Chapter 3: Sassy

Words : 1943 Updated : Nov 6th, 2025

When the emcee called his name, Jason smiled and strode to center stage, waving to the guests with squared shoulders and head held high. He hardly looked like a jilted groom. If anything, he seemed the one doing the jilting. He'd once led a sect of tens of thousands; speaking before a crowd was as natural as breathing. "Hi, everyone, "he called, his voice ringing out, "thank you for taking time from your busy lives to grace my celebration today. Your presence fills this humble occasion with joy and light. The immortal path is long and fraught with storms, but on a day of such good fortune, you come bearing gifts like rays of sunlight breaking through the mist, and you warm my heart." "In the years ahead, I vow to become life partners with Lady Santee, walking the path together and helping each other." He was quite pleased with his speech. The audience, however, fell into a heavy, awkward silence. The emcee stared, dumbstruck. Birds of a feather, indeed: the bride's side had just treated the engagement like a TV idol drama, and now the groom was speaking like a full-blown lunatic. Was this late-night soap suddenly morphing into a fantasy period drama? "Pfft!" Someone snorted, and laughter rippled through the hall, growing louder. "Has that pretty boy lost his mind from the shock?" "He's fried his brain on too many cultivation novels." No one was more thrilled than the reporters. They'd hit the jackpot again and again: a society engagement, an A-list star storming in to snatch the bride, a famous actor and heiress fleeing mid-ceremony, and now a spineless fiancé launching into a cringey, over-the-top speech. If they pushed this live, it would blow up the trending lists. The Santee family had already left, but their would-be live-in son-in-law was still there, and the reporters swarmed him, microphones thrust in his face, respect be damned. To them, a would-be live-in son-in-law of the Santee family didn't deserve respect anyway. They went at Jason far harder than they'd ever go at a wealthy clan like the Santees. "Mr. Sowden," one reporter asked, "you're a perfectly able-bodied man. Instead of working hard, you tried to take a shortcut by marrying into the Santee family. Don't you feel any shame?" Jason opened his mouth to answer, but they didn't give him the chance. "Mr. Sowden," another jumped in, "you schemed to become the Santee family's son-in-law, and now your fiancée ran off with another man at your engagement party. Don't you feel your dignity as a man was trampled? Do you regret shamelessly forcing your way in?" Guests who overheard turned to Jason with openly scornful looks. A perfectly able-bodied man, unwilling to make his own way, chasing shortcuts, and his fiancée ran off in public. Such a person, they thought, was a disgrace to all men and had no dignity to speak of. Jason pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling that something was off. Before he could say anything, yet another reporter pressed forward. "It's said you shamelessly clung to Ms. Santee for five years, and by currying favor with Mr. Santee Sr., you forced her to marry you. Don't you think that kind of manipulation is despicable?" Jason fell silent, simply watching them perform. His silence only spurred them on. "Ms. Santee and Mr. Smut are called a real-life Romeo and Juliet, and you're the third party. Are you willing to step aside and let them be?" The more he listened, the more absurd it sounded. Every question took Zander's side. To be fair, many of the reporters here had been invited by Zander, and several media outlets had ties, close or distant, to the Smut family. They weren't about to side with some powerless pretty boy over a powerful clan. "Mr. Sowden, can we take your silence as guilt? Everyone is rooting for the IT couple. Will you do the decent thing?" What the hell? Jason thought their bias was showing. How did "doing the decent thing" end up meaning handing over my wife? Clearly, polite answers weren't getting through. He tilted his head back theatrically. "No, you've got it all wrong. Ms. Santee chased me for five years. Later, Mr. Santee Sr. took one look at my talent and my devastating good looks and insisted I marry into the family. I couldn't stop him." The reporters stared. Was he really this shameless? A nobody with no power claiming the heiress chased him was fine, but to say Salvatore himself demanded he marry his granddaughter? Where was his sense of shame? A single warm tear slid from the corner of Jason's eye, but he continued, "Things aren't what you think. You've been misled." A dozen reporters smelled a huge scoop and crowded closer. "Margaret fell for me at first sight," he said. "She pursued me relentlessly. I was touched by her sincerity, so I agreed." "We met back when I was a nobody, and after we started dating, our relationship only deepened. She'd go to pieces over me. Naturally, we pledged ourselves to each other. Mr. Santee Sr. thought I was impressive and took a real liking to me, settling our engagement on the spot." "Who could have guessed that Zander, that toad, had coveted my fiancée since childhood? When he found out we were engaged, he flew into a jealous rage and used the Smut family's clout in Anville to pressure the old man into marrying Margaret off to him. He said that if she refused, the Smut Group would wipe the Santee family out." "Salvatore stood firm and hosted our engagement banquet anyway. I never imagined Zander would stoop so low as to snatch the bride in public. Margaret only went with him to protect her family." He tilted his face up again, brushed away the tear with gentle fingers, and whispered, "I regret it so much. How did I become such a crybaby? I hate myself for not being able to do a thing for Margaret, for watching helplessly as she was taken away." His performance was full of drama and wit, leaving all the reporters stunned. What the public saw as Romeo and Juliet, he'd spun into a sad story of a woman being held hostage for her family's sake. A few young women in the hall began to sniffle. They hadn't expected Jason and Margaret's love to be so twisted by fate. Maybe they'd misjudged him. Relatives from the Santee family who knew Jason's background were astonished by his ability to flip the script. They'd never met anyone so brazen. Still, thugs throwing their weight around, old-world prejudices, a rich girl, and a penniless man were stories that were clickbait gold. Add a high-society gloss, and reporters didn't care about the truth. The messier the story, the better. Later, in the flood of coverage, the most outrageous piece Jason saw went like this: Salvatore Santee and Ethan Smut had admired each other in their youth and even fallen in love, but family status and social prejudice tore them apart, their romance ending unresolved. Salvatore then rose to become a business tycoon; turned bitter by love, he forbade his descendants from mingling with the Smut family. Bowing to family expectations, Margaret Santee broke up with her childhood sweetheart, Zander Smut, only to fall for the then-unknown but handsome Jason Sowden. Refusing to accept defeat, Zander stormed the engagement party and whisked Margaret away. The headline read: "Love and Hate Among the Elite: Why Did Two Men in Their Sixties Leave Their Heirs to Shoulder Their Regrets?" Rumor had it that the Santee and Smut families were so furious, they joined forces to shut that media outlet down.

Chapter 3: Sassy

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