Savannah ate the peanuts I shelled for her. She wasn't really in the mood, but she still forced herself to chat with me. "Why did you pick hot dogs?"

"Right after the SAT a few years back, I went out to sell toys. The stall next to me was selling hot dogs, and they made more in one month than I made in six," I explained.

She lowered her head and asked absent-mindedly, "You didn't go to college after the SAT?"

I went quiet.

It took a while before she realized the shift in me. When she finally looked up, she saw the despondent look on my face.

"My family… doesn't need two college graduates," I murmured. That one sentence said more than a million.

Savannah grew even more upset. She walked over and wrapped her arms around me, pressing her cheek against my chest. "Chase, if I never pay off that debt for the rest of my life… maybe we should just split up…"

I panicked, then pushed her away and grabbed her wrist. "Savannah, are you dumping me?"

She shook her head hard, then sighed. "No, I just… I don't want you suffering with me for the rest of your life."

I cut her off, "I don't feel like I'm suffering. Marrying you is the best decision I've made in these 20 or so years I've lived."

Her eyes grew even redder, and I saw nothing but myself in them.

The comments exploded.

[Don't lose hope! You're the female lead! Your grandfather will be here to take you home tomorrow!]

[The Reed family will give you 500 million dollars in compensation, and that's not even counting the hundreds of billions of dollars you'll inherit later. All of that is yours!]

Hundreds of billions of dollars!

To me, that was an astronomical number.

The corner of my eye twitched like crazy as I forced myself to stay calm. In the end, it all condensed into a single tear that fell onto the back of her hand.

"Savannah, please don't leave me. I'll work even harder to make more money. I'll take care of you. I won't be your burden," I begged.

After a long silence, she placed a hand over her chest. "Chase, you're suffering with me now. I swear that if I ever manage to turn my life around, I will never betray you."

I blinked, then nodded hard. I'd waited 39 days to hear those words. Right now, the tears running down my face were the most genuine I'd ever shed.

That night, we didn't sleep at all. We went at it all night. I pinned her beneath me as she called my name over and over again.

…

On the morning of the 40th day, I got up to make breakfast like always. Before leaving for work, I smiled at Savannah and told her we could weld the metal sheets together after work that night.

She smiled and nodded, looping her arm through mine as we walked out of the basement.

Several Maybachs were parked outside. The viewers screamed in the comments, and I did the same in my heart. Still, I instinctively pulled Savannah behind me, whispering warily, "Are they here to collect on the debt? Go out the back. I'll stall them."

She didn't move. She just stared at the cars, looking confused.

The door of the middle car opened, and an elderly man stepped out. His hands shook as he held out a paternity test report.

Savannah's eyes widened. Then, she grabbed my hand. "Chase, I'm still a Reed. I can go home now. No—we can go home now!"

I stared back at her, my eyes just as wide in astonishment. But deep inside, I was thinking that the past 20-plus years of hardship and these past 40 days in the freezing cold hadn't been for nothing.

At least, all my suffering was about to pay off.

But before I could say anything, footsteps came pounding toward us. Morgan panted and pointed at me, shouting, "Savannah, don't let Chase fool you! He already knew you were the real Reed heiress the day he married you in my place!"