Cage of Love

: The Suspicious Marriage

2

The wedding date was set a month ago, when I was busy with my graduation thesis. Aunt Hannah suddenly called, excited, telling me that a handsome wealthy heir had confessed his feelings for her.

"Tanya, you don't know how adorable Vincent Sterling is. His face gets so red whenever he's shy."

I reminded her as I tapped away at my keyboard:

"Aunt Hannah, handsome guys are trouble. You have to be extra careful with one who's rich on top of that."

Aunt Hannah giggled. Almost at the same instant, a soft, hesitant male voice came through the receiver. "Hannah, I... I'm truly serious about you."

I couldn't quite make out what they said after that.

A long while later, Aunt Hannah picked up the phone again, wished me a hurried goodnight, and hung up.

I never thought they would actually get married so fast.

Less than two months after the wedding, Aunt Hannah suddenly quit her permanent position with the Provincial Ballet Company—a job she had worked incredibly hard to get—and moved to Uncle Vincent's city to live with him.

And this was the first time ever that Aunt Hannah, who used to dote on me and call constantly, had gone so long without a single call home.

The next time I managed to get in touch with Aunt Hannah was mid-way through her third month of marriage.

To my surprise, I saw she had cut her hair into an ear-length bob.

On the video call, Aunt Hannah was radiant, going on and on about how leisurely and luxurious her new life was.

"Tanya, I'm going to be very busy for a while, so please don't try to contact me."

"Oh, and don't come looking for me in King's Harbor... Your Uncle Vincent is shy around new people and doesn't really like having strangers in the house."

Aunt Hannah had a look of pure bliss on her face as she said this.

The instant the video call disconnected.

I saw the silhouettes of several strange men surrounding her.