After Rebirth, I Accept The Arranged Marriage-Chapter 30: Who’s This Childish Person?

He didn’t think it was embarrassing to admit he rarely went to bars for fun. Perhaps the younger trust-fund kids found it uncool, too old-fashioned and boring, but to Victor Morgan, things like that really weren’t a big deal.

"Isn’t that perfectly normal?" The next evening, Jessie Sterling was at home, hugging a throw pillow. She’d gone down to Quincy Sterling’s room and was now lying on her bed, talking about it. Quincy, busy typing a work summary on her tablet, replied, "In his position, he’s the one who sets the trends. Why would he need to cater to those wet-behind-the-ears trust fund kids?"

Quincy said this without looking up. "That’s good."

Jessie: "...Is that the point? The point is he actually doesn’t get involved with all those questionable people out there..."

She had attended galas with Director Sterling before, and at events that the public might see as "high-class" and "elegant," she had witnessed some very unseemly things.

Dressed in expensive formalwear, both the men and women looked dignified and elegant. But beneath that "untouchable" veneer, some people were doing sordid things in the corners. Others were openly flirting as they clinked their glasses.

Morality seemed to have less of a grip on adults than it did on innocent, clueless children.

And the glamorous upper class could be filthier and more shameless than the lower class.

It wasn’t like Jessie hadn’t seen wealthy people have affairs. Both parties would have families and kids, yet they were even more brazen about it than ordinary people.

"That makes sense." Quincy finally finished her work summary and looked up. "He’s rich. A guy that focused on making so much money wouldn’t have time to waste on women, right? Wouldn’t that be a waste of his time?"

Jessie: "..."

’That... actually does seem to make some sense, doesn’t it?’

Quincy said, "But, when you get married, if my future brother-in-law is still such a workaholic, don’t you let him off the hook." Quincy walked over and playfully ruffled Jessie’s hair. "You’re our family’s princess, and you’ll still be a princess after you’re married, got it? He needs to make money, but he also needs to spend time with you."

Jessie immediately flew off the handle, shooting up from the bed. "Hey! How dare you touch my hair? And lecture me? Who’s the big sister here?! You little brat!"

Quincy, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and failed to dodge Jessie’s retaliatory hand, looked completely exasperated.

’Leave it to Jessie to focus on the important things,’ Quincy thought sarcastically. "Uh-huh, you are, you are."

The affection was real, and so was the condescension.

She felt there was absolutely no need to discuss who was the "big sister" in the family.

Even an outsider could tell at a glance, couldn’t they?

’This pampered sister of hers... besides being slightly older, in what way did she act like a proper big sister?’

After some playful roughhousing, Jessie was ready to head upstairs to bed.

Before she left, she added, "Oh, right! Your big sis sent you that profile pic. Don’t forget to change it."

Quincy: "..."

’Jessie’s competitive streak always surfaced in the weirdest ways,’ Quincy thought.

Completely oblivious to Quincy’s silent complaints, Jessie skipped upstairs cheerfully. She opened her photo gallery, looked at the profile picture she had made for Quincy, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Quincy had said she wanted one of Jessie’s little bear drawings for her profile picture, and Jessie had indeed sent her one—except it was part of a set of matching icons.

Quincy’s was a tiny little bear, while Jessie had just changed her own WeChat profile picture to—

A slightly bigger little bear.

"Now who could possibly mistake who the big sister is?" Jessie said gleefully to herself.

’One big and one small—the big one has to be the older sister!’

In her room, Quincy, having already changed her icon, refreshed WeChat. Just as she was about to message Jessie, the brand-spanking-new profile picture a certain someone had just updated popped up.

Quincy: "..."

’Oh, for heaven’s sake. Could she be any more childish?!’

「Two days later」

Jessie Sterling and Lynn Jennings boarded a plane to New York together.

They hitched a ride on Mr. Jennings’s private jet, took a nap, and arrived at their destination before they knew it.

Quincy had bought a high-rise apartment here back when she was studying abroad.

Since Jessie was in town for Fashion Week, she was staying at Quincy’s apartment in the city center for convenience.

Lynn Jennings followed her inside and immediately threw herself onto the sofa.

The moment she was through the door, Jessie pulled out her phone and started looking up the decent-sounding Chinese restaurants she had bookmarked for the trip.

"Why doesn’t your family get a new chef for the jet? Did they have to serve that bland white-people food? It was seriously awful," Jessie complained as she walked over to Lynn, plopped down, and immediately slumped against her.

Lynn Jennings replied, "Like I have any say in the matter? You think my family is like yours, where everyone has to listen to the ’young missy’? My oldest brother likes it, so what can I do?"

Jessie asked, "So what are your plans now?" After a moment, she didn’t wait for Lynn’s reply and just continued, "Weren’t you doing biopharmaceuticals? Why not find a research lab or something?"

Lynn was different from her. Though she looked like a total player, Lynn had been a model student her whole life, always getting scholarships and top-notch grades.

While studying abroad, Lynn had used the money for her tuition as spending money, since her yearly scholarships were enough to cover her school fees entirely.

Lynn let out a sound, "Eh, I’ll just have fun for a couple of years, then figure it out."

Jessie had just finished ordering takeout. She turned her head. "Is something bothering you?"

Other people might not have heard anything off about Lynn’s words, but Jessie had been inseparable from her since they were kids. Lynn loved to have fun, but she wasn’t like Jessie, who was perfectly content being "ambitionless."

Lynn raised a hand to cover her face, her voice turning muffled. "You see right through me... Missy, I think your little sister was right about something. You look kinda ditzy, but you’re always sharp when it’s least expected."

Jessie: "..."

"Don’t think you can bully me just because you’re in a bad mood!" she grumbled.

’What does she mean, "kinda ditzy"?’

’Just because she made "ditzy" sound cute doesn’t mean I don’t get that they’re both calling me dumb.’

"Yesterday, my mom brought up splitting the family inheritance," Lynn said. "You know I have two older brothers. The eldest is my dad’s son from his first marriage, and the second is my mom’s son from her previous one. Both she and my dad feel that the family business should go to those two."

It wasn’t that she—the youngest, and the only child with blood ties to both parents—was unimportant. It was just that in her parents’ minds, the deep-rooted idea that sons inherit the family business was simply a matter of course.

She was important, sure, but she just couldn’t compete.