The Rival's Bride

Chapter 2

I reached for the door, intending to get out, when something slammed into the rear of the bridal car.

My elbow and forehead crashed against the doorframe. A sharp burst of pain made me suck in a breath.

Screams erupted around us, and the scene dissolved into chaos.

"The bridal car's rear wheel dropped into the drainage ditch!"

"Someone help! Hurry!"

"Grace! Grace, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

My two bridesmaids pounded on the window, their faces gone pale.

I touched my forehead. Something warm ran from my temple into my hair.

In the rearview mirror, I saw Ryan running toward the car.

He came closer and closer.

But he didn't stop beside my tilted bridal car. He didn't even look at me.

Instead, he rushed straight to the vehicle across from us and grabbed the other driver by the collar.

"What the hell were you doing? Didn't you see Ella shaking from fright?"

People from both wedding parties exchanged looks. Some glanced at me with open mockery, laughing at the tilted car and at how disheveled I looked inside it.

I closed my eyes and repeated the same plea in my head.

'Please get here. Please take me away.'

I didn't want to stay there for another second.

The driver tried for a long time, but the rear wheel remained stuck in the ditch. Eventually, everyone decided to lift the car out by hand.

"Why don't we have the bride get out first? She could get hurt again."

"Good idea. It's her wedding day. Better to be safe."

After calming Ella down, Ryan came back, his expression serious, and immediately objected.

"No. Grace can only get out once we reach the venue. It's bad luck for the bride to get out before reaching the venue."

Everyone fell silent. It took every ounce of their strength to lift the car out of the ditch.

Ryan dusted off his hands and beamed at me.

"Grace, you weren't hurt, were you? Today is all my fault. After the wedding, I'll take you to the Maravelle Islands for our honeymoon, okay?"

He always knew how to smooth things over with that disarmingly gentle tone, as if a few soft words could erase whatever I was feeling.

But right then, all I wanted was to get off that suffocating road.

"At the next fork, I'll go back on my own..."

"Ryan! Ella twisted her ankle!"

He left me without hesitation and strode toward the other convoy, without even a word of comfort for me. Anyone watching would have thought he was the groom in Ella's wedding party.

My bridesmaids trembled with anger.

"If she twisted her ankle, then she should sit down and rest!"

"Where's her groom? Why does everyone over there call Ryan the second something goes wrong?"

"Grace, if you hadn't been so determined to marry him, I'd slap him twice and drive you away myself."

I smiled. "No need. Someone's coming to take us away."

The man coming for me was already on his way.

A moment later, Ryan came back from checking Ella's ankle, his brow furrowed.

He shoved one of my bridesmaids aside, yanked the door open, and spoke in an urgent voice that left no room for refusal.

"Ella twisted her ankle. You studied medicine. Get out and help her."

I grabbed the back of the front passenger seat and held on as he tried to pull me out.

My bridesmaids stepped between us.

"Ryan, you were the one who just said it's bad luck for the bride to get out before reaching the venue! Did you forget already?"

"Exactly. She twisted her ankle. She's not dying. Put an ice pack on it."

"Can you stop making Grace suffer every time Ella wants something?"

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to them defend me.

Ryan ignored every word. If anything, his grip only tightened.

"Grace, this is different. Can we put that outdated superstition aside for once?"

"Ryan, I don't want to."

A tear landed on the back of his hand. He flinched as if it had burned him, and his grip loosened.

Then, in the next second, his voice turned cold.

"I'm begging you. Whatever you want, I'll agree to it, okay? Ella has a really low pain tolerance."

I looked at the worry and stubbornness in his eyes and gave a bitter smile.

"Anything I want?"

"Yes."

"Then cancel the wedding."