Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading beyond Chapter 2 and for giving this story a chance!
This is where the climax begins, don't skip it!
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Juliette Leclaire's POV

Beaten up by what just happened, I made my way back to the bridal's suite with a heavy heart to fulfil my duty as Julius's bridesmaid.

I felt guilty and ashamed for even having the slightest thought of snitching up on her husband-to-be.

This is definitely not right, definitely not my style, and definitely not what I expected myself to be.

I took in a deep breath to reconsolidate my thoughts and finally convinced myself to resign to fate.

I walked towards Julius who sat in front of the vanity table quietly in her shimmery splash of a white bridal gown.

Even though we are both amber blondes, but the way her hair plunged over her shoulder just makes her looks way more gorgeous than I could ever be. Her glossy skin, her delicately sculpted features and her pair of constellation-green eyes, it's no wonder why Romeo's parents chose Julius over me. She had a bouncy personality while I was just studious, I had nothing to offer about myself.

However, despite all these perfections, she looked somewhat lost and troubled, it's definitely a stark contrast from when I have last seen her in high spirits about an hour ago.

Oh no... Did Rogan really spill the beans to her?

"Julius, are you okay?" I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Yea...? Ya, I'm fine, just feeling jittery," She replied but her eyes seemed watery.

"You don't have to worry, Romeo is great man, you're going to be in good hands," I reassured her. Even though I can't have Romeo to myself, I will be equally happy for Julius, because I know Romeo would be a wonderful husband to her.

"I'm sorry..." Julius dropped her head and muttered.

"Silly, what are you sorry for? There's nothing you need to be sorry for at this moment."

She sniffed and then she wiped the rolling tears that were threatening to ruin her make up. She recomposed herself and asked, "Juliette, could you help me get my bridal veil from the other room down the hallway?"

"Alright, sure, I will get it done now," I replied and left the room almost immediately.

"There you are," I picked up the veil and made my way out of the room. Then I heard a wave of commotion going on just right outside of Julius's bridal suite.

"Where is she?!" My father questioned the servants who were outside the room in his thunderous voice.

"Sir, I'm afraid we do not know..." One of the servants timidly replied to my father in her cowardly stance.

"Just calm down first, I don't think she would be far from here," My mother pacified my father."Sir, she left her mobile phone in the drawer," one of the security personnel handed Julius's mobile phone to my father.

"What's happening?" I hurried over to the site of commotion and asked my parents.I looked into the bridal suite, the windows to the balcony were left wide opened, the bridal gown that she donned on just a moment ago was left ditched on the carpeted floor. There was no sight of Julius at all.

My mother passed a note to me as she sighed.

It was a hand-written note by Julius:

Dear Dad, Mom and Juliette,

I'm sorry that I couldn't walk down the aisle and marry Romeo. I just can't do it. Please forgive me.

Love,
Julius

I gasped at the content of the note, my heart lurched and my mind went blank for a moment. A cold shiver travelled down my spine as I wondered if I am the cause of this. Then a stream of questions raced through my mind.

Why? Why did she run away? Did Rogan tell her everything?

Where is she now?

Where could she have gone to?

What are we going to do now?

"Get me all the security personnel we have here and find her now!" My father yanked at his personal assistant, Mr Davis Franco.

"Wait, we need to be discreet about this search, don't get the groom's side alarmed." My mother further instructed Davis.

"Yes, sir!" Davis scurried off to get the job done.

However, after holding back the wedding for another thirty minutes, we still could not locate Julius at all. The real panic began to set in.

My father paced back and forth in the room with much frustration and worry written all over his face.

"Damn it, how could she be so childish to run away like this?!" My father cursed.

"Calm down, honey," My mother tried to keep a cool head amidst the chaos.

"How can I afford to calm down? Don't you know how important this arranged marriage is?! This was supposed to be a mutually beneficial marriage between our company and the Morgan Enterprise, there's a lot at stake if we lose this marriage, we can basically forgo all prospective collaboration projects under our belt with them. The media are all here to do a coverage on this wedding, we can't just call it off and go unnoticed. Our stocks are going to crash! Now that our daughter is the one that did them wrong, the Morgan Enterprise will definitely be coming after us!" My father went into full-blown panic as he rambled on.

I began to think. Maybe Julius did the right thing by not succumbing to the fate of being manipulated like a piece of chess in this arranged marriage. I admire her courage to stand up for herself because I don't think I will ever be able to. I'm pale in contrast to her, in almost every single way.

However... I didn't understand why she would even give up such a fine man like Romeo. I would die to be in her shoes, to have the chance to spend the rest of my life with Romeo, yet she has chosen to give up on this marriage.

"Sir, we really can't hold off the wedding further, the guests and the media are getting impatient, what should we do now?" Davis broke into the room, panting and sweating away.

My father slapped his head and cursed, "Darn, I guess we will just have to call off the wedding.""Wait!" My mother shouted as she jumped out of her seat and rushed towards with me, it was as though a bolt of enlightenment lit up her face.

"What now?" My father asked impatiently.

"Juliette, would you do this for us?" My mother picked up my hands and held them tight as she looked at me with a pair of hopeful eyes.

"Do what?" My father continued to ask impatiently.

"Would you please stand in for Julius and marry Romeo," My mother pleaded to me with her pair of eyes so full of hope.

"What?! What are you talking about? This is crazy, Julius is supposed to be Romeo's bride, it's unfair to Romeo, we can't just rush into this, that's not right!" I rebutted.

I know I have been wishing hard for the day of me walking down the aisle towards Romeo, but this isn't how I would imagine myself donning the bridal gown. Romeo might be even heartbroken to force himself to marry me and I would never want to be the person that hurts him.

"No, your mother is right! Thank god we only told the media that one of Morgan's heir and Leclaire's heiress are getting married to each other, so nobody would question even if you turned out to be the bride. Baby, you're our only chance!" My father jumped over to join the pleading with my mother.

Gosh... I don't even know if this is a blessing in disguise. Even if it is, it's too surreal and it's never how I would envision my white veil occasion to be.

As Julius's elder sister, I should never bring myself to take advantage of the situation behind Julius's back and marry Romeo.

I still don't know why Julius left and I can't assume that Julius has definitely ditched this marriage for good.

What if they just had a tiff and there was just some misunderstanding left uncleared between them?

How should I answer her if she got her thinking sorted and comes back for Romeo one day?
"No, no, no, this is crazy!" I refused to budge.

My father sank to his knees and that definitely caught me off guard, because I've always known him as a tough man.

"Please... Juliette, I know it's going to be hard for you to understand, but we have a signed paper agreement with the Morgans, there's really a lot at stake if this marriage is called off. You mother and I might lose everything we have built for this company, please... I beg of you," My father pleaded.

My heart cringed, it was almost unbearable for me to watch him beg me this pathetically.What on earth have I made my father become?!

"Please... please get up, daddy, don't do this," I tried to get him up on his knees but he refused to budge.

Then the room was soon filled with sobs as my parents broke under the pressure with every second I hesitate.

Oh gosh... they must have been so desperate to have behaved as though they were held at gunpoint. Perhaps the consequence of calling off this wedding is really going to be a deadly blow to all of us.

"Al... Alright... I will marry Romeo," I forced myself to cough this sentence out against my will.

I swore I would never betray Julius when I crossed the line just earlier on with Rogan, and now that sinful taste of guilt is going to rub into my soul once again. But it was equally unbearable to leave my parents in lurch...

Within a short span of five minutes, I had servants dashing into the bridal room to help me get changed into Julius's bridal gown.

The next thing I know, I was standing right behind the heavy oak doors that were going to flap open to a brand new chapter of my life.

I stood next to my father nervously with my hand wrapped tightly to my father's elbow. I still find it hard to digest what happened and what was going to come. My mind was in a mad swirl of insecurities and uncertainties.

How would Romeo feel to know that his bride has been swapped? Would he be able to accept me?

As soon as the march in chime began when the doors flapped opened, the media started flashing their lights on us. I held my head low and gathered every ounce of strength within me to push myself for every step that I took.

Alright, don't panic... take in deep breaths, you can do it!

My heart was thumping even harder when I finally stood in front of Romeo. I continued to hold my head low as the solemniser said his lines but nothing seems to get registered in my head. I just couldn't find the courage to lift my head and face Romeo yet. I was hoping he doesn't flip up when he realised I was his bride instead.

"Mr Rogan Morgan, would you take Ms Juliette Leclaire as your wife?" The solemniser asked."Yes, I do," His deep voice echoed throughout the hall.

Oh my god, I can't believe he agreed to this marriage?!

"Ms Juliette Leclaire, would you take Mr Rogan Morgan as your husband?" The solemniser asked.

"Yes, I do." I uttered without even thinking.

"You may now put on the wedding ring for each other," The solemniser continued.

He held my hand up gently with his warm large hands and slipped on the sparkling wedding band onto my finger. I thought I would feel blessed, but strangely something just felt amiss. My hands trembled as I slipped the wedding band onto his finger.

So is this it? Is this really a dream come true for me?

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mr Rogan Morgan, you may kiss the bride now." The solemniser announced.

Wait a minute! Rogan Morgan?! Did I heard that wrongly?!

I stopped from completing my scripted role and looked up immediately. I swept my veil off my face, only to gasp at the same face who irked the shit out of me!

Suggested Playlist: (La La La Love Song - I know this song is Japanese but I like how the opening part of the song resonates with the jaw-dropping moment when Juliette realised who her groom is.)

"Rogan?!" I yelped, still in my widened eyes of disbelief.

"Yea, honey, for better or worse," He smirked with that cocky grin once again, sending my feet feeble and my mind in a swirl as I broke into a cold sweat of panic.

Oh my god! Did I just got myself married to an asshole?! This is not happening, this is not how things should be! Where's Romeo?!

"Come on, honey, let's get this kiss done for the media," Rogan shook me up from my temporary trance.

"No! No!" I retaliated and then from the corner of my eyes, I saw my parents making a desperate plea for me to finish my scripted role.

I turned my face back at the horrifying nightmare presented before me, he leaned in with his eyes closed, waiting to plant his puckered fish lips onto mine. The crowd pressured for the kiss as they cheered.

Eeek!!! No!!!

As much as I didn't want to do so, all eyes and attention were on us, I can't let my parents down at this juncture.

Suggested playlist for this part onwards: Love Revolution by Ken Hirai (I like how this song marks the start of their bizarre marriage. lol)

I shut my eyes tight and waited helplessly for that kiss to end. It never came on my lips, a light peck ended up on my cheek.

The crowd went in a disappointed aww but still clapped hard for us.

I opened my eyes in disbelief, still trying to comprehend why he didn't reprise the villian role that he did onto me earlier on.

Then a slew of questions started throwing onto us as the media sprung up to us in a matter of seconds.

"Mr Rogan Morgan, you really caught us off guard, you were never into marriage, for a notorious playboy like yourself, what made you finally decided to settle down?"

"Over here! I've got a question for the newly-minted Mrs Morgan, when and how did you meet Mr Morgan?"

"Mr Morgan, with this marriage in place and hence an alliance between the Morgan Enterprise and Leclaire Corporation, what are your plans and outlook for the prospect of these two companies?"

A train of questions just kept slamming onto us and for once I was thoroughly dumbfounded. My ears just started ringing from the chaos, and all I could see was just Rogan steadily sweeping off the media with his brief response.

Just when I was at the brink of hyperventilation, flashlights from the media brought me back to reality and Rogan just grabbed my hands and led me out of the hall, almost scooting away as he waved goodbye to everyone.

OK, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MY LIFE NOW?!
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Dear Readers,
I hope you enjoyed this story so far, because I totally enjoyed writing it.
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