#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM_S3
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 51
Brian stared dazedly at the image on the screen without knowing how much time had passed. His brain refused to get out of the trauma he was in. The young man looked to his right and then left. Now he understood why he had the best room with the best interiors in the house. He used to think that Nancy made his room this way to cage him, but now, he started to imagine how excited she was when this room was being designed.
Brian stood up and rushed to Nancy’s room, hoping she might still be there. The number of times he had come here could be counted with one hand–they were when he had grown to this age. Most of the time, the door would be locked. But this time, his trembling hand was able to open the door without effort.
Entering the room, it has no life at all. The white walls and white furniture reminds him of a VIP ward in a hospital. His dazed eyes roamed the room for a moment before he trudged to her bed and slowly raised the screen.
Just like Nancy, her bed looked cold and lonely. A teardrop slipped down his eye and he slumped on the neatly arranged bed, but his nose couldn’t take a whiff of her scent, which meant she didn’t sleep on the bed for some days.
Had she been sitting all night? Or… he suddenly remembered that Jeslyn had told him she saw Nancy at the garden in the middle of the night. Does that not imply that she had been roaming the house, unable to sleep for days? No wonder she was growing paler and paler!
What had she been thinking? Why was she punishing herself?!
Brian’s mind snapped. He heard that one of Nancy’s right-hand men was ki||ed but he never thought to see how she was doing, yet they lived under the same roof. Yesterday, she didn’t come out to eat. He should have known that something was wrong when she also didn’t come out today for breakfast, a tradition they never broke, unless they aren’t home.
Brian’s hold on the white sheets tightened with every realization that crossed his mind. Veins popped on his arms and forehead. The young man was dying of guilt. He mustered strength and got up to his feet and moved to her closet.
It was filled with clothes but when he looked closely, two were missing– her favorite dresses. They weren’t her most expensive or her best, yet she had worn them more than she had worn others.
Unbeknownst to Brian, they became her favorite dresses because she bought them from his brand.
While going through her stuff, he came across some documents. When he opened them, they were medical reports on her health. From minor to severe.
“Argh!!… Mum, how could you do this to me!!!?”
The young man screamed and broke down in tears. How could this be? How could he not know all of these? Why did he ignore her? Why was he not there for her? Why did he not attempt to be a good son even though she wasn’t treating him right?
Although it was never Brian’s fault, the guy still blamed himself because he never tried to understand her or tried to be a good son. Whenever she did ‘wrong,’ he’d criticize her without a second thought.
While Brian was wallowing in sorrow, Jeslyn was on her way to the Capital. Although she won the battle against Nancy, she felt she rather lost…including her emotions and tears, because there was never a battle in the first place. It was a misunderstanding!
Thinking back to what happened after she rescued Pink, tears gushed out of Jeslyn’s eyes again. That woman is a f_cking devil!
After Jeslyn rescued Pink, she went back to the Hwang Residence to hand over the token, but before she could enter the Residence, a person who introduced himself as Lawyer Zee, took her into his car, where he read Nancy’s Will to her.
“…Before Madam Nancy left the City and went into seclusion, she left this video recording for you.” The lawyer played the video on his laptop and passed it to Jeslyn.
“Dear Jeslyn, you must have won the battle and rescued your mother. I’m pleased if that’s the case. Chatting with you all these while, I realized my mistake and discovered that hanging around Hwang and waiting for the perfect time to seek revenge, is not the best solution. I might even die before he returns.
“I had thought about passing down my empire to Brian but he’s not fit to take control. Your brother doesn’t care about power. All he wants is a simple life where he’s allowed to do what he loves and stay with whom he cherishes.
“I lied about the token. It’s not to summon a hundred, but ten thousand SINNERS. There are two thousand Navy, two thousand airforce, two thousand Marine and four thousand Armies.
“One of the SINNERS will come to tell you where the Coca farm is located. It is approximately 15 million acres of land with deadly beasts surrounding the farm.
“My conglomerates and all I mentioned earlier are yours, except my properties that are scattered all over the world–houses, the billions of dollars in my accounts, cars, lands, and charity organizations. They all belong to your brother and his wife.
“Don’t feel that I’m giving you all that for free. In return for getting a part of my inheritance, I want you to unseat the President and send him to jail. As for the First Lady, Luisa, she’s pregnant, so I don’t want her dead. But make sure she loses everything and she is sent to the slum where she and her mother were picked from, for having the audacity to plot against my sister.
“Don’t bother to look for me. If I survive, I’ll look for you. But if I don’t, my body will be sent to you. Please bury me beside my Nannie Xie.”
Tears clouded Jeslyn’s vision. She didn’t know what to do. How could Nancy trick her like this?
Not only did Nancy make Jeslyn her father’s open enemy by giving her all the most important things she owned, Nancy also put Jeslyn in a position where she can’t laze around anymore. From now on, she’ll have to watch her back and live in fear of being attacked. These are the consequences of having Nancy’s power
“Nancy remained a Ɓîtçh till the end,” she wiped her tears. Jeslyn wasn’t crying because of the responsibility that was resting on her shoulders now, but rather because of how pitiful Nancy was.
_____
The plane arrived at the people’s airport at the capital and Jeslyn and her family got down from the private plane.
The moment she set her feet on the ground, a chill ran down her spine. For no reason, fear clawed her chest and the premonition that something terrible would happen buried itself inside her.
The nightmare she had a few days ago, resurfaced. While standing at the front of the plane’s staircase, she saw an illusion of the faceless man who ruined her family, walking towards her.
“Sister-in-law, are you ok?” Rex asked from behind when Jeslyn refused to take a step forward.
Jeslyn snapped out of it and looked back at him, then nodded, “I’m fine… where’s my mom?”
“I’m right behind you,” Pink smiled faintly. She couldn’t get over the confidence and authority her daughter showed earlier. The same Jeslyn who wouldn’t dare to exchange words with a prisoner, the Jeslyn who got a seizure when someone was ki||ed by drowning in front of her.
Pink looked at the dark sky and mumbled, “Alice, our daughter has grown.”
The party got into the black cars that had been waiting for them and left the airport.
Meanwhile, at the bar of a luxurious hotel, Reuben Yu, who was reading a tabloid got a call.
“Boss, she’s back!”
Reuben’s eyes snapped as a smile settled on his thin lips. “Got it.” He ended the call and emerged in a fit of laughter.
“Hahahahahaha… Jeslyn, what took you so long?” He looked down at the tabloid and gently outlined the pretty face on the cover. It was a photo of Jeslyn, wearing a car racing uniform, with the helmet in her armpit. The aesthetic picture was too gorgeous to turn away from.
“You look so beautiful,” he mumbled and kissed her segzy lips that were curled into a heart-melting smile. “Did you miss me? Because I missed you more than life itself.”
The guy sitting in front of him, Davis Xu, smiled, “Maverick, oh Maverick. I’m certain he won’t come back alive. And even if he manages to survive, by the time he returns, the world would have belonged to us and his wife would have been married to you. Hahahahaha…!”
At the mention of Maverick, a crazed look flickered past Rueben’s eyes. “He has enjoyed my woman for years. It’s time to take her back!”
“Would Jeslyn accept you though? She’s quite fierce…”
“We’ll see about that.” He narrowed his eyes as a smirk played on his lips.
“Ok… your brother, I haven’t seen him for a long time.”
“He won’t hide forever. I’ll ki|| him myself when he shows up.”
“But why? You don’t care about ruling the family or anything. Why do you care about him?” Davis asked.
Reuben tilted his head, “Do I answer to you, Davis?”
Davis smiled and picked up his glass of wine, “I overstepped. Here’s an apology drink.” He downed the glass but Reuben rather rolled his eyes.
“How far are your plans going?” he asked.
“I’ve subdued 15,000 men from around the country and beyond,” Davis explained.
“Hm… Your Xu family has around 5000 active men after the disaster, am I correct?” Reuben asked.
“Yes.”
“Maverick has approximately 9000–10,000 active men. With the current people you have now, you can take care of the Lu faction.”
“What if your Damien brings backup? Your Yu family still has around 6000–7000 active men after their great loss.”
“Those old geezers from PEACE won’t allow such a large scale war and Damien knows, Dummy!… By the way, what if he brings backup, are you telling me you can’t destroy the Lu and Yu faction with 20,000 men?”
“That’s not the case. The Lu faction is quite solid to penetrate. Even the SIN can’t wage war against them because–”
“No wonder Maverick sees you as a waste. Without Alpha Chaos as the commander of his Army, do you think the Lu faction is still so powerful?”
“No, but there’s Rex and their friends.”
Reuben sighed, “Seems I’ll have to do everything for you. Fine. Cause a massive disturbance in City F, where Inspector Fin wouldn’t dare to sit back and watch. As for Matt, he’s a fanatic when it comes to new diseases. Spread some in SIN CIty and see if he doesn’t go.
“As for Rex, that one is quite level-headed, but when it comes to his brother and his family, he becomes stupid. Send him solid proof that Maverick is stuck on an island. He hadn’t gone to the facility before and mustn’t know how to arrive there. When he sees his ‘brother’ in danger, he won’t be able to think straight and run head first into my plan.
“That’s all. What else are you scared of?” he side-eyed Davis before he rolled his eyes and continued outlining Jeslyn’s face.
“You’re indeed wise.”
“Do you want to know what’s wiser? It’s when you send Rex to the territory owned by the Half-hearts. What do you think would happen if those hungry ladies saw a handsome man like Rex?… Secondly, if Rex is able to survive, he’d tell the world where the Half-hearts are hiding, and the world, including people from PEACE would want to eradicate them. Hahaha…!”
“This is indeed brilliant!” Davis chuckled. For a handsome man who falls into those women’s dens to untangle himself from those hungry women is like asking the sun to fall from the sky. “Good thing we teamed up.”
Reuben looked at him with condescending eyes. “Team up? Don’t flatter yourself.”
…
*At the Lu mansion…*
Jeslyn rushed into her son’s room and met him sleeping. She got into the bed and wrapped him in a tight hug.
“Oh my dear, I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting,” she kissed his forehead. At that moment, she felt his hand on her waist.
“Mummy, are you back?” His eyes were still closed and Jeslyn was sure that the boy was still sleeping, yet his hand on her waist was a dead grip.
Jeslyn smiled and combed his bangs with her fingers. ‘Yes, son. Mummy is back for good,’ she said as she pulled the covers over them and slept with him in her arms.
Valen woke up the next day to see the face he had been dreaming about, right next to him. He couldn’t believe it for a moment and thought he was still dreaming.