"...I know," Jessie mumbled. "I just thought, if you're going to work, wouldn't it be more convenient to live near the office?"
'Who knew this old traditionalist would think so much about it?' she thought. 'He's even bringing up our married life at a time like this, like he's trying to lay down the law.'
"It's not an inconvenience," Victor said.
Jessie: "..."
After lunch, Jessie started to feel drowsy.
She was in the habit of taking an afternoon nap, and besides, she had flown to Aethelburg first thing this morning. After such a hectic morning, she was truly exhausted.
After Victor drove her back to their new house in the hutong alley, he asked, "Should I have the housekeeper come over now?"
Construction on the house had started a few years ago, and the renovations alone had taken two years.
No one usually lived here, but there was a housekeeper who looked after the place.
Today, Victor had considered that since it was Jessie's first time at the new house, she might not feel comfortable with a stranger around, so he'd sent the housekeeper away for the time being.
"That's not necessary, is it?"
'It's too much trouble to call them back and forth.'
Victor deferred to her wishes. "All right. Call me if you need anything."
Jessie nodded. When she saw that he was about to follow her into the courtyard, she quickly reached out, gave his shoulder a push, and blocked Victor at the door.
"I get it. You should get back to work. Don't let me keep you."
Victor watched as Jessie finished speaking, gave him a quick wave, then turned and scurried into the courtyard. A helpless smile touched his lips.
Once Jessie got to the bedroom, she finally had a chance to look around properly.
The bedroom was huge, with an attached bathroom and walk-in closet.
Jessie went to check out the bathroom first. As soon as she walked in, she saw the glass wall at the far end.
She could vaguely make out the green plants outside. Above the glass wall were louvered blackout blinds.
The most eye-catching feature in the bathroom was the round, two-person bathtub. To Jessie, it seemed absurdly large.
On a nearby shelf, there were several unopened toiletries.
She took a look; none were the brands she normally used.
Jessie immediately pulled out her phone and started ordering a bunch of things from their official websites. It was only when she reached the final step—filling in the shipping address—that her expression grew distant.
She'd only ever had one shipping address before. Now she had to change it from Southaven to Aethelburg. In the future, this would even become her default address.
In that moment, Jessie finally felt the tangible reality of her impending marriage to Victor Morgan.
After her shower, Jessie felt a slight pang of guilt. 'Is it really okay for me to just sleep in our marital bed like this?'
But since Victor himself had told her to rest in the master bedroom, why should she overthink it?
However, as the big, red, silk wedding quilt enveloped her, she felt the air conditioning was set a little too high. It was making her hot.
Lying in bed, Jessie's mind was racing. She couldn't fall asleep for the longest time.
Earlier, when she'd arrived in Uncle Carter's car, she had been worried that living in a hutong would be noisy, with people constantly coming and going. But lying in the bedroom now, Jessie realized she had worried for nothing.
Perhaps it was because the bedroom was in the center of the quadrangle courtyard, or because of the lush greenery, or the fact that the windows and sliding doors were soundproofed. The room was quiet—so quiet she could almost hear her own heart pounding.
After a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts, sleep still wouldn't come. Instead, her phone chimed. DING-DONG.
She unlocked her screen, tapped on WeChat, and saw a message from Julian Grant at the very top of her list.
Julian had probably just finished work, thought of her, and sent her a message.
[Julian Grant: Jessie, can we meet? Should I pick you up tonight?]
Jessie casually forwarded the message to Lynn Jennings and immediately went into rant mode—
[Jessie: Is he nuts?]
Seeing Julian's message didn't make Jessie happy. It just felt ironic.
Back when she used to chase after him, he'd never paid her this much attention.
Now that things had come to this, she had finally caught his 'special attention.' There was no satisfaction, only a heavy dose of irony.
[Lynn Jennings: What they can't have is always what they want most. Men are such pigs.]
[Jessie: So I should just turn him down?]
[Lynn Jennings: Turn him down for what? Go! Why pass up a free dinner? Take your fiancé with you!]
When Jessie saw Lynn's message, she almost choked.
'I don't think I'm that brave...'
If she had a boyfriend, and that boyfriend wasn't Victor Morgan, she might have actually considered Lynn's suggestion. But that wasn't the situation at all!
Using Victor... even though Jessie hadn't spent much time with him, she could just imagine the consequences.
[Jessie: Do you think if Victor finds out, this chat will become my last will and testament?]
Lynn laughed out loud when she saw Jessie's message.
She sent Jessie a voice message. "Last will and testament? Hardly. You might even get a surprise out of it. Like, say, tonight becomes your wedding night? Never underestimate a man's jealousy."
Jessie: "..."
[Jessie: Why is your mind always in the gutter!]
She decided that ranting to Lynn about this had been a mistake. What started as a cliché romance plot had suddenly devolved into an R-18 fanfic.
Jessie quickly ended her chat with Lynn, went back to her conversation with Julian, and flatly turned him down.
Without waiting for Julian to reply, Jessie muted her phone and closed her eyes.
On Julian's end, things were pretty much as Jessie had expected. He had just finished lunch and was still relaxing in a private room at the restaurant.
"What? She didn't agree to meet?"
The man sitting next to Julian had his hair slicked back and was also wearing a rather formal suit. He held a cigarette between his fingers.
If Jessie had been there, she would have recognized him immediately.
Keith Reese.
He was one of Julian's old university classmates from London.
Keith knew that after returning to the country, Julian was supposed to follow his family's arrangements for a strategic marriage.
He'd met Jessie before.
When Jessie was studying abroad, even though she wasn't at the same university as Julian, she was still in the United Kingdom. She made it a habit to look him up and spend the holidays with him.
In the beginning, the Sterlings hadn't been comfortable with her studying alone in the United Kingdom. They'd wanted to send her to the United States, since Quincy was there. But Jessie was dead set on being closer to Julian, and in the end, she got her wish.
And to his credit, Julian had been a pretty reliable "older brother next door" figure.