The Substitute Bride

"Please don't worry about me. I am honestly fine. You just sit still and continue with your makeup. I'll be right with you after changing into something thinner," Autumn responded with a smile. She then returned to her bedroom to change and headed directly downstairs to have a look around at all the arrangements before going back to Chris. In a rare sight, Edward and Charles were elegantly standing side by side and greeting guests harmoniously. After seeing that Autumn had changed into a thin dress, Charles put on a severe look wondering why she did so.

He then strode past the crowd towards his wife. "Didn't I tell you to wear more layers? Why did you change your clothes suddenly?" he demanded with a frown hoping for a reasonable answer. "It's quite cold and chilly outside."

"I'm okay love, please don't worry. I changed because Chris's room is way too hot. I almost passed out right now owing to the unbearable heat," Autumn explained her wardrobe choices. "Charles, I can take care of myself. So now you can go back to attending the guest while I'm going to head upstairs to be with Chris."

"Okay sure, carry on then." Charles nodded ever so slightly and lovingly watched Autumn walk upstairs before he went back to greeting the guests.

Given the high and powerful social status of Charles and Edward in Y City, there were naturally a great deal of people who had gathered to grab an opportunity to cash in favors from them. But thankfully, both Charles and Edward had predicted this behavior. So in order to avoid Chris's wedding being philistine, they had carefully selected the guests with that only those who had an invitation could attend the ceremony.

The guests were gathering downstairs as time passed, while the bride seemed to grow anxious and feel helpless upstairs. As a girl who seldom wore makeup and did her own grooming, Chris felt a little uncomfortable sitting in front of the mirror and having a makeup artist work on her face. However, it was not possible for her to do it any other way. After all, it was her wedding day, the biggest and most important day of her life.

The makeup artist, who was hired by Sam, was supposedly the best and was said to have worked with many famous celebrities. With nothing to do, Chris who was bored tried to gossip,"Hey, so have you ever worked with Rachel Bai?"

"Of course I have," answered the makeup artist almost immediately, seeming displeased. She then pursed her lips, and added after pausing for a moment,"That woman has a terrible temper and attitude. I've seen her lose her temper countless times. She never has a grip on her emotions. I can't understand how a person with such bad character and temperament could remain so popular for such a long time."

"What do you mean?" asked Chr

and we'll hear it. Calm down. I'll just answer the door."

When Autumn opened the door, she saw two girls standing across her wearing the same dresses. They then walked past her and rushed up to Chris, and with a wide smile said,"Surprise!"

"Why are you here?" Chris asked excitedly, as her eyes began to turn red. "Oh, honey, please don't cry! You're the bride," the two girls said, gleefully grabbing her hands and consoling her.

"We didn't travel all the way here to make you cry, Chris. We thought you would be pleased." "Yes, you're right. It's my big day. I should not be crying like this,"

Chris said as she held back her tears. "But, but you said you couldn't attend my wedding. What changed?" she asked curiously.

"We really couldn't have made it, but Sam called to invite us specially and he even booked us the tickets and ensured we would join you on this auspicious occasion. He was so sincere that we couldn't say no," one of the girls said.

"A brilliant surprise, isn't it?" the other girl asked enthusiastically. "Yes! I'm so happy and thrilled that you could come to my wedding," Chris replied, smiling happily and feeling grateful for having a partner like Sam.

She wasn't expecting Sam to do this for her. She was greatly touched by his thoughtful gesture.

In order to make her happy and the wedding the best day of their lives, Sam went out of his way to do these small things for the start of their life together. Chris knew it meant that Sam really cared about her and loved her with all his heart to offer. Just thinking back on all of this, she found that her tension had miraculously dissipated. In fact now she was excited to walk down the aisle and marry the love of her life.

Listening to their conversation, Autumn smiled as she thought that Sam had really come around and knew how to please Chris.