Chapter 539: Noah Castle (Finale)
Before the priest could even ask, Freya answered, "I do!"
Declan could no longer hold himself back anymore. Ignoring the priest, he leaned forward and kissed Freya on her lips.
At that moment, Eva crossed her arms and muttered with a smile on her face, "Birds of a feather flock together! Neither of them has any patience."
Sitting next to Eva and Liam were Walter and Evelyn. After Evelyn regained consciousness, her body had begun to recover slowly. Her face was ruddy as she smiled joyfully.
After going through all the necessary wedding procedures, the last event was the tossing of the bridal bouquet.
Under Declan's loving gaze, Freya swung around and had her back facing the crowd.
She then tossed the bouquet over her shoulder.
The bouquet drew an arc in the air and landed firmly in Layla's arms.
That was who she was aiming for.
Among her friends, Layla was the only one who was still single.
Lucas and Gina already had plans to get married soon.
Therefore, Freya wished that Layla could be blissful too.
Layla held the bouquet tightly in her arms with a smile on her face.
Landen, who was standing beside her, smiled gently. He was truly happy for her that she finally had a friend who genuinely cared for her.
Just as Landen was deep in his thought, Layla held the bouquet right in front of him and said, "Hold it for me. Return it to me when we're home."
Stunned, he looked at Layla in disbelief.
After a long silence, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Is this what I think it is?"
All those while, Landen had always been by her side, helping and keeping her company surreptitiously.
He was aware that Layla did not lose her memories. As for the hypnosis, he also knew that she had talked the hypnotist into prevaricating him.
On the other side, Layla was also aware that he had always been by her side.
However, neither of them brought it up.
Hence, Landen dared not expect anything to happen between them.
Layla replied blandly, "I want to give Nini a home, and it just so happens that I have some feelings for you. This is the only chance. It's up to you to take it or not."
Upon hearing that, Landen's eyes glistened. He instantly grasped the bouquet in his arms.
"Thank you, Layla! I love you."
Layla did not give any response. She locked her gaze on the blissful bride and groom with a sweet smile on her face.
On the stage, Liam and Eva were teasing the newlywed.
They first made the couple share an apple before doing it again on a piece of candy.
Since Liam had been through it, he used what he learned from his experience on Declan.
Torturing Declan was tantamount to torturing Freya.
Freya glared at him.
Liam smirked wickedly. "Are you thinking of taking revenge? Don't even think about it. I will only marry once in my life!"
He then wrapped his arms around Eva with a proud look. "Eva will be my one and only wife."
Declan then shot him a cold glance and placed his arm around Freya's shoulder. "I'll also marry only once in my lifetime! Stop showing off!"
Both Freya and Eva exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Childish!"
"Child... Ah--" Freya's tone abruptly changed. She frowned and held her right hand over her belly. "Ouch! It hurts!"
She then grabbed Declan's sleeve with her free hand. "Honey, my stomach hurts!" Declan blanched. He immediately swept her up in his arms.
Unfortunately, as opposed to Freya's wish, her youngest son was even more mischievous than the twins.
For the next few years, the most frequent sentence heard in the Castles' residence was, "Noah Castle, are you itching to be grounded?"
The second most frequent sentence was Noah's taunt--"Hope Myers, Aaron Myers! Come and call me big brother!"
The twins rolled their eyes. "Why are our lives as the elder siblings so hard?" Both of them sighed in unison. "It's all right. We still have little Lex Cohen. He's
much more obedient and likable."
As Freya speculated, both she and Eva gave birth to baby boys.
She leaned against Declan's shoulder as she watched their children run around the lawn leisurely.
There was only one word to describe her life--blessed.
Having the thought, she tilted her head and stared at Declan deeply, full of love. "Honey, I love you."
Declan wasn't sure what brought up her sudden confession, and neither did he ask. He smiled pamperingly and responded, "I love you too."
The sun peeped through the clouds and shone on them with a golden glow. It was all so perfect and blissful.
Although their story ended, their life continued.
...
Rabindranath Tagore once said, "The furthest distance in the world is the distance between a bird and a fish. The former soars up in the sky while the latter dives deep into the seas."
Hope had admired Rabindranath Tagore's poems for nineteen years.
She had also liked Ryan Lincoln for the same amount of time.
They lived in the same city, were desk-mates during elementary school, classmates during middle school, and even studied in the same high school and college.
"Tagore once said ....
When Hope read out the poem, her best friend, Mia Galen, blurted out, "If Ryan is the bird soaring high up in the sky, you will be the fish diving in the deep blue sea. He will never fall in love with you; give up on him."
Even though Mia had no idea about Hope's antecedent, she was right. Ryan would never fall in love with Hope.
Otherwise, Hope's hard work of nineteen years would have long paid off.
If he had felt anything for her at all, fireworks would have been going off the moment they laid their eyes on each other.
Alas, nineteen years had passed. Hope had already grown into an adult.
Still, Ryan never showed any interest in her. To him, Hope was merely the girl-next-door who occasionally liked to cling onto him.
Even then, Hope loved him so much that she had sacrificed her entire youth for him.
For the goal of attending the same college as Ryan, she went against her parents' wishes. All she wanted was to look at him from afar.
In those captivating eyes of hers, there had always and only been Ryan.
Despite being a prideful young pianist, the moment she fell in love, she, too, had lowered herself to a point she never thought she would ever be.
Dressed in a pretty sleeveless pink dress with her long hair cascaded down her back, Hope wore a pair of high heels and had light make-up on. Standing in front of her dormitory mirror, she looked elegant and charming.
Mia popped her head out from the upper bunk and exclaimed, "Hope, you're really getting more and more beautiful!"
Hope spun around in front of the mirror and said, "Do you think Ryan will notice me if I appear in front of him like this?"
"Forget about it," Mia said without sugarcoating her words. "No matter how beautiful you are, can you compete with Olivia Watson?"
Hope was still swaying the hem of her skirt with a warm smile on her face. However, as soon as she heard those words, her expression changed. "What do you mean?"
Mia immediately covered her mouth, but what had been said cannot be unsaid.
She swiftly flipped over and was about to roll back to her bed when Hope tugged on her sleeve. "Mia..."
Mia felt chills running down her spine.
One was the goddess from the Foreign Languages Department, while the other was an ordinary girl from the Music Department.
Unless it involved Ryan, there was no correlation between the two girls.
Aware that she could no longer hide the truth, Mia turned to Hope and held the latter's hand. "All right. I'll tell you. But you have to prepare yourself."
Hope merely stared unblinkingly at Mia.
Mia inhaled and continued, "Last night, Olivia confessed to Ryan, and he... accepted it."
Immediately, Hope stormed out the door.
She did not expect that day would come so fast. It caught her completely off guard.
She always thought that as long as Ryan was single, she would still have a little chance.
Just a little will do.
At least a sliver of hope.
In the end, even her hope was dashed.