Chapter 96 Why Didn't You Refuse Back Then?
Michael clenched his fists and shot back, "True or false, doesn't matter to me!"
Joseph saw right through him and smirked. "Really? 'Cause it sure looks like it matters."
Michael's eyes were icy as he glanced at Joseph. "You're mistaken."
Joseph shrugged. "Fine, I'll drop it." He turned his attention back to the live stream.
The reporter pressed on, "Ms. Williams, if you loved Mr. Smith, why did you use the favor of helping Miss Brown to demand he marry you? Isn't that too much? Plus, Mr. Smith and Miss Brown were already a couple at the time, you..."
Rachel cut in, knowing where this was going. "I've said it before, I didn't interfere in their relationship; it was all rumors. Back then, I had no idea they were together. In college, I asked Miss Brown about her relationship with Mr. Smith, and she said he was like a brother to her. That's why I felt okay pursuing him. As for asking Mr. Smith to marry me..."
Rachel took a deep breath and went on, "I admit I didn't think it through. When Miss Brown had a car accident, I helped her, and Mr. Smith asked what I wanted in return. I proposed marriage, and he agreed, so we got married. But if I had known then..."
"If you had known what?" the reporter pushed.
Rachel raised her voice, "If I had known they were in love, I would never have made such a request. Coming from a prestigious family, I wouldn't stoop so low as to ruin someone else's relationship. My pride and self-respect wouldn't allow it."
Joseph looked at Michael, surprised. "So, she didn't know about your relationship with Mandy back then?"
Michael's eyes flickered; Rachel's words had clearly hit him. He always thought she knew about him and Mandy since they were college roommates. He assumed she forced the marriage while Mandy was in a coma, which was why he despised her.
But he never considered she might not have known. A cold smile crept onto Michael's lips. He thought, 'Mandy, why did you never admit I was your boyfriend? Why did you tell Rachel I was your brother?'
Meanwhile, James took a break from training and tuned into the live stream just in time to hear Rachel's statement. His face showed growing astonishment.
"God! Rachel didn't know about Michael and Mandy's relationship back then?" James exclaimed, "Then I must have misunderstood Rachel?"
He clenched his phone, looking apologetically at Rachel on the screen. He had disliked her because he thought she had interfered in Michael and Mandy's relationship. Turns out it was all a misunderstanding!
"Additionally," Rachel rubbed her temples and added, "I mention a marriage as a form of repayment with a 'let's see what happens' attitude, not really expecting him to agree. After all, to him at that time, I was just a stranger. Who would easily agree to a stranger's proposal?"
"Exactly!" The reporters and viewers in the streaming room nodded in agreement. Faced with a stranger's proposal, no one would agree, and they might even think the person was crazy.
"But Mr. Smith still agreed, didn't he?" the reporter countered.
Rachel lightly bit her lip and replied calmly, "Yes, he agreed. I was both surprised and delighted at the time. I knew he didn't love me, but I was still overjoyed to marry him because I believed I could make him fall in love with me. But I was wrong. I spent six years and still couldn't make him like me."
"Isn't it obvious? Mr. Smith's heart has always been with Miss Brown," the reporter responded.
Rachel nodded. "Yes, he loves Miss Brown, and I didn't know that back then. These six years have been incredibly difficult for me. I even wondered, if he didn't love me, why didn't he just refuse? I wouldn't have forced him."
She wasn't the type to be stubborn. If Michael had said no back then, she wouldn't have pushed for the marriage.
Everyone suddenly got it. Rachel was right. If Michael didn't love her, he could've just said no. She didn't force him; so why didn't he refuse?
Joseph was just as curious and asked, "Yeah, why didn't you say no back then?"
Michael looked down, hiding his feelings. Truth is, he had planned to refuse. But for some reason, when he saw Rachel's hopeful eyes, he agreed. By the time he realized it, it was too late.
"And maybe you're all wondering about my life after marriage," Rachel said, scanning the crowd. Everyone nodded.
Rachel's face twisted into a cold smile. "Let me tell you how 'happy' my married life was: Michael's indifference, his mom's constant issues, his younger brother's pranks. Do you think that's happiness?"
Everyone's mouths twitched. Happiness? More like a living nightmare.
In the streaming room, comments started pouring in: [So Ms. Williams has been dealing with emotional abuse all this time. Mr. Smith isn't such a good guy after all. He married her but treated her like this; that's pretty irresponsible.]
[Honestly, Ms. Williams made it clear that Mr. Smith could've refused, and she wouldn't have forced him. But he didn't refuse, which means he accepted her willingly. Treating her like this is really unacceptable.]
[I'm starting to doubt how genuine Mr. Smith's feelings for Miss Brown were. If he truly loved her, how could he agree to marry someone else? Shouldn't he have waited for Miss Brown to wake up?]
Mandy stared at the comments on the screen, her teeth clenched, jealousy almost bursting from her eyes. No one knew Michael's true feelings better than Mandy. He had always liked Rachel. It was only because she had impersonated Rachel, leading him to believe that she was his pen pal that he declared his love for her.
Once the truth came out, his feelings would instantly shift to Rachel, and Mandy would be left in the past.
On the other side, Joseph was browsing the same comments and sighed. "Michael, I gotta say, your actions were pretty despicable. Just hearing about Rachel's suffering is unbearable, let alone the fact that she endured it silently for six years. Her love was so pure, and you, it seems, didn't deserve it."
Michael clenched his fists in silence, his heart aching. He had always thought Rachel married into the Smith family while Mandy was in a coma, a despicable act. Therefore, he subconsciously ignored the option of refusal and even turned a blind eye to her hardships in the Smith family, never thinking to offer a helping hand. It was his fault.
"There's no need to say more. I think everyone can now believe that I didn't interfere in Mr. Smith and Miss Brown's relationship," Rachel said calmly, looking directly at the reporters.
The reporters' smiles were somewhat awkward. To speak so candidly in front of millions of viewers, what she said must be true. After all, if her lies were exposed, both Skyline Corporation and she herself would face unbearable consequences.
"Then Ms. Williams, how do you explain the previous claims of you pestering Mr. Smith?" a reporter asked.
"First of all, I didn't pester him. Summit Ridge District isn't big, and business circles inevitably overlap. As for being at the gym with Mr. Smith yesterday, it was because we both received tickets from Mr. Smith's brother. If I had known Mr. Smith would be there, I definitely wouldn't have shown up," Rachel explained with displeasure.
Joseph slapped his thigh and laughed. "Michael, you've been rejected. Looks like Rachel really doesn't love you anymore!"
Michael shot him a cold glance, then fixed his gaze on Rachel's face, his eyes filled with complex emotions. 'Does she really not love me anymore?' he thought.
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