Love At The Wrong Table

“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.

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.

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

“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!