Fiancee Let Friend Grab My Wedding Silk, I Remarried

Where I'm from, every wedding car flies six lengths of red silk.

If those ribbons stay whole from the start of the day until the reception is over, it means the marriage will be a happy one.

But on our wedding day, I had just brought my fiance back and stopped in front of my house when her childhood friend suddenly threw himself over the car and tore off the length of red silk from the front.

I moved to stop him at once, but Carmen Hughes caught my arm. "Don't you remember? When you were little you were always taking Morton James's things. You even took a red cape off him once."

"He's just making you give it back now, and borrowing a little luck while he's at it. Don't be so petty."

Morton held up the red silk and shrugged at me. "Actually, Carmen and I had a bet going about whether you'd get mad over something this small."

"See? It's nothing, is it."

I was shaking with anger. "But that's the wedding car! The wedding isn't over yet. How can you tear the silk off it?!"

Carmen's face went sour in an instant. "So what if it's the wedding car? It's not going to stop being the wedding car just because it's missing one piece of red cloth."

"It's one length of red cloth. Do you really have to yell at Morton like that?!"

With that, she pulled the rest of the red silk off herself and handed it to him. "If you like it, tie all of it to your car. He owes you anyway."

Something about it struck me as absurd. I lowered my head and made a call to another woman. "Can you get a wedding car with red silk ready within thirty minutes and send someone over?"

"We're getting married. I'll come collect the bride shortly."

...

Those top-grade red silk ribbons were something only Marilyn Butler had in this whole city, and the ones on the wedding car had come from her too, a wedding gift.

Morton pulled up to his own car and tied all the silk in his hands onto it. "Carmen, doesn't this look good?"

The bridesmaids beside her never minded stirring the pot. "Now there are two wedding cars! Carmen's got two of them!"

The laughter swelled up at once. "Two grooms, two grooms!"

I hung up the phone and looked at Carmen, but she wasn't the least bit angry, and she didn't deny it either.

Carmen smiled and teased Morton. "You? A groom?"

"Back in the old days you'd be a live-in houseboy at best!"

The bridesmaids around them were still egging it on. "Same thing. A live-in husband gets a bit of everything anyway!"

Morton walked back over and gave Carmen a light punch on the arm. "Oh please, do I look like some houseboy?"

Then he cut a sideways glance at me. "The red silk is on my car now. Who the houseboy is here is still up for debate!"

Carmen half raised a hand and pushed him off, but she was laughing. "Fine, fine, fine, it's not you, it's not you. Happy now?"

Morton couldn't hold back the grin. "Frederick Harding, we're just joking around. Carmen says you're big enough not to let it bother you!"

Carmen turned her head toward me. "Frederick, you know how Morton is. I'll deal with him later, I'll teach him a lesson!"

The bridesmaids tittered again. Roughhousing like this was old news to all of them.

I couldn't help remembering how the three of us had been the closest playmates as kids, before Morton's family emigrated abroad.

Later, when he heard Carmen and I had gotten engaged, he came back.

The moment he was back, he started turning up at our place for no reason at all.

Sometimes he even found excuses to stay the night, saying he was only there to mooch off us for food, drink, and a bed.

Right up to the wedding, Carmen shot down every other groomsman I suggested. It had to be Morton.

Carmen and I had fought over it more than once, and every time she said I was born too sensitive, couldn't take a single joke, always ruining the mood.

I told myself we were already at the point of getting married. Let it go.

But now, I wasn't going to keep lying to myself.

As my thoughts came back to me, I was about to speak when I heard footsteps behind me. It was my mother.

She hurried up, asking anxiously, "What happened here? How did the red silk from the wedding car end up on Morton's car?"

Her voice climbed higher and higher. "Do you people know the custom around here? The red silk on the lead car ties in the luck of the marriage."

"All the way until the wedding ends tonight, losing even one length is bad luck!"

"This is a big day. Who told them they could tear this silk off?!"

The scene fell quiet for a moment. Everyone was looking at Morton.

Carmen shrugged and spoke with a smile. "Ma'am, when Frederick was little he took Morton's red cloth. Morton's just getting it back now, that's all. It's no big deal."

My mother went blank for a second, and then her face flushed deep red. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Do you even know why Frederick took that red cloth back then?!"

"Morton was ten that year. A strange woman came up and coaxed him with a red cape, and he was about to climb into her car with her!"

"If Frederick hadn't run over and snatched that cape away, hadn't dragged him off by force, Morton would have been abducted. Do any of you understand that?!"

Morton's brow creased. "Ma'am, don't go painting everyone as rotten just because your own family is."

"She was my friend. She just thought I was cute and wanted me to be her little cape superhero, and Frederick insisted she was a bad person."

Someone nearby murmured, "Right, how many child traffickers are there really?"

"Frederick just didn't get a cape of his own, so he got jealous and made the whole thing up."

My mother was so angry her hands shook. She stepped forward quickly, reaching for the red silk on the car. "Stop this! Give it back, now!"

Seeing that, Morton hurried forward too.

But after deliberately slamming into my mother, he let himself fall backward first.

"Morton!" Carmen rushed over, and her arm shoved my mother hard out of the way.

My mother stumbled into the flower stand and then dropped to the ground, her wrist hitting the pavement with a dull thud.

The whole place went silent for a second.

"Mom!" I ran over and pulled her up. Her wrist was already starting to swell, and she was in too much pain to speak.

Carmen didn't so much as glance over. She bent down to check whether Morton was hurt.

Seeing that Morton was perfectly fine, Carmen turned her head and said to my mother, "Don't think that just because you're the groom's mother today, you can do whatever you want!"

"Morton is a guest I invited, and you raised a hand to a guest. Is that the kind of manners your family has?"

My heart went cold to the core. I drew a deep breath. "Yes! My mother isn't lucky enough to be your mother-in-law."

"The red silk on the wedding car is gone, and this wedding is off too!"

The whole crowd went quiet for a beat, then broke into an uproar.

Carmen faltered, then her brows knit tight. "So my mom was in the wrong, and now nobody's even allowed to point it out. Is that it?"

Morton stood up and, with a look of grudging reluctance, pulled the red silk off the car.

He shoved it hard into my arms. "Didn't think you'd be this petty. Fine, I'm giving your worthless rags back to you, I don't want them. Happy now?"

Before I could react, the silk slid to the ground, and Morton stamped on it a few times.

The next second he tore off his own groomsman's jacket, his face crumpling. "This morning, the moment you saw me come out in the groomsman's suit, your face fell."

"You've been making trouble this whole time, and the bottom line is you don't want me as your groomsman, you don't want me standing beside you while you take a wife!"

"Fine, I won't be your groomsman, I won't wear the suit. Just don't go saying all this angry nonsense about calling off the wedding!"

Someone in the bridesmaids' group jumped in at once.

"Morton was just trying to liven things up. Since when is the groom such a bad sport!"

"The groom's just jealous that Morton's better looking than him, scared of getting upstaged, so he keeps finding ways to make things hard for him."

"No wonder he had to fight Morton for everything when they were kids. Turns out he's been jealous since childhood, right up till now."

Morton's suit was already ruined, the fabric split open at the shoulder.

He lifted his head and asked me loudly, "Satisfied now? Stop giving Carmen a hard time!"

Carmen quickly grabbed a coat, pulled it off, and draped it straight over Morton's shoulders. "It's okay. I've got you."

Then she turned back to me. "That's enough out of you. Go apologize to Morton, now."

I ignored her. Just then my phone buzzed.

I unlocked the screen. It was a photo from Marilyn.

A luxury wedding car, hung all over with bright, lavish red silk.

Morton leaned in and caught a glimpse of my screen. "So it wasn't about me taking your red cloth at all. You just thought the red cloth Carmen prepared wasn't good enough, and got yourself some outside help to bring over a nicer one?"

"Frederick, you've been reading too many novels, haven't you?"

"Enough already. It's just a wedding. Do you really need all this fuss?"

Carmen's face changed in an instant. She snatched my phone. "What outside help? Bringing over red cloth?"

Except I'd already hit the lock button before she got it.

I shook my head. "None of this has anything to do with any of you."

She tried the passcode twice and failed both times. "Morton already gave the red cloth back to you. Hurry up and cancel those rags."

She tossed the phone back at me, then paused. "Frederick, I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to apologize to Morton or not."

I raised my head. "No."

Her brows drew together. "Fine. Then take off your suit right now and give it to Morton to wear!"

"Morton's groomsman suit got ruined because of you. You owe it to him!"

My mother froze. "The red silk's already been torn off the wedding car, and now you want him to give up his suit too?"

"You... you really don't intend to go through with this marriage?"

Her voice shook, and her eyes had gone red before she finished. "The way you're treating Frederick today, what exactly is this supposed to mean?"

Carmen let out a cold snort and turned to my mother. "That's your son bringing it on himself. No one else to blame."

"And your family might want to remember, back when his father was in that car accident, who was it that fronted the million for the surgery?"

"So before you go trying to pull rank on me as an elder, you'd better ask yourself whether you've earned the right."

My mother's face went pale, and for a long moment she said nothing.

My mind snapped back to the time of my father's accident.

I was only a freshman. When the call came, the phone nearly slipped out of my hand. A serious car accident.

I ran from campus to the hospital, and the doctor said the surgery was high-risk, that a million had to be paid up front.

I scrolled through every contact in my phone, not knowing who I could possibly call to cover it.

Then Carmen showed up, cash in hand, walking straight over. "Your dad is my dad. I'm not going to stand by and watch him die!"

"I took it from the safe at home. If it's not enough, I'll go get more."

I held onto her tightly right then, so moved I broke down crying.

Later, my father had the surgery, but complications from the aftereffects took him anyway.

Carmen never once brought up that million.

But after that, Morton kept dropping little hints. "Abroad, even blood brothers and old married couples keep their money straight. Whenever I go out with friends, it's always split down the middle."

"Settle it clean and there's no resentment. No matter how close two people are, money is the vague thing that always causes trouble!"

Carmen heard it enough times that she'd nod every time. "Morton's got a point. Frederick, you should take a lesson from that."

I'd always meant to pay it back gradually anyway.

But once I caught what they were really getting at, I gritted my teeth and picked up more work.

In the end I paid it back years ahead of schedule, the full million wired back to Carmen, not a cent short.

When the money came in, Carmen didn't forget to text Morton. "You really are something. A few words from you and Frederick paid it all back."

"If it weren't for you, that dead debt would probably have been written off for good."

I thought that was the end of it.

I never imagined she'd drag the whole thing out today, in front of everyone, to shame my mother!

I hadn't even come back to myself when Carmen suddenly yanked me aside. "Are you deaf today? I told you to take off that suit!"

"Morton's standing there with his clothes half off. Can't you see that?"

I found it almost funny.

Before, because of one word from Morton, he'd insisted on waiting until after the wedding to register the marriage.

And now, because of one word from Morton, she wanted me to strip off my suit.

The thought of it pulled a cold laugh out of me. I lowered my head and started taking off the suit myself. "Fine. I don't want this suit either."

My mother panicked. She forgot the injury on her own wrist and reached out to press me back. "Frederick, what are you doing? Today is your wedding day!"

Her voice caught, and she turned to face Carmen. "Carmen, let me apologize on my own behalf. I was wrong just now."

"For the sake of all these years, please don't make things so hard for Frederick. Let the two of you finish the wedding first. Can you do that?"

Carmen didn't so much as glance at my mother. She only fixed her cold eyes on me. "Take it off."

The bridesmaids around her started murmuring again.

"That's our Carmen for you! She hasn't even walked through the door and she's already got the mother-in-law under her thumb. That way she won't have to swallow their attitude once she's in."

"Right. Today's all about putting them in their place. Otherwise they won't know who's boss, and later they'll only give Morton grief!"

"Serves them right. If the groom hadn't been so bent on digging his own grave, his mother wouldn't have had to throw away her pride begging like that!"

My mother tried to say something more. I gave her a light tug. "Mom, don't beg her. I'm not going to marry her."

She whispered anxiously, "By custom, if the red silk on the wedding car is gone, your life after the wedding won't be easy."

"There's still a little time before the lucky hour. If I go buy some now, I can definitely make it back."

But the next second, Carmen raised a hand and blocked my mother's path. "Since Morton already handed the red silk back, then this is all you get."

Carmen's brow twitched, and she turned to look at me at once. "Do you want me to peel it off you myself?"

Without a second thought, I stripped the suit right off.

My mother quickly passed me a jacket to cover up. "You're right, son! She isn't worth marrying!"

Carmen handed my suit to Morton. "Go change into it."

Morton wasn't the least bit embarrassed. He put it on right there in front of everyone. "What a perfect fit!"

One of the bridesmaids said in a low voice, "Hehe, Carmen had it tailored to your measurements. Of course it fits."

What?

So that was it. No wonder it had felt a size too small every time I put it on.

Carmen tossed the ruined groomsman's suit down at my feet. "Put it on. The lucky hour is almost here. The moment it arrives, I'm leaving for the reception. Whether you follow is up to you."

Morton looked at me smugly and slowly mouthed the word: Trash.

My mother's eyes reddened. She turned and took my hand. "We're not changing."

Carmen let out a cold snort. "Save the act. Isn't your son just a kept man?"

"In a while he'll still be chasing after my wedding car."

We didn't bother answering her. We turned and went back into the room.

Seeing how much it pained my mother, I gave her a rough account of the Marilyn Butler situation.

She froze for a moment, then wept with joy. "It's her..."

"That's wonderful. She's chased after you all these years, and I've seen every bit of it..."

"Back then, she actually came to you with the money too. She was just a step too late..."

I went still for a beat. So that was how it had been.

Soon the bridesmaids reminded Carmen that it was time to head to the reception.

When Carmen didn't see me come out, she erupted, shouting at the doorway. "Frederick, you're really set on making a scene today, aren't you?"

"Fine! I'll give you what you want!"

She turned to face everyone. "I hereby announce that the engagement between Frederick and me is off!"

"When he finally figures out what he did wrong, we can do this wedding all over again!"

At that very moment, a roar of engines came from the distance. A line of Rolls-Royces rolled slowly toward us, so long you couldn't see the end of it.

The lead car's hood was draped with a broad sweep of red silk, bound up in grand style, more than twice as beautiful as the ones Morton had taken.

Carmen's brow furrowed at once. "Who are they?!"

The motorcade came to a stop, and Marilyn stepped out.

The instant Carmen saw her, she finally lost her nerve. "What are you doing here!"

The next second, I pushed the door open and walked out.

Marilyn shoved Carmen aside, placed the car key in my hand, and smiled. "I came to bring the wedding car to my groom. Is there a problem?"