Aunt Sandy's expression darkened as she spoke with displeasure, "You've said it nine times already. Does it really matter if you say it one more time? You keep saying you love Hudson, but you're unwilling to say anything. That's just too fake."
She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I still remember the past clearly. For two full years since hiring Dr. Lola Reed, an overseas graduate, as his assistant, our wedding has been repeatedly postponed.
He always accepted Lola's bet on the wedding day and each time he lost completely.
On our first marriage, he lost a big bet and ended up giving away the venue to Lola for her birthday.
The people who attended the wedding that day were almost shocked when they saw her birthday photo on the big screen.
At our second wedding, after losing a dice game, he downed an entire bottle of high-proof liquor and ended up in the hospital.
The third time … and so on.
Every time, he said embarrassedly, "Becca, it's all for the company. Lola is exceptionally talented. If I want to keep her, I have no choice but to accept the consequence. I can't let her think I, as a boss, am a liar."
The thought made my heart ache. They played games repeatedly on our wedding day and he never won once. Did they really think I was a fool?
I recalled the last time they bet on who could sprint a hundred meters and snatch my wedding dress first.
Hudson, standing at six feet tall with broad shoulders and long legs, stumbled and fell with a thud a meter away from the finish line. Meanwhile, Lola snatched the wedding dress just a step ahead and exclaimed joyfully, "Mr. Lenart, you always lose to me. Are you deliberately not wanting to marry Miss Herrera?"
"How about I wear this wedding dress and blow your mind?" Lola offered.
That day, Hudson's eyes sparkled as he said affectionately, "Fine. Since you won, the dress is yours."
His explanation to me that day was, "There's no wedding dress now, so let's postpone the ceremony. I'm a man of my word. If I lost the bet, I lost, I can't go back on my promise."
That day, he could have easily reached out and handed me the wedding dress.
That day, I could've become his wife in just one second.
That day was the closest I had ever been to happiness.
Aunt Sandy was still trying to persuade me when the door suddenly opened and Hudson strode in, holding Lola's hand.