When Love Was Gone in a flash

"Yes." I nodded.

My father let out a cold laugh. "Good, good, very bold of you. I just hope you won't regret it later!"

He threw those words at me and stormed off.

Many guests who usually fawned over him also followed and left.

Deyna sneered with her usual passive-aggressive tone. "Leona, this marriage of yours is bound to be cursed. But if you change your mind and still plan to marry Jude, I’ll still accept you as my daughter-in-law."

I ignored everyone. I simply held Yosef's hand and walked up the stage step by step.

I told the officiant, “The wedding can begin.”

Most of the guests who had ties with the Johnson and Zeller families had already left the venue.

Only a few friends remained seated, but I still smiled with relief as Yosef and I completed the final part of the ceremony.

“From this moment on, I am your wife. Yosef, through sickness and health, through wealth and hardship, we are one.”

Yosef smiled and embraced me. He gazed at me deeply and with utmost sincerity, spoke a single word. “Okay.”

After the wedding, Yosef had me move into a riverside villa registered under his name.

To get our marriage certificate, I needed to return to the Johnson Family home to retrieve my ID card.

Just as I arrived at the building, a red sports car suddenly sped toward me.

Before I could react, Jude yanked my arm and forcefully shoved me to the ground.

“Are you blind?” he snapped, glaring at me coldly with a sneer tugging at his lips. “Didn’t you cut ties with the Johnson Family already? What are you doing back here?”

I replied calmly, “I’m here to get my ID card and register my marriage.”

Jude’s expression froze instantly. He stared at me in disbelief. “What did you say? Are the rumors outside are true? You’re really going to marry that good-for-nothing playboy?”

Before I could respond, Femma, dressed in a bright red dress, came jogging over from the sports car.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Leona! I didn’t see you standing there just now and I almost hit you. It’s all my fault. Dad just bought me a new sports car and I got a little too excited to handle it properly. You don’t mind, right?”

Her tone was filled with smugness and flaunting.

I turned to glance at the red Porsche, then looked down and chuckled softly.

"I don't mind."

After all, all these years, living in the Johnson household felt like I was just an outsider taking shelter.

I had long gotten used to the days where my father and stepmother showered all their affection on Femma.

Back then, when I needed to go for an internship and asked for a basic nanny car to get around, my dad flatly refused.

But as long as Femma asked, he gave one luxury sports car after another without even blinking.

It was then that I fully understood a saying. Once there's a stepmother, even your biological father starts acting like a stepfather.

"I'm just here to grab a few things."

Just as I turned to leave, I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when a bucket of cold water came crashing down on me from above.

Jude burst into loud laughter.

Femma covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh, but still put on an innocent face.

"Leona, everyone’s saying you're going to marry that playboy Yosef. He has AIDS, doesn’t he? You probably got infected too. I’m just disinfecting you so you don’t bring anything back into our house."

I caught the taunt in her eyes and stared at her coldly.

But she wasn’t done. She took a few steps closer, like she wanted to press her luck.

“Honestly, I really don’t get what you’re thinking,” she sneered. “Jude chose me. Even if he ran away from the wedding, that doesn’t mean you should pick a man at random just for pride’s sake, right? You have no idea how messy the private life of someone like Yosef is.”