Our Wedding Day Became Our Love's Funeral

I reserve the largest banquet hall in the city, book the entire inventory of three florists six months in advance, and put together 90 thousand crystal lights and 10 thousand champagne roses for a chandelier, just to bring the wedding of Vivian Carroll's dreams to life. When we arrive at the wedding venue, I eagerly anticipate the look on her face when she sees it all. However, the moment I push open the banquet doors, I realize that the floral backdrop is gone. In its place is just a huge black-and-white funeral wreath. Our wedding portrait has also been swapped out for a funeral portrait of Eric Turner, the father of Vivian's best friend, Aaron Turner. Aaron then walks out in black mourning clothes to greet us. "Viv, thank you so much for letting us use your wedding venue for my dad. His greatest regret before he passed away was never seeing you in a wedding dress." Chapter 1 David's POV My fiancee, Vivian Carroll, didn't seem the least bit surprised. She removed her wedding veil in front of all the other wedding guests, took the black mourning garb that her best friend, Aaron Turner, handed her, and put it on over the wedding dress I'd had custom-made for her. "Uncle Eric passed away too suddenly last night, and the Turners weren't able to find a place to hold the funeral at such short notice," Vivian explained to me. "Since this hall's already been paid for anyway, it would be better if we used it to give Uncle Eric a proper send-off instead of letting it go to waste." She and Aaron grew up together, and she often referred to Aaron's father as "Uncle Eric" even though they weren't related by blood. With that, she told me to send all of the wedding guests from my side of the family back home so that the Turners could mourn in peace. But when she saw that I wasn't moving, she began to get impatient. My expression was dark as I stopped the hotel manager, Russell Jones, who was in the midst of clearing out the wedding decorations from the hall. "Kindly remove the deceased's portrait and put the wedding decor back in place. The wedding will proceed as planned." Vivian flew into a rage. She flipped over the table of wedding favors and yelled at me, "Uncle Eric hasn't even been laid to rest yet, and you're telling me that you're about to fight with a dead person over who gets to use this hall? "If you dare to lay a finger on his funeral portrait, I swear I will never marry you!" I looked at her, still wearing the wedding dress I'd gotten her with the mourning garb draped over it, and suddenly smiled. Then, I turned around and booked the banquet hall right next to this one and sent a text message to Vivian's longtime business rival and arch-nemesis, Carla Emerson. "Are you free right now? I've spent seven years planning this wedding. All it's missing now is a bride who'll appreciate it." Carla's response was immediate. "Are you only using me to provoke Vivian, or are you serious about asking me to marry you, David Hartman?" I didn't reply to her question and just sent her the address for the wedding venue. "If you're willing to come, I'll redo the wedding preparations for you at once. We'll also register our marriage on the spot and make our relationship public. "I will also give you the respect, loyalty, and freedom that a wife deserves—nothing less. You are not anybody's stand-in or replacement. You also won't have to compete with anyone. "If you say yes, then you will be my only wife from today onward." I put my phone away and called Russell over. I said, "Take down all the wedding decorations the Carrolls haven't touched yet and move them all to the hall next door." Russell hesitated for a moment, glancing cautiously at Vivian. "But Mr. Hartman, the crystal chandelier, floral backdrop, and stage in the main hall are all integrated structures. Moving them on such short notice would require significant manpower." "I'll pay double the charge. I want everything sorted out within an hour," I replied. The anger on Vivian's face finally eased up when she heard what I said. She thought that I'd accepted the fact that we were postponing the wedding. She came over to help me fix the tie that she'd yanked just now. "See? You should have just done this earlier," she said. "This is the only funeral that Uncle Eric will get, but we can always have our wedding another time." I took a step back and evaded her touch. Her hand froze in midair, and she frowned at me impatiently again. "Are you still mad? I've already told you that I'll make it up to you after Uncle Eric has been laid to rest, David." Aaron walked up to us from not too far away, his eyes red-rimmed and swollen. "Viv, maybe we should just forget about it. Dave has been preparing for this wedding for a long time. I can't possibly stop you guys from getting married just because Dad passed away." Despite his words, he still kept tugging on Vivian's sleeve the whole time, clutching it tightly. She immediately turned around to comfort him. "Don't spout nonsense, Aaron," she said. "I promised Uncle Eric that I would take care of you in his place. And I won't let anybody stop him from having a funeral." She then pointed at the front-row seats, where my parents, Jeffrey Hartman and Amanda Summers, were already seated, and told the staff to remove all the wedding decorations on the chairs and tables. "The Turners will be arriving shortly. They will sit there instead." Mom held a hand to her chest, looking pale and upset. "Then, where are we supposed to sit?" Vivian responded matter-of-factly, "Isn't there an empty hall next door? Amanda, you and Jeffrey can go next door to wait it out. You're only going to disrupt the Turners' funeral by staying here." During the past seven years Vivian and I had been together, whenever we went home for a visit, Mom would always start preparing her favorite dishes days in advance. Even when Vivian struggled financially with her start-up company, Mom and Dad were the ones who dipped into their savings to help her through it. And yet, at our wedding, Vivian was telling them that they were nothing but a disruption. I helped Mom up, not bothering to offer any excuses on Vivian's behalf. "Come on, Mom. Let's go next door." Dad glanced at the wedding dress Vivian was still wearing under her mourning garb. Still, he didn't say anything and just helped Mom next door with a dark look on his face. Dozens of the wedding guests from my side of the family also got up and followed us next door. Vivian saw everyone leaving, but she didn't bother stopping them. Instead, she just heaved a sigh of relief. "This is for the better. It's terrible luck to hold a wedding and a funeral in the same place. Everyone would be incredibly awkward with each other." When I reached the door, I heard Aaron asking Vivian in a low voice, "Viv, I think Dave's really mad this time. Aren't you going to say something to him?" She scoffed. "He could never bear to actually stay mad at me. I've been with him for seven years. He's always the first one to apologize every time we fight. "I just need to sweet-talk him after we're done with Uncle Eric's funeral, and he'll happily redo all the preparations for our wedding again later." The door to the banquet hall next door slowly opened before me. The staff were putting up the crystal chandelier that had been taken down from next door and bringing in the champagne roses by the armful. Mom held my hand. "David, you know that marriage isn't a game, right? It's still not too late to stop everything now." I looked at the huge black-and-white wreath in the main hall next door and felt inexplicably calm. "It's okay, Mom. I'm not acting out of spite," I replied. "I've just finally realized that some people are not worthy of my love." Chapter 2 David's POV Just as the words left my lips, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor echoed from the far end of the hallway. Carla was dressed in a long black gown as she walked into the hall, flanked by a lawyer and an assistant. She stopped right in front of me. "Let me ask you one last time, David," she said. "Are you looking for someone to help you save face or an actual bride to be your wife?" I handed her the wedding contract, the guest list, and the officiant's contact details. "The music, the vows, the wedding dress, and the ceremony—they will all be up to you," I replied. "You're not here to replace Vivian. From the moment you agree, this wedding will be yours and yours only." Carla stared at me for a very long time. Suddenly, the sound of solemn background music played next door. I looked out the door and saw Vivian in her wedding dress and mourning garb, holding Aaron steady as they paid their respects to Eric. Carla followed my line of sight and turned to look as well. Then, she suddenly chuckled. She took off her earrings and handed them to her assistant behind her. Then, she said, "Contact my stylist and have that wedding dress I had custom-made from Parreland sent over. If I'm getting married, I'm not wearing anybody else's hand-me-downs." Carla then went off to the dressing room to get ready, and I returned to the main hall next door for a bit. By then, Vivian had already changed out of her wedding dress and put on a long, black dress instead. That seven-figure wedding dress was now in Aaron's hands. I had handpicked every single diamond on that dress from abroad. In order to make the dress look like the starry night Vivian loved so much, I'd even worked with the designer to revise the sketches 17 times and commissioned over 30 embroiderers to hand-stitch the gems onto the dress over the course of eight months. The day the dress was delivered to us, Vivian hugged me and said that it was the most precious gift she had ever received. Yet, now, Aaron placed it right beside the brazier used for burning the deceased's belongings, according to his family traditions. "Before Dad passed, he kept telling me how much he wished he could see you in a wedding dress," he said, lowering his head as he touched the dress. He continued in a choked voice, "But since you've already worn this dress, we'll just let it accompany him on his journey. That way, he'll feel more reassured and be able to rest easy in the afterlife." I looked at Vivian. "Did you agree to this?" She didn't hesitate. "Uncle Eric only had one dying wish. And I refuse to let him leave this world with regrets. It's just a wedding dress. I can always get another one made when I get married later." I stared at her, suddenly recalling the night the gown was finally completed. The designer had asked me if I wanted a name or quote embroidered inside the dress hem. I wrote down Vivian's initials and mine on a piece of paper. I also added another line next to them that said, "Only once in this lifetime." But now, in Vivian's eyes, this dress was nothing more than a dress that could be easily replaced. Aaron held up the dress and walked up to the brazier, looking somewhat reluctant. "Viv, maybe we should reconsider burning this dress. It's so expensive, and it's also something that Dave made especially for you—" Vivian took the dress from him and tossed it straight into the fire herself. The flames blazed up at once, swallowing the dress as the tiny diamonds flashed brilliantly with a dazzling, blinding light. I stood there, watching as eight months of hard work I had poured my heart and soul into burned to ashes. Vivian brushed the soot from her hands. "Alright. Stop looking at me like that," she said, glancing at me. "I'll let you make another one for me after Uncle Eric's funeral procession is over in a week. You must make sure that it's as good and expensive as this one. Consider it an apology for your outrageous behavior today." At that moment, the last shred of my reluctance burned away with the dress. "There's no need." She didn't hear me clearly. "What did you say?" I averted my gaze and turned to walk out of the hall. "I said I'm never preparing a second wedding dress for you for the rest of my life." I heard her sneering behind me. "You'd better remember what you just said. I'll make you eat your words when you come back to me on your knees, begging me to try on another wedding dress." Chapter 3 David's POV I didn't bother looking back. Vivian would never know that another woman was putting on her own wedding dress and preparing to marry me. After getting back to the other hall, I called my jeweler and said, "Bring a new pair of rings to the banquet hall next door. I only want today's date to be engraved inside." As soon as I ended that call, I got another one from my property manager, Kevin Dossier. He told me that dozens of the Turner family members had shown up at my villa. Apparently, Vivian told them the passcode. She even had our housekeeper remove all the festive decor and drape everything in black for the Turner family to proceed with their week-long vigil. That villa was supposed to be our marital home and was a wedding gift from my parents. They had paid for the house, and it was still registered under their names. I'd never told Vivian about it because I wanted her to treat it as her own home. I called my real estate agent and told him to put the villa up for sale. I also called Kevin back and told him to revoke Vivian and the Turners' access to the place and kick them out. After that, I opened the three documents my assistant, Byron Wagner, handed to me. The South City project that Carroll Group had secured last time was only possible because my family had quietly lent a hand and pulled some strings. Besides that, Vivian's father, Matthew Carroll, only managed to get into the Chamber of Commerce on recommendation from us. Even the round of financing Carroll Group was about to receive was also something that I had helped to secure on her behalf. Seven years ago, Vivian was nothing more than a penniless entrepreneur just starting out. I was the one who found her investors, brought in clients, and fended off every skeptic, helping her get where she was now. However, she had risen too high and had long since forgotten who had hoisted her to such heights in the first place. I signed the contract termination notice. "Notify the project department to reevaluate Carroll Group's financial qualifications. Suspend all investments in their company effective immediately." Byron was a little hesitant. "Mr. Hartman, if we do proceed, I'm afraid Carroll Group may not have enough funds to last even a month." "That's none of my concern," I replied. The wedding march began to play just then, and the banquet hall doors opened. Carla wore a stunning wedding dress studded with tiny diamonds. A bright spotlight shone on her as she stood all alone at the doors. She wasn't wearing Vivian's wedding veil. She wasn't holding the bouquet I'd prepared for seven years. The walls and screens behind us were blank without a single photo showing our history together. When she made her way up to me, she didn't hold out her hand at once. Instead, she said, "You still have time to back out now, and I won't hold it against you." I reached for her hand instead. "I'm not the one who should be having second thoughts now." The County Clerk had already verified the necessary documents in the presence of both our parents. Carla and I signed the marriage registration papers before returning to the banquet hall. As we exchanged rings on the stage, the sound of the Turners' sobs and wails drifted from next door. Vivian and I were merely separated by a thin wall. On one side, she wore mourning attire for someone else's father. And on the other side, I was choosing a new bride for myself. When the officiant asked me if I was willing to be Carla's husband, I didn't hesitate at all. "I do." Carla looked at me and gave the same answer. The 90 thousand crystal lights in the chandelier above us lit up one by one. As applause erupted from the wedding guests, I thought I would think of Vivian. But instead, all I could think about was Carla's sparkling bright eyes as she stood right in front of me. After the wedding, I received a text message from Vivian. "Aaron's family will be mourning and keeping vigil for seven days in our marital home. Tell the property manager to open the doors for us. "Also, make sure you keep the wedding decorations intact. I will be reusing them for our wedding next time." I didn't reply to her message and just turned my phone off. Carla came up to me and handed me a plane ticket. "Mr. Hartman, since I was roped in to be your bride at the last minute, you'll have to forgive me for not having time to plan our honeymoon. Is there still time for me to pick a destination?" I handed the paperwork withdrawing the Hartman family's financial guarantee for Carroll Group back to Byron. Then, I took the plane ticket from Carla. "Of course. Let's leave right now, Mrs. Hartman." Chapter 4 David's POV The next morning, while I was waiting in the airport VIP lounge, I saw that Aaron had updated his social media with a post. The photo showed Vivian wearing the custom-made wedding dress I'd ordered for her with the mourning garb draped over it. She and Aaron stood on either side of Eric's funeral portrait. Aaron had deliberately cropped out the other wedding guests in the background, making it look as though it was just the two of them bidding farewell to Eric together. The caption was even more misleading. "Dad, the person you worried about the most before you left is by my side now. Although you never got to see her marry into the Turner family with your own eyes, I know that you'd long considered her your daughter-in-law." Comments flooded in. Some praised Vivian for her loyalty and devotion. Others teased Aaron about their bond as childhood sweethearts, saying that they had always been a perfect match. Aaron didn't bother clarifying the misunderstandings. In fact, he even liked every comment that suggested there was something more between him and Vivian. I read through the comments for a while before leaving a short comment. "Best wishes to you both." Carla was seated right opposite me, reviewing a contract that her secretary had sent to her. She glanced at my phone screen for a bit, but she didn't pry. Instead, she slid a warm glass of water over to me. "The flight leaves in 40 minutes. You still have time to deal with whatever urgent matters you have." I was just about to reply when I suddenly received a call from Vivian. The moment I answered the call, Vivian started shouting at me, her tone accusatory. "What the hell did you just comment on Aaron's Instagram post? What exactly do you mean by 'best wishes to you both'? Anyone who doesn't know any better would think that there's something going on between me and him!" I asked calmly in return, "Isn't there?" A few seconds of silence passed before Vivian raised her voice at me. "Aaron is emotionally unstable right now because he just lost his father! Whatever he's posting now is just a way for him to express his grief! "And I just wore the wedding dress for that photo because it was one of Uncle Eric's dying wishes! Don't you dare get jealous and petty over something like this! It makes you look incredibly childish!" If I'd heard this in the past, I would have immediately argued with her until I was blue in the face. But now, I just felt exhausted. "Don't worry. I didn't read much into anything." Vivian clearly hadn't expected me to respond so calmly. Her tone softened considerably. "That's more like it," she said. "I'll be spending the rest of the week with Aaron and his family. I'll come back to marry you after that. "Book another hotel. It can't be any less grand than the one before. And order another wedding dress for me. The Turners already know that my original dress was burned and buried with Uncle Eric. Don't you dare embarrass me with anything less impressive than that." I looked at the brand-new wedding ring on my finger and chuckled slightly. "Go ahead and keep him company. I've already settled everything else." Obviously, Vivian misunderstood what I meant. She replied, "I knew that you'd never really stay mad at me. Just wait till I get home. I promise I'll make it up to you." I heard Aaron calling out to her on the other end of the line, and she quickly hung up on me. My phone screen turned dark. Carla handed me a supplementary prenuptial agreement that stated all pre-marital assets would remain completely separate throughout the course of our marriage. If the marriage were to end prematurely, she would not take any additional assets from the Hartman family, and vice versa. "Everything was too rushed yesterday. I didn't get a chance to give this agreement to you," she said. "I didn't agree to this marriage for the sake of my family or because I wanted to swoop in while you were vulnerable. "And if you have any second thoughts about this marriage, we can end things amicably at any time." I flipped through the agreement to the final page, but I didn't sign it. Instead, I turned around and took out the share transfer document that Byron had delivered to me this morning and placed it before her. "This is a 5% stake in Hartman Group's overseas projects," I said. "But this isn't payment for you stepping in to save the situation. I'm just offering my wife basic financial security." Carla stared at the document without moving a muscle. After a long bout of silence, she suddenly asked me, "Do you want to know why I came yesterday, David?" I looked up and met her gaze. "During that bidding war three years ago, you chose to take a financial loss rather than use the insider information Vivian bought. I lost to you back then, but for the first time, I thought that you were a man of decent character." She then slid the document back to me and said, "I don't mind marrying you, but I don't need you to prove your sincerity to me with your company shares. I just need you to agree to one thing." "Just name it." "Don't use me as a tool for revenge against Vivian." I took the hand she'd used to slide the document back to me and said, "From the moment I asked you to be my bride, you have never been a backup option or substitute for anyone else." Chapter 5 David's POV The boarding announcement sounded through the airport. I took my phone out and proceeded to block and delete Vivian's number and social media accounts in one swift motion. Carla got up and naturally extended her hand to me. Several reporters from the business and financial news were waiting outside the VIP passage in the airport. They immediately caught sight of our wedding rings and quickly raised their cameras. "Mr. Hartman! What is the nature of your relationship with Ms. Emerson?" I didn't shy away from the cameras. Instead, I intertwined my fingers with Carla's and held her hand tightly in mine. "She's not Ms. Emerson. She's Mrs. Hartman." … Third-Person POV Over the next few days, David didn't contact Vivian at all. She didn't think much of it at first. After all, she still thought that he was only throwing a tantrum because she let someone else use their banquet hall on the day of their wedding. Over the past seven years, David had always been the first to apologize every time they fought, no matter who was actually in the wrong. So, she was confident that he would be the first to cave and apologize this time around too. Vivian stayed with the Turners for the entire week. She helped Aaron sort through Eric's belongings, assisted him with receiving his friends and family, and even slept in the guest room that Aaron specially prepared for her. That night, Aaron dug out a recording Eric had made while he was still alive. His frail voice came through on the audio player. "Viv is a good person. Ronnie, if you ever run into any trouble, you can just go to her. She will never abandon you." As the recording ended, Aaron turned to hug Vivian, his eyes red and puffy. "Viv, you're the only person I have left." Vivian didn't push him away. Instead, she just patted him on the back and said, "I promised Uncle Eric that I would take good care of you. No matter what happens in the future, know that I will never abandon you." Aaron looked up, tears sliding down his cheek. "But you're going to marry David very soon. Then, I'll need to go through him just to see you again." Vivian frowned. "He can't control me. You're my best friend, and no one can ever change that." Aaron chuckled bitterly. "Am I only just a 'best friend' to you?" He pulled out a yellowed photo of him and Vivian from when they were much younger. In the photo, she was leaning against his shoulder, and they were both beaming with joy. "I was the one who introduced David to you back then," Aaron said in a melancholic tone. "I thought you were just looking for someone to date. I never thought that you'd actually end up marrying him." Vivian's breath caught slightly in her throat. "You're drunk, Aaron." "I'm not." He looked her right in the eye. "I was the one who knew you first… Viv, would you still have chosen David if I'd confessed my feelings to you first?" The room was so quiet that only the sound of the raindrops falling on the windowpanes could be heard. Vivian didn't answer his question. Yet, she didn't lean away when he reached out to caress her cheek either. "Viv, even on his deathbed, Dad still thought that you were going to marry me. And when I saw you wearing that wedding dress at his funeral, I thought that you and I were supposed to be a happy family together instead." Vivian's eyes gradually reddened. "Why are you only telling me this now?" "Because I thought that I would be content to just stay by your side as a friend as long as it was what made you happy." Aaron then leaned in and kissed her softly. Vivian only pretended to fight back. But when Aaron pulled away, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him even closer. … When she woke up the next morning, she looked at Aaron, who was sleeping peacefully next to her, and finally panicked. Aaron grabbed her hand and said in a hoarse voice, "I won't ruin your marriage with David, Viv. Just wait until this week is over, and I will go back to being just your best friend again." Vivian only felt herself relaxing after hearing him say that. She even thought that David would never find out about it as long as she didn't tell him. After all, she was sure that he loved her too much. As long as she decided to go back to him, she was sure that he would forgive her no matter what she did, just like he had in the past. At that thought, she checked her phone and realized that she didn't have any new messages. David hadn't sent a single text asking her when she was coming back or urging her to make any decisions about the rescheduled wedding. Instead, he had quietly disappeared for five whole days. Vivian felt a little uneasy. She finally took the initiative for the first time and called him. Yet the only reply she got was the robotic female voice telling her that David's number could not be reached. She checked her social media accounts and quickly realized that David had also blocked and unfollowed her on every platform. In fact, he'd even kicked her out of his shared cloud drives, and she couldn't view the wedding checklist and folder they'd been co-editing for seven years in the shared cloud anymore. "Who the hell does he think he's trying to fool?" She forced down the panic rising in her chest and continued comforting herself. "He's still going to have to beg me to come back to him in two days." Just then, a notification from a financial news outlet popped up on her phone. The headline read, "Whirlwind Romance Between Two Major Tycoons—The Hartman Heir and the Emerson Heiress Jet Off to Island for Honeymoon."