After Rebirth, I Accept The Arranged Marriage-Chapter 24: Does She Have No Appeal to Victor Morgan?

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Does She Have No Appeal to Victor Morgan?

That evening, Marla’s personal account gained quite a few followers.

Everyone was still in the midst of a heated discussion in the afternoon’s post about the gorgeous couple at the courtyard house. But suddenly, when they refreshed the page, the post had vanished.

As netizens flocked to Marla’s homepage, a new post with an image and caption appeared ten minutes later.

[StrawberryLoverYY: My bad, *cough cough*. Someone from up high contacted me and had me delete the photos and text. Let’s all just be in the know, okay? Better not to discuss it online. After all, they’re private citizens and probably don’t want to be all over the internet. But—and this is the important part—I heard the guy and girl said they don’t mind if we visit their front gate to take pictures! So for all my ladies who still want to photograph that wall of flowers, go for it!]

The post immediately set things off, like a drop of water hitting a pan of hot oil.

"Okay, lips sealed, we’re not supposed to talk about it... but I think I already know who it is!"

"That tycoon is surprisingly cool, letting us go take pictures. I’m going tomorrow!"

"I’m curious about the girl, though. I, uh, just checked Wikipedia and everything, but I didn’t see any mention of his family having a daughter."

"I feel like I witnessed something crazy online tonight. Wow, you learn something new every day."

"You should be more careful, OP. You actually got lucky this time. Taking candid photos of people and posting them online... if they were some rich person with nothing better to do, you’d be getting a summons from the court tomorrow."

As soon as Victor Morgan got back to his apartment and opened the door, his phone chimed.

It was a report from Keegan Sanders about the aftermath of the candid photos taken of him and Jessie Sterling. Victor Morgan gave it a quick scan before setting his phone down.

Naturally, the bathroom in the penthouse duplex was incredibly luxurious. It even boasted a full view of the city at night.

Beneath the spray of the shower, the man’s form was all broad shoulders and narrow waist. The muscles of his back were clearly defined—not thick, bulging masses, but a sleek layer of lean muscle with smooth lines that didn’t look overly bulky. Water beaded on his full chest, then slid down over his taut abdomen, tracing the distinct contours of his muscles before splashing onto the floor.

As Victor Morgan reached for his usual body wash, his mind suddenly flashed back to his fiancée stepping out of the bathroom at Sixi Courtyard.

The memory seemed to carry with it the scent of that moment, catching in his throat.

Victor Morgan tilted his head back, letting the rushing water splash against his face and cascade over his sharp Adam’s apple.

A few ragged breaths echoed in the bathroom.

Jessie Sterling was woken by the sound of chirping birds.

She opened her eyes to find it was already bright daylight outside.

Before even sitting up, she reached for her phone on the nightstand.

She had several messages, but the first one she saw was from Victor Morgan, sent around 6:30 that morning.

[Victor Morgan: I’ve arranged for the housekeeper and chef to come over this morning. When you wake up, you can head straight to the dining room to eat.]

[Victor Morgan: If you want to go out this morning, just let the housekeeper know, and she’ll make the arrangements. I’ll be back to pick you up for lunch. Think about where you might want to go this afternoon, and I’ll take you after we eat.]

Hugging her blanket, Jessie Sterling read Victor Morgan’s messages. For some reason, she could perfectly imagine him speaking those words right beside her ear. She couldn’t help but roll over a couple of times in bed, tangling her long, smooth hair into a mess.

When she remembered how Victor Morgan had actually waited until she fell asleep before leaving last night, Jessie felt a heat rise to her cheeks that she couldn’t control.

Just then, a new message from Lynn Jennings popped up.

[Lynn Jennings: Babe, how’s Aethelburg? How’s the new place? And what about that husband of yours?]

Jessie deliberately ignored the teasing use of the word "husband" as her fingers flew across the screen.

[Jessie Sterling: Everything’s fine.]

[Lynn Jennings: Everything’s fine? Your husband’s fine too? Sounds like you’re pretty happy with him?]

[Jessie Sterling: Don’t call him that!]

[Lynn Jennings: ...Missy, you two are about to be legally married and sleeping in the same bed. Besides, why such a strong reaction? Did he do something to you?]

[Jessie Sterling: ...Of course not! Our relationship is completely innocent! He just watched over me while I slept!]

After vehemently typing out her rebuttal, Jessie belatedly realized she had probably revealed too much. She quickly deleted the last message.

However, retracting the message just made things more conspicuous.

[Lynn Jennings: !!! Watched you sleep?! You guys are moving that fast? You’re already sleeping together?!]

Jessie’s face felt like it was on fire.

[Jessie Sterling: No! I was sleeping, and he was watching over me!]

[Lynn Jennings: ? Is your husband a monk or something? He just watches you sleep? And does nothing?]

Before Jessie could even reply, another message from Lynn popped up.

[Lynn Jennings: He’s not a monk, he’s a ninja! How can he be in the same room with you and manage to do nothing? Is there something wrong with him? I heard that after twenty-five, a man’s ’hardware’ starts to fail. Babe, why don’t you... you know, take him for a test drive before the wedding? If he can’t perform, we can make a run for it. A lifetime of sexual satisfaction is definitely more important than a lifetime of plain old happiness.]

The next moment, Jessie slapped her phone face down onto the bed.

She covered her face and groaned.

’It’s all Lynn’s fault! How could she say things like that at a time like this!’

Her phone chimed twice more. DING! DING!

With her face still buried in the soft duvet, Jessie picked her phone back up, feeling as if all hope was lost.

She’d assumed it was Lynn sending more outrageous texts, but when she looked at the screen, she was surprised to see it was a message from Victor Morgan.

[Victor Morgan: Are you up yet? Remember to eat breakfast once you are.]

It was a perfectly normal question, but at that moment, all Jessie could hear in her head was Lynn’s devilish voice echoing—

’Is there something wrong with him?’

’I heard men start to lose it after twenty-five.’

’Take him for a test drive?’

’Test drive?! What test drive!?’

Jessie let out a cry and burritoed herself in the blankets again.

’It was all Lynn’s fault. That woman was a menace, bombarding her with such shameless talk first thing in the morning. She felt like she could never face Victor Morgan now.’

’Thinking back to last night, Jessie had no idea what had possessed her. Or maybe she’d just been influenced by Lynn.’

Sitting up in bed, Jessie cautiously glanced around. After confirming the curtains were drawn and no one could see, she looked down and pulled open the collar of her pajamas... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

’Was she really that unattractive to Victor Morgan?’