They Switched My Groom—So I Kept Him Chapter 05
Ethan stared at me for a second, then forced a smile.
“Claire, you’re joking, right? Today’s our wedding.”
I gave him a mocking smile.
“So you do remember.”
I lifted my chin. “Ryan came to get me this morning. Ryan carried me to the car. Ryan came here and married me. Where were you when I was supposed to leave for my wedding? And where were you just now?”
Ethan was shocked, but it didn’t take him long to piece everything together.
He laughed softly and reached for my hand.
“You found out about the groom-switching thing, didn’t you? Sophie just wanted to know what it felt like to be a bride. I agreed to play along. Your parents knew too. But don’t worry. We were still going to complete our marriage paperwork today exactly like we planned. Look, I even have our wedding ring.”
He pulled the ring box from his pocket and opened it.
It was empty.
His smile vanished.
Only then did he remember that when the officiant had prompted them to exchange rings, he’d opened that same box and placed the ring meant for me on Sophie’s finger.
Ryan let out a derisive laugh.
He lifted our intertwined hands in front of Ethan.
“Claire already has a ring from me. She doesn’t need yours.”
At that moment, Sophie’s call came through.
“Ethan, everyone’s waiting for you to come back and talk to the guests. Where did you go?”
My parents chimed in from beside her.
“Exactly. Everyone’s waiting for the groom. Don’t worry about Claire. The actor we hired just texted and said everything’s going smoothly over there.”
Ethan looked at my expressionless face and finally panicked.
He spoke sharply into the phone.
“We agreed Sophie would get to play bride for a day. That’s enough. I drove her around the city in the wedding car. I stood through the whole ceremony with her. What else does she want? Claire is the real bride today. Bring the ring on Sophie’s hand to the ballroom next door. It belongs to Claire.”
He ended the call, then smiled at me as if the problem were already fixed.
“I’ll have them come over. We can continue our wedding.”
His eyes shifted to Ryan.
“And as for this actor you found, he can leave now.”
Ryan’s irritation was written all over his face.
He leaned close to my ear.
“Want me to have security throw him out? He’s annoying as hell.”
I patted his hand reassuringly.
“Ryan isn’t an actor I hired.”
Ethan froze.
He looked around the room for the first time and saw that the floral backdrop behind the ceremony stage no longer bore his name.
It read Claire & Ryan.
He didn’t recognize a single guest seated below.
Then his gaze dropped to our clasped hands, fingers tightly intertwined.
Understanding finally hit him.
I wasn’t pretending to marry Ryan just to punish anyone.
I had actually done it.
At that moment, Sophie burst through the ballroom doors with my parents. A crowd of relatives and guests followed behind them.
The people already seated in the room stared, confused, as if expecting someone to stop the wedding by force.
Ethan’s groomsmen were the first to react.
The six of them looked at one another.
One suddenly swore.
“We’re all right here. So who the hell is that up there?”
Ryan’s mother quickly ushered the relatives she’d called out of the aisle, then squeezed her way to Ryan’s side.
“What exactly is going on? Tell me you didn’t steal somebody else’s wedding.”
Ryan immediately protested.
“Steal it? Why would you think that badly of me? Why can’t Claire and I just be madly in love and have fought our way through everything to be together?”
They were speaking quietly.
But in the dead-silent ballroom, everyone heard every word.
Ethan’s jaw clenched.
Then he charged forward and punched Ryan in the face.