Emmanuel's and Mackenzie's families sat at one table, and Benny's and
Ryder's sat at the other.
The atmosphere during lunch was quite harmonious.
Mackenzie was not used to such weird dishes eaten by the lower-class
people. How am I supposed to eat these?
She also did not expect Alessandra to take such good care of her. The
latter was enthusiastically serving her food.
Not daring to reject Alessandra's kind gesture, Mackenzie smiled before
putting down her fork and letting Alessandra pile more food onto her
plate.
Unfortunately, Terence was sitting beside her. He faked a cough and
glanced at her when he noticed she had stopped eating.
Mackenzie let out a heavy sigh. She had no choice but to push the plate of
food Alessandra had given her toward Emmanuel.
"Um…"
Alessandra's face reddened in embarrassment as awkwardness filled the
air.
Emmanuel also felt awkward. He was about to explain when Mackenzie
said, "I'm on a diet. I can't eat too much."
Emmanuel knew she was respecting Alessandra by saying that.
"Is that so? But you're so skinny. What if you end up malnourished?"
Alessandra asked worriedly.
The corners of Mackenzie's lips twitched in annoyance. My own mother
isn't worried about me. Who are you to try to control my food intake?
"Mom, don't you know? Times have changed, and so have beauty
standards. Nowadays, the skinnier you are, the prettier you are. It's
understandable that you're oblivious about it since there's a huge gap
between our generations." Roselynn hurried to explain to her mother and
placed ladles beside each dish. She knew Mackenzie must've been
disgusted and annoyed by how Alessandra had served her food.
"Haha, I'm sorry for being so uncivilized. I didn't know about that."
Alessandra was quick to apologize to Mackenzie.
"It's all right," Mackenzie uttered. Although this mother-in-law of mine likes
to nag, she has an excellent temper. Lucky for me, I don't have to live with
her. I can still put up with her if it's just having a meal occasionally.
Roselynn thought it was difficult to get along with Mackenzie, but she did
not mind it too much. She was just worried that Emmanuel would get
annoyed with such a woman sooner or later.
"I can't wait for Mackenzie and Emmanuel to give me great-grandchildren.
I wonder if you feel the same," Terence asked Alessandra.
Pfft!
Mackenzie had just taken a mouthful of food. She almost spat it out when
she heard what Terence said.
The smile on Emmanuel's lips stiffened as well.
It had not been easy for him to persuade Mackenzie to go home with him,
yet now they were asking when they would have kids. That's a challenging
task that I don't think I'll ever be able to complete!
When he thought about it, apart from that one time he accidentally saw
Mackenzie's body, they had never once held hands, much less moved to
the next level of intimacy.
Will she kill me if our families keep pressuring us to have a baby?
"Haha! Of course I do!" Sure enough, Alessandra immediately tried to
pressure her son. "Manny, you need to work harder. Don't make Old Mr.
Quillen wait too long!"
Emmanuel could only chuckle in reply before wolfing down his food to
avoid answering any other questions.
"I'm done. I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave now."
With that, Mackenzie put down her fork. She preferred to leave instead of
staying if that were the topic they would discuss during lunch.
Emmanuel also knew she was at her limit. If they did not leave soon, the
lunch might end on a terrible note.
He said, "Mom, Mackenzie and I have other things to attend to, so I'll go
back with her first!"
Terence had wanted to stop Mackenzie from leaving, but when he heard
she and Emmanuel had something to do, he let them go.
Otherwise, he would have done everything he could to ensure Mackenzie
stayed at the Lowe residence for the rest of the day.
The Lowes were surprised when Mackenzie suddenly got up and left the
dining room.
Emmanuel quickly followed behind her so he could become her driver.
Along the way, neither of them spoke a word. It was then Emmanuel
received a message.
Emmanuel did not check who sent him the message since he was driving.
Mackenzie, however, accidentally glanced at the screen and was taken
aback.
The message wrote: Emmanuel, you have my support. You only need to
pluck up the courage and pin Mackenzie down to have your way with her.
If you can give me a great-grandchild and let them have "Quillen" as their
last name, I'll give you all my life savings!
Mackenzie was rendered speechless when she read the message.
How can there be such a grandfather in the world? How dare he persuade
Emmanuel to take advantage of me by using his life savings as bait? His
life savings are worth at least tens of billions! Impossible! I won't allow that
to happen! If Emmanuel finds out about this, he'll definitely come onto me
like a hungry beast!
"What's wrong?"
From the corners of his eyes, Emmanuel noticed that something was
wrong with Mackenzie. In an instant, his curiosity was piqued. He wanted
to know the contents of the message.
"Don't you dare look over here!" Mackenzie threatened.
However, Emmanuel was not one of her obedient subordinates. He
argued, "Ms. Quillen, don't you think you're too much? That's my phone.
The message was sent to me. So why won't you let me read it?"
"I said no!"
Mackenzie wanted to delete the message. Unfortunately, she did not know
the password to Emmanuel's phone.
"Give me your password!"
Emmanuel chuckled. "Ms. Quillen, we're just a married couple in name.
Previously, you said I can still have my freedom after getting married.
What's going on now? Why do you want to check my phone?"
Mackenzie was at a loss. She had no choice but to try being unreasonable.
"Just give it to me. Why do you have to spout so much nonsense?"
"I can give it to you, but you must first let me check the message!"
Emmanuel pulled the car to the side of the road and held out his hand,
wanting to take back his phone.
He had no secrets. Mackenzie could check whatever she wanted after he
read the message.
Mackenzie furrowed her brows. She did not want to give him back his
phone.
"Ms. Quillen, you are invading my privacy right now." Emmanuel was
assertive.
Mackenzie gritted her teeth before she threw the phone at him.
Fortunately, Emmanuel was quick to respond. He swiftly grabbed the
phone. This woman looks standoffish, yet sometimes still acts like a wild
child.
He unlocked his phone and tapped on his messages. After reading
through the message, he could not help but burst into laughter.
"Don't you dare have funny thoughts! Let's go home!" Mackenzie said
angrily.
Emmanuel shrugged and put down his phone before driving back to
Yociam Residence.
Mackenzie did not speak a word to him as they traveled home. Once they
arrived, she speed-walked to the door and wanted to slam it shut to lock
Emmanuel outside.
However, Emmanuel was fast as he blocked the door from closing. Anger
was boiling within him as he could not help but retort, "You're being
ridiculous! It's your grandfather who sent the message! You're making it
seem as if I really want to pin you down and have my way with you. Have
you ever wondered how much effort it would need for me to be aroused
by your icy expression?"
Mackenzie retreated to her bedroom and did not come out for a long time.
Of course, Emmanuel would not go in to comfort her either. It was true that
their relationship had not progressed that far, and he did not do anything
wrong.
Ultimately, it was just a marriage in name. If Mackenzie did not kick him
out, all other matters were not a big deal.
The evening soon came, and Emmanuel went to the kitchen to prepare
dinner.
The moment he came out, he was greeted by the sight of Mackenzie
sitting on the couch in the living room. She was tapping her fingers
impatiently on the arm of the couch. There were some papers on the
glass table before her, and beside them sat a pen.
"Come here and sign this." Mackenzie beckoned him over.
"What is it?"