Chapter 3

Marriage is a serious commitment, and now that we're married, we need to discuss how we will approach a certain aspect of married life.

"Heh... Just as I expected from a man," Mackenzie responded with an eye roll.

I knew it! Men and women truly have different perspectives!

I'm concerned about our life as a married couple, but he seems to be solely focused on our physical relationship!

"Unless you can genuinely win my affection, you shouldn't even think about any physical intimacy," Mackenzie declared.

"Very well," Emmanuel responded, appreciating Mackenzie's direct and concise reply.

He never believed that a dense man like himself would be able to win the heart of an ice queen like her. While it was true that she could get his heart racing with her beauty, that didn't mean she would turn him on.

In fact, he even thought he was unable to be turned on

by women.

Hence, one of the main reasons he didn't want to get

married was that he was afraid of not being able to

satisfy his wife sexually.

As such, Mackenzie's refusal to have sex with him came

as a huge relief.

Mackenzie, however, wasn't too pleased with his

response.

What the… This b*stard! I can tell he's not faking it! I

know that most men wouldn't dare express their

interest in me because of my cold personality, but that

doesn't mean they don't lust over me! I know I'm a very

beautiful woman, so why doesn't this b*stard even

want to have sex with me? Is it because he's a

gynecologist? I hate this so much!

The two then headed their separate ways after they

had made their terms clear with each other.

Emmanuel saw Milani at his doorstep with a basket of

fruits the moment he got home.

She looked like a completely different person with that

sweet smile on her face.

4/16

Disgusted by her pretentious behavior, Emmanuel told

her the truth right away.

"What? You rejected all of the gifts?"

Milani was shocked to the core when she heard that

he had returned the gifts worth ten million.

Oh, my goodness! Why would he do something so

stupid? Does he think he's all high and mighty for

turning down those gifts? Ugh! Now I see why he's so

unsuccessful in life! No one in their right mind would

ever want to marry a guy like him! They'd be poor for

life!

Alessandra came out of her room when she heard the

commotion. "Ah, Milani, you're here! Come on in!" She

welcomed Milani excitedly when she saw the latter

standing at the door.

After all, that was the first time a woman had come to

see her son.

Alessandra was so desperate to marry Emmanuel off

that she didn't even care if Milani's family were a bunch

of horrible people.

To her surprise, however, Milani's attitude changed

instantly.

"Sorry, but I'm really busy! Also, you can forget about

having me marry your son! He isn't even worthy of

being my footstool, let alone my husband! I bet he'll

never be able to find himself a wife! Goodbye!" Milani

shouted and stormed off immediately after.

Honestly, I don't even know why my mom wanted me

to come visit him! This was such a huge waste of time!

Alessandra was left speechless by her sudden

outburst and change of heart.

What just happened? Why would she change her mind

so suddenly? Did she bring those fruits here just to

insult my son? What is wrong with her?

Emmanuel knew full well that Milani's response was

due to the ten million that he gave up on.

Naturally, he had no interest in a gold-digger like her

either.

"My goodness! What a crazy woman she is!" Roselynn

exclaimed angrily when she came out and saw Milani

leaving.

She then turned toward Emmanuel and tried to

comfort him, saying, "You need to stay away from

women like her, Manny! Don't take her words to heart!"

To her surprise, however, he didn't seem to be

bothered in the slightest.

"Mom, Roselynn, I'm already married, so you two don't

have to worry about me anymore."

Alessandra and Roselynn were so shocked that they

both screamed in unison, "What?"

Roselynn's voice was so shrill that she nearly shattered

the glassware in the house.

"Did you just say you're married?"

"Who are you married to?"

"You're not messing with us, are you, Manny? If I recall

correctly, you never had a girlfriend!"

Alessandra and Roselynn both fired questions at him

one after another.

Instead of trying to convince them, Emmanuel simply

whipped out his marriage certificate and showed it to

them.

The truth spoke for itself, leaving the two women

wide-eyed with shock.

Although the woman on the marriage certificate

looked gorgeous, they were still worried about her

personality.

"She looks hard to get along with!"

"Are you sure this isn't some kind of scam?"

Emmanuel could understand their concerns, so he lied

to reassure them. "Don't worry. She's a woman I met

while I was a soldier at Northern Region. She's a strong

woman and a perfectionist who cares a lot about her

image, so she didn't want people to know about our

relationship. That's why we've been keeping it a secret

all this while."

"Ah, so that's what happened…"

That explains why he refused to get himself a girlfriend

all these years! Turns out, he already had one all

along!

"I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you two for so

long! I only did it to protect her career. Anyway, you

two no longer have to worry about me getting married.

Mackenzie and I will surely live a happy life together,"

Emmanuel reassured them, but they were still worried.

Roselynn was especially suspicious of his explanation.

If Manny already had a girlfriend all along, then why

did he wait until now to tell us about it? Why did he

waste his time attending those eighteen matchmaking

sessions? Oh, well… He must have his reasons for lying

to us, and I don't want to make Mom worried by

exposing him.

"What does she do for a living, Manny? Why didn't she

come home with you now that you two are married?"

Alessandra asked curiously.

No mother wouldn't be curious about her

daughter-in-law, and Alessandra was no exception.

Emmanuel knew she would surely ask about

Mackenzie's background, so he had prepared himself

to answer her questions.

"Mackenzie is a high-level executive in a huge

company, Mom. That's why she can't come home with

me."

"What? Where will she stay, then?" Alessandra pressed

"She bought a house of her own, Mom. Now that we're

married, I'll be moving in with her soon."

"…"

Alessandra's eyes teared up all of a sudden.

Roselynn didn't want Emmanuel to leave either, but

she tried to comfort Alessandra anyway. "Manny is a

grown adult now, Mom. It was only a matter of time

before he moved out. You want to have grandchildren,

don't you? It'll be hard for that to happen if he stays

with you all the time!"

Of course, Alessandra understood that very well. After

all, no woman would want to live with their in-laws

these days. It would be very inconvenient for them to

have sex at night, too.

Even so, Alessandra's tears still refused to stop flowing.

"I won't object to your relationship if you love her,

Manny. I just have one request. Could you bring her

over so I can have a look at her? Also, I want you to

arrange for both our families to meet each other."

Alessandra's sincere requests were actually very

simple ones, but they were incredibly difficult for

Emmanuel to fulfill.

There's no way a woman like Mackenzie would be

willing to visit our house! I don't know what her job title

is, but her attire and attitude alone show that she's no

ordinary woman. I doubt I can even afford to pay for

the dry cleaning if we end up getting her clothes dirty!

As for meeting her parents, that's practically never

going to happen. She said she only agreed to marry

me to satisfy her grandfather, so getting her to show

up here and put up an act for me is simply asking for

the impossible. What do I do now?

"I'll tell you about it after talking it through with her, Mom."

Emmanuel decided to leave things be for now.

Since he couldn't agree or refuse, he had no choice but

to take it one step at a time.

"All right, then," Alessandra responded. "Well, how

about you move out and go live with her today? Girls

love it when guys are romantic. It's your wedding night,

so you'd better not leave her on her own! Take good

care of her. Do you understand?"

Wedding night? Emmanuel scoffed internally.

If that hadn't even crossed his mind, then Mackenzie

certainly wouldn't have thought of it either.

The woman had never even thought about

consummating their marriage.

There's just no way it'd ever happen!

Still, he nodded at his mother and sister. "I'll be off,

then. Take care of yourselves. Call me whenever you

need me."

That alone was enough to make Alessandra and

Roselynn tear up again.

Given how Emmanuel's father had died young, and the

two women had watched Emmanuel grow up, seeing

the only man in the family leave home made their

hearts heavy.

"Don't cry, Mom. How are you going to have grandkids

if Manny doesn't stay with your daughter-in-law?"

Roselynn urged, even though she couldn't stop crying

herself.

The women spent a long while helping Emmanuel

pack his valuables.

Alessandra shoved a bank card into his hands just as

he was about to leave.

"What are you doing, Mom?"

The man hastily gave it back, knowing that his mother

only had one card. It was baffling that she was

handing him her social security fund.

There was no way he could accept it.

"Take it," Alessandra insisted. "Your wife agreed to

marry you without you giving her any betrothal gifts.

She even bought a place for you two so you could live

together, so don't let her down. Give her everything she

deserves! There are about sixty thousand on this card.

Go buy your wife a ring and some jewelry. Do you hear

me?"

Upon hearing that, Emmanuel felt his nose burn.

I'm such a horrible son. This is her retirement fund!

She's already fifty-seven. What is she going to do if I

take all that she has left?

"Take it, Manny. It's what Mom wants."

Roselynn shot him a glance.

The young woman knew her mother well, so she was

aware that Alessandra would surely fear her

daughter-in-law leaving if Emmanuel didn't do as she

asked.

Hence, the man had to take the money to ease her

mind and present it to Mackenzie-whether she

wanted it or not.

"If you really want to thank Mom, come back here with

your wife as soon as you can so we can take a look at

her," Roselynn added.

In truth, she had her doubts. Her brother had gotten

into a blitz marriage, after all.

"I understand."

With that, Emmanuel spun around and left quickly.

It wasn't that he had no emotions; he just didn't want

his family to see how red his eyes had become.

He felt so, so guilty now.

His mother had always wanted him to have a blissful

marriage, but instead, he had found himself a random

woman to take part in a mere act.

"The truth can never come to light-at least not until

she's left this world," the man muttered to himself,

feeling terrified all of a sudden.

There was no way Alessandra would be able to handle

it if she found out that this was all a show.

After leaving home, Emmanuel headed over to Yociam

Residence as instructed by Mackenzie via text

message.

The place was an upscale area in Yeringham and cost

over ten thousand per square meter.

There were many buildings there, but Mackenzie had

only told him that the apartment number was 1701

without mentioning the block number.

Good thing I had the sense to get her WhatsApp

contact outside City Hall. I'd better ask her now.

Thus, he left Mackenzie a voice message.

Yet, despite it being six in the evening, Mackenzie was

still in the middle of a meeting at work.

As the CEO of Terence Group, she never checked her

messages during meetings.

After waiting for a long while and not receiving a

response, Emmanuel figured that the woman's current

circumstances didn't allow her to listen to his voice

message, so he sent her a text message instead.

There was still no reply. The sky had turned dark, and

Emmanuel's empty stomach ate at his patience.

Ultimately, he decided to video call her.

The man knew how aloof Mackenzie was and didn't

really want to speak to her.

Mackenzie hadn't added him to her contacts when

they exchanged numbers earlier. At present, she

suddenly heard her phone ring and glanced at the

screen impatiently.

This was an extremely rare occurrence.

10/17

Those who knew her understood that she would reply

to every text that mattered to her, but when it came to

people whom she didn't bother responding to, not

even a video call would change her mind.

11/17

Seeing someone with the username Covertly

Magnificent with an unfamiliar profile picture call her,

the woman frowned and blocked his number instantly.

Strange. When did I ever give this person my contact?

From how she hung up, Emmanuel knew Mackenzie

had her phone with her and tried redialing her number.

Yet, he received a notification: This user only accepts

calls and messages from friends.

What the hell?

Emmanuel stared at the screen in a daze for a long

time.

She's not messing with me, is she?

Thankfully, the man was smart enough to remember

that Terence was her grandfather.

Even though he didn't have Terence's number saved,

the latter had called him earlier this morning, so all it

took was a quick look at his call history to find it.

Candy Crush

12/17

13/17

"Hey, Gramps, what's up with your granddaughter? She

told me to live with her at Yociam Residence, but she

ended up blocking my number! Are you guys just

playing around with me? Is this some sort of marriage

scam? It's not like I have anything you can take from

me!"

Terence was instantly bereft of words.

She really does hate men…

"Calm down, young lad. I'll call her right now!"

He tried his best to console Emmanuel, worried about

losing his new grandson-in-law.

The Quillen family was so powerful that even Terence

didn't know how many more businesses Mackenzie

had established out there. He had to find out from her.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie was about to resume the

meeting when her phone rang again.

She wanted to hang up, but upon realizing that it was

her grandfather, she had no choice but to answer.

"What is it, Grandpa? I'm in a meeting now. Don't you

know that?"

Like I care about your meeting! That's not as important

as giving me a great-grandchild!

"Mackenzie, didn't you ask Emmanuel to live with you?

He's already at Yociam Residence, but he doesn't know

which block it is!"

Oh, right.

Mackenzie finally recalled that she had gotten married

today.

Darn it! What was his name again? Seriously, men are

such a pain!

"Tell him we're staying at Block B, Grandpa."

Right after saying that, Mackenzie hung up so that her

grandfather wouldn't be able to tell her to contact

Emmanuel herself. She didn't know how to, anyway.

Upon hanging up, the woman noticed all the subtle

glances coming her way.

Of course, given that she was Terence Group's CEO, no

one dared utter a word-except for a young lady who

leaned over with a giggle.

"Was that your husband, Mackenzie?"

Mackenzie shot her a glare, causing her to shut up

immediately.

The woman was none other than Mackenzie's sister,

Beatrix. She was secretly glad to be the younger

sibling. Otherwise, she would have been the one

marrying that fine specimen of a man who had just

called her grandfather.

At the same time, she was also curious as to who on

earth could have the courage to take her

man-loathing sister as his wife.

Hehe. I wonder how long he'd be able to put up with

her temper. Three days? Or maybe he'd be done and

move out by the second day!

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