Chapter 26 The Same Wedding Ring
Clara finally understood what was in his mind.
Darren had no idea of her marriage to Horace. On the contrary, he seemed to know that there was something between them, so he misunderstood that Horace was her sugar daddy?
Clara suddenly felt sick and her heart filled up with ice.
Interesting. She thought.
Darren Kirkland, what kind of woman do you think I am? Whenever a rich man showed up around me, you would just believe that there is something fishy about us?
In fact, Clara could understand why he would think that way. He was so convinced that she was a woman for sale that it was almost impossible for her to be another man’s wife.
“Clara!” Darren growled, “Answer my question!”
Clara finally got back to her mind.
She raised her eyes and answered in a cool voice, “Whatever you think it is.”
After saying that, she broke away from Darren’s grasp with a strength she found from nowhere, and turned to leave.
The moment she turned away from him, she finally made up her mind.
Her first love, the only man she had ever loved in her life, had completely disappeared.
He was gone as long as two years ago.
For the next two days, Clara had been forcing herself to work. She was too busy to think about the troubles brought to her by Horace and Darren.
Horace never came home since that night. There were no text messages or phone calls from him. Every night when Clara returned to the empty chamber, she felt a bit lonely brewing in her heart.
As expected, adaptation was a terrible thing. In less than a month, she had already been used to this man in her life.
This morning, as soon as Clara entered the office, she saw several female colleagues sitting around the computer.
“Wow, you ladies are so early today.” She walked over and casually said. At other times, at this hour of the day, every one of them would be spending their gossip time in the tea room of the office.
“Of course!” Sarah held her face in her hands and she looked exactly like a fan girl. “It’s never too early when you can see a handsome man.”
“Handsome? Who?”
“Er, excuse me? Horace Kirkland! The CEO of Solrace Corporation! Don’t you remember? We have interviewed him! He is participating in the ceremony of Prominent U Awards in Maniana, and it is being broadcast live!”
Clara was stunned.
So that was the guy these girls gathered around to see! Her “missing” husband? Clara grew a little interested as well, so she went over and asked, “What award?”
“Prominent U Awards. God! Where are you from, young lady? There is a more understandable name for it: The Most Eligible Bachelor Awards! But it’s a pity that he is married already.” Sarah said with a pitiful look on her face.
Clara set her eyes on the computer screen. Sure enough, she saw the luxurious stage. Horace was slowly pushing his wheelchair onto the stage amid loud applause.
His suit outlined his tall and fit body. Although he was sitting in a wheelchair, he still had a powerful charisma that no one could ignore.
“Congratulations, Mr. Kirkland” The blonde host passed the crystal trophy to him with excitement in her voice.
“Thank you.” Horace took it over. He spoke with an American accent, “I’m honored to get this award from you.”
When Horace took the trophy, the host’s eyes fell on his fingers, and she immediately noticed, “Oh my God, Mr. Kirkland, is that a wedding ring I see on your finger?”
The camera immediately gave a close-up of Horace’s finger. The diamond ring bought by Clara immediately appeared on the screen.
Clara’s heart paced and quietly she hid her finger with the same ring behind her.
On the screen, the host was still talking, “Mr. Kirkland, so what they said about you was right! You are really married! I don’t know how many girls would be heartbroken by this news. Now let’s look at this ring. Mr. Kirkland, don’t you think this wedding ring might be a little bit too humble for a man like you?”
The host’s words drew a burst of laughter from the audience.
Clara’s cheeks were slightly blushed.
She had told him before that this ring did not match him, but he wore it out anyhow.
Despite everyone’s surprise and laughter, Horace still looked calm. He looked down at his finger and smiled faintly, “It was my wife who chose it for me. She likes to keep it low-profile.”
It was a simple sentence, but it showed their mutual understanding, mutual trust, and love, and the audience immediately was quiet.
On the other side of the planet, Clara, in front of the computer screen, felt that her heart had skipped a beat.
Although she kept telling herself that what Horace said was probably just good acting, somewhere in her heart, she could not help but be touched.
Even if Horace were acting, he did always wear a ring. Even if the ring was cheap.
Even if the whole world believed that they couldn’t be together, he still took her in.
Perhaps Darren’s denial of her was too cruel that it made Horace’s affirmation of her seem to be even more comforting.
“Mr. Kirkland, how sweet. You really love her so much!” At the award ceremony, the host said in an admiring tone.
Horace, with his status, was wearing such a ring just because his wife was “frugal”. This way of showing love was more powerful than giving her a bedazzled ruby.
Horace just smiled and gave back no comments
The award ceremony was soon over, and everyone in front of the computer screen was still amazed.
“OMG! How lucky that Mrs. Kirkland is! So many rich men never want to admit that they’re married, but he went to such a big occasion with a cheap ring from his wife and admitted that!” One of the office ladies commented.
“Come on.” A male colleague couldn’t help but say, “maybe he was too stingy to buy a good one and took his wife out to defend himself.”
“Horace can buy a diamond mine if he wants to!” Sarah groaned, “Speaking of it, why do I have the feeling that the ring looks so familiar?”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
As soon as Sarah started, someone answered, “I have the same feeling! It seems that I have seen it somewhere in our office…”
Clara was afraid that this would lead to nowhere so she started to walk away from this. But before she could leave, Sarah clapped her hands and shouted out “Oh, I remember! That ring looked exactly like the one Clara wears!”
Under the gaze of the crowd, Clara was not able to leave. At this time, everyone came over, grabbed Clara’s hand, and shouted out.
“It’s the same! This is the one!”
“Why? Clara? You are wearing the exact same ring as Mr. Kirkland!”
Clara looked at this crowd of gossiping women in front of her and felt a headache. After thinking for a while, she had to admit, “Ok, you have made me no choice. Yes, I am Horace Kirkland’s wife. That’s why our rings are the same.”