Married to a Millionaire

Chapter 39

Jennie soon found that Chitthip's attitude toward her did not change much after she declined her offer to buy her clothes. She was still aloof but not hostile.

On New Year's Eve, three generations sat around the table to have reunion dinner. The Manoban family were native city people through and through. Grandpa had asked Jennie beforehand what her family ate for New Year's at her hometown, so the table was set with a special dish of diced tomatoes fried with rice cakes and rice cake soup just for her.

"Eat more, Jennie Don't be shy," Grandpa said as he continuously scooped two dumplings at a time into Jennie's bowl with the serving chopsticks.

Jennie nodded obediently again and again. Looking around at everyone, she felt a strange sense of belonging.

After her father passed away, she had spent New Year's Eve the last few years having dinner at the home of Granny Zhang next door. Granny Zhang treated her well, but they weren't actually family in the end. Watching other families celebrate the holiday with three generations under one roof, Jennie could not integrate into the festivities. She would hurry to finish eating, then go back home alone after dinner to lie in bed listening to the pop-pop-pop of firecrackers going off all over the village, thinking of the departed loved ones.

Now, she and Lisa were in a romantic relationship. Someday she might really become part of this family, with grandpa, parents-in-law, and no longer alone.

Her eyes grew moist, so Jennie quickly distracted herself.

After dinner, the whole family played mahjong, a traditional New Year's activity.

At first Jennie sat next to grandpa and just watched. At 8 o'clock when grandpa went upstairs to rest, she took over his spot, sitting face-to-face with Lisa. In the first round, Marco won, so the three losers had to send him red packet money on WeChat. As banker, Jennie had to send 40.

Grandpa had left his phone for Jennie to use, but Jennie wanted to play with her own money.

"I'll cover you," Lisa said, looking at her as he transferred the money they'd lost together to his dad.

Marco smiled faintly while Chitthip raised an eyebrow, "We should each send our own, otherwise what's the point?"

Lisa looked at Jennie again. Blushing, Jennie glared at him, "I'll send my own."

After they reached an agreement, Marco laughed and sent Jennie a friend request first. Chitthip also added her and saw her profile picture was a cat and a dog. The corners of Chitthip's mouth turned up slightly. Just after Jennie sent Marco 40, she received two transfer notifications in a row.

One from Lisa for 500 and one from Marco for 50,000. The message from Marco said: Red envelope money.

Jennie glanced at Marco stealthily. He was shuffling mahjong tiles with a normal, unruffled expression. She definitely could not refuse the red envelope money, but all of a sudden 50,000...

Just as she was feeling conflicted, Lisa suddenly said to his dad, "You still haven't paid me back for the 40 I sent you on Jennie's behalf."

For the first time, Fu Marco's calm expression cracked. He stared at his son for a couple seconds before transferring the money to him.

Chitthip laughed while Jennie and Lisa exchanged a look and laughed quietly to themselves. Jennie put away her phone, no longer bothered about the red envelope money from Marco.

They chatted while playing mahjong. The night seemed to fly by unusually quickly. Before they knew it, it was past 10 pm already.

In the final round, Marco got a big win. Chitthip suddenly pushed away the mahjong tiles. "I'm done, I'm going to sleep," she said, then went upstairs by herself.

Seeing Jennie was about to transfer money, Marco laughed, "This round doesn't count. You two should go to bed early, too." Then he left his seat to go after his wife.

With the elders gone, Jennie finally stretched her arms. After sitting for three or four hours, her shoulders were a little sore.

"How much did you lose?" Lisa came around behind her and gripped the back of her chair, leaning down to ask.

Jennie checked the transfer records. With wins and losses, her luck hadn't been too bad overall. She'd only lost a little over 50.

"See, they really like you," Lisa said, kissing her flushed cheeks. He was extremely satisfied. Afraid Jennie didn't understand, he explained softly, "If my mom didn't like you, she wouldn't have played with us for so long."

Jennie also somehow felt Chitthip didn't dislike her, but she felt even more guilty. She turned and confessed to Lisa, "Yesterday your mom wanted to take me shopping for clothes, but I declined..."

Lisa laughed and swiftly kissed her eyelashes and brows: "Luckily you didn't go. The clothes she would have picked, you definitely wouldn't have liked." Jennie's taste was still stuck in her student days. The clothes his mother would choose would be too mature for her.

"Go wash your hands first. We'll go out for a stroll in a bit," Lisa enticed in her ear. Since his parents arrived yesterday, he and Jennie hadn't truly spent time alone together.

Jennie nodded. A few minutes later when she came out of the first floor bathroom, she saw Lisa holding her coat waiting in the living room doorway. As she walked over, he spread the coat open ahead of time as if he were a store attendant, wanting to help her put it on. Jennie felt sweet inside and silently let him help.

It was very cold outside at night with a slight breeze. Lisa brought Jennie to a shadowy corner and leaned back against a tree trunk, pulling her into his embrace. Lowering his head, he asked, "Did you have fun tonight?"

Jennie nodded vigorously.

Lisa gently stroked her hair. It was very soft and felt nice to touch.

"I regret letting you go to college," he said, adjusting their positions and backing her against the tree trunk. Leaning down over her, he continued, "Next April, you'll turn 20."

Jennie was confused, "Why?"

Lisa didn't need her to understand. Gripping her waist from behind, he lifted her higher and kissed her deeply. They couldn't do anything else. His kissing skills had improved more and more with practice. Jennie felt like she was floating. It seemed the happiest thing in the world was being held and kissed by him.

After an unknown amount of time, Lisa finally parted from her reluctantly. He picked her up and carried her back.

"Put me down," Jennie said nervously when they reached the door. She was afraid of running into the elders.

"They're all in their rooms. They won't bother with us," Lisa said confidently. Ignoring Jennie's objections, he carried her inside. Marco and his wife were on the third floor. When they passed the third floor, Jennie's heart raced, but luckily nothing happened. They made it smoothly to her bedroom door.

Lisa set her down, gaze gentle, "Good night."

After watching him walk downstairs, the first thing Jennie did when she got to her room was look up "20 years old" online. The top results had nothing to do with what Lisa had said. She had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the webpage before noticing a "marriage age requirements" in the related searches.

Jennie froze. The legal marriage age for women seemed to be 20?

So was Lisa in a hurry to get married?