Chapter 3

Jack still took the next flight, rushing back without stopping.

Before leaving, he promised me that once he saw Emma was fine, he would come back to continue our honeymoon.

I treated it as nonsense. I stayed in Miami because I like this city. I'm usually very busy with work, so I wanted to stay and play for a few more days now that I had the chance.

Not to wait for this ridiculous honeymoon.

When Katie heard that Jack had left me to go back and accompany Emma, her jaw nearly hit the floor:

"Does he have any shame left?"

I shrugged.

"Does he know what he's doing? Emma is clearly doing this on purpose. All she knows is how to cling to him and act coy. In a few days, she'll probably be living with you two!"

"You had so many great guys interested in you, why did you choose Jack? What were you thinking?"

Seeing my expression, she wisely shut her mouth.

Jack and I met through a friend's introduction.

At that time, I had just gone through a breakup and was single. Jack was very considerate and humorous. We got together quickly, and then naturally got engaged and married, all within less than a year.

"At least she'll be going back to school soon. Once she's abroad, she shouldn't be able to cause much trouble," I said tiredly.

"Are you deluding yourself, Lily? When she goes to school, does that mean she'll never come back? And have you forgotten? She's failed so many courses, she's about to be expelled. She's using your money to live it up and still causing you trouble. Can you really tolerate this?" Katie said irritably.

"Maybe in a few years, she'll have her own boyfriend and won't be so clingy with Jack anymore," I comforted myself.

Katie opened Instagram and showed me a post.

It was Jack and Emma, both wearing Mickey Mouse ears, posing together at Disneyland.

Emma made a sweet heart sign at the camera.

"To the best brother in the world."

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

All my self-comforting words had just slapped me in the face.

I couldn't even find words to save face in front of Katie.

Although I wasn't intentionally waiting here for Jack to come back and continue our honeymoon, he had said he would come back to find me.

Now, without a word, he had taken Emma, who was "hospitalized with asthma," to Disneyland?

Katie, seeing my expression, knew I was really angry this time:

"We all advised you not to get the marriage certificate so quickly. You see, we weren't wrong. Now you need to think carefully about whether you want to spend the rest of your life with someone who doesn't put you first."

I opened my own phone and, sure enough, I couldn't see this Disneyland post.

It seems they didn't handle it well, but rather agreed to hide their Instagram posts from me.

"Lily, if you're just trying to avoid Ryan, you really need to reconsider," Katie said.

The name "Ryan" made me shudder.

"Don't mention him," I said. "Jack might not be a good person, but that doesn't mean I have to choose Ryan. Can't I just live my own life?"

I sent Jack a message:

"It's over. Let's go our separate ways. We don't need to get the marriage certificate. We're done."

After sending this message, my mind suddenly cleared.

I wanted to settle down quickly and thought Jack was reliable, so I didn't care about money issues. After all, my family is wealthy, we have multiple properties, and I can earn money myself. So, I paid for the marital home, the wedding, and all the big and small matters in his family.

That's why when we were buying rings, he so naturally asked me to pay.

He was used to me being a cash cow for everything.

I thought, we're family now, no need to be so calculative.

Now I see, how dare they keep asking me for money time and time again?

So, I added another message:

"I'll send you an itemized bill. Once you've paid it back, we're even."