But after all, someone was sponsoring the game, and it seemed that Emily's luck had improved a bit. Indeed, she started to win more often.
Jonathan and his wife didn't notice anything suspicious about Emily this time, even though James was playing cards that allowed Emily to win. It seemed perfectly normal.
After playing for over three hours, Emily had won more than two thousand dollars, which made her quite proud. Unfortunately, more than half of her winnings came from James, who had been deliberately feeding her cards, leaving his own game a complete mess. He had barely won three rounds. No wonder he lost.
James himself didn't have much money. If Gina hadn't given him three thousand dollars beforehand, he would have been broke by now. But having lost over a thousand dollars and after buying a set of clothes for Emily, he didn't have much left.
"We'll play again tonight. I need to go chop the filling now," Emily's mother said as she stood up from the card table. It was New Year's Eve, and they had to eat dumplings. She didn't like buying frozen ones from the store, so she had to prepare everything herself.
At this point, Emily was also satisfied, stuffing the money into her pocket and trotting away cheerfully.
James was finally in charge of his own foot again. During this time, his foot had really taken advantage of the situation. Now it was time for a break.
In Gina's bedroom, after closing the door, Gina removed the computer from her lap and said, "You lost quite a bit, huh?"
"Yes, I'm not good at this game."
"Here." Gina pulled a stack of money from under the pillow and handed it to James.
"What's this for?" James looked at Gina, puzzled.
"The losses are on me. You're keeping my parents entertained, making them happy," Gina said with a gentle smile. She didn't like playing Mahjong herself, but she wanted her parents to feel joyful. Having James play with her parents made her quite content.
"Well, I won't be shy then, otherwise, if we play again later, I'll end up without any money to bet."
"Hmm, you did well," Gina praised.
"Brother-in-law, brother-in-law!" Emily's voice came from outside.
"Quick, put the money away," Gina hurriedly urged James.
James quickly hid the money just as Emily burst through the door. Seeing one of them sitting on the bed and the other standing beside it, she giggled and said, "Didn't mean to interrupt anything good, did I?"
"What good thing? What do you want?"
"Brother-in-law, come help me out," Emily winked.
"Sure!" James cheerfully agreed, following Emily to her room.
Once inside, Emily closed the door behind them and locked it. She then gave James a big thumbs-up and said, "Brother-in-law, you're so cool."
After playing a fierce game of ghost with Emily, James found their interaction quite casual. Laughing, he said, "Still, you almost rubbed the skin off my foot."
"Hehe, come on, let's split the booty." Emily jumped onto the bed, crossed her legs, and started pulling out all the money.
Emily's room was not as simple as Gina's. Decorations hung everywhere—above the bed, in front of the window—and there was a sizable stuffed toy on the bed, showing that Emily still had a bit of a childish side. Despite the sisters being around the same age, they were quite different.
Sitting casually by the bed, James chuckled and said, "No need."
"What do you mean, no need? You don't have any money, and besides, you were deliberately playing for me to win, and since you couldn't win yourself, of course, we should split it. Oh, by the way, did you just go to my sister's place? Did she reimburse you?"
"You guessed right," laughed James.
"Hehe, then I won't share with you, consider it as me winning from my sister." Emily nonchalantly took back the money.
Staring at James in surprise, Emily then pursed her lips and smiled, "Tell me, brother-in-law, are you really my sister's boyfriend?"
James smiled and countered, "Do you think I'm a fake?"
"Yes, you are definitely a fake," Emily answered confidently.
"Why?" James sat down.
"Why? Because my sister is so proud. How could she find a boyfriend that easily? And with her personality, she would definitely want someone stronger than her. I don't believe your story that a security guard could have anything to do with her. I won't believe it."
"Love is often blind."
"Pfft, I believe love is blind, but it requires true love from both sides, and every action should reflect affection. When I look at you two together, all I see are pretenses. My sister doesn't have a single bit of love in her eyes when she looks at you, and you don't have that kind of affection when you look at her either, so you're definitely an imposter."
"And you think, with my sister's personality, she would let an imposter boyfriend sleep in the same room with her?"
"This…" Emily was at a loss for words.
"Hehe, you're partly right. Although the relationship between your sister and me hasn't reached that fiery stage of dying love, we are indeed together, and we're both trying to adapt to each other. Maybe in a little while, you'll be able to see what you want to see."
"Really?" Emily's eyes clearly spelled "doubt."
"You can see for yourself." James grinned smugly and left Emily's room.
Emily swung her fist in the air confidently and declared, "Humph, I will certainly expose you both. Sis, you think you can deceive me? Not a chance."