Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
Elspeth suddenly felt that she had been tricked-and in an extraordinary way at that. For a moment, however, she couldn’t think of anything else; she could only get dressed and wash up mechanically before getting changed and coming downstairs.
Noticing that she had no makeup on her face, Callum reminded her in a deep voice, saying, “We’re getting our marriage license at the city hall today. Aren’t you gonna put on some makeup?”
Only then did it occur to Elspeth that she seemed to have forgotten to do something. Looking at the man with displeasure, she retorted, “Why didn’t you remind me just now? I thought we were just going to sign our names on some papers.” Had he not asked her to come downstairs in ten minutes, she wouldn’t have been so nervous as to forget to wear makeup.
“What’s the big deal about that? My honey’s a natural beauty who looks pretty whether she’s got makeup on or not.”
Elspeth rolled her eyes. “Since when did you become such a smooth talker… Wait a minute. Who let you call me ‘honey’?” She never expected him to call her ‘honey’ so naturally and without any burden.
Callum pulled her into his arms right away before resting his chin on her shoulder. “Well, you’ll be my honey in no time, no? Or if you don’t like me to call you that, we can switch to another one. Hmm… What about Mrs. Winthrop?”
“W-Who told you that I’d like it?!” She broke free of his embrace as a scarlet blush crept over her face. Then, she quickly ran upstairs and closed the bedroom door.
It took her about half an hour to wear makeup that she was barely satisfied with before coming downstairs with some hesitation. To be honest, she felt somewhat uncertain about this. She hadn’t thought about getting married at such a young age, so it was indeed a big challenge for her to choose to get married so soon.
Callum’s lips curved slightly when he saw how Elspeth had pretty good-looking makeup on and had even purposely changed into a formal dress for the occasion. “You look beautiful today.”
Elspeth’s face reddened at his sudden compliment. “Alright, stop it. Let’s get our marriage license.” She still got a little shy at the mention of the words ‘marriage license.’
Callum cast a sideways glance at her before teasing, “Do you have your birth certificate with you?”
She immediately took her birth certificate out of her pocket and waved it before him. “How can I possibly forget about such a thing?”
He suddenly bent down and gently kissed the corner of her mouth. “What a good girl.” With that, he led her out by the hand.
The City Hall was just a stone’s throw away from Elspeth’s villa, so it took only 20 minutes to drive there.
The pair soon arrived at the City Hall. As they stood at the entrance, Callum noticed that the woman next to him seemed still unprepared, so he reached out and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry.”
Elspeth’s heart skipped a beat. “I’m fine.”
There was already a long line in the room. Other than the pair, whose faces had a hint of apprehension about them, everyone else was chatting and laughing cheerfully in a lovey-dovey manner.
Naturally, Callum was overwhelmed by such a relaxed and lively atmosphere. Seeing how nervous Elspeth looked beside him as though she were facing a formidable enemy, he couldn’t help but ruffle her hair, saying, “Relax. We’re just getting our marriage license, no?”
She retorted, “What? Don’t tell me you’re gonna just get our marriage license without having a wedding?” She gave him a dirty look. These are part of the step-by-step progress that will happen sooner or later, so there’s nothing wrong with me getting nervous in advance, no?
“Of course not. I’ll hold the grandest wedding for both of us, of course.”
Elspeth couldn’t care less whether their wedding would be grand or not. After all, now that his fortune had come into her hands, it would actually pain her to spend his money. She replied with a snort, “Don’t make it too pompous.”
“How could you call that pompous? I’ve got to give my wife the best of everything, of course,” Callum whispered in her ear. “What kind of wedding dress do you prefer? You can tell me about it-“
“Number 36! Number 36, please!”
The staff member calling out the numbers in front of them successfully cut short their exchange of whispers. Subsequently, the pair briefly straightened their clothes and walked inside hand in hand.
…
As they walked out of the city hall with their marriage license in hand, Elspeth had yet to recover from the fact that she was now a married woman. “Why do I feel like I’d aged ten years the instant we got our marriage license?” She was quite speechless. There was a big difference between being married and being single, and she really didn’t want to be called ‘madam.’ After all, at only 24 years old, she was in the prime of her life, so how could she let the kids refer to her as an ‘aunt’?
Callum seemed to notice her annoyance. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he said with a smile, “Who told you that? You’ll always be a little girl in my heart.”
‘A little girl’ sounds a bit over the top, no? Seeing the triumphant smile that had never appeared on the man’s face before, Elspeth suddenly had the feeling that he had been substituted for an imposter. He had always been stony and serious, so how could he possibly smile so happily? She couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been substituted or what?”
Callum immediately stopped smiling. “What’s wrong? Do I look weird?”
“You smiled like you’d won a 750,000 lottery.”
He answered in all seriousness, “That’s impossible. A mere 750,000 isn’t enough to make me smile.”
Elspeth was lost for words. Why is he playing devil’s advocate now?
Feeling the softness of Elspeth’s body in his arms, Callum felt he was in the best moment of his life. “But it’s indeed a great pleasure to marry the woman I love.”
She stepped on his foot with all her might. “Don’t go too far in reminding me of the fact that I’m already a married woman.”
“Alright, honey.”
Elspeth felt a headache creeping up at the sight of his smile. “Alright, now that we’ve gotten our marriage license, can I go to my office?”
“Hold on a minute.” Callum suddenly stretched out his hand in a peculiar manner and swiftly snatched the marriage license from her before she realized it. “I’ll keep this marriage license in order to prevent you from doing something I couldn’t imagine.”
Elspeth was pissed off. “What sort of unimaginable thing can I do with this?”
He fell silent for a moment. “I’m afraid that you’ll go back on it.”
She replied, “Tell me the truth.”
“Fine. I just want to post this to Instagram, that’s all,” he admitted. With that, he held up their marriage license and took a picture of it in front of her. Then, he quickly posted the picture to Instagram with the caption, ‘Let’s spend the rest of our lives together.’
A strange feeling arose inside Elspeth when she saw how at ease he looked.
As Elspeth had expected, the Instagram post attracted over 300 likes in just one minute. She had long known that Callum had many followers on Instagram, but never did she think they would react so quickly to the announcement. She glanced through the comments, which mostly expressed shock and disbelief other than the ones that wished him a lifetime of happiness with his wife.
A netizen commented, ‘What? Why get married so quickly?’
Another commented, ‘But wait, whom is he married to? Don’t tell me it’s that Jasmine McGrath whom he dumped earlier?’
The third commented, ‘How’s that possible? The two of them had broken up ages ago.’
‘Then who could the person be?’
‘I don’t know, but you don’t seem to be the person.’
‘This is simply impressive! I’ve got to spread the news to the news outlets. Everyone, don’t vie with me for this.’
‘The early bird catches the worm, eh? That’s quite calculating of you, you brat.’
These comments were followed by numerous others.
Seeing how animated these comments were, Elspeth felt rather speechless. “Have these people never seen someone getting married before?”
Callum raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. “They’ve seen someone getting married before, but it’s rare to see me getting married.”
What a total narcissist, thought Elspeth. “Wait a minute. Why didn’t you make it public that I’m the one you’re married to?” She looked him up and down; the instant she realized this, her countenance changed. Don’t tell me this guy’s trying to keep our marriage a secret! But wait, won’t I be the one keeping our marriage a secret now that he has announced on Instagram that he’s married? “Are you forcing me into keeping our marriage a secret?” she asked. Well, this seems like a good idea. For the time being, I can maintain my single status, which would make it easier for me to do a lot of things. Above all else, I won’t be referred to as an ‘aunt.’
Seeing Elspeth getting up to something, Callum couldn’t help but stick out a finger and tickle her nose. “I’m doing this to protect you,” he explained. After all, he had just broken off his engagement to Jasmine. If Jasmine were to learn that he had gotten married to Elspeth so quickly, she would realize his true purpose in going out with her back then. Judging by the McGrath Family’s personality, they would probably do something bad to Elspeth, so it was better to keep Elspeth’s marriage to him a secret for safety’s sake.
“You’re so thoughtful about me, huh?” Elspeth narrowed her eyes with a smile. She looked up at the man, only to meet the man’s affectionate gaze.
“I’m afraid that something might happen to you like before, so I’ve got to protect you.” Callum took her into his arms. He patiently comforted her, saying, “I really want to make it public that you’re my wife, but I know I have to restrain myself.”
Elspeth patted him on the back. “Okay, it’s fine if you really want to make our marriage public. I can protect myself.”
Callum was pretty calm when it came to this. “It’s okay, there’s no hurry. Let me hold a grand wedding for both of us before we make our marriage public.”
However, Elspeth suddenly realized a serious issue. “Callum, why wasn’t there a marriage proposal?” I only agreed to marry him on the spur of the moment yesterday, but how could there be no proposal? Wouldn’t that make me seem a little too cheap?
Seeing that her face was darkening, Callum hurriedly comforted her, saying, “Okay, I’ll definitely give you a proposal. It’s just that I was in a hurry to take you to get our marriage certificate yesterday, so I could only trick you into coming here with me first.” He was annoyed at the thought of Elspeth’s many suitors, so he simply made up an excuse to trick her into marrying him. I had to establish our marriage first before anything else, no?
“You tricked me?” Elspeth suddenly realized something. She instantly yanked his finger toward herself, only to notice that the bruise on it had disappeared. “Didn’t you say you hurt your finger? Where’s the wound?”
Seized by an overwhelming sense of oppression, Callum suddenly felt a chill down his spine. “It’s been a long time, so the wound has healed already.”
Elspeth replied with an insincere smile, “It’s been a long time, huh? It’s only been two hours. Don’t tell me you have super-healing capabilities.”
Callum feigned surprise. “I didn’t expect you to notice that.”
“Callum!” Infuriated, Elspeth immediately dragged him toward the City Hall. “It’s still early now, and we’re at the entrance to the City Hall. It’s not too late for us to get divorced.”
