Laura’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach and there was a slight murmuring amongst the guests.
But she couldn’t care less about what they were saying as she turned to look at Bryan who had a serious look on his face.
To her, Bryan was just a means to climb up the social ladder. And for the last six years, she was sure she had him wrapped around her finger. Hence, she refused to believe what she had just heard.
"What did you just say?"
Bryan looked her in the eyes and repeated in a bland voice, "There’s no need for Kelsie to sign the document dissolving my engagement to her because I want to get married to her."
Laura felt her throat tighten and scoffed lightly.
"And why would you do that? We’ve been engaged for the past six years and we’ve talked about our wedding numerous times than I can–"
He raised his hand to cut her off and sneered impatiently, "What are you trying to say, Laura? Are you trying to make it seem like I’m doing the wrong thing here?"
Laura blinked in disbelief. "What?"
Bryan slipped his hands into his pockets, paying no heed to her now blood-shot eyes as he added indifferently, "The agreement your Sutton family had with my family is that I will marry into your family. I won’t just marry anybody, I’ll marry the first daughter of the Sutton family."
"The last time I checked, Kelsie is one year older than you which makes her your elder sister. So it’s only right that I marry her."
Deborah couldn’t bear to look on as Bryan continued to embarrass her in public, so she stepped forward to fight on her behalf.
"That was the original deal we had with the Baker family, Mr. Baker. But we both know things changed seven years ago."
"After this brat Kelsie came home with a pregnancy, you no longer wanted to be with her and said you’d marry Laura instead."
Bryan looked away from her and huffed adamantly, "That seven six years ago. And today, seven years later, I’ve decided to change my mind and stick to the original person I’m supposed to be with."
Seeing he was bound on this decision, Deborah gritted her teeth in rage and proceeded to lash out at Kelsie who was watching the scene with a bored look on her face.
"Embarrassing the Sutton family six years ago wasn’t enough for you, you decided to embarrass your sister by snatching her fiancé on their engagement ceremony? Do you even have a conscience!"
Kelsie narrowed her eyes at Deborah calmly and was about to retort when Bryan stepped in front of her protectively and barked at Deborah loudly.
"Hey, what do you think you’re doing? She has nothing to do with this. I’m the one who insists on marrying her, so you should lash out at me instead!"
The scene fell silent.
Deborah and Laura were rendered speechless by his sudden change of behavior while the guests turned to each other in confusion.
"What is going on? Isn’t this the engagement party between Laura Sutton and Bryan Baker?"
"I thought so too, after all, their names were written on the invitation I received."
"Did something come up and he decided he no longer wants to marry the younger sister?"
"Why do you three sound so clueless? Isn’t it obvious what is going on here?"
"Since you know it all, why don’t you tell us?"
"This isn’t the first time someone would be changing his mind about marrying into a certain family. This time, he’s not entirely changing his mind as he’s still going to marry into the Sutton family. Whoever he marries, it’s a win. So what’s the problem with you people?"
Seeing the situation was getting out of hand very quickly, he took a step closer to Bryan and spoke to him softly.
"Mr. Baker, why don’t we continue the rest of this conversation in my study upstairs?"
In the study upstairs.
As soon as the door to the study closed behind him, Jerry walked to his table and took out a piece of paper and stretched it towards Kelsie.
Before she could take it, Bryan snatched it from him and read through it.
When he saw what it was about, he snorted and raised his eyes to look Jerry in the face.
"What did I just say downstairs? There’s no need to dissolve our engagement!"
Jerry straightened his back and returned Jerry’s firm gaze.
"Mr. Baker, I didn’t want to say something earlier because I still want you to maintain your dignity in front of people."
"But if you continue saying this and eventually get your wish of having Kelsie as your fiancée, what do you think people will say?"
"You going back to her seven years later will be like going back in time. It’s like a dog going back to its own vomit."
"Most importantly, people will see you as an indecisive man who can’t decide what he wants."
"I’m not saying this to discourage you, after all, like the people downstairs said, you’re still marrying into our Sutton family either way."
Bryan was silent for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up. He then turned towards Kelsie and stretched the paper towards her.
"Seven years ago, I didn’t do things the right way, so it’s only right that our engagement gets dissolved."
"I see this new opportunity as a chance to make things right. This time, I’m going to chase you like a man chases after the woman he’s in love with."
"I will do so by letting the whole world see and know that it’s you I want before we get married."
Kelsie couldn’t stop the look of disgust which crept across her face when she heard him.
Despite the charming smile he was flashing as he stretched the contract towards her, she casually looked away from him the very next second to stare at Jerry blankly.
"Is there another piece of this contract?"
Jerry gnashed his teeth in anger and glared at her hostilely.
"Wh-what? Is Mr. Baker some sort of trash you can’t afford to touch?!"
Kelsie nodded with a straight face. "Yes."
Jerry was no stranger to Bryan’s hot temper and had seen first hand what happened to people who were against him.
He feared he’d suddenly change his mind about marrying into the Sutton family and ruin his chance of climbing up the social ladder.
So he gritted his teeth in contempt and and shouted at her angrily, "You disrespectful piece of..."
Before he could complete the sentence, Bryan raised his eyes to look at him, cutting him off.
"It’s totally fine, Mr. Sutton. I understand why she’s . I wasn’t the best fiancé seven years ago, it’s only right that she still has memories of how I treated her."
"Kelsie, just you watch out, I’ll do everything possible to show you I’m the best and will always be the best man for you!"
After he said that, he placed the contract on Jerry’s desk and stormed out of the office with a determined look on his face.