Chapter 2

"Clara, I hope your whirlwind marriage can lead to a wonderful marriage," Mark muttered as he gazed at the distant mountains. After Clara left the mountain, she immediately headed to the house closest to its base and rang the doorbell outside. It was a self-built three-story house. The exterior was furnished luxuriously. There was even a large courtyard before the house. The ground in the courtyard was already covered in cement. During the harvest season, the owners would set the grains and peanuts out to dry. A garage was built on the right side of the house. The house owners' car was usually parked there. It was September at the moment, meaning it wasn't the harvest season yet. Since there was plenty of space in the courtyard, it was primarily used to park cars. Three cars were parked in the courtyard at the moment. The white one among them is Clara's. The path snaking up Nameless Mountain was extremely narrow. One could only hike up the mountain in order to reach the summit. No vehicle could possibly take the path. Unfortunately, a large amount of money was required to build a proper road up the mountain. Both Mark and Clara didn't have that amount of money. That was why their cars were parked in this particular house's courtyard most of the time. Every month, they'd pay the house owners a small parking fare. A woman in her 50s walked out of the house the moment she heard the doorbell. Upon noticing Clara, she smiled immediately. "Are you going out, Clara?" "Yup. I'm heading into the city to run some errands." Mark was the only one who knew about the whirlwind marriage. The woman opened the courtyard's gate with a smile. "If you left the mountain earlier, you might've been able to leave with Evelyn. She came home last night, so she had to leave the house early in the morning for work." Clara and Evelyn Caddel grew up together. They were old acquaintances and even studied together in the past, but they weren't exactly best friends simply because they didn't spend enough time together. Clara and Evelyn were pretty neutral toward each other. When Evelyn got into trouble and asked Clara for help, Clara did all she could to help her, and Evelyn did the same for Clara. But when all was well in their lives, they didn't bother keeping in touch. They didn't even text each other on WhatsApp. "You didn't tell me about her return, Aunt Lilia. Had I known she returned last night, I'd come here to have a drink or two with her." Clara loved drinking. She had a lousy alcohol tolerance, but she still loved drinking. She liked having a drink or two. However, her maximum capacity was two glasses. If she downed the third glass, she'd be wasted. Clara walked into the Caddel family's courtyard, intending to get into her car and drive away. That was when she saw a ghost exiting the house. The ghost was Diana Wemberly, Evelyn's grandmother. She had just passed away one month ago. Clara was already used to seeing ghosts, so she wasn't afraid when she saw Diana. She said to Diana, "Don't worry, your family's doing very well." Lilia Jones thought Clara was talking to her, so she smiled happily. "Yeah. Everyone's doing very well for themselves. I'm not worried at all." But her smile dissipated as soon as she remembered Evelyn, who was the same age as Clara, was still single. "My only worry is that both Peter and Evelyn refuse to marry. Goodness, I don't know what to do. Peter's 29 years old this year, and yet he doesn't even want to find himself a girlfriend. Evelyn's your age, Clara, but she's not interested in dating either." Clara listened to Lilia's complaints as she got into the car. She buckled her seatbelt while consoling Lilia. "One's romantic life will unfold according to God's will. If both Peter and Evelyn refuse to marry, that's because their time has yet to come. There's no use worrying about it." Lilia could only sigh when she heard Clara's explanation. "I'll have to visit your mentor in the mountains one of these days and have him predict the future." Clara just smiled. "I'm going to leave now, Aunt Lilia. Goodbye." She waved goodbye to Lilia before turning to look at Diana. Then, she waved at Diana too. Diana just flashed her a kind smile before waving back. Diana had been dead for a month. She'd occasionally visit home out of longing for her own family. After all, she did just die recently. Sometime later, it'd be difficult for Diana to return home unless her family constantly thought about her. Clara drove out of the Caddels' courtyard. Lilia went to close the gate before returning to the house. However, she stopped after a few steps. She looked at the front door while muttering to herself, "Clara was waving at the front door just now. Who was she saying goodbye to?" Lilia was very sure that she was the only person at home. "Maybe she did it on a whim," she concluded. After that, Lilia entered the house. Diana followed her into the house as well. Once Diana was inside the living room, she moved to turn on the television. Unfortunately, her spirit was dematerialized, seeing as she was dead. Without a physical body, she couldn't turn on the television at all. She could only place her hopes on Lilia. Since Lilia entered the kitchen, Diana followed her there as well. Lilia didn't turn on the television, so Diana might as well follow her around out of boredom. Lilia felt that her surroundings were quite chilly ever since Clara left. Clara didn't know that Diana was haunting Lilia. She left the village and drove through a town before getting onto a road leading to Donford City. Soon, she made a turn at a junction. Minutes later, she cruised onto the highway. She began wondering where the man currently was. Clara took 40 minutes to get to Donford City via the highway. Since she didn't know where the man was, she decided to wait for him outside City Hall. Things that were meant to happen would definitely happen. As long as Clara waited at the entrance of City Hall, she'd be able to see the tall man she was destined to marry. An hour later, Clara parked her car outside City Hall, which was located in the eastern district of Donford City. Instead of getting out of the car, she sat behind the wheel and watched the couples who visited the location to get their marriages legalized. Since the courthouse was located next to the City Hall, a few couples were there to file for a divorce. Clara found it interesting that people who weren't officially together wanted to be bound for life, while those who were bound for life wanted to be separated once and for all. At that moment, a black car stopped next to her car. The driver, William Hefner, turned to speak with the person sitting in the backseat. Clara noticed the man in the backseat winding down the window, revealing an extremely handsome face. He looked around his surroundings for a few moments. When he sensed Clara's gaze on him, he turned to look at her. Clara had good vision and could tell the man's gaze was awfully cold and sharp. He was clad in a black suit completed with a light blue tie. His demeanor was very cold. What an intimidating man. Clara could tell that the man wasn't one to be trifled around just by gazing at him through the car window. The suit he was wearing made her recall the vision she had. That was when she suspected that the man was the one she was meant to marry. But Clara wasn't in a rush. She decided to observe the man to see if he really was her target. A phone began ringing at that moment. Clara thought it was hers, so she pulled out her phone. It turned out that it wasn't her phone. The man in the other car picked up the phone call. Only then did Clara find out that they used the same ringtone. "Stop urging me, Grandma. I'm in front of City Hall right now. If anyone's willing to marry me, rest assured that I'll bring a granddaughter-in-law home for you. I will return to the company if no one plans to marry me in an hour. In return, you can't force me to get married anymore." Bonnie Sullivan was so furious that she chewed her grandson out from the other end of the line. "Yohan, you don't even have a girlfriend! Why did you show up in front of the City Hall? Who on earth will marry you? Are you saying that your future wife will materialize in front of you all of a sudden?"