Although Kimberly knew that there was no way Melvin would let her make such an announcement, she chose to bluff to see what he would say and do.
"We both know you can't do that…."
"Really? Why not? I've tried to be reasonable with you, but you have chosen to remain annoyingly unreasonable, so there is no reason for me to keep begging you when you are bent on making me mad," Kimberly said harshly.
"Making you mad? I can't believe you are mad right now. What right do you have to be mad at me after everything you've done?" Melvin asked, finding it overly annoying that she was mad because he was mad.
"You are so full of yourself. You think everything revolves around you, and you have no idea how infuriating it is!" Kimberly yelled while the housekeepers watched and listened from behind closed doors.
"And what do you mean by that?" Melvin asked angrily.
"You don't want to marry me? Fine! You don't want to live with me, that's okay too. You don't care about losing the mansion to charity. That's all good. But have you stopped for a moment to consider what will happen to everyone who works here if the house is given to charity? Why do you only think about yourself?" Kimberly asked, and Melvin snorted.
"Yeah. Like you care about them and are doing this for their sake, even if I lose this place, I can employ them to work for me or find them something to do elsewhere. So, don't come here pretending like you care," Melvin growled.
"It's stupid that you're willing to lose your mom's house and all the memories it holds just because you're mad at me. If you think about it, the house is large enough for us to live in without ever crossing paths. If you don't want to see me, I can move over to the left wing of the house, and you remain in the right wing with whoever you choose to get married to. We can live together, and at the end of the one year, you can pay me my half's worth," Kimberly explained.
"If you loved money so much, why didn't you just accept the shares and money she offered you three years ago? Or were you trying to play the innocent and naive girl as usual so she wouldn't see this calculating part of you?" Melvin asked, and Kimberly rolled her eyes.
"You should accept this while I'm being nice, or else I'm going to have to do that live video. If I'm going to lose out on the house, I'm going to make sure I cause enough problems for you, too," she threatened.
"Are you blackmailing me right now?" Melvin asked with a frown.
"Blackmail, purplemail, or whatever you call it, make up your mind. Tomorrow is the last day you have to move in here. Your bedroom is ready," Kimberly said, and Melvin stared at her in silence for some time as he considered it.
He had to admit that she was right, and his sense of judgment had been too clouded by his anger.
As much as he was mad at his mother and hated that she had left such strict clauses in her Will, he didn't want to lose the mansion.
It was bad enough that he might not get to see his brothers anymore now that their mother was gone. He couldn't afford to lose the memories in the house.
Melvin could see that Kimberly had thought everything through, and it pained him that he was going to let her use him again this way.
No, he wasn't letting her use him. He wasn't doing it for her. He reminded himself. He was doing it because he didn't want to lose the house. His brothers wouldn't like that he lost the house to charity just because of his anger towards Kimberly.
"Fine! I'm not going to get married to you, but we can live together. You stay in the left wing, and I will stay in the right wing. Let's not cross over to each other's…."
"Let's discuss the rest of the details over dinner," Kimberly said, and without waiting for him to argue, she walked away and headed for the dining with a triumphant smile on her face.
"I don't want to have dinner with you," Melvin said, but he followed her.
When he saw how the dining table had been organized with all his favorite meals, he reluctantly sat down since it had been a while since he had any meal at home.
"At the end of this arrangement, I will pay you your half of the money so you can disappear from my life," Melvin said, and Kimberly shrugged.
"Whatever you say, Melvin," she said with a sweet smile, which made him grit his teeth.
"You didn't win," he said, and she smiled.
"Yeah, I did. So, what are you going to do about our engagement? You realize you can't get married to someone else without first debunking the news, right? I wonder what you're going to do now that I've said I'm not going to marry you," She said with a sweet smile, and Melvin swore under his breath when he realized that she was right and he had not thought of that.
"I hate you," he said as he set down his cutlery, his appetite was lost.
"I can live with that," Kimberly said as she watched him walk away.
Melvin was both physically and emotionally exhausted after a hectic day at work and the argument he just had with Kimberly. He wasn't looking forward to driving for over an hour back to his hotel, so instead of leaving for the hotel, he took off his tie and headed for his bedroom.
Once he walked into his bedroom, he freshened up and changed into one of his pajamas before lying on the bed.
He wasn't going to think about Kimberly and how she had succeeded in placing him just where she wanted him to be.
He opened his bedside drawer to take out one of the earbuds he liked to keep at home for the times he spent the night there and raised a brow when he saw a ring inside the drawer.
He recognized the ring. It was the ring one of the housekeepers had asked him some months ago if it belonged to him.
Didn't he tell her it wasn't his? He mused as he picked it up. Perhaps it belonged to one of his brothers, and they had left it during their last visit? Maybe it belonged to Brad since he was the one who had a penchant for wearing stuff like that.
Without thinking too much about it, he slipped the ring on before taking out his earbud and blocking his ears.
He was just going to go to sleep and figure out how to handle Kimberly when he woke up. He decided as he shut his eyes.