Chapter 1

On Christmas Eve, my husband, Jonathan Perez, and I fought because of his brother's wife, Stella Perez. Stella had bought his mom a gold necklace, but I didn't prepare anything.

Jonathan felt I made him lose face in front of his family. I didn't cut him any slack and retorted, "You never gave me an engagement gift!" My words totally shut him up.

My husband, Jonathan Perez, and I were college classmates.

When we were planning to get married, and my family asked for an engagement gift worth one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, Jonathan got annoyed right away.

He said, "No way. Your parents are selling you. I don't have the money, and I'm not about to ask my parents for such a huge sum. They've saved up their money with so much trouble. If I take it all, I'll be a total jerk. If you want it, I'll borrow the money, and we'll pay it back together later."

He kept trying to convince me that we shouldn't use our parents' savings and said he couldn't bring himself to use his parents' life savings to marry me.

Finally, he came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea: that we could adopt a two-sided marriage, in which the couple maintained close ties with their respective families of origin after marriage, without being forced to fully integrate into each other's families, and there were no engagement gifts, no wedding gifts, and an equal sharing of household chores.

At that time, I just thought Jonathan was so filial and sensible. Without thinking twice, I agreed.

At first, things were nice. We kept our finances separate and shared the housework equally.

But a few months later, conflicts started.

It all began when my mother, Penelope Bennett's birthday was approaching.

I asked Jonathan what gift he was planning to give Penelope.

For some reason, that question set him off, and he yelled, "Emilia Bennett, have you forgotten? We have a two-sided marriage. We agreed to take care of our own parents. Now, you're trying to get money out of me again. Is your family that broke? You're always eyeing other people's wallets."

Jonathan's words were so mean that my face turned red with anger. "Why are you being so nasty? You married me, so my parents are your parents, too. Can't you do something on their birthdays?"

To be honest, I had no clue what a two-sided marriage really was. At first, I thought it was just like a bare-bones marriage.

After being scolded by Jonathan, I was completely dazed.

He said, "I can do something willingly, but you can't ask for that. Besides, with our two-sided marriage, we agreed to handle our own relatives. It's not my duty to give gifts. If I do, it's just out of kindness."

Seeing my unhappy face, Jonathan finally softened his tone a bit. "Sorry. I know I was a bit harsh, but I made it clear before we got married. You can't break the rules."

Seeing how sure of himself Jonathan looked, I finally realized something was off. "Are you saying that with our two-sided marriage, I don't have to do anything for your parents on their birthdays or during holidays?"

"Of course. We agreed to take care of our own parents. I'm not going to break the rules," Jonathan said, raising his chin, looking all cocky.

"Then why didn't you say anything when I bought your mom clothes and supplements on Mother's Day?" I asked.

Jonathan blushed under my gaze. After a while, he tried to argue, saying, "That was just your kindness to my mom. After all, you're my wife."

"Well, you're my husband. Aren't you going to show your kindness on my mom's birthday?" I was so angry that I shouted.

"I already told you. I can do it willingly, but you can't ask for that. I was going to. But since you asked, I won't. Figure out what to do for your mom's birthday by yourself. I won't show up that day," Jonathan said with a cold face, trying to intimidate me.