Ava suddenly falls for her parents’ selected husband. When unsettling rumors about him surface days before their wedding, she creates a test to reveal his true intentions.
As she stared at Walter, her parents’ chosen date, Ava caught her breath. He stood up, his blue eyes shining in the magnificent lighting as he wore a sleek suit that showed off his athletic frame.
As he smiled and helped Ava sit, her heart raced.
“Ava, meet Walter, my son,” his mother said.
Whatcha think? Hilda, Ava’s mother, whispered, noting her flushed cheeks.
The families sat at a huge restaurant table, nervous and excited. Ava, who initially resisted this meeting, fell for Walter. She admired him more after the dinner and future meetings due to his gentlemanliness.
A few weeks later, when he proposed on one knee, she said yes without hesitation.
“I’ll marry you!” she screamed as Walter placed a diamond ring on her finger.
Ava and her friend Hillary went to a boutique to pick a wedding dress with only a few weeks to go.
After arriving, they heard two women whispering while waiting to be served.
Ava initially tried to ignore them, but their volume made it impossible not to hear a few words, especially Walter’s name.
One woman muttered, “You mean Walter, the blue-eyed playboy, is getting married?”
“Apparently, his parents found him a millionaire’s daughter,” another woman said.
Ava desperately wanted to keep listening, but an attendant approached her because it was her turn.
“You heard those lobby talkers, didn’t you?” Hillary inquired as they followed the attendant.
“How many Walters are there in this state?” Ava denied the rumors. She believed Walter was unique.
An hour later, Ava drove to Walter’s mansion. As she reached his estate, she saw a group of homeless people huddled by the roadside, attempting to stay dry after the recent rain.
Ava slowed her car to avoid spilling water on them and rolled down her window to offer money, but was surprised by their talk.
That affluent red-car driver sprayed us with water! His money has gone to his head! I bet that money isn’t his! It’s his parents’!” grumbled a bearded man.
“With his handsome looks, he thinks he can do anything,” a woman remarked cruelly.
Shocked and puzzled, Ava opened up her window and drove onto Walter’s mansion, wondering whether they were discussing him. She had seen his compassionate side, like his charity work, but she now doubted if it was just for show.
She was surprised to hear him ranting on the phone as she entered his house with her spare key.
“Get them out of here! I want them all gone!” he yelled, his face distorted with wrath.
He lowered his voice when he saw her.
I don’t want beggars to suffer in the rain. Find them a place quickly!” he instructed, hanging up.
“Ava!” He grinned and approached her. “I saw some homeless people in the rain. He said he was sheltering them because it broke his heart. Not knowing what to say, Ava nodded. Though it wasn’t, she pretended everything was fine all evening.
Walter would become the director of one of her father’s charities after their wedding in a week.
After returning home, Ava reviewed everything with Hillary and planned to test Walter’s character.
‘Why not engage a private investigator?’ Hillary suggested. Ain’t that easier than hiring an actor? What if it fails?
“It will. People relax with strangers, and this actor I hired is fantastic, Ava said.
The next day, they met at Walter’s favorite café, concealing their faces under big hats.
“Aren’t you worried Walter might get angry if he finds out?” Hillary asked cautiously.
“He won’t know if all goes well,” Ava soothed her, waiting for Walter’s arrival. She’d already texted him and set her plan in motion. Babe, can you bring me a coffee from your favorite place? I’ll be waiting at your office, she’d wrote. Later, she would text him that she couldn’t make it owing to some job.
As Walter entered the café, Ava studied him intently. Walter, with a white sweater and black slacks, was admired as he ordered. Ava was proud, but she worried about the actress she hired to test him.
“I hope everything goes well,” she whispered to Hillary.
Ava’s actor, a scruffy man, approached the counter as Walter waited. Walter was disgusted and let the man order first.
“He’s so nice,” Ava muttered, oblivious of Walter’s actual motives.
Hillary said, “Yeah, surprising,” despite her misgivings about Walter.
Walter bought the stinky, impoverished man’s bread and coffee, disguising his displeasure, to get him out of there.
When the man spilled coffee on Walter’s jumper, things escalated. Walter was angry, but he saw a familiar face and calmed down.
“I’m s-sorry, sir,” he stammered, crying.
Walter smiled despite his heat. “No worries! The only thing is clothes. I’ll pay for extra food at the counter,” he said, taking the man to the counter while aggressively typing on his phone to reach his friend.
Ava admired Walter’s kindness from afar. “He’s the man I thought he was,” she told Hillary, who wasn’t convinced.
Walter left and walked with the beggar, who smiled. After turning a corner, he grabbed the man’s shirt and loudly whispered. “Say a word of this to Ava, and you’ll regret it,” he said, throwing his hot coffee at him before leaving.
Ava dropped him the text, thinking she was stupid to doubt him. “See, I told you he’s a nice guy,” she told Hillary.
Walter frowned as he read her message and drove home. He knew Ava was suspicious. In despair, he called Brandon, his trusted friend, for advice.
Joe, the actor Ava hired to test Walter, brushed off his coffee-soaked pants. Walter’s grasp hurt his neck, so he went home instead of calling his client.
At Walter’s house, tensions ran high. “She knows!” Walter shouted.
“Calm down. What does she know exactly?” Brandon inquired, pouring wine for his friend.
Walter explained Ava’s test and his fear of her suspicions.
“Spend more money on those charity galas she likes. There’s barely a week to the wedding, and all you have to do is persevere until then,” Brandon instructed him, and Walter listened with rapt attention.
That night, after Ava arrived home, she spent hours chatting to Walter on the phone, convinced that he was the only person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
“I love you, too,” she whispered into the phone after saying her goodbyes before hanging up.
Two days before the wedding, Ava went alone to pick up her dress. Unexpectedly, a woman blocked her path. “You’re Ava, right? The one marrying Walter?” the woman asked bluntly.
“Yes, I am. I love him,” Ava replied, assuming the woman was one of Walter’s exes.
“Don’t marry him. “He’s not who you think he is,” the woman said sadly before leaving.
Ava after her, but she drove away.
Puzzled and disturbed, Ava could only wonder about the woman’s motives as she picked up her wedding dress. She decided to phone Joe, the actor she had hired to test Walter, for any insights.
She had paid him for his labor but hadn’t heard from him ever since his deed at the cafe. She didn’t think much about it then because she was persuaded Walter was really a wonderful and loving man. Joe ignored her first calls and quickly urged her to avoid Walter before hanging up.
Ava, confused and disturbed by Joe’s reaction, resolved to test Walter herself without intermediaries. She wanted to meet Walter as a homeless person to see his true nature.
Dressed in ancient, stinky clothing and a soiled scarf, Ava waited for Walter at a nice restaurant where they were meant to meet. She approached him in the parking lot, begging for help in her beggar costume.
Walter grudgingly paid her money and left, remembering Brandon’s instruction to keep a good reputation.
After seeing his ‘kindness,’ Ava felt awful for not believing him. When she entered the restaurant, she went toward him, trying to grab his arm as she yelled his name.
“Wal—” she started, but she felt a terrible, stinging blow against her face before she could finish.
Walter slapped her.
“I’m female,” As Walter stared at her with unfriendly and alien eyes, Ava gasped and didn’t know what to say.
“You filthy witch! I only didn’t smack you before because we were public. How dare you follow! Walter yelled. “You poor beggars, I hate you most!”
Walter had been keeping in his emotions for a while, and seeing the empty restaurant gave him the chance to vent on the beggar who almost touched him.
“Do you think you can take advantage of my kind look because I’m trying to get a woman to marry me? Leave or I’ll slap you again!” Ava could tell Walter meant every word he yelled.
She touched her cheek and felt it burn as her eyes stung from anguish and realizing Walter was nothing like the man she fell in love with.
He requested security remove her, so Ava removed her mask and revealed herself.
“It’s me, Ava,” she said, heartbroken.
His face paled. “A-Ava? How could you lie to me? Was this all a trap or test? Thought you loved me. I thought you trusted me,” he stammered, trying to fix things.
Shaking her head, Ava smiled.
“The wedding is off, loser!” she said before leaving.
After months, Ava’s parents found her another match. Brandon seems calm and gentlemanly.
My name is Brandon. You’ve probably heard a lot about me!” Greeting her with a lovely smile.
I guess looks can be deceiving, Ava thought. The private detective Ava hired told her this man was deadlier than Walter. She grinned at him and decided to teach him a lifelong lesson.
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