"I am taking my leave. Whatever happened here is no longer any of my business!" without waiting for anyone to respond, she boarded the car and Iris closed the door with a cold expression that made anyone with complaints shut their mouths.
So, the Willow clan members could only hatefully watch as the three cars left, and Sia, crying, ran towards the cars, calling for Gloria.
"Sis, don't do this!"
"Please, don't leave me!"
"How can you abandon us for riches? Didn't you promise that we will stick together through thick and thin? Why are you doing this to us?"
Her accusations were so piercing it made the clan members who were still in a daze and trying to connect the pieces of the puzzles angry.
"What does Sia mean?"
"What's going on?"
They were full of questions, but the person they wanted the answers from had just fallen to the ground and was in a crying mess.
Simon ignored his people and rushed towards Sia, who was on the ground in a daze. It was as if she had lost her soul. His heart broke when he saw her like that.
He crouched down in front of her and reached his hands towards her as he softly coaxed, "Sia, let me carry you back to the house. Don't misunderstand your sister. It's not like that!"
However, instead of coaxing Sia, those words seemed to have triggered her and brought her back to life.
She glared angrily at Simon and started yelling, "Clan leader, how could you ….. how could you let her do this to us? Why do you spoil her so much? When the clan was suffering like this, you just let her go? What about us?"
Simon closed his eyes and opened his eyes, which were filled with pain. It made the others feel anguish on his behalf.
"I didn't know that the matriarch was this heartless."
"Huh! What did you expect? She couldn't do anything before and now she dared run away after getting the chance."
"She is not even embarrassed to let her lover's men come and pick her up. I feel sorry for the clan leader and her family."
"What about us? We have been fooled by her for years."
"We should have let the clan leader divorce her. Which other clan has such a useless matriarch? Apart from playing with soil and giving useless counseling, what else does she know?"
"I just feel angry when I think about it!"
"It's good that they divorced. We deserve someone who really loves the clan more than her."
The clan was in an uproar and Simon, in order to coax and comfort Sia, carried her under the watchful gazes of many before bringing her back into the house. And the pain in his eyes couldn't be hidden.
Watching their clan leader devasted like that, the clan members were so angry and the best way to deal with a shameless woman was to expose her.
So, in a few minutes, all kinds of strange narrations had been shared with others who weren't at the scene. Even Simon's mother, who was praying at the temple, also received the news and she was so angry she nearly descended from the mountain.
In just less than an hour, Gloria's reputation had taken a plunge, and everyone was feeling sorry for Simon. Unfortunately, they didn't know who was so daring to snatch a married woman.
***
While the clan members were still furious outside and hoping that Sia and Simon would recover from this unexpected blow, the people in question were rolling on the bed in the main bedroom, laughing and giggling.
"How did I act, brother-in-law?" Sia coyly asked, pinning Simon below her.
Simon's lips curled upward as he looked at Sia dotingly, with his arms wrapped around her waist possessively.
"You did it perfectly! Your act almost fooled me!"
Sia grinned when she heard that. She lowered her face and smooched Simon on the lips before boldly confessing, "Darling, I have been meaning to do this for a very long time. It was unbearable to not be able to hug you like this in public!" revealing something that if Gloria was here right now, she would have had a stroke on the spot.
Simon dotingly squeezed Sia as he looked at her affectionately and in a manner that Gloria had never seen before and said, "I am very sorry for wronging you, Sia. But now things are moving in order. I will marry you soon. I will visit my mother tomorrow and I will get her consent."
When Sia heard that, her eyes lit up before tearing up, thinking about how hard it was to reach this point.
Seeing her crying like that, Simon felt guilty. He hugged her tightly, comforting her without saying a lot of words. The two embraced each other like that for a while before Sia opened her mouth, saying, "I believe you. I have always done."
"Thank you, dear, for your trust and patience!" Simon gratefully said, thinking about all the sacrifices that Sia had made for them.
Sia grinned as she propped herself up, forcing Simon to loosen his hold on her and said, "For you, I can do anything!"
Simon grinned when he heard that, he couldn't help but ask teasingly, "aren't you afraid that your sister will flay you when she knows about this?"
Sia rolled her eyes with disdain, completely different from the passionate young sister who was clamoring for Gloria to not leave earlier.
"Humph! What can she do? She is useless! Apart from doing the gardens, what had she done in this clan for years?" Sia didn't bother to hide her disdain for her sister. "Besides, how would she know? Do you think that madman would let her go? Hehe, have you forgotten who she looks like?" malice in her tone, with a hint of ruthlessness flashing in her eyes.
When Simon heard that, a mysterious glint flickered in his eyes before smiling, a bit relieved after thinking it through.
"Indeed. She won't be able to do anything!"
"Even if she feels wronged. Wasn't she the one who pushed for divorce? She should blame herself for being stupid. Who made her so stupid that she could even think that a reputation could be tarnished by spending a few days in another clan?" Sia laughed mockingly when she thought about how dull Gloria was.
She made her feel very embarrassed and ashamed of being a sibling of such a person.
Simon patted Sia's back with a smile, not intending to refute Sia at all.
"Do you feel that she had been wronged?" Sia asked with malice on her face, glaring at Simon with a threatening gaze.
Simon hurriedly shook his head and answered, "it's her honor. Without us, how was she going to climb the ladder?" he chuckled sinisterly as he recalled the real contract's terms he didn't share with Gloria.
Who made her so stupid to trust every word that he says? Without even reading or understanding everything, she pushed herself to the front and volunteered. If she wants to blame anyone in the future, that would be on her.
When Sia saw Simon's stance, she was happy. She threw herself back at Simon, her eyes squinting into crescents.
The two love birds hugged each other happily and John guarding the door smiled faintly, a glint of tolerance flickering in his eyes.