Chapter 7

The Anderson family was desperately trying to stop Gabriel, who was running to meet his first love one last time.

Emir stood silently amidst the commotion. Arielle managed a faint smile for her father, but she knew it must have looked so forced that it only deepened his despair. Moments later, Emir collapsed to the floor.

Her legs felt like they couldn’t support her any longer. She lacked the strength to move forward, to comfort her father, or to tell him that everything would be okay.

Esme and Maya rushed to Emir’s side, offering him water and words of reassurance. Relatives gathered around him, but Arielle remained standing alone, feeling utterly abandoned.

Eventually, her legs gave out, and just as she was about to fall to her knees, a steady hand caught her. Turning, she saw Zachary standing behind her and in the middle of the storm, his presence was calm and reassuring.

"Everything is going to be fine," Zachary said, holding her shoulders firmly. "You are going to be fine. I swear, I will break that motherf***er’s face and bring him back for you. I promise—"

Arielle gave him a weak smile and shook her head. “He is not going to be the same, Zach. His world turned upside down in a single moment. He will never be the same again. He doesn’t need me. He needs you.”

"What are you saying?" Zachary asked, confused. Arielle took a deep breath and explained the story to him. As he listened, guilt clouded his expression.

"I'm sorry, Arielle. I can’t secure your happiness," he said softly. He helped her to the waiting room, guided her to sit on the couch, and handed her a glass of water. When her family arrived to check on her, Zachary quietly excused himself and left to find his own family.

"You’ve lost your mind, Zachary Hawthorne!" Crystal shouted, her voice sharp with anger. "Liam, your son needs a beating!"

"Bro, why is Mom so mad?" Estelle Hawthorne, Zachary’s younger sister, asked as she glanced between their parents.

"Your brother finally decided to do something sensible, and your mother can’t handle it," Grace Hawthorne, their grandmother said with frustrated look on her face. "What is wrong with marrying Arielle? Even if he travelled the entire world, he wouldn’t find a girl as beautiful and wise as her. Would you prefer he brings home a New Yorker instead?"

For some reasons, both Grace and Crystal were not a fan of New York and its people. They did not want Zachary to return to Newyork or worse marry a woman and settle there. 

"Emmaline—" Crystal began defensively.

"I’m never marrying Emmaline," Zachary interjected firmly, cutting off his mother mid-sentence.

"You always said you wanted to marry a civil servant," Crystal pointed out, her tone exasperated.

"I was young and stupid back then, Mom," Zachary sighed, his patience thinning.

"I ever gave you my permission to bring Emmaline home as our daughter-in-law," Grandmother raged. "I don't like that girl's grandfather. She will never enter our house."

"Mom, you don’t like anyone," Crystal sighed, rolling her eyes. "You are hard to please."

"I like Arielle just fine," the old woman snapped back. "If my one grandson can't marry her, another can. I will give my blessing. Do you want my daughter to live with guilt all her life? Do you want her to break down thinking her son destroyed the life of a girl? Can you see that?"

"I'm proud of you," Liam Hawthorne, Zachary's father, said. "You are doing this for your family. But you don't have to."

As usual, his wife and mother were busy being snarky to each other and thus he had to be the voice of reason here. He did not know why his mother and Crystal cannot live a day without wanting to pull each other’s hair? 

Who the hell is doing this for the family? Zachary wanted to ask them. Did he look that self-sacrificing? Come on, that woman was the love of his life. He wasn’t doing this for anyone else, he was just going to win back the love of his life.

"You can marry Arielle," Crystal suddenly said. "But you have to promise us that you will not go back to New York. You will work in our hospital."

Zachary stared at his parents for a long time, weighing their words and his options. In the end, he nodded.

"I'm going to ask Emir for the hand of his daughter for my doctor grandson," Grace said with a smirk as she sashayed out of the room. Her happiness was so infectious that Crystal wanted to dance angrily. 

"Son, if you’re marrying that girl, treat her well," Crystal added, her tone finally softening as she looked at her dear son. "I don’t want you to ruin your lives out of some misplaced sense of responsibility. I don’t care if this incident brings bad PR for our family. I just want you to be happy. I don’t want an innocent girl to suffer because of us." She patted his back before leaving, adding, "I’m going to see Aunt Sophia."

"Bro, congratulations. You are getting married!" Estelle said, hugging her brother.

"It is not that easy, little one," Zachary said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Estelle asked, confused.

"Do you think a woman like Arielle will accept this arrangement easily?" Zachary asked, and Estelle fell silent while contemplating his words.