The Wedding Bet: You Changed The Venue I Changed The Groom Chapter 09
The Stalker
Julian doesn’t leave Ireland. He somehow finds out about my transfer and rents a house nearby.
Every day, he waits for me on my way to work with breakfast.
When I refuse to take it, he has it delivered directly to my office.
Besides breakfast, he sends flowers, designer bags, and the heirloom sapphire necklace—all the things he once gave Serena.
He acts exactly like he did when he first pursued me ten years ago. Passionate, devoted, and relentless.
But I’m not the naive girl I was ten years ago. His grand gestures don’t move me anymore.
Being with Ethan shows me what real love looks like.
When Ethan finds out Julian is stalking me, he asks if I want to call the police.
I say no.
Not because I am soft-hearted, but because he isn’t worth any more of my time or energy.
But while I don’t think he’s worth it, someone else certainly does.
A month after Julian arrives in Ireland, I receive a phone call from Serena.
She sounds exhausted, but her bossy, entitled tone hasn’t changed at all.
“Aria, give Julian back to me!”
When she calls, I happen to be cleaning out files on my laptop.
One of the photos is an old picture of Serena and me. Two young girls looking away from the camera, clearly annoyed with each other.
It is from when we first met. Back then, we were honest about how much we disliked each other.
She hated my pride, and I hated her spoiled-rich-girl attitude.
But later, when a classmate falsely accused me of stealing, she was the one who stood in front of me and defended me. From that moment on, we became best friends.
But friendships from our youth don’t always survive adulthood. Neither does love.
I right-click and hit “Delete.”
Then, I speak calmly into the phone.
“First, I don’t owe you anything, so there is nothing to ‘give back.'”
“Second, Julian and I have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore. He is the one stalking me.”
“Third, if you want him, come drag him away yourself. If you actually manage to do it, I’ll thank you.”
“You—”
Before she can say anything else, I hang up.
A few days later, Julian suddenly steps into my path, holding out a velvet box.
Inside is the diamond engagement ring. The one he spent six months designing and flew to France to have made by a master jeweler.
“I got the ring back,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I also found out what happened at the care facility.”
“I’m so sorry, Aria. I really didn’t know Serena was capable of something like that…”
I am a little surprised but don’t say a word.
He continues without waiting for a response.
It turns out that after Serena called me, she actually flew to Ireland to take Julian back.
But Julian refused to go with her and took the diamond ring back from her finger. Furious, Serena finally admitted what she had done to my mother at the care facility.
He cut ties with her completely, and she flew back to New York.