Clarissa sat with Ellie and watched Shawn from a stone’s throw away. Clad in a black uniform, the muscular man took the battlefield like a champion.
Unlike Matthew, who exuded an air of elegance and elitism, Shawn was more like a sharp-eyed tough man.
Clarissa was a little surprised to learn that Shawn was the man of Ellie’s dream, but after taking a closer look at the rugged man with a masculine physique, she could somewhat understand why Ellie was attracted to him.
The woman teased Ellie with a glance, and a line immediately formed between the latter’s brows. “Stop staring at me like that!”
Immediately, Clarissa responded with an impish grin. “What’s with you and Captain Hayes? Oh, wait—he’s the director now, isn’t he? Tell me more about your relationship with him. Have you two…”
Ellie was taken aback by how Clarissa phrased her question. “Excuse me, Aunt Clare, I know you’re married, and you’re an expert in ‘certain things,’ but are you sure you want to know the details?”
Ellie’s response rendered Clarissa speechless, and the latter instantly felt embarrassed for asking intimate questions.
She immediately feigned ignorance with a chuckle and switched to another topic. “So… you two have reconciled?”
Since Ellie pouted and kept mum, Clarissa took her silence as a “yes.”
Upon that, Clarissa grinned. “Are you going to get married soon?”
“What? No,” Ellie denied. “I still need to observe him for a period.”
“You’re right. We should never allow men to take advantage of us so easily.” Clarissa concurred.
Speaking of marriage, Ellie turned her attention to Clarissa. “You and Uncle Matt have been living together like a married couple for quite some time now, and you even have a kid with him. So when are you going to hold a proper wedding?” she asked, “The both of you might have experienced some ups and downs throughout the years, but nobody—not even my family members—can stop you from marrying him now!”
Everyone in the city knew Clarissa had borne Matthew a son, but they thought she had yet to earn the right to marry into the family.
What the public did not know was the couple had already registered their marriage.
Clarissa was a low-profile person. Initially, she did not care about what people thought of her, but she no longer wanted people to talk behind her back or make fun of Damian.
“You two should announce to the world for Damian’s sake. Otherwise, people would always view him as the illegitimate son of the Tyson family!”
That was quite a wake-up call for Clarissa, and her expression turned grim right away.
She did not mind being ridiculed by the public, but she had to think of her son’s future.
But even if she decided to hold a wedding now, people would think that Matthew married her just because he was the father to her child. Or people might even continuously regard Damian as a child born out of wedlock.
Rumors like this would further tarnish his reputation as he grew up.
All of a sudden, Clarissa thought of an idea. Once she got home, she immediately looked for her marriage certificate.
Yet, she could not find it after searching for a while. Left without a choice, she decided to give Matthew a call. “Where’s our wedding certificate? Did you lose it?”
He has it, right? He always carries the certificate with him.
Matthew did not answer her directly but asked instead, “What do you need it for?”
“Did you hide it?” she asked.
Matthew grinned. “Yes.”
Clarissa let out a sigh and pouted. “Am I supposed to go on a treasure hunt? Just tell me where did you hide it. I need it.”
But of course, Matthew was not ready to give in so easily. “First, tell me what you need it for.”
Clarissa then told Matthew about the conversation she had with Ellie.
“We kept our marriage a secret because we didn’t want some people to know, but they had all eventually found out about it. I think it’s the right time for us to make a public announcement. We have to do this for Damian.”
Clarissa decided to make this announcement online. She believed Catherine would not find out about this since the Internet was out of her reach.
Upon hearing that, Matthew’s expression turned grim for a moment.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you agree with me?” Clarissa wondered.
He answered, “You’re willing to do this for our son, but you’ve never thought of doing it for me.”
Hearing that, Clarissa was at a loss for words.
“Clare?”
A corner of Clarissa’s lips curled up. I see. Someone’s jealous.
“I’m doing this for you too!” she added, trying to make him feel better.
“But Damian will always be your priority,” he said.
“You are as important as he is to me.” Though Damian was indeed her priority, she could never say that out loud to upset the man before her.
Matthew responded with a grin. “I know what’s on your mind. But I’m still glad that you’ve at least tried to cheer me up.”
Clarissa immediately explained herself. “I love you very much, and I meant what I said. I’m not as heartless as you thought!”
Suddenly, Matthew kept mum for a moment before saying in a deep voice, “Repeat what you said again, Clare.”
At first, she wondered why but soon understood his intention. She chuckled and said, “Fine, I’ll repeat. You’re the best, and I love you. Why do you look so surprised? It’s not like I said this for the first time.”
Of course, I love my son very much too.
“I know. It’s just that you don’t often say something like this to me. You made me a happy man today,” Matthew said.
“Wow. Okay. Since you’re a happy man now, please tell me where the marriage certificate is.” Of course, Clarissa did not forget her mission.
“It’s in the safe box.”
Clarissa paused for a moment before responding to that answer. “All right. Thanks. I assume you have no problem with me announcing this publicly, right?”
“I’m fine with it.”
“Great!” Clarissa instantly hung up the phone and ran to the safe box. She took out the marriage certificate, went to a well-lit area, and took a photo of it.
After blurring out their faces and first names, she uploaded the certificate that carried their family names onto her account.
Doing this was the most direct way of telling the world that she was married to Matthew. It would also spare them from being tailed by the paparazzi in the future.
In the late evening, this piece of news became one of the top trending stories on Twitter.
The marriage between two unnamed individuals from the Quigley family and the Tyson family instantly became the talk of the town.
Though their full names and photos are all blurred out, it was not difficult to figure out their identities.
The moment Clarissa uploaded the photo, the official account of the Tyson Corporation also retweeted the post. Matthew, too, did the same on his social media account.
Many Twitter users retweeted the post and clicked the like tab to show their support for the couple.
The fact that Clarissa made this announcement in the late afternoon of an ordinary day took netizens, or even paparazzi, by surprise.
More importantly, the date on the certificate clearly showed that Clarissa and Matthew were already married three years ago.
In other words, she got married into the Tyson family not because of the child but because of love.
Now that their marriage had come to light, people who criticized or ridiculed Clarissa would have no choice but to keep their mouths shut.
Netizens also began to revisit their love story by reading articles about Clarissa and her son at the airport and the rumors between her and several mysterious men.
These people were all struck dumb as they used to believe all kinds of scandals about her.
Everything that had happened to Clarissa and Matthew in the last couple of years was all now making sense.
Some netizens even dug out news about the couple and screenshots of photos that had long vanished from the Internet and studied them closely. They soon realized there had been traces of evidence that suggested Clarissa and Matthew were an item all along.
Though Clarissa did not expect the netizens to revisit their past, she knew this announcement would cause a big hoo-ha on the Internet. She did not have the courage to read the comments after posting the marriage certificate on impulse.
Knowing the fact that people would still make harsh remarks about her, Clarissa restricted the comment section.
Instead of worrying about how others might think of her, she decided to spend quality time with Damian and entertain calls from a few close friends.
One of them was Damon, who was shocked to learn that they were married. Yaala, too, called her to congratulate her and gave her an overview of netizens’ opinions.
“They dare not criticize you anymore since you’re Mrs. Tyson now,” she said. “Oh, there are also quite a number of emerging celebrities who try to get in your good books by congratulating you on their social media accounts. So, what are you going to do about it, Mrs. Tyson?”
Clarissa responded with a wry smile. “Please don’t call me Mrs. Tyson…”
Yaala laughed. “I’m really happy for you, but you made me worry for nothing in the three years!”
Instantly, Clarissa felt sorry to have kept this a secret from her. “I have my reasons for not telling you.”
“Whatever you say, Mrs. Tyson,” Yaala continued teasing. “Oh, by the way, I heard there are some people who want to take advantage of you.”
