Dakota polished off the entire bowl of grilled lobster tail.
She had indeed stopped crying, her bandaged left index finger sticking out comically.
Curtis ate the leftover dishes beside her.
Though he appeared aloof and lazy, he would occasionally lift his eyes to glance at Dakota, his gaze quickly sweeping across her face whenever she wasn't paying attention.
Seeing the redness around her eyes gradually fade, his heart began to settle.
He didn't even realize it himself.
Ever since their marriage registration, especially after Dakota kissed him drunk for the second time, his unconscious concern for her had surpassed their previous antagonistic dynamic.
Once Dakota was full, she put down her fork.
Curtis almost immediately looked up at her, "Are you full? Is there anything else you want to eat?"
But right after asking, he wished he could slap himself, berating himself internally while also dreading that Dakota would ask him to prepare a hundred crab feast.
Of course, crabs being considered trigger foods, Curtis had a reason to forbid her from eating them, thus avoiding the ordeal.
Fortunately, Dakota looked up at him with a light-hearted hum, "Do you think I'm a pig to eat so much in one sitting?"
Fine.
This haughty attitude meant her spirit was revived.
Curtis raised an eyebrow, casually putting down his leg and asking, "Shall I take you home?"
He lazily turned his head to look at Dakota.
His expression even had a hint of smug arrogance, as if saying, "See how well I know you."
Curtis thought this was just his routine question, possibly earning him a "You finally understand" from Dakota, given that she previously never wanted to stay in their wedding house.
But unexpectedly, Dakota glared at him with round eyes and started firing accusations like a machine gun—
"???"
"Curtis, how could you be so heartless!"
"It's already past eleven, and you're actually trying to kick me out of here."
"This isn't my home too? Are you hiding a mistress in our wedding house and afraid I'll find out?"
"Wow—"
"How did I not realize you were this kind of person before?"
"Curtis! Although we don't have much of a relationship, I absolutely cannot accept divorce or infidelity!"
Curtis: "..."
He calmly watched Dakota's mouth moving rapidly, her aggressive posture showing no sign of the hurt from cutting her finger and being stood up by her mom.
Curtis didn't interrupt.
He thought Dakota needed to vent, so he sat there with his legs crossed, listening—
Not really listening,
The words went in one ear and out the other.
But in the end, he heard Dakota's concluding statement and her bold question, "Do you have anything to say?"
"Which room are you sleeping in—the guest bedroom or the master bedroom?"
"The master bedroom."
Dakota replied without hesitation.
But right after she spoke, she realized that Curtis had steered her off course and hadn't answered her previous question about whether he had a mistress.
Curtis grunted and got up after putting down his legs, "I haven't been staying in the master bedroom these days, but I've had the cleaner come regularly. Go upstairs to shower and sleep."
Her unreasonable tantrum contrasted sharply with his calmness, leaving Dakota almost unable to react.
She was stunned for a while, "Are you that considerate? Keeping the master bedroom empty for me to come and sleep in?"
Curtis: "..."
He had just gotten up leisurely, planning to go upstairs, but hearing Dakota's words, he suddenly paused and turned to look at her with a complicated expression.
"Kota."
"What?"
"I hope you have self-awareness."
Curtis's jaw was tight, as if he was barely holding onto his last bit of patience, "You decorated the master bedroom pink. No man with a normal sexual orientation likes sleeping alone in a room filled with dolls!"
Dakota: "..."
She was silent for two seconds before reluctantly opening her mouth to say, "Oh."
Then she proudly smoothed her hair, "Well, anyway, it was designed for me."
Two more seconds passed.
Dakota added quickly, "Besides, we're just a fake couple. You're not going to come sleep with me anyway."
Curtis: "..."
His jaw twitched slightly, but instead of looking like he was about to punch someone, it just conveyed a sense of suppressed frustration—a quality rarely seen in him.
After all, he was used to being wild and unrestrained, but he didn't expect to be so tightly controlled by Dakota now.
"Go take a shower and sleep!"
Before Curtis could finish speaking, Dakota had turned around and run off in her slippers, tap-tap-tapping away.
And he was left rubbing his aching head.
Damn.
Almost fell for her trick again.
……
Dakota's moods were always fleeting.
After all, she had been used to being stood up by Greta since childhood. If she dwelled in sadness every time, she probably wouldn't be as happy now and would have become sad long ago.
She bounced back pretty quickly this time.
There was an auction she liked that came to J City, and she rushed over and spent one hundred million.
Lailah: ??? "..."
She looked at Dakota with disbelief, "Kota, did you win the lottery?"
What lottery pays out three hundred million these days?
"No way." Dakota lifted her chin proudly, signing the bills swiftly and instructing the auction manager to send everything to her address.
Then she turned to Lailah, holding up five fingers, one of which was still wrapped in white bandages, "I just happen to have two hundred million!"
"Where did it come from? While no one has more pocket money than your mom gives, it doesn't seem like it should be this much!"
"And—"
Lailah looked at the single piece of jewelry Dakota had taken with her, "Why did a single, commitment-phobic dog like you spend nearly two hundred million on a diamond ring?!"
She didn't dare to recall how thrilling the auction was.
Dakota had snatched this diamond ring from Tyrese Craig, the young master of the Craig family. She heard that he was about to get engaged to Aylin Fletcher, the most beautiful classical dancer, and had skipped work specifically to bid on this ring, only for Dakota to snatch it away.
Tyrese had intended to keep bidding.
But then he took a call, and whoever it was must have said something because he eventually let Dakota have it.
"Who doesn't like pretty things?"
Dakota dodged the question, "Besides, why make it easy for Tyrese? Let him marry Miss Fletcher so easily?"
Lailah: "..."
It sounds reasonable, but somehow it feels a bit suspicious.
"Kota."
"Don't call me that."
Dakota really hated that nickname, which wasn't given by her parents but came from a playful dig in J City—
"Kota and Curtis, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Kota and Curtis, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Now, it was just a running joke, with everyone teasing that she and Curtis were practically a match made in heaven.
But Lailah didn't bother with the details right now, "Kota, I have a bold guess."
Dakota's expression turned astonished.
Lailah suddenly leaned in close, staring at her, "Did Ms. Greta arrange a family marriage for you?"
"Is this three hundred million a wedding gift from your arranged marriage partner? And you bought an engagement ring along the way?"
