Don't Be a Tease, Mr. Blackwood

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: There’s Still the Wedding Night Teasing Tonight

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the groom kissed the bride.

It was a fleeting, restrained kiss. So quick that before Sophie Shaw could even react, Alaric Blackwood’s lips had already left hers.

"The ceremony is complete!"

As the officiant’s excited cry faded, another round of thunderous applause erupted.

The melody of "Love Is But a Single Word" once again filled the hall, while the large LED screen behind them displayed well wishes for the newlyweds: a hundred years of happiness and children soon to follow.

The screen was supposed to be showing a slideshow of the couple’s daily life or funny little videos, but where would one find such intimate moments between Sophie Shaw and Alaric Blackwood?

At twelve o’clock sharp, the banquet began.

Alaric Blackwood took Sophie Shaw’s hand, looping her arm through his. He led her around to greet the guests and offer toasts. Jaden, as Alaric’s good friend, followed behind them with a tray of drinks, making a full circuit of the room. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Knowing Alaric Blackwood had drunk a lot the previous night, he even offered to drink in Alaric’s place, but was refused.

He had a sneaking suspicion that Alaric was still mad at him.

For him, today’s wedding had been absolutely nerve-wracking. Not only had the groom been completely unreachable, driving him and Evan Ford to their wits’ end, but he was also worried that Nina Halloway would suddenly show up...

Fortunately, the wedding had concluded without a hitch.

He followed Alaric Blackwood around the entire venue but saw no sign of Nina Halloway.

"Your sister didn’t come back," he said quietly.

Alaric Blackwood turned to glance at him. "What, you were hoping she would?"

"No..."

"She didn’t show up for two reasons. First, she’s very busy with work. Second, given her status, she didn’t want to turn my wedding into a chaotic fan meet-and-greet."

Nina Halloway was a huge star with immense popularity. Her appearance here would have undoubtedly caused a commotion.

Alaric Blackwood completely understood how Nina Halloway felt. She must have desperately wanted to witness his wedding in person.

After seeing the video he sent last night, Nina Halloway still hadn’t replied, which proved she was holding herself back.

He knew his sister all too well. She would never cause a scene or lose control at a time like this. She wouldn’t ruin his wedding. While he was here receiving everyone’s blessings, his sister was probably hiding in some corner of a film set, crying in secret.

"Jaden, you don’t deserve my sister."

After saying this, Alaric Blackwood led Sophie Shaw to their seats at the main table.

"Eat something."

He picked up his chopsticks and began placing food in the bowl in front of Sophie Shaw. He added a little of everything except for the carrots. In no time, a small mountain of delicacies was piled in her bowl.

"Is it over after we finish eating?" Sophie Shaw asked in a very low voice.

"It’s still early."

"Then what do we do next?"

"We have to stay at the old family residence tonight. Tomorrow morning, we’ll serve tea to the elders and have a family reunion dinner. After that, we can go home."

Hearing the itinerary, a hot blush crept up Sophie Shaw’s cheeks.

"Does that mean... we have to sleep together tonight?"

The two of them spoke in hushed tones, their heads close together. To onlookers, they seemed more than just intimate; they looked like a newlywed couple deeply in love.

Alaric Blackwood leaned in close, his lips almost brushing her ear as he whispered, "Not only will we sleep together, but there’s also the wedding night hazing."

Sophie Shaw pressed her lips together tightly, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

"Looking forward to it?"

The man shot her a wicked grin.

Sophie Shaw: "..."

She felt a little uneasy and barely ate anything. As the banquet began to wind down, she saw Alaric Blackwood stand up and quickly followed, grabbing his arm.

The man paused, slightly taken aback. He glanced down at the hand gripping his arm, then his gaze lifted to her faintly anxious face. He raised his own hand and gently patted the back of hers.

"Don’t worry. We agreed not to sleep together. I won’t force you."

"But we have to spend the night at your parents’ house, and there’s the hazing..." freewebnovel.cσ๓

"You can at least pretend, right? Do you know how to make some noise?"

"..."

"If you can’t, I have my ways of making you."

"?"

Alaric Blackwood looked at her stunned expression, let out a low chuckle, and led her to the entrance of the banquet hall to see the guests off with their parents.

After a portion of the guests had left, Sophie Shaw realized she couldn’t find Anne anywhere.

At that moment, Anne was in a bathroom.

She was sitting on a toilet in a stall, holding several red envelopes given to her by the elders of the Blackwood and Kane families, as well as some she had managed to snag herself.

She opened the envelopes one by one, and inside each was a stack of crisp, red banknotes.

She quickly gathered all the cash together and began to count it. It was twenty thousand.

’There’s my mortgage payment for the month!’

"AH! HAHAHA..."

She couldn’t help but let out a sharp shriek, startling Evan Ford, who was in the middle of urinating, so badly that he flinched and nearly stopped mid-stream.

Before he could even process why there was a woman’s unsettlingly gleeful laughter in the men’s restroom, the stall door was pushed open with a BANG, and a woman in a red, Chinese-style long dress walked out.

He recognized her at a glance—it was the maid of honor from the wedding.

Her head was down as she stuffed a large wad of cash into her purse, completely oblivious to the man who was currently urinating nearby.

Evan Ford’s face tensed. He instinctively shuffled forward, his upper body almost pressed against the urinal.

He’d drunk quite a bit at the banquet, and he really couldn’t stop the flow.

He was mortified, the muscles at the corner of his mouth twitching. He just prayed the woman would continue to ignore him and leave quickly.

But to his dismay, as the woman passed behind him, her footsteps suddenly stopped.

He squeezed his eyes shut in forbearance. He’d never been in such a mortifying situation in his entire life.

"This... this is... the men’s room..."

Anne snapped to her senses. She glanced at the man’s tall, straight back and heard the distinct sound of flowing water. Her face flushed hot. "I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to."

She immediately covered her face and ran out, shouting as she went, "I didn’t see anything!"

’This hotel’s bathrooms are the ones to blame,’ she thought. ’Instead of clearly marking ’Men’ and ’Women,’ they use these weird symbols.’

She had just been looking for a quiet, safe place to count her money without being disturbed, so she’d bolted into the first restroom she saw.

When she went in, she had only seen the row of stalls and hadn’t noticed the row of urinals along the side wall...

She ran out in one breath, almost making it back to the main hall, when she remembered she hadn’t washed her hands and turned to run back.

But as she rounded a corner, she ran smack into a solid wall of a man.

Her nose slammed into a firm chest. The person was like a mountain, tall and unyielding, sending her stumbling back several steps.

The man was no gentleman. He’d just bumped into her and didn’t even put out a hand to steady her, simply letting her fall back.

If it weren’t for her good balance, she would have landed right on her butt.

Barely managing to steady herself, she seethed with anger. "Are you blind?"

The curse had just left her lips when she recognized his suit. Dark gray... Wasn’t that the man who had been standing there peeing in the men’s restroom?

"Ahem—"

She let out a couple of loud coughs, pretending not to recognize him. ’He was facing away from me,’ she thought, ’so he probably didn’t see my face.’ With that, she completely changed her aggressive tone, softening her voice to ask, "Excuse me, could you tell me where the restroom is?"

Scowling, Evan Ford stared at her with eyes that looked as if they were laced with poison.

Seeing his terrifying glare, Anne scratched her head. "Oh, so you can’t talk? Can you not hear either? Never mind then, I’ll find the restroom myself."

She skirted around the human wall, and this time she didn’t make a mistake, entering the women’s restroom.

When she came out after washing her hands, she saw Sophie Shaw walking over.

"Girl, where did you run off to? I’ve been looking for you forever, I thought you’d left."