Bride Swapped, You Pay the Bill

On my wedding day, the makeup artist saw that the venue was booked at a high-end hotel.

She suddenly changed everything from the look we had originally agreed upon.

My fianc looked at her with amusement and asked, What, you want me to marry Crayon Shin-chan?

Turns out the expensive makeup artist I'd booked was my fianc's ex-girlfriend.

Watching how familiar they were with each other, I removed my makeup on the spot and called off the wedding.

As Ethan tried to stop me, Mandy suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

That's when I noticedbeneath her mask, she'd already done her makeup perfectly.

So this was her plan all along. To steal my wedding.

I raised an eyebrow. Stealing a wedding means taking on more than just the man.

The final payment for that $700,000 sky-high banquet was to be paid in full by the bride's family. I hoped she could handle that too.

Last night, I'd stayed up late discussing wedding details with both sets of parents.

I didn't get to bed until very late.

And this morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn.

So when the makeup artist greeted me, I was still half-asleep.

As soon as she walked in, she started looking around the hotel room. When she saw the expensive jewelry laid out on the table, her hands paused slightly as she unpacked her makeup kit.

"Ha, Miss Olivia, does your husband treat you that well? Booking such a fancy hotel for the wedding, preparing such elegant jewelryit's enough to make anyone jealous!"

"This must have cost a fortune, right? I really envy you, finding such a generous man."

At her words, I felt a surge of distaste.

All the expenses for today's wedding were being covered by my family. She hadn't bothered to learn anything about the situation, yet she automatically assumed it was the groom's family paying.

But I didn't need to explain myself to a stranger.

I nodded and didn't take it to heart.

But she suddenly yanked her makeup kit open forcefully and looked at me with a half-smile.

"Miss Olivia, why do you think women these days love stealing other people's things so much?"

"Are they just born shameless?"

Honestly, hearing this nonsensical talk, I was getting angry.

But there was no time now to find a replacement makeup artist.

After she applied my foundation, I dozed off.

I kept my eyes closed the whole time, pretending to rest.

She was from a well-known brand's shop after allI wasn't worried about her stealing anything.

I figured if she needed me to open my eyes, she'd ask.

But when I finally opened my eyes again, I was startled by the stranger in the mirror.

I was about to ask the makeup artist what the hell she was doing, frowning.

My mind was already racing, thinking about how to claim compensation. This was a massive professional failure on her part.

But when I looked over at her, she was looking down, trying to suppress her laughter.

Her shoulders were shaking nonstop, as if she'd seen something hilarious.

I gradually realized something was wrong.

This was clearly intentional.

To be fair, I didn't think I'd done anything to offend her.

I frowned, thinking through the possibilities.

When our eyes met, the girl couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing.

"Hahaha"

Laughing, she ran behind Ethan, who'd just opened the door and walked in.

Her small hands clutched at the back of Ethan's suit. "I... I'm sorry, Ethan! I didn't mean to laugh!"

"I just never imagined Miss Olivia's face would be so... suited to this kind of makeup!"

She covered her face again, trying to stifle her laughter.

Seeing my ridiculous appearance, she hid behind Ethan, her malice obvious.

Hearing her call out Ethan's name, my sense of unease grew stronger.

My intuition was usually accurate. This girl knew Ethan.

And they were quite familiar with each other.

I didn't want to think the worst.

I frowned and looked at Ethan. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You two already knew each other? What kind of stunt are you pulling? Is today a wedding or a theatrical performance?"

When Ethan saw my face, he froze too.

He looked down helplessly at the girl behind him, but he didn't scold her.

My originally irritated mood suddenly felt like it had been doused with cold water.

Ethan leaned casually against a chair, looking at the girl with a familiar tone.

"The trial runs went fine before. Why are you dropping the ball today?"

"What, you want me to marry Crayon Shin-chan?"

He looked at her with amusement.

The girl shrank her neck, stuck out her tongue, and made a sound.

"You're asking me to do makeup for your bride. I can't be that magnanimous."

She looked at my face with a half-smile, clearly enjoying my humiliation.

I pulled out my phone and found the contact information for a backup makeup artist.

"Make her apologize to me."

"I'll call someone else to come redo my makeup. I'll go downstairs whenever they're done."

"We can talk about compensation later."

Right now, I didn't care how the two of them knew each other.

Today was my wedding day. The guests my parents invited were all business partners.

I didn't want any last-minute problems.

Ethan and I met through matchmaking. I came from an upper-middle-class family.

Ethan's family wasn't well off. He came from a single-parent householdhis mother had raised him alone.

Ethan himself was fairly capable, with good career prospects.

But here, he had no house, no car. Even with a decent annual salary, he wasn't exactly a hot commodity in this first-tier city's matchmaking market.

I'd chosen Ethan because I valued his personal abilities and his looks, which is why I'd agreed to date and marry him.

But I didn't expect that hearing my words, Ethan would actually frown.

He pressed down on my hand as I was about to make the call.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You look like this anyway."

I was so angry I laughed.

Hearing this, the girl also let out a delicate laugh.

"Ethan, is that any way to talk to a girl?"

"After all this time, you're still such a typical guy!"

Even if I were an idiot, I could guess that this girl and Ethan had an unusual relationship.

They might even be exes.

But even if I couldn't recognize his ex, couldn't Ethan?

From selecting the makeup artist to the trial runs to the final booking, Ethan had been with me the whole time.

And he'd never mentioned this. Was he trying to give his ex a job opportunity, or were old feelings still lingering?

I didn't want to dig deeper and upset myself needlessly.

I grabbed my makeup remover, went straight into the bathroom, and washed my face clean.

Then I called my parents and told them I needed to reconsider the wedding.

If I went through with today, I'd regret it.

We hadn't registered our marriage anyway.

I didn't avoid the two of them when making the call. Ethan heard everything loud and clear.

His face darkened almost instantly.

His previously calm expression turned stormy.

He was about to speak when a pair of soft hands pulled him back.

The girl wrapped her arms gently around Ethan's waist from behind.

"Ethan! If Miss Olivia doesn't want to marry you, I will!"

"Propose to me!"

"You promised before that you'd only marry me~"

Then, right in front of me, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ethan on the lips.

But I didn't miss the greedy look in her eyes when she stared at the expensive jewelry on the table.

At her words, Ethan froze. He turned his head slightly, his eyes conflicted.

When he spoke again, there was a hint of guilt and excitement in his voice that even he didn't seem to notice.

He looked at me.

"Let Mandy take your place at the wedding today and clean up your mess."

"You'll still be my wife. You can rest assured about that."

"Go downstairs and tell your parents. Don't make a scene that would embarrass everyone."

"Of course, you're also free to make a scene."

Ethan was confident I'd swallow my anger for my parents' sake.

He also knew that today's wedding had many of my parents' important business partners in attendance.

With that, he pulled Mandy toward the door.

I finally remembered her name. Mandy.

Mandy looked at me with triumph in her eyes.

She stared directly at me, silently curling her lips into a provocative smile.

As if she'd won the lottery.

Only then did I noticebeneath her mask, she'd already applied exquisite makeup.

Compared to the makeup on my face, it was night and day.

Even her hair was already styled in the design I'd chosen.

Oh, so this was all premeditated!

"Sorry, Miss Olivia, I don't want to leave myself with regrets!"

"If you want to report me to the shop, go ahead!"

Seeing her completely unbothered attitude made my anger spike.

I won't deny itMandy had gotten under my skin.

But I knew that being angry wouldn't solve anything.

After I told my parents what had happened, they looked shocked.

They hurriedly apologized to the guests and came upstairs.

Seeing that I'd truly decided not to marry Ethan, my parents sighed, feeling somewhat guilty.

"Sweetheart, we had no idea the kid from the Hayes family was so unreliable!"

"We originally thought he was decent, worth investing in. Looks like that's no longer necessary!"

"Forget it. My daughter doesn't need to chase after Ethan Hayes!"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I'd been worried my parents wouldn't agree.

After all, the guests were all important people.

I was also concerned that my sudden decision to call off the wedding would burden my parents.

Originally, my parents had planned to use the wedding as an opportunity to introduce Ethan to some connections.

Looks like that wouldn't be necessary anymore.

This hotel handled mid-to-high-end banquets. The deposit was paid in advance, but the balance was due after the wedding.

When our families discussed it, they'd decided the groom's family would pay the deposit.

The bride's family would pay the balance$700,000.

Deposit: $30,000. Balance: $700,000.

For appearances, Ethan's mother had insisted that Ethan sign the contract with the hotel.

Though the contract noted that the bride's family would cover the balance, my name wasn't specified.

So now that the bride had become Mandy, Ethan's mother could only ask Mandy for the money.

Ethan called me, telling me to send the jewelry over to Mandy.

After all, Mandy's hair was already styledshe was just waiting for those accessories.

Hearing Mandy's triumphant laughter on the other end of the line, I hung up and blocked him.

Was he joking? My family paid for all this. Why would I let Mandy wear it?

When no one came to deliver the items, Ethan got somewhat angry with me.

He decided to teach me a lesson.

He had people take down the posters that were originally of us.

He had them rush to replace them with photos of him and Mandy.

The bride's name was also changed to Mandy.

He originally hadn't planned to change any of thishe'd just wanted Mandy to substitute for me at the wedding.

Now, this was his warning to me.

But he didn't knowthis played right into my hands.

Now the bride had completely and officially become Mandy.

The debt collectors couldn't come after me.

I'd always been rational, so I chose to cut my losses.

Even though I'd admittedly developed some feelings for Ethan.

But sunk costs don't factor into major decisions.

Seeing the screen display photos of her and Ethan, Mandy was over the moon.

She posted multiple updates on social media and videos.

Showing off her high-end wedding.

Mandy put on the wedding dress my parents had paid a premium to custom-make for me.

Even though it didn't fit her perfectly, she couldn't resist coming to glaunt it to me.

Every word dripped with veiled sarcasm.

"Miss Olivia, this dress seems to fit me better than you!"

"Ethan's so silly... ordering a wedding dress without getting your measurements right. I'll have to talk to him about this! He has no idea how to take care of people. Such a typical guy!"

She smiled smugly.

Seeing that I remained unmoved, she wasn't bothered.

"Oh, by the way, Ethan just called in a highly experienced professional makeup artist. The kind that charges ten thousand dollars an hour."

"He said how could a bride do her own makeup?"

"He's still the same as before! Never listens to advice."

"Not frugal at all. Don't take it personally, Miss Olivia! Today really has cost you quite a bit~"

"If he keeps being like this in the future, call me and I'll talk to him!"

"Miss Olivia, thank you for being so gracious today and making mine and Ethan's old dream come true."

Mandy covered her mouth and giggled, her eyes full of provocation as she looked at me.

Deliberately disgusting me, and not even trying to hide it.

I laughed coldly.

Looks like Ethan wasn't completely cluelesshe just didn't want to care!

When I was wearing makeup that obviously didn't suit me, he said I just looked like that and even the most expensive makeup artist couldn't help.

But when it came to Mandy, he thought of everything. Even hired a professional makeup artist.

But did he have the money?