Chapter 5

Stella finally looked up at Noel. There was a tinge of excitement in her voice, which was a change from her coldness in the past few days.

"Your uncle is back in the country?"

Noel was relieved and smiled when he saw Stella back to normal.

"That's right. Are you so eager to marry me? Don't worry. I'll be at the wedding. Just stop acting like this in the future. You can play hard to get a couple of times, but it's annoying if you do it too often," Noel said as he opened the car door.

Stella knew it was pointless to explain anything to him. She stayed in the car and said, "I want to go home. I want to put on some makeup and change my clothes."

Noel figured she must love him a lot to put so much effort into this dinner. She probably wanted to leave a good impression on his uncle. He raised an eyebrow and agreed to something she wanted for once.

After Stella got ready, they headed to the old Chilton mansion.

Many people were attending the dinner, and they were not surprised to see Stella there. All of them greeted her.

After she returned their greeting, she sat in a corner and waited for Eric to appear.

Stella had no idea what it was going to be like when they reunited. She was distracted the entire night, and her heart kept beating wildly.

Noel was next to her and quickly noticed that she was out of sorts. He looked at her unhappily.

"I'm here, aren't I? What's with that dazed look on your face? I'm warning you one last time. I've already agreed to marry you. Take that look off your face, or I'll break my promise to you."

Stella wanted to refute his words but stopped herself.

He was about to find out that he was not the groom. There was no need to waste her time on him.

The doors to the hall finally opened after a few minutes.

Everyone turned to look expectantly.

However, Eric did not appear. Old Mr. Chilton walked in instead.

He walked up the stage unsteadily and announced to everyone, "Eric met with a minor accident and couldn't make it to his flight on time. He's still out of the country and won't be able to attend tonight's dinner."

Stella immediately stood up when she heard the news. Her voice was filled with worry.

"How is he, Grandpa Chilton? Is it serious?"

Old Mr. Chilton waved his hand and comforted her, "He's fine. It won't affect anything. Don't worry, Stella."

Noel frowned and pulled her down to sit. He began lecturing her in a low voice.

"The marriage alliance has been set in stone. Stop trying to show off your place as a Chilton wife by showing so much concern about my uncle when you haven't even officially married into the family. This isn't appropriate!"

Stella could no longer take it. She was about to say something when Old Mr. Chilton coughed. The entire hall turned silent.

"We've asked everyone to be here today to announce the marriage alliance between the Chiltons and the Judds. The wedding date has already been set. It will be in a week at Southridge Mountain Villa.

"The married couple will be the daughter of the Judds, Stella…"

While Old Mr. Chilton was announcing the couple with a hearty voice, Noel received a message from Sophie.

Something must have happened to her because the look on his face changed. He left the dinner quickly and did not finish listening to Old Mr. Chilton's announcement.

"And the groom is the head of the Chiltons, Eric!"

The entire hall boiled with excitement at the unexpected reveal of the groom. Everyone began whispering to each other.

"Did I hear things wrong? Eric? Isn't it supposed to be Noel?"

"Yeah. Why is it Uncle Eric? I thought he avoids women. Why is he marrying a young woman?"

Their discussion filled the entire hall. Even though everyone was shocked, no one dared comment much because of Eric's status within the family. Everyone got up to congratulate Stella.

After the dinner ended, Stella went to see Old Mr. Chilton because she was still worried about Eric's accident.

Old Mr. Chilton patted her shoulder. He looked happy.

"Eric took some pictures. I had a look, and his injuries are really minor. He'll recover very soon. Just focus on the wedding, Stella."

Stella was relieved to hear this.

She stayed at home for the next few days preparing the wedding invitations, the gown, and everything else. She ignored whatever was happening out there.

During this time, Stella received numerous messages from Noel's buddies, but she did not read any of them.

That was until one day, when she accidentally clicked one of their messages while she was taking a break. That was when she noticed all of them were talking about the same thing.

"Noel was hospitalized because he got hurt. He's been admitted to the Central Hospital. He's now in Ward 609. Aren't you coming to see him? Remember to bring along Noel's favorite chicken soup."

"Why aren’t you replying to our messages? Are you still playing hard to get? This is getting old. Isn't it time to end this?"

"Come on, Stella Judd. What are you doing? Stop your pretences, bootlicker, and come over quickly!"

It was nothing but a joke to Stella when she read those messages.

She took a few seconds of her time to type out a message for them.

"You guys, Noel has nurses and Sophie to take care of him after his accident. What has it got to do with me?"

Stella started to check her social media after sending out the message.

She noticed Noel had posted his selfies in the hospital after scrolling for a bit.

Stella remembered how Noel rarely updated his social media and found it a little strange.

However, she was not bothered by it and left his page after a quick glance. She went on to inquire about Eric from other Chilton family members whose contacts she had added to her phone a few days ago.