His Grandfather Chose Me But I Chose His Dying Cousin Chapter 02 (Continue)
On the day of my birthday party, Evan did not stroll in with Lily until the elders had left one after another.
Lily’s face was flushed, and there was a bright, unmistakable hickey on Evan’s neck.
Anyone with eyes could tell exactly what they had just been doing.
In the past, I would have broken down crying and caused a scene.
I would have demanded to know why they would do something like that.
One of them was the man I loved, and the other was my sister.
Had they never considered my feelings at all?
But now, I only glanced at them before calmly continuing my conversation with the person beside me.
When Evan noticed my gaze lingering for a few seconds on the telltale marks on them, he immediately pulled Lily behind him as if he were guarding her from me.
But he waited and waited, and I never lashed out.
That seemed to annoy him. He forced out a smile.
“Clara, don’t tell me you’re pretending to be generous because you’re afraid I won’t marry you.”
“That’s fine too. After all, I’m going to be the next head of the Crawford family. There’s no way I’ll spend my whole life with only one woman. I’ll have plenty of women on the side in the future.”
“You were sensible enough today, so consider this your reward.”
With that, he took a small jewelry box out of a gift bag.
He was just about to hand it to me when Lily snatched it away.
“It’s so pretty! Isn’t this the limited-edition bracelet from that top luxury brand? It’s almost impossible to get.”
Evan immediately pulled his hand back.
“You like it, Lily? Then it’s yours.”
Lily gave an awkward little laugh.
“Forget it. This is Clara’s birthday gift. I shouldn’t steal it from her.”
As she spoke, her eyes stayed fixed on me, and the smugness on her face was impossible to miss.
“What does it matter?” Evan said. “Take it if you like it. As for her, I’ll just find something else to give her later.”
“Anything of mine is enough to make her happy anyway.”
The moment he said something so humiliating, the people around us started snickering.
A memory I thought I had buried suddenly came rushing back, leaving me dazed for a moment.
Because once upon a time, it really had been like that.
As long as something came from him, I thought it was precious.
Once, when I went to the Crawford estate to drop off holiday gifts, I got caught in the rain.
He casually gave me a jacket, and I kept it for years.
He even caught me secretly holding it and breathing in the scent he had left behind.
Back then, he looked at me in disgust and spat, “How can you be that shameless?”
A young girl’s private feelings had been exposed so cruelly that I wanted to disappear into the floor.
Mr. Crawford Sr. lifted his cane and struck Evan twice.
“She’s just a young girl. Watch your mouth.”
Evan only smirked and said nothing. Later, he embellished the story and told it to plenty of people.
I became a joke in everyone’s eyes.
Thinking about it now, I suddenly found the whole thing painfully pointless.
I turned to leave.
But Evan blocked my way.
“Mad already? Can’t keep pretending anymore?”
“I knew a vicious bitch like you could never actually be generous.”
I looked down at the hand he had clamped around my wrist, then wrenched myself free.
“Mr. Crawford, show some respect.”
Evan froze.
“Respect? What respect? Weren’t you the one who was desperate enough to die for the chance to marry me? We’ll be sharing a bed sooner or later, so why are you pretending to be so proper?”
“Who said I was going to marry you?”
The entire room fell into dead silence.
Then everyone burst into laughter.
“If not me, then who are you going to marry? You’ve loved me that desperately. Would you really be willing to marry someone else?”
“Besides, the only barely acceptable option in our family other than me is Harrison. But my cousin was in a car accident and was nearly left severely paralyzed. He’s been sickly ever since, and who knows when he might be gone for good. Worse, I heard the accident left him unable to perform. Are you planning to spend your whole life in a sexless marriage?”