Chapter 3
“Young man, this is the groom’s suit I prepared for you. Go find a place to change into it.” Selena Liese took a bag from one of the people and handed it to Yarrick.
“Alright, ma’am. I’ll change right away.”
Even though the wedding ceremony would be simple, it was still a formal event, so he had to dress the part. His current attire of worn sports clothing was indeed inappropriate for the occasion. It would be unprofessional of him to get married in such clothes.
After taking the bag of clothes, Yarrick swiftly found a restroom to change in.
“Damn, this suit must be quite expensive! This material…”
Once he was done changing, he used some water to try and tame his messy hair. After all, he couldn’t attend his own wedding ceremony with a bird’s nest for hair!
As the saying went, clothes made the man. Dressed in a smart suit, Yarrick instantly appeared more refined and mature.
…
Soon after, Yarrick returned to the group.
“Ma’am, I’m done.”
“Not bad, young man. You look quite handsome, a somewhat worthy match to my sister.” Selena checked Yarrick out from head to toe before nodding approvingly. She hadn’t expected him to look so handsome after only a bit of cleaning up!
“Let’s wait a moment to give my sister time to put on her makeup and dress. By then, I’m sure your marriage certificate will be done too.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
“Young man, my name is Selena Liese. You can address me as Selena from now on.”
“Er… Is that really okay? Well… Alright, Selena.”
From what Yarrick could tell, Selena was over 60 years old, at least 20 years older than his own mother. She was old enough to be his grandmother!
Nevertheless, since she wanted him to address her by her first name, he would oblige.
Selena nodded and explained, “You’re getting married to my sister, so it only makes sense for you to address me by my first name. But it’s entirely up to you. It doesn’t really matter anymore anyway.”
She didn’t say anything more than that.
At the end of the day, he was someone she was paying to hopefully bring some luck to her sister, so there was no need to nitpick at the way he addressed her.
Soon, half an hour had passed.
The young man who had gone off to handle their marriage certificate returned. “Yarrick, here are your documents and your marriage certificate.”
Yarrick silently accepted the items handed to him and couldn’t help but pause upon seeing the official-looking papers. Just like that, he had married a woman he hadn’t even seen before!
Bringing the marriage certificate closer to him, the name of his newly-wedded wife sprang out at him.
Hailey Yandon.
The woman in the attached photo was surprisingly gorgeous and appeared to be in her 30s. However, when Yarrick looked at her date of birth, he realized that she was already 42 years old.
She was so beautiful in the photo that Yarrick was almost in a daze as he stared at her. It was such a pity that she only had a month left to live! How could such a pretty woman reach the end of her life so soon?
There was a strange feeling in Yarrick. Before, he hadn’t felt anything. But now, holding their marriage certificate and looking at her photo, he suddenly felt a wave of complicated emotions surging through him. After all, she was now his legally wedded wife. It was almost like they now had an invincible string connecting them together.
Just as Yarrick was lost in thought, a young woman hurried out of the room and reported to Selena, “Madam Liese, the bride is ready. It’s just that… She’s still in a coma.”
“Alright. Let’s not wait any longer and begin the ceremony. Yarrick, let’s go inside.”
“Coming, Selena.”
For some inexplicable reason, Yarrick felt his mood turning somber. Nonetheless, he didn’t give it much thought and followed Selena and the rest into the ICU room. This was a single-patient room, so it wasn’t very large.
Upon entering, Yarrick immediately saw that the woman on the bed had been dressed in a wedding gown. However, she was starkly different from the photo.
At that moment, her eyes were tightly shut, and her complexion was deathly pale. She appeared like she was barely clinging to life.
Numbers danced on the screen of the equipment attached to her, as though telling Yarrick that his wife still had vital signs.
“Hailey Yandon…”
An indescribable feeling coursed through Yarrick as he stared at the comatose woman. Was this woman really his wife now? In the eyes of the law, that was indeed true.
“Mr. Sully, please begin the wedding ceremony.” Turning to Yarrick, Selena then said, “My sister has never been married before, but now, she’s having such a simple wedding ceremony in a hospital room. It’s indeed rather pitiful. I’m sorry for this, Yarrick…”
“It’s fine…” Yarrick shook his head and quickly tried to adjust his emotions.
“Then, shall we begin, Madam Liese?”
Yarrick assumed that the speaker, Donovan Sully, was likely a marriage officiant. The moment he received a nod from Selena, he started the necessary preparations.
“Mr. Sutton, come over here and sit beside the bride. The rest of you, stand on both sides…
“Mr. Yarrick Sutton, do you take Hailey Yandon to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do!”
Yarrick was well aware that he was simply being paid to be a lucky charm, that this was a business deal, and that he would leave once he received his money. It was also highly likely he would never have to return here.
Even so, he thought it necessary to act more professionally since this was a wedding ceremony.
“Ms. Hailey Yandon, do you take Yarrick Sutton to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, honor, and cherish, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?
“Ah… Yes, I hear you! The bride says, ‘I do!'”
Naturally, Hailey couldn’t say anything as she was still in a coma, but the marriage officiant was experienced and had come prepared. The entire ceremony went off without a hitch.
Under the urging of the marriage officiant, Yarrick took Lucia’s hand in his. Her hand was soft and limp, with an almost unnatural coldness…
Yarrick thought he could even sense just how weak her life force was.
