Chapter 4 Isabelle rolled down the car window, grinning playfully. "Ms. Acrca, all my friends are busy today, so I can only hang out with you two." Katherine just ignored her and hopped into the back seat of the car. When they got to the bridal shop, Isabelle took Theodore's hand and headed straight inside. Katherine watched as a big smile-one she had never seen on him before-spread across his face. The store manager hurried over and bowed respectfully. "Mr. Bagnall, Mrs. Bagnall, your wedding dress is ready." That was when Theodore started to realize something was off. He frowned a bit and said, "My fiancée is right behind us." The store manager looked awkward for a second, and Isabelle's expression froze too. But Theodore had already turned to Katherine and said, "Go ahead. Pick whatever you want." Katherine was just here today to go through the motions. When she heard that, she nodded and walked right in. Theodore was pretty thorough. Even if he wasn't fond of her, he still had tons of wedding dresses ready for her to choose from. But honestly, Katherine didn't care at all. She picked one at random and went inside to try it on. When she came out, though, she saw Theodore all dressed up, taking pictures with Isabelle, who was also wearing a wedding dress. As soon as he noticed her looking over, a flash of guilt crossed Theodore's face. He quickly explained, "Belle never got wedding photos when she first married. She mentioned feeling a bit regretful about it. So now that we have this chance, I thought I'd snap some pics with her to make up for it." Isabelle linked arms with him and smiled sweetly at Katherine. "Ms. Acrea, this is just a little wish of mine! It won't take long at all." Katherine chose to ignore her jab. Katherine nodded and said, "Okay, just call me when you're done." She seemed to be the same as always, but Theodore couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed. She felt even more distant. But then Isabelle pulled him away, so he pushed his worries aside. Their photo shoot lasted all day long. 0.0% 09:43 Besides the one Katherine was wearing, Isabelle tried on every other wedding dress and took pictures in them. Yet Theodore, who had always had no patience for Katherine, cooperated with her wholeheartedly throughout. When Isabelle said she wasn't happy with a shot, Theodore told the photographer to switch it up through dozens of different poses. If Isabelle mentioned her dress was uncomfortable, he would call over the costume designer right away to make ad- justments. And when she complained about her feet hurting, he rushed off to buy her a new pair of shoes himself. He even knelt down to help her put them on and gently massaged her ankles. Katherine remembered that one time she followed Theodore to work out a deal, and she ended up walking for kilome- ters in a single day. Her feet were swollen. She thought about asking his assistant to grab her a pair of flats and an ice pack. But Theodore wouldn't hear of it. "You're so picky! If you can't handle it, maybe don't come with me next time." Back then, Katherine was really worried he would get fed up with her, so she just kept quiet and pushed through the pain. By the end of the day, her shoes were soaked in blood, and the swelling left a lasting scar around her ankle. It took ages for her to heal up. Looking back now, she felt pretty silly for putting up with all that. Half an hour later, it was dark outside, and Isabelle finally wrapped up the photoshoot. That was when Theodore noticed Katherine waiting around for a while. There was actually a rare hint of guilt on his face. He took Katherine's hand and softened his tone a bit. "Sorry for making you wait today. I'll take you to get our mar- riage certificate tomorrow." Hearing the way he spoke, like it was some kind of charity case, Katherine just wanted to laugh. She snapped a few random photos and called it a day. When she went to change her clothes, Isabelle followed her into the fitting room. Gone was her earlier fragility, now she sounded harsh. "Katherine, don't think that just because you're marrying Theo, you'll actually be Mrs. Bagnall for real. The one he loves is me!" To her surprise, Katherine-who everyone said was head over heels for Theodore-just looked at her calmly in that moment. "So what? If you're so great, why can't you get him to call off the engagement right now? Is it that you don't want to?" Katherine's tone was surprisingly chill. 40.7 % 09:43 But Isabelle's face twisted into an ugly frown. The Bagnall family was the richest in the country. Isabelle, who was on her second marriage and had a kid, could only dream about marrying into the Bagnall family. All Isabelle could do was count on Theodore's love for her to throw some harsh words at Katherine. "You bitch!" Isabelle raised her hand to slap Katherine but tripped over her wedding dress. She bumped into Katherine hard, and they both crashed into the iron shelf. The shelf, which went all the way up to the ceiling, came crashing down right away, trapping both of them under- neath it. 88.1 % 09:43 1