Chapter 8 I Am The Son Of A Rich Man

• Mariette had already forgotten how she got home that night. The events today had too much of an impact on her. This state of turmoil would probably continue even after she reached home.
• Could it be that Finley had been telling the truth? Were the gifts really from him? A multi-million sports car and those expensive jewelry. Were they given by Finley? But Finley was just a poor live-in son-in-law. Where did he get all that money? Or perhaps, Finley had only been pretending to be poor all these years? He was not really from a poor family, but a rich one? He was truly the son of a rich man?
• These thoughts sent Mariette into a state of confusion. There were too many questions that she wanted to ask Finley.
• “Mariette, you are back. Come have dinner.”
• When Lily saw Mariette standing outside the door, she greeted her daughter with a smile.
• Although Lily had also suffered humiliation today, she was still Mariette’s mother. She understood that the grievance her daughter had suffered was even greater than hers. So she didn’t place any further blame on Mariette.
• “What? You piece of trash. Who said you could come home? You were afraid of getting embarrassed so you ran away during the party. You left your wife there. Can you still call yourself a man? It was Mariette’s misfortune to marry a man like you! Get lost!”
• When she saw Finley standing behind Mariette, Lily lost control of her emotions. The grievance she had endured earlier at the hands of her relatives was all unleashed at that moment.
• But Finley had already gotten used to this. After all, he had been living the life of a live-in son-in-law for the past three years. It was normal for his mother-in-law to scold him.
• “Mom, stop yelling. No matter how bad he is, he’s still your son-in-law and your daughter’s husband. Can’t you give us a little respect?” Mariette yelled unhappily at her mother. She was already fed up with the constant scoldings.
• Then, she grabbed hold of Finley and whispered, “Come with me to my bedroom.”
• Finley was stunned. For the past three years, Mariette had never let him enter her bedroom. But that day…
• “I told you to come to my bedroom. Didn’t you hear? Don’t you want to come in?” Mariette repeated her invitation.
• Finley was suddenly struck with joy. “Okay!”
• “Bring the blanket with you. Don’t sleep in the study anymore.” Mariette’s next words caused Finley to be completely overwhelmed with happiness.
• Could it be? Am I going to get lucky?
• Under the influence of euphoria, Finley returned to his room for the blanket and carried it to Mariette’s bedroom.
• “Mariette, what’re you doing? Are you crazy? You’re going to let that useless piece of trash into your bedroom and sleep with him? Have you gone insane? You don’t want to get married anymore?”
• Lily started panicking when she heard Mariette’s invitation.
• For the past three years, Lily had been pestering Mariette to divorce Finley and find a better husband. After all, Mariette was extremely beautiful and she was still a virgin despite her marriage to Finley. With qualifications like that, it should be easy enough to find herself a rich husband. But if she went and had sexual relations with Finley, it wouldn’t be easy to find another man to take care of her. If that were to happen, our family would never be able to make a comeback.
• Therefore, Lily was opposed to Mariette sleeping together with Finley.
• “Mom, let me say this again. No matter how bad Finley is, he’s still my husband. It’s normal for a wife to sleep with her husband. And since I am already a married woman, I don’t have to get married again.”
• With a bang, Yvonne shut the bedroom door in her parents’ faces.
• “Mad. She’s mad. Come look at your daughter. I am p*ssed. She doesn’t even care about her reputation!”
• Outside the bedroom, Lily’s angry rants could be heard.
• Inside the bedroom, Finley’s heart was beating furiously as he looked at his exquisite wife.
• Finley had no complaints about his wife.
• Her looks and figure were both outstanding.
• Back in the day, Mariette’s beauty was renowned throughout Yannopolis. It was said that the threshold of the Quinn family’s house was flattened by the large number of suitors who had come to ask for her hand in marriage. If Mariette’s family had not committed the serious mistake later on and received punishment from the family head, a down-on-his-luck guy like Finley would never have gotten the chance to marry her.
• In the room, the faint scent of roses lingered in the air.
• Mariette had already composed herself and she stared at Finley as she asked, “Tell me about that car. Be honest. Why were your prints recorded in the system?”
• “No, it’s not just my prints. Yours are in the system too. And I’ve already told you. The betrothal gifts are for you. It’s only natural that both our prints are recorded in the car’s system,” Finley answered with a smile. He was going to come clean and tell her that he was, in fact, the son of a rich man. But due to some circumstances, he was at rock bottom. And he was just recently reunited with his father. To ease his guilt, his father had prepared and sent the betrothal gifts.
• But before he could even speak, Mariette smiled and said, “Is that right? Are you going to tell me that you are actually the son of a rich man? And you were only pretending to be poor before? And then your family found you. And to make up to you, they sent all the betrothal gifts. Not only that, but they are also going to take you home and have you become the heir to the family fortune?”
• “Whoa. How did you know, Mariette? Did my father tell you? Actually, I didn’t want to keep you in the dark, but…” Finley felt a little guilty.
• “Finley, that’s enough! Have you been binging on novels? Do you think I am as gullible as a three-year-old? If you really want me to be happy, you should make something of yourself. Show me results. Become a man I can be proud of. Stop daydreaming and making up lies to trick me!”
• Mariette’s eyes had turned slightly red. She really disliked this side of Finley.
• She didn’t look down on Finley because he was poor or because he was unsuccessful. She was angry with Finley because he was ignorant despite being poor and he was unmotivated despite being unsuccessful.
• Mariette did not know how Finley had activated the sports car but, no matter what, she would never believe that the car was actually his. As for Finley’s claim of being a rich man’s son, she simply found that to be ludicrous. The kind of ridiculous scenarios that could only be found in TV shows would never happen in real life.
• Finley stayed quiet for a long while. Then he lifted his head, looked at Mariette, and said, “Mariette, I will prove myself. I will make you proud of me. You will never have to suffer humiliation again.”
• He turned around, picked up his blanket, and prepared to leave the bedroom.
• As she looked at the lonely figure in front of her, Mariette felt a stab of pain in her heart. Perhaps, her words had been too forceful and she had hurt his feelings.
• Under the influence of a guilty conscience, Mariette called out unconsciously. “Finley… Tonight, you may sleep here.”
• Mariette assumed that Finley would reject her with a manly grunt, to defend the inviolability of his manly pride. But, contrary to her expectations, Finley accepted her invitation right away. It was as if the firmness and solemnity he had displayed earlier were lies. He smiled cheekily, covered himself with the blanket, and jumped on Mariette’s bed.
• “Darling, I knew it. You do want to sleep with me!”
• “Go away!” Mariette was taken aback. To think that she had let herself be moved by Finley’s words and to think that she had actually felt guilty because she thought that she had hurt his feelings earlier.
• But looking at him, she realized that she had overestimated him.
• “You cheap b*stard, get away from me. Get lost! You can sleep on the floor.”
• Mariette’s screams of embarrassment could be heard coming from her bedroom.
• Finley’s first night with his wife did not go as he had wanted it to. Nothing sexual happened but Finley was not disappointed. As far as he was concerned, just sleeping together with Mariette in the same room could already be considered a breakthrough in their relationship.
• We have already shared the same room. Soon we shall share the same bed as well. Finley consoled himself with this bit of optimism.
• The night passed quickly.
• The next morning, Mariette left for work right after breakfast.
• As for Finley, he was sleeping when a phone call woke him up.
• “Looks like the phone call I’ve been expecting is finally here.” Finley smiled and tapped the “Answer” icon on his phone.