Chapter 14 The Troublesome Reunion
While Maggie went downstairs to the grocery store, Fiorello had already lost a day's work. His assistant had called him several times, and he had a few documents to review and approve.
Retreating to the study, Fiorello was caught up in pressing business matters and called a video conference with several senior executives.
By the time Fiorello was finished, an hour had passed. He stepped out of the study to find two home-cooked dishes on the dining table, with Maggie still bustling around in the kitchen.
Watching Maggie bustling around the kitchen and the steam rising from the hot meal, Fiorello felt that life had gained a touch of homey warmth.
The life of an average married couple was pretty much like that: the wife taking care of the housework, cooking, keeping everything in order, while the husband worked outside to provide for the family. They each had their own responsibilities.
"You're done," Maggie said with a smile as she brought over a bowl of soup. "Time to eat, you must be hungry."
Maggie had just returned from grocery shopping and, hearing Fiorello in his study on a video conference, she hadn't disturbed him.
Working for such a busy public company, he must be quite occupied. He had spent the day with her, and this made her feel a bit guilty.
Fiorello looked at the well-balanced meal on the table—a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and the soup—and remarked, "You've got some impressive cooking skills."
"Your job must keep you busy. From now on, I’ll take care of the cooking. Do you need to bring lunch with you? I can prepare it in the morning, and you can take it to the office," Maggie suggested. "I see a lot of people bring their lunch to work. It's clean, healthy, and saves money."
Fiorello didn't want Maggie to work so hard and replied, "Don't worry about it. The company has a cafeteria, and we don’t pay for meals there."
"I see," Maggie nodded, then took out the bank card Fiorello had given her earlier. "Here, take this back. It's your money. You should keep it."
In front of Arya, Maggie hadn't wanted to reject Fiorello's gesture and had temporarily accepted it.
The money was all earned through Fiorello's hard work, and since they had only recently met, she didn't feel right using it.
Fiorello hadn't expected Maggie to return the card to him. "That's for our joint fund. We’ll have a lot of expenses, and you just bought a car, so you probably don't have much left. It’s only natural for a husband to provide for his family. Keep the card. We need money for groceries and household items. From now on, my salary will be deposited into this account."
Maggie truly didn't have much money on her, but she wasn't accustomed to spending a man's money either.
"Then I’ll keep track of our expenses. I've downloaded a budgeting app, so we can see clearly where every penny goes. We agreed to go Dutch, remember? Whatever we spend in a month, I'll pay half. Then I'll deduct the other half from this card," Maggie said, sticking to her principles about a shared financial lifestyle, which they had previously agreed on.
Fiorello, resigned, simply said, "As you wish."
Only living by splitting the expenses could ease the psychological burden for Maggie.
Feeling more secure, Maggie asked, "So, how much is the rent for this place per month?"
Fiorello wasn't exactly sure, but he estimated based on the market, "About five thousand per month."
Renting a three-bedroom apartment in the capital for just over five thousand a month was indeed a steal.
Maggie nodded, "Then I'll take care of two thousand of it."
Paying half, she feared she might end up out in the cold, it seemed she needed to increase her income.
Fiorello frowned, looking at Maggie, "Maggie, I'm not marrying a wife to share the burden, nor do I want to add financial pressure on you after we're married. I earn more than you do, so let me handle the rent. You don't need to worry about it."
This time, Fiorello stood his ground. This girl was really too particular about everything being split. In a month's salary, if she had to pay her share of the rent and the living expenses, what would be left?
Fiorello spoke firmly, and before Maggie could say anything else, he added, "Maggie, marriage requires effort, not pettiness. There's no fair line when it comes to dividing responsibilities. Just like when you get pregnant, I can't share the hardship of the pregnancy with you."
The thought of pregnancy—
This was the second time today Maggie had heard this, stirring an indescribable feeling within her.
"Okay, fine," Maggie conceded, noticing Fiorello's irritation, and didn't say more. "Let's eat."
Maggie's cooking skills weren't chef-level, but they were pretty good. Fiorello had two bowls of rice, and the two cleaned up both dishes they had.
Staring at the empty plates, Maggie muttered, "I need to cook more next time."
Fiorello stood up to collect the dishes.
"I can do it," Maggie offered.
"I got it," Fiorello said, carrying the dishes. "You said it, we split expenses. You cook, I clean. It's only fair."
The economy was split, and so should the housework.
Maggie thought about not having contributed to the purchase of the house and felt like she was living there for free, which made her want to do more work.
Yet, she also worried that keeping such precise tabs might hurt Fiorello's pride.
In the end, Fiorello ended up washing the dishes, while Maggie sneakily glanced at him wearing an apron and scrubbing away at the sink. She had to admit, a man doing household chores added quite a bit of appeal.
She realized that living with Fiorello wasn't as bad as she thought it might be.
If the employees at Visionary Futures Group and the elite of high society could see the powerful head of the Flores family, a man who could create financial storms with a stamp of his foot, living in such a small house and washing dishes, they would surely be shocked.
Maggie’s gaze returned to the room just as her phone rang. It was Dulcinea Quixote calling.
Stepping out to the balcony to answer, Maggie said, "Dulce, what's up?"
"There's a class reunion on Friday. Mr. Lee is going too. He just called and asked about you. It sounded like he wants to see you."
Maggie frowned at the thought. Mr. Lee had been her favorite teacher in high school, a true mentor. If her mentor wanted to see her, there was no way she could skip the reunion.
However, going meant she would run into Samwise.
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