CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: HE IS A GENTLEMAN

"I really hate myself." John Green hugged her again, his right hand stroking her hair, over and over, "Mia, I’m sorry."

Mia Townsend’s tears soaked his clothes, "Never leave me alone again..."

Her cries seeped into his heart, twisting it with pain, "I won’t, I promise you."

...

Mia Townsend went home with him.

The house, with its elegant decor, lacked the warmth of life.

As soon as the door closed, he picked her up horizontally and strode towards the master bedroom.

A blush rose on Mia Townsend’s face, she knew what he wanted to do.

But she did not refuse.

She couldn’t remember when she fell asleep, only that John Green continued for a long, long time, as if to make up for the debts of the past eight years.

When she woke up in the morning, he was no longer by her side.

She put on her clothes, heard movements outside, and went to check. She saw him setting breakfast on the table. Seeing her standing dumbly at the door, he urged, "Go freshen up and eat."

She nodded, sweetness filling her heart, and went to freshen up.

"Tell me about your life abroad."

"Want to know?" He smiled, "Then I’ll tell you."

Through their breakfast conversation, she learned about his situation abroad, and she couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride; this was her man, truly excellent.

"Did you really not date anyone or find any woman to relieve your needs while abroad?"

"No." He lifted his eyes, gaze intense, "Didn’t want to."

"Why did you stay away for so long?"

"Didn’t want to."

"Why didn’t you want to?"

"Afraid I couldn’t help but find you. But things still turned out the same. I found out you attempted suicide twice due to depression. I went to your house but couldn’t enter, later paid to bribe villagers to gather news about you, asking them to report to me if they met you, but for months there was no trace."

"I went to participate in a life-and-death trial club."

John Green was stunned for two seconds, then his eyes widened, as if something stuck in his throat, "You..."

"We were trained for four months. On the day of life-and-death decisions, there were many large beasts that had been starved for a long time and were injected with stimulants. We were two males and two females, only allowed a knife to fight those beasts. A male team member, Sebastian Johnson, unfortunately died. If it weren’t for Lucy Eaton risking her life to save us, I’m afraid Robert Langley and I wouldn’t have been able to escape either. She single-handedly protected the two of us."

"So that’s why when I saw you, you were injured because of this?"

"Yes." She took a deep breath, "It was my parents who forced me to go. I planned to give them the entire million dollars as a reward afterwards. I also plan to move my residence registration out and decided not to contact them again. As the old saying goes, ’Surviving a great disaster will bring fortune,’ and now I’m with you again."

John Green felt a deep ache for her, "Such a foolish woman."

Mia Townsend didn’t deny it, and just as she was drinking porridge, she suddenly shivered, "Did you not use protection last night?"

"No."

"What if I get pregnant? No way, I need to go to the pharmacy to buy emergency contraception later."

"If you get pregnant, let’s have the baby." He remained calm, "We’ll raise it together. I’m always ready to marry you."

Mia Townsend looked at him, stunned for a moment, "Marry? Will your family allow it?"

"They can’t control me now. As long as you want, we can register for marriage right now."

"It’s too fast," Mia Townsend couldn’t help but say, "Give me some time to adapt to your presence, because it feels so much like a dream, so unreal."

He smiled gently, "Okay, let’s talk about it after some time."

Mia Townsend nodded, her mind involuntarily imagining what their child would look like.

——

Early in the morning, there were two pieces of news in the morning paper that caught Lucy Eaton’s attention.

The first was that all members of the life-and-death trial club had been arrested, causing a big commotion.

Lucy’s first reaction was to ask if it was Jacob Green who did it, to which he solemnly replied, "Maintaining social peace and stability is everyone’s responsibility. From now on, report anyone you find, never sit idly by and tolerate these scum."

The second piece was about rumors.

About her and Charles Sharp.

The media didn’t mention Charles Sharp and Ivy Fern, perhaps unaware, but they captured scenes of her and Charles parting at the door, concluding she was his current girlfriend.

Seeing the photos in the morning paper, Jacob Green uncharacteristically smiled, "So considerate, even draped a coat over you."

"He’s very gentlemanly." Lucy Eaton summarized with four words.

Jacob Green didn’t press further; at that moment, his confidence was unmatched.

"The civil affairs bureau staff will come to the house later."

"Come to the house?" She was surprised, "Don’t we need to go in person to get the marriage certificate?"

"No need, as long as we record videos of us filling out the marriage information and presenting our household registration and ID cards, proving it’s us submitting the marriage application."

Is that even possible?

Indeed, except for the staff of the civil affairs bureau, no one knew they got married.

As he said, within less than half an hour, two male staff members from the civil affairs bureau arrived.

One was there to record a video, and the other handed them forms to fill out.

After taking a one-inch photo with a red background and thoroughly documenting the information and IDs, the two staff members left, along with Nathaniel Green who went to collect the certificates.

Around nine o’clock, Nathaniel Green returned.

Holding two red booklets, he handed one to each of them, "Congratulations to the young master and young madam on your marriage, wishing you a happy newlywed life."

Lucy Eaton looked down at the document, and magically, the serial number on the document was exactly the same as in the previous life.

Why did she remember it so clearly? Simply because she had looked at that red booklet over and over again.

It felt like fate.

"Hello, Mr. Green, welcome to becoming my husband."

Jacob Green looked at her, "Hello, Mrs. Green, welcome to becoming my wife."

They exchanged a smile.

——

At noon, Lucy Eaton brought lunch to the hospital and saw that Mia Townsend was not wearing a hospital gown. She handed her the lunch box and asked, "Are you going out this afternoon?"

"I ran into someone from our village at the hospital this morning. He told me that my parents are looking for me everywhere, saying if they can’t find me, they’ll call the police. They probably fear I might keep the million all to myself, right? I can’t just not send the money back to them, can I?"