Jessie shook her head and gently comforted, "It's not your fault, Mom. Don’t blame yourself, and don’t be worried. He is a good person and treats me so well. Shouldn’t you be happy for me?"
Laura nodded but reached out to hold her hand, her eyes filled with reluctance.
"Does he really treat you well?"
"Of course!" Knowing Laura was worried about her, Jessie deliberately put on a relaxed and happy look.
Although she had only met him for a short time, Kevin’s attitude showed that he was capable of leading a good family life with her.
"If you don’t believe me, why don’t you come to our apartment next time and see for yourself?" Jessie held her mom's wrist.
Seeing her smile, Laura was finally a bit relieved. She accompanied Jessie to pack her luggage, still rambling on.
"It’s normal for couples to have arguments sometimes. We shouldn’t be unreasonable, but we also shouldn’t get stepped on over nothing, okay? No matter what happens, I will always be on your side."
By the end of the conversation, Jessie noticed that her mom's eyes had turned red, and a pang of sadness stirred in her own heart.
Laura repeated a few more words of reminders, holding her hand tight as she hesitated to let her leave.
"Jess, promise me, you will take good care of yourself. Remember to tell me if anything happens, okay?"
Just as Jessie nodded, an irritating voice echoed from the door.
"What’re you two chattering about! Is the meal ready? Are you secretly giving her money?"
William stormed in, grabbing her mother’s hand and only relaxing his face when he saw both their hands were empty, with no money there.
"Stop yelling. Jess is already preparing to move out."
Hearing this, William finally saw Jessie’s luggage on the floor and sneered, "You should have done this a long time ago. Giving just two hundred bucks a month for living expenses—you're treating us like beggars!"
Laura frowned slightly and chided, "What are you talking about in front of our daughter?"
Her attitude only angered him further. He slammed a cup on the table and cursed,
"What? Am I wrong? I’m out there working myself to death while you two live off me—eating my food and using my money! At least I should be able to say whatever I want!"
After saying that, he ignored his wife and directly grabbed Jessie's luggage, tossing it out the door along with Jessie.
"If you're leaving, go quickly! Stop being a nuisance here!"
After saying that, he slammed the door shut. Jessie sighed, already getting used to William’s attitude towards her.
She could only hope that he’d treat her mother better after she left.
As she squatted down to organize her luggage, her phone buzzed with a few messages. They were from her mother, along with a bank transfer of two thousand dollars.
[Jess, don't be angry; He’s always had a temper like that, probably got it from work stress. Don’t take it personally. Please take care and bring your husband home to meet us next time.]
[Take the money; this is all I have to support you for now. Make sure you take good care of yourself, got it?]
Needless to say, this was definitely Laura’s secret savings—she must have scraped this together penny by penny over a long time.
Jessie returned the money her mother had transferred.
[Mom, I’ve opened a small dessert shop of my own, and the business is pretty good. I can feed myself well. I don't need to rely on my husband. Anyways, I’ll bring him to meet you when he’s back from his business trip. Don't worry about me and live a good life yourself.]
Just earlier today, she had watched Kevin rush off to work after getting their marriage certificates. Even Grandpa Harper mentioned that he was very busy.
Moreover, she didn’t know if Kevin would agree to meet her family yet, so she couldn’t promise anything.
[You two just got certificates today, and he’s not with you?]
[It doesn’t matter. He’s just busy trying to earn more money. Alright, I’ll let you get back to your work.]
After wrapping up the conversation, Jessie took a taxi to the Quiet River Community.
She wasn't familiar with the place. Only when she stood at the entrance did she suddenly realize she'd forgotten to ask which building Kevin lived in.
Luckily, she got his number before, so she quickly called him.
At that time, Kevin was in a high-level management meeting.
Everyone had their heads down, scared to make a sound as they listened to his scolding at the head of the table.
"How many times have you revised this proposal? If this is the extent of your abilities, what am I paying you for?"
Right then, his phone buzzed a few times on the table. He easily saw the incoming phone number on the phone screen, which was facing up.
He had saved Jessie's number without noting her name, so he thought it was a spam call and directly rejected it before blocking the number.
On the other hand, Jessie was confused and thought he might hang up by accident. She tried calling him again, only to find the line was now unreachable.
By then, she immediately realized she had been blocked.
Her eyes widened in confusion.
Did she dial the wrong number? No, her note said Kevin on the number.
She was right.
After thinking for a few seconds, she could only assume Kevin might have forgotten her as his newly married wife.
Thinking about this, she couldn't really blame him. They rushed to get their certificates and went to deal with their things separately, and she could have forgotten it after several days as well if she hadn’t discussed it with her mother.
Afterward, she found a passerby and called Kevin’s number using his phone. As expected, he rejected the call and blocked the number again without a surprise.
However, she was undeterred. She persistently asked several people for help, determined to get through today.
He was leaving his new wife locked out the door just after getting married?
Did that make any sense?
On Kevin’s side. It wasn't until he rejected the fifth call that Kevin sensed something was off and took the sixth call.
Hearing him finally answer, Jessie sighed deeply."Oh My God! You finally answered! Do you know how many times I've called?"
"Who is this?" He frowned, finding her voice unfamiliar.
"Mr. Harper, we just got our marriage certificates today. This is Jessie Moore."
Upon hearing this, Kevin suddenly realized he had completely forgotten about this and had blocked his newly wed wife's phone number.
"Sorry. I was really sorry. I thought it was a prank call."
Jessie sighed, not wanting to argue more about this.
After getting the specific floor and room number, she hung up.
Feeling guilty, Kevin sent Jessie an apology text. When he finally turned off his phone, he noticed his employees all staring at him in disbelief.
After all, his rule was strictly no calls during meetings—with Grandpa Harper the only exception, of course. But judging by how he spoke, it clearly wasn't his grandfather.
"What are you staring at? Continue the meeting!" Kevin clapped his hands on the table.
Everyone immediately looked away, focusing on their notebooks.