Chapter 2

The chat instantly blew up on Morgan's end. He called me, but I rejected all of them. Then, he bombarded me with texts.

"Chase, are you insane? Picking up the trash I don't want is one thing, but you just had to go for that fake heiress, Savannah Reed? Giving up a good life for someone like her… You really are doomed to be poor forever!"

Using the light from my phone, I glanced at the comments floating up.

[The male lead is the real idiot here. In 40 days, the female lead's grandfather, Steven Reed, is going to bring her back home. If he doesn't hold on to her now, he can kiss his dreams of marrying a rich woman goodbye!]

40 days. That was enough for me.

Savannah turned over in bed, probably noticing the glow from my phone. I asked in a small voice, "Did I wake you?"

"No."

"I heard you on the phone just now. Was that the Reeds calling to collect on the debt?"

"Yeah."

"How much do you still owe?"

Savannah was quiet for a few seconds before answering flatly, "Five million dollars."

[Why is the female lead lying? She only owes over two million dollars!]

While I read the comment, Savannah asked mockingly, "What, are you regretting it now?"

No. This was exactly what I was waiting for.

I sat up straight, found her on PayPal, and started transferring money to her, one transaction at a time. My bank account, my PayPal balance, and even the cash in my wallet—every last bit went to her.

The total came to 9,823.43 dollars.

She went from confused to surprised to the point where her breathing turned uneven. "What are you doing?"

"This is all my savings. Use it to pay off your debt. I know it's just a drop in the bucket, but tomorrow, I'll get paid for last month's part-time job. That's 580 bucks. And I'm getting a 330-dollar refund on my rent. Next week, my salary comes in, so that'll be another 4,200 dollars. Once it's in my account, I'll send it right over to you," I said.

The light clicked on, and the warm yellow glow fell across her refined profile, which was beautiful but trembling. She said, "I was asking why you were giving your money to me."

I looked straight at her, completely serious, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We're married now. We're husband and wife, which means we're a team. We share blessings and hardships."

Her face was filled with disbelief.

My heart started pounding wildly again. From this moment on, I'd finally taken my first real step. It was too early to tell who would stay poor forever, Morgan.

…

The morning after we registered our marriage, I woke up to see Savannah getting dressed. The money had been transferred back, and the cash was neatly placed by my pillow.

"Why…"

"If you give me everything, what are you going to live on? Men have to socialize, too. You have dinners and drinks, and you need a suit…"

I shook my head. "I don't smoke or drink. After my day job, I work part-time at a market stall. The owner's really nice—he lets me take home whatever vegetables that don't sell. As long as we're not eating expensive things every day, it really doesn't cost that much."

I lowered my head as I smoothed out my blanket, almost as if I wanted to hide my expression. At the same time, I made sure she noticed my pressed-together lips and the faded T-shirt on me that didn't suit my build and didn't even fit right.

I added, "Besides… Morgan dropped off two more bags of his old clothes a few days ago. That's more than enough for me."

Savannah paused on the bed, a flicker of emotion crossing her eyes. It seemed like a mixture of guilt and pity. After a long moment, she got up to wash her face.

She said, "My upbringing never allowed me to rely on anyone. At worst, I'll just go borrow from my friends."

…

From that day on, our lives settled into something plain and ordinary.

During the day, we each went our own way. At night, after finishing my two part-time jobs, I would come home and cook dinner.

Savannah and I would eat together, then one of us would sleep on the bed, and the other would take the floor.

At first, we only exchanged polite small talk. Later, we gradually started chatting about things that happened outside, and we'd casually help each other with small things, the way friends did.

It took me a week to get us from strangers to familiar roommates.

One week later, at 10:00 pm, Savannah opened the door and froze on the spot.

A new row of wall hooks had appeared by the entryway. The dress she used to leave draped over the table was now hanging neatly there, right next to my jacket.