Jason moved closer to Corinne. "Help me get out of this arranged marriage in a way that won't make both sides of the family mad."Corinne frowned. She did not bother to conceal the disgust she felt. "You know you can just tell her you're not interested, right? Why waste everybody's time by pretending to be a gentleman and bringing her here to shop for bags? It's just going to make her think you're interested in her."Jason shrugged. "I did tell her that, but she insisted it doesn't matter since we can slowly get to know each other and 'who knows, fall in love one day'. I've taken her out to lunch and to a movie…but I don't know what else we can do. She didn't want to go home, so she dragged me out to this mall."Corinne, you've always been a smart one. Can you please come up with a way to get me out of this?"Corinne took a sip of her coffee. She then looked up and down at the exasperated Jason, thinking, 'Well, with that handsome face of his and wealthy family background, any girl
"She's actually…" Jason was about to say Corinne was Jeremy's wife when Corinne cut him off."We actually got to know each other through having the same illness," quipped Corinne."Illness?" repeated Lola in shock.Jason never expected Corinne would respond in such a way. He initially frowned, but he then smiled in anticipation of what she was going to say next.Corinne nodded. "Yeah. He and I were in the same group chat created to talk about our illness. We were just talking about how he was doing just now."Lola looked questioningly at Jason. "What illness is she talking about? Jason, are you sick? Why didn't you tell me?""Uh-oh. Sounds like you haven't told her yet, Jason," said Corinne in mock surprise.Jason smiled and decided to play along. "Yeah, I haven't found the right time to tell her yet.""Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have been such a big blabbermouth," said Corinne apologetically.Jason shook his head. "It's okay. I have to tell her sooner or later."Lola was
Jason felt like crying and laughing at the sight.He then turned to look at Corinne, who sipped her coffee peacefully."Corinne, I might never get a wife if word gets out about this. What woman would want to marry a man who has an incurable intractable disease?" he asked with a raised eyebrow."You were the one who asked me to get out of the arranged marriage. What happens after this is none of my problems," Corinne replied nonchalantly.Jason rubbed his chin and smiled at her. "That won't do! You have to marry me if I can't get a wife because of this!"Corinne gave him a bored side-eye. "How can I do that when I'm married?"Jason narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I'm not in a rush. I can wait until you're divorced."Corinne took it as a joke. "And what if I'm never getting a divorce?" she asked after chuckling."Oh, you will," Jason said meaningfully.'That sounded more like a threat than a joke…' thought Corinne. She turned to him and raised her eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"
Corinne took out the gold credit card from her pocket and passed it to Francine. "Here, you can use this card. It doesn't require a pin code."Francine walked over and snatched the card from her. She threw her an angry glance before going over to the payment counter.After Francine left, Jason raised his eyebrow. "That's not Jeremy's card, is it?" he asked interestedly."How did you know?" asked Corinne.Jason smiled. "Because Jeremy only uses black cards."The bank only gave out black cards to their most exclusive clients; wealth was not the sole criterion for eligibility. On the other hand, they would give out gold cards to any client who had a certain amount of savings in their account.Jason straightened himself in his seat. "You're using your money to buy a bag for Francine? You do realize we're at the Hermes store, right?""I've promised her I'd buy her one. I can use Jeremy's card, but I don't have a habit of using other people's money to make someone like me."The look
Not wanting to let Corinne talk to Jason anymore, Francine dragged her out of the store. Once outside, she let go of her and muttered 'sl*t' under her breath.Corinne pretended not to have heard it. She looked around and asked, "What do you want to have for lunch?"Francine nearly blew up when she failed to bait Corinne into a fight. "I saw everything! Jason used a photo of you as his phone's wallpaper! Isn't it enough that you've seduced my brother that you're now seducing Jason, too?"Corinne did not even notice Jason used a photo of her as his phone's wallpaper. Surprised, she could not help but wonder how Jason managed to get her photo. After thinking about it, she recalled him saving a photo of her when he helped Annie take a group photo during the party held at Lunar Century Manor last time.'Ugh… Doesn't he have any boundaries at all?' she thought angrily. Then, while walking to the Asian cuisine restaurant in front of them, Corinne answered nonchalantly, "It's not like you'
The joy on the young man's face was evident. He scratched his head shyly and said, "It is you, Corinne! I was walking past the window when I saw you, so I thought I'd say hi. I haven't seen you since you graduated…"'Oh, it's him! Chester Mansfield, my university junior.'Corinne nodded at him politely. "Yeah, it's been a while. Are you doing some shopping?"Chester shook his head. "Nope. I just started offering part-time tutoring services, so I came to the schools nearby to pass out some flyers. I got hungry though, so I came to see if there's any fast-food restaurant to grab a bite before I resume."Corinne smiled lightly. "Sounds like hard work."She was not close with Chester, and the only reason she remembered him was that he was quite handsome, good at both his studies and basketball, and would make his presence known to her whenever he could. He even gave her a button on her graduation day to remember him by, which she still had no idea what it was for.Corinne had no inte
Although Chester started shy, he quickly opened up a little. After all, he was the studious school hunk, so he had been to a lot of functions where it required him to put his best foot forward. He started to chat endlessly to Corinne about the new things that happened in school recently; not those vulgar gossips but some positive or hilarious happenings instead.To be honest, Corinne had no impression of the other students of different grades from her. She did not know most of the people Chester was talking about, but the stories he told sounded interesting, so she would ask him to elaborate more from time to time.That was until a certain man pulled out a chair and sat next to her. He exuded such a strong cold aura that it stopped Chester mid-sentence.Chester stared in astonishment at the man who appeared out of the blue, and a chill ran up his spine when he sensed the hostility washing over him. At first, he was puzzled as to who he was, but he immediately remembered seeing this
"Mister, how come you got off work so early today?" asked Corinne casually. There was none of the usual formality she reserved for those not close to her."I didn't have anything scheduled after my meeting, so I thought I'd come pick you up." Jeremy tucked her hair behind her ear. "Hmph! You're eating spicy food behind my back again?"Corinne pouted. "I can't help it… I was craving it."Chester's heart broke into a million pieces when he saw the interaction before him. He never expected the woman he had been pining for all these years to be married. He planned to confess his feelings to her right after he graduated so she could see the fine man he had worked hard to become. Alas, someone beat him to it.He sat back down again and smiled awkwardly. "When did you get married, Corinne?""Sometime before the graduation ceremony," said Corinne after thinking about it.'It'd be more accurate to say we were just business partners then…but no harm counting from that day onward since we'r