Putting a Ring on Someone Else

It rained heavily the day Mom's ashes were buried.

Exhausted, I dragged myself home. However, before I could even enter the house, I heard raucous laughter ringing out from the inside.

Through the crack in the door, I saw Tristan and his friends in there drinking alcohol.

"Tristan, don't tell me you're really going to marry that driver's daughter."

"She sure thinks highly of her dad's pathetic life! Not only has she mooched off the Scotts for so long now, but she's even deluded enough to want to be Tristan's wife. I've never met someone as shameless as her!"

Swirling the wine glass he was holding, Tristan responded darkly, "Her dad saved my life. For the sake of the company's reputation, I had no choice but to play along with her. I didn't expect that fool to actually take it seriously."

It turned out that Tristan had been faking the kindness he had shown me all these years. This explained why he seemed to have constant mood swings. He always treated me coldly in private, but he would be unusually gentle and warm when in the presence of the media.

The signs had been there from the start. I just refused to acknowledge them. Now that I heard Tristan saying the truth himself, I felt as if my heart had turned into ice.

His friends continued making their comments.

"That cancer-ridden mom of hers keeps talking about how she's dying soon too, using that as emotional blackmail against Tristan. I'm sick of hearing it from her!"

"The Grangers are all the same. They're a family of leeches!"

"I even suspect that her dad teamed up with the abductors to put on a show back then just so his daughter could marry into a wealthy family!"

They carried on chatting happily, turning Dad into a scheming, conniving scoundrel.

Dad died to save Tristan. How could Tristan laugh and smile along when he heard these people slandering Dad?

Standing outside the door, I started sobbing in silence.

I longed to hear Tristan stand up for Dad, but instead, he said dismissively, "I know, right? There's no end to their greed!"

His words cut me like a knife. I felt suffocated.

If I had a choice, I would've wanted Dad to still be alive. That way, Mom's cancer wouldn't have relapsed due to her emotional state, and she wouldn't have died as a result.

Just then, Sally noticed me through the crack in the door. She swung the door open and said, "Oh. You're back, Claudia. Why are you crying out here? Come in."

Everyone's eyes fell on me. They all saw me in my sorrowful, pathetic state.

Tristan didn't welcome my presence. The moment he saw me, he frowned and snapped in displeasure, "Why the hell are you here, Claudia?"

He seemed to have forgotten that the Scotts gave this house to Mom as compensation. Mom and I were the real owners. I was the one who should be asking him that.

Tristan didn't care that Mom had died. He even brought a bunch of people over to Mom's place to have a drinking party with them.

He was indeed heartless.

With reddened eyes, I said to him, "Let's break up, Tristan."

However, he merely retorted disdainfully, "What's this? Did your mom teach you a new trick? Don't even think about threatening me with a break-up to force me to marry you, Claudia!"

He pulled Sally into his arms before continuing, "The only one I've ever loved is Sally! I don't care what my family does to threaten me. This time, I won't back down, so you can forget about it!"

It was such a romantic declaration of love, but he didn't need to bother at all. My heart died the moment Mom was cremated.

Ignoring the crowd, I wanted to head upstairs to pack up Mom's belongings.

However, Sally abruptly called out in an aggrieved manner, "Claudia, it's my birthday today. Why are you dressed like you're attending a funeral? I know you don't like me, but you shouldn't dress like you're in mourning just to ruin my birthday party…"

She even started crying pitifully.