The scene became clearer in Blair's mind. She finally remembered it. "You didn't tell me what was in the envelope back then. And I did open it and check the next day. But, there was nothing inside."
"Because I had removed the marriage licenses. I planned to tell you the truth when I proposed to you. But I didn't expect that Niles would let slip to you beforehand," Wesley explained.
Blair let out a chuckle. She looked up at the sky, holding back the tears that had sprung to her eyes because she was so moved. "You should be thanking Niles. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have made up your mind to marry me."
"What do you mean? What does Niles have to do with this?" he asked, confused.
Memories came flooding to her mind. It had been years ago. She had experienced near-death situations twice in these past years. To Blair, the most important thing was to cherish her hard-earned happiness. So, she was going to break her promise with Niles. She hoped that the poor guy would be strong enough to sustain Wesley's blows. "The wine we drank that night was from Niles. He had opened it before sending it to me."
Wesley was a clever man. In an instant, he made sense of the situation. His face darkened as he realized that it was actually Niles who had drugged the two of them. "I will punch him to a pulp when I see him!"
"Why do you want to punch him? Are you regretting your decision to marry me?" she asked with a pout.
Wesley calmed down at once. "No!"
"If you hadn't slept with me that night, you wouldn't have taken the move to secretly register our marriage. So, you have to thank him if you genuinely wish to marry me now." It was Niles who had given them the push.
"Then, say yes." He was still on one knee, waiting for her reply to his proposal. He also knew that a bunch of people were hiding to their front-left, watching them in excitement.
Blair wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes and planted a kiss on his forehead. He felt a warm tear drop on his face. Then, her tender voice rang in his ears. "Yes."
She loved him so much, yet she had refused his proposal the first time. But this time, she wanted to make him smile.
Wesley and Gifford were the two most important people in her life.
Wesley had thought that she would reject his proposal again. It surprised him that she said yes this time. So, for a moment, he was stunned, not knowing how to react. His dazed look amused Blair. Her tears turned into laughter. "What? You regret asking now?"
Coming back to his sense, he shook his head and put the huge diamond ring on her ring finger.
A loud round of applause came from all around them. "Woohoo! Congratulations!"
"Congrats! Guys, make way for the evergreen lovers!"
"Ha-ha!"
Blair buried her crimson red face inside Wesley's chest. She had no idea that so many people had been watching them.
Ignoring the onlookers, Wesley confessed his love for her affectionately. "Honey, I love you." 'I will love you forever.'
"I love you too, Wesley." She felt blessed to have this reliable man in her life.
Wesley had already started preparing for their wedding while Blair was still in a coma. Now that she had woken up and accepted his proposal, he put most of his time into the preparations.
He traveled to a number of destinations with Blair to take their pre-wedding photographs. They took pictures with different backgrounds and varied themes. The first set of pictures were taken at Wesley's work place. A dozen soldiers in the same uniforms lined up behind them. It looked so badass.
The second set was taken in a studio. The third was taken in the salt lake at the border where they had once been. This time, they remembered to rent shoe covers! For the fourth set of pictures, they went to the city where Blair's camera had been broken by robbers. After that, they traveled to the seaside resort where they had once been on a holiday with Debbie, Carlos and some other friends. They also went to the mountain in A Country. A lot of pictures were taken in their house as well.
All those places held special memories of their past and they were now frozen in time.
Wesley was in charge of the decoration of the wedding venue. He always kept things low-key, but he arranged their wedding in a high profile manner. He picked a seven-star international hotel; the venue was luxuriously decorated.
He had ten groomsmen—Carlos, Damon, Curtis, Kinsley, Xavier, Ivan and four of his soldiers, including Bowman and Talbot.
Likewise, there were ten bridesmaids: Joslyn, Debbie, Adriana, Colleen, Garnet, Irene, Kasie and three of Blair's old classmates.
Generally, as a tradition, married people could not be groomsmen or bridesmaids. But Wesley and Blair wanted to share their happiest moment with their closest friends. So, they didn't care about such details.
Wesley's profession was clouded in secrecy, so Blair had never posted their pictures on the Internet to show off their affection.
But she was excited about their upcoming wedding. After receiving Wesley's approval, she chose a few wedding pics with Wesley's side face, and posted them in her WeChat Moments.
Her post caused an uproar among her friends. They insisted that she post some pictures which showed Wesley's face from the front. They could tell that Blair's husband was a hot guy, judging from his profile. The news that she married an amazingly handsome man soon spread among her acquaintances.
Blair had never showed off her boyfriend to anyone. Now, they understood that it was because he was an officer of some sort.
One of her acquaintances wrote a comment, reminding Blair, "Girl, will there be any hot soldiers among the groomsmen? Listen, don't try to keep them outside the door when they come to pick up the bride. They would probably be able to break the door down anyway!"
A few girls commented with envy, "Blair, please. Ask your husband to introduce some single men to us! We are all alone!"
"Oh, I really admire you. Blair, wish you all happiness!"
The night before the wedding, Blair stayed at a detached villa that belonged to the Li family.
On the wedding day, three of the bridesmaids guarded the front gate of the villa. They locked the gate and refused to let the groom and his men inside, no matter how much they tried. Eager to see his bride, Wesley swiftly jumped over the wall. It was just three-meter tall. For an outstanding soldier like him, it wasn't a big deal at all.
His groomsmen followed suit, one by one.
Before the three girls at the gate knew it, the groom and his men were already inside the yard. One of them turned around and screamed out loud when she saw the ten-odd guys in the yard. The other guests broke into a fit of laughter when they saw the funny scene.
But after storming to the second floor, they had no ways to break into the bride's bedroom. Wesley could easily open the door with an iron wire. But that was an inappropriate thing to do on his wedding day.
Left with no choice, the men gave in and did whatever the bridesmaids asked them to do. They even gave them a lot of thick red envelops.
It was only in such occasions that the girls could freely play tricks on these high-ranking men. So, of course, they wouldn't miss the chance.
Wesley was asked to find the bride's shoes, do sit-ups and push-ups, and eat an apple that was made to bob in the air. But whatever it was, he did it at top speed, which shocked everyone.
Normally, men could do around forty push-ups in a minute. But Wesley did sixty!
Amazed by the groom's strong physique, Debbie exclaimed, "I heard that our bride loves the groom's strong waist. She did mention that he has amazing stamina. Now, I believe the rumors. Sixty push-ups in a minute! Bravo!"
"Ha-ha..." Laughter filled the house.
Carlos cast a contemplative look at his excited wife. 'I see. I've been out on too many business trips. My wife has been lonely for a whole week. It's my fault.'
Wesley looked at Debbie and said in a calm voice, "When Carlos still served in the army, he was on par with me. So, are you saying that you love Carlos because he has a strong waist too?"