Chapter 9

Aiden had just finished putting on his tie and he was startled by the sound of someone knocking on the door. He texted Eri that he would be leaving soon.

As he approached the door, he stopped and peered through the glass. There was a rather huge man, wearing a leather jacket and looking left and right.

Aiden didn't recognize the man, so he walked backwards. Trying not to make a sound, he waited until they left, but someone broke down the door. Aiden panicked. They had bad intentions. The only way out was through the window. 

Aiden took a breath and jumped. His new apartment was on the second floor. So, he knew that he would be alright.

Someone managed to get into his room and saw Aiden running away.

Aiden drove down the road quite fast. There was no way he could get to Eli's house now.

His cell phone rang, Eri was calling him at a crucial moment. As soon as Aiden answered the call, a police car was beside him.

"Stop!"

Aiden ended the call and focused on the road. He passed the car smoothly. 

"Stop the car."

Once out of the city and heading to a deserted road, gunshots began to ring out. It was enough to make the adrenaline rise. Aiden ignored it, instead increasing the speed of the car. 

Aiden slammed on the brakes, causing the two police cars to move sideways, past the edge of the road, and then Aiden spun around, increasing the speed of the car, leaving the two police cars behind.

Aiden took the smaller lane, driving slowly. He thought he was safe, but no, as soon as he looked back, a car sped up and hit him. 

"Shit."

As the road turned, another car came along at a fairly fast pace. Aiden turned the wheel and didn't realize that there was a cliff beside him. The car slid, then hit a tree.

Two people got out of the car; they weren't police officers. A man in his 30s looked down, confirming that Aiden would not survive. They drove away from there.

Meanwhile, Eri, who was waiting in the living room, looked anxious. She was even crying because she was thinking about so many things.

"Eri, where's Aiden?" Duke went and saw his daughter alone, while the people in the backyard were getting bored.

"I don't know, I tried calling him."

"I'll have someone look into it." Duke took out his cell phone, calling someone.

Duke moved towards the kitchen, turning once to Eri who continued to stare at the door. He seemed to be quietly waiting for the call to connect.

"How?" Duke was silent, listening to someone explain something. "Alright, please send someone to check on Aiden."

Eri suddenly stood up and walked out of the house, her tears starting to flow. She kept calling Aiden but it seemed hopeless.

"Eri." Duke also came out after Eri. "We'd better wait inside."

"Aiden, please." Eri was completely confused.

Duke embraced Eri, forcing his daughter to walk inside. He felt embarrassed if people saw a crying bride waiting for her groom.

Eri sat down again, but she couldn't calm down. Alice also finally came over because she felt uneasy. She sat next to her daughter.

"Everything okay?" asked Alice, turning to Duke, who was busy waiting for a call.

"I don't know, Aiden hasn't contacted Eri since earlier."

"Eri," Alice called out, asking Eri to tell her more. But Eri chose to remain silent. She couldn't explain what was going on.

After a few minutes, there were two people who excused themselves to go home because they had something to do. Duke and Alice apologized, couldn't hold the guests longer. After that, one by one, people began to leave the house. Eri could hear the whispers of someone that made her hurt.

"I'm sorry." Duke said repeatedly.

And that was the last guest, even Eri's two friends also decided to leave. It made Eri even angrier, she slammed her cell phone and cried.

"Eri." Alice hugged Eri, rubbing her trembling back.

Duke received a call from someone. He answered quickly. "How is it?"

"No one is here, the door is open."

Eri released her mother's hug when she heard Duke talking to someone.

"What about the car?" asked Duke.

Eri waited with an accelerating heartbeat. She had to know where Aiden was. Alice held her daughter's hand, trying to keep Eri strong with whatever news she was about to hear.

Duke put the phone down, both Eri and Alice wanted to hear what was really going on. Eri tried to be strong, she even tried to stop crying.

"Dad?" Eri asked.

"Aiden wasn't there." Duke looked at his daughter with pity. "His car wasn't there either."

"No way. He must be on his way here."

"Don't you realize that Aiden is not a good man for you?"

Alice tried to hold back Eri's hand. She wanted to hurt herself, she even tried to tear her dress.

"I can't believe it, Aiden will be coming." She cried violently, her make up starting to break, her hair a mess. 

"Eri." Alice also broke down in tears at the sight of her daughter. 

"Eri!" Duke yelled at Eri, "You have to understand that all this time he didn't love you, he just wanted to use you. Don't you get it?"

Eri was still sobbing, but she remained silent and stared straight ahead.

"He left you. You shouldn't buy him a car."

Eri cried again, she made a big mistake. She shouldn't have left Aiden alone, she should have asked Aiden to stay at her house so that their wedding would run smoothly. 

Eri had bought a car for Aiden, so they could go anywhere without having to hitchhike in Duke's car. But Eri still couldn't believe Aiden would leave her for a car.

"Duke, that's enough." Alice warned her husband when she noticed Eri's blank eyes. She gently stroked Eri's hair.

"Honey, are you okay? You'd better rest, come on." Alice helped Eri to stand up, but when she reached the end of stairs, Eri didn't want to go up. "Honey, we'll talk about this later after you've calmed down."

"Eri--"

"Duke," Alice said, stopping her husband from talking, she didn't want her daughter's mental state to get worse.

But Eri chose to be defiant, she lifted her dress high and ran out. Alice screamed and Duke had no time to stop her. They both tried to catch up with Eri, but her daughter ran quite fast.

"Eri," Alice shouted. "Duke, hurry up and catch up with her."

"I know where he's going, you wait here," Duke said, heading for the car.

Eri managed to stop the taxi. She wasn't going to let Aiden ruin her marriage and just left.