Chapter 9: Penniless

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Early the next morning, Kimberly took a taxi and fled back to her home. She thought it was still early, but she didn’t expect to run into her mother who was waiting for her.

“Tell me, what did you do for the whole night?” Annie asked Aunt Liz to pour Kimberly a glass of water, which was a sign of reconciliation.

“I went to get married. Don’t you want me to get married more than anything else?” Kimberly thought that she would be found out sooner or later, so she might as well admit it earlier. She took out the marriage certificate and handed it to her mother. “It’s here.”

“What?!” Annie was so shocked that her heart almost stopped. After a while, she opened the marriage certificate with a trembling voice. “Is this true? Did you ask someone to get a fake certificate?”

“Mom, the steel seal is still on it. I got married yesterday. It’s still warm.” Kimberly sat at the side and sipped the water while quietly observing her mother’s expression.

“James Perkins? Is he the one you’ve been telling me about recently?”

His mother’s face was dark and she did not show any particular anger. However, her words, which were like machine guns, had already shown her feelings. “What about his family background? Is he a local? How much does he earn? Does he have a house?”

“Mom, they’re all good. He lives in the Imperial Court, the Imperial Court in the city center.”

Kimberly lied through her teeth. “You don’t even know. Recently, that Keith Farmer has been pestering me. He’s really a two-faced hypocrite. He’s always thinking about our family’s assets. I’m not stupid. James and I have agreed that the assets before the marriage will go to each other.”

“What about after the marriage? He’ll support you.” His mother looked at her with disappointment. ” I know many outstanding young men around me. Although they’re not as good-looking as this gigolo, at least they have a proper job.”

“Yeah! He’ll take care of me! We’ve already agreed. Though he’s not a big shot, his salary is quite high. If I don’t like him, then I’ll divorce him. It’s not like he’s the only one.”

“Anyway, I don’t agree. How can I be at ease when I haven’t even interacted with him? You, too. You’re always fooling around.” Annie threw the marriage certificate aside. “Go get a divorce.”

“Divorce? What divorce? I like him anyway. I’m very happy!”

“You! Sigh! You’ve never suffered!” Annie was furious. “Are you going to divorce or not?”

“No.” Kimberly ran upstairs to pack her luggage after her answer. She packed some daily clothes and shoes, then she pushed her suitcase and was about to leave.

“You! I’ll cut off your supplementary card!”

“I’ll make my own money.”

“Okay, I’ll see how long you can be stubborn.”

Kimberly returned to the Imperial Court with her luggage. She had just paid for the taxi when she received the news that her only card with money had been frozen. She was glad that she had already paid for the taxi fare, but at the same time, she began to worry about what she would do when she ate later.

She took a chance and began to check the balance of the other cards.

[frozen]

[frozen]

[frozen]

…

[Checking…]

Finally, there was one that was not frozen. Kimberly immediately perked up, but the following text message immediately made her spirit drop.

[Balance in card: 9.80 dollars]

Not 998 dollars.

Not 98 dollars.

Only 9.8 dollars.

Kimberly’s hand trembled as she turned off her phone. She suppressed her boiling blood and accepted the fact that she could only eat two more meals of instant noodles at the moment.

She could only rejoice that she had already transferred the rent to James Perkins the day before. However, when she thought about how poor she might be in the future and how she had to eat plain noodles every day, her vision suddenly turned black and she fell straight down.

The pain that she had initially expected did not happen. Instead, she fell into a cold embrace surrounded by sandalwood fragrance. She immediately realized that she had been caught by James. The fragrance was so distinctive that it was hard to escape once you had caught it.

“Are you alright?”

Kimberly slowly opened her eyes. The breath that she had held in her throat deflated at once. The appearance of the person in front of her was really hard to ignore. Her heart pounded fiercely.

“I’m fine, I just…” Kimberly slowly stood up and told him in exhaustion, “I’ve just never been this poor before.”

Then she pushed the suitcase back to the room, leaving behind a confused James Perkins.