Leiara•
My food hangs in my throat as every motion comes to a halt at his words. I can feel the tension rising rapidly as everyone stops eating.
Some throw their gazes at me first with awkward expressions, then at Mr Helton, Cora's father.
His words fill me with embarrassment that I am unable to raise my face. It totally steals away my appetite.
"What? Did I lie?" He asks.
Without lifting my gaze, I can feel his oppressive eyes heavily on me. And what's more, I can feel Colson's energy bubble with excitement that I'm being humiliated.
I sense his eyes rest occasionally on me as he looks back and forth between us.
"You have not only been jealous and after everything that is meant for her right from high school, you even stole away her childhood friend who was a potential husband for her," Mr Helton continues.
Huh? Childhood friends? Colson and Cora?
I… didn't know.
Since I didn't previously know Colson and only heard about him through the media like almost everyone else, I couldn't have known.
Plus, aside from our marriage being an arranged one, it was also a flash marriage. We didn't even get to know each other, just married off the bat when we've never even met before.
Sigh.
Is that why none of my family is speaking up? No, scratch that, they had never been ones to defend me.
My so-called husband doesn't even look at me with kind eyes, yet I expect him to offer me kind actions?
Delusional!
Yeah.
My gaze remains cast low with a weight too heavy to lift. I can feel all their burning eyes on me. And it only deepens the shame filling me up.
I know without saying that right now, Cora's smirk is as big as her ego. What's more exciting than me being publicly insulted and humiliated in front of such potential business people?
Not only does it paint my dignity and character as dirty, it can ruin my chances of ever doing business with these investors if I ever want to in the future.
My seat seems to warp into a liquid. A liquid of pain and shame that seems to want to swallow me.
And I would've remained sinking into it, but—
"Stop deluding yourself to deny your failure and inability to get your daughter married into the Hayes family. You know very well she did no such a thing,"
My father's voice comes loud and sharp.
At that moment, every heaviness instantly turns light. And the negative emotions swallowing me seem to free me from their grasp.
I snap my gaze toward my father, happy and in awe.
My eyes zero on him with intense focus and admiration that I don't care to spare the others a glance.
"Oh! You're right," Mr Helton says.
His demeanor is unshaken and he remains composed.
"She isn't the one to blame because she isn't the mastermind, after all. It is you, a greedy father who didn't waste any chance to sell her daughter out for a contract."
The pride I feel for my father for defending me is instantly replaced with indignation the next minute.
"Without caring for what she wants, you threw her onto a man that doesn't even love her. A man that is too high for her standards!"
My father's face twists in rage.
"Are you concluding my daughter's worth and standards right now?"
His eyes darken.
"You talk as if the same thing wasn't what you were going to do but didn't get the chance to. Or should I say you didn't have enough capability to? And… are you implying that Colson loves your daughter then?"
Mr Helton doesn't back down. He comes stronger.
"Aren't two childhood friends getting married better than two strangers doing so?" He shoots back at my father.
But he doesn't stop there, he continues as if my father's hurtful expression fuels him.
"But you might not understand because a man as greedy as you only seeks benefits from everything, including his own daughter."
The indignation in my chest unravels rapidly and anger surges through me in waves.
"He wasn't the one," I say softly.
My eyes are downcast and my tone is solemn. But I can't bear for my dad to face such humiliation. For him to be the spectacle of amusement and entertainment.
I feel hurt that I'm being subjected to such disgrace but my heart bleeds more now that it is my father.
"What?" I hear Mr Helton say.
And I repeat.
"He wasn't the one who pushed me to marry into the Hayes family. It was me who pestered him to get me married to Colson,"
I blurt and feel Colson's gaze snap instantly toward me.