was relieved. Could it be because Stanley was cleared of the false accusations, or because her best friend who betrayed her was arrested?
She didn't seem to find answers to these questions.
The vibe in the hall became awkward. Most of the guests probably hadn't witnessed that kind of wedding before.
The wedding would probably remain in everyone's memories as a chaotic one, especially the couple. They might not be able to ever forget.
Mr. Thompson moved closer to the officiant and whispered a few words in his ears.
Given the fast rate at which the wedding ended, Mr. Thompson definitely told him to wrap it up so that nothing funny would happen again.
They definitely said the wedding vows and were pronounced as husband and wife, but he forgot to order the husband to kiss the bride.
Ruby was relieved. She had been wondering what would happen if the officiant hadn't rushed the wedding. She sighed loudly that even the person two meters away could hear.
There was no one more relieved than Stanley. He felt like the whole world's burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
He had called for his driver to immediately take him home. He couldn't stand some of the guests questioning him about what had happened during the wedding.
“Stanley!! Stanley!!” Ruby called out to him as she ran after him.
“Did you forget we are now married? How could you plan to leave on your own just to save your head”? Ruby asked furiously after finally catching up with him.
“If you were smart enough, you would have clung to me instead of entertaining the curious guests,” Stanley replied coldly.
Ruby's heart started racing as she heard the word “clung”. She couldn't help but blush. She didn't even mind his attitude at that moment.
“Are you blushing”? Stanley asked while moving closer to Ruby, bending to take a closer look at her face to confirm if she was actually blushing.
Ruby swallowed hard, her heart racing as he moved closer. That was the closest they had been ever since high school.
As she leaned backwards, trying to avoid Stanley finding out the truth, she suddenly lost balance and fell to the ground.
Stanley didn't bother grabbing her hand as she was about to fall.
“Who falls on their wedding day?” he said nonchalantly as he entered the car.
Shame washed over Ruby. She remained on the ground wondering how she would survive in the car.
“Aren't you coming? Or are you expecting me to lift you up?” he asked.
Ruby knew if she wasted one more minute on the ground, she would be trekking home in her wedding gown.
She struggled to stand on her feet as she limped towards the car.
The driver started the car and they began their journey home. It was awkward and silent as Ruby had expected. No music, no radio, just silence.
“Can you play some music please?” Ruby asked the driver. She couldn't bear the silence anymore.
“Yes ma'am”
“Who said you can play any music in my car?” Stanley, who had been silent all this while, finally spoke up.
“Oh! So you can talk?” Ruby scoffed.
“And so what if it's your car? Why are you making a big deal out of music?” Ruby snapped.
“Who are you to question me? I want perfect silence in my car. If you don't want that, you can get out and take a taxi”. Stanley said furiously.
Ruby became a little intimidated. She was already getting frustrated on the first day of her marriage.
She didn't have a choice but to bear with the silence until they got home.
As they got into the house, Stanley walked straight towards his room and Ruby followed after.
“Where do you think you're coming?” Stanley turned back to ask as soon as he noticed she was following him.
“Don't tell me you are thinking of sleeping in the same room with me?”
“I’m new to your house, Stanley. Courtesy demands that you show me my room as well as around the house”. Ruby said, almost in fear.
“Oh! You want to teach me courtesy now, right”?
"Madam courtesy, your room is upstairs. You can pick anyone of your choice, ma'am". He said sarcastically, turning back to leave for his room.
“Where do you think you're going?” Ruby asked, moving closer to Stanley. She had expected him to at least apologize for what happened earlier at the wedding.
Stanley turned back, giving Ruby a confused gaze.
“To my room, of course,” he replied.
“Without apologizing to me for what happened earlier at the wedding?” Ruby said, already getting angry.
“Oh! That?” Stanley said, scratching his head.
“It wasn't totally my fault, so why should I apologize?” Stanley said, rather nonchalantly.
“You really have no shame, do you?” Ruby said, frustrated. She wondered how she would survive every day with him.
"How did I even fall for him in the first place? I bet I fell for his looks, not this stinking attitude". She thought.
“If we are done with this conversation, I would like to take my leave,” he said with a smirk.
Ruby found it useless to give him a reply. He wouldn't listen anyway. She turned to locate her room upstairs.
She settled in the first room and took a look around the room. It was a rather abandoned room.
“How is this different from renting an apartment? We are more like housemates, not a married couple”. She thought loudly.
“What do I even expect from an arranged marriage?” she said while entering the bathroom to take a shower.
Ruby reclined on the large bed, and sleep soon overwhelmed her tired body.
The loud sound of her alarm jerked her awake. She groaned from the headache that came from the sudden noise.
She checked the time, and it was 6 in the morning. She had slept since yesterday evening!
Her phone rang and she picked it up. It was her adoptive sister.
“Hi,Grace”
"Check your phone, Ruby, I sent you a link," Grace said, sounding terrified.
“What's wrong, Grace?” Ruby asked, worried that Grace might have gotten into trouble with her father.
“I'm fine, just check the link,” Grace said impatiently.
Ruby wondered what it could be. She clicked on the link, and it was the latest news from the media, titled "DOCTOR THREATENED TO GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY BY CO-FOUNDER OF PHOCUM, THOMPSON ROBERT."
Ruby froze.
- Writer
