*Chapter 388: The Man Afraid of Marriage*

In March, in Miami, a white yacht drifted on the blue sea, looking like a white seabird flying across the azure sky.

Link lay on the deck of the yacht, exposing his upper body, wearing only a pair of beach shorts and sunglasses. His skin gleamed with a metallic sheen in the sunlight, and his muscles were as solid and powerful as iron.

Sitting opposite him was James, who had just boarded the boat. Wearing a baseball cap and no shirt, his plump white flesh was visible, with his pants tightly cinched around his belly, which was nearly spilling over the deck.

“Link, I’ve decided to go with you to Los Angeles, or New York would be fine too.”

“It’s too late. I don’t want to take you there now.”

“Why not? Staying here forever is terrifying. I want to see the world outside, New York and Los Angeles.”

“The world outside is pretty much the same. There’s nothing much to see, and it’s not as beautiful as Miami Beach.”

Under the sunshade, Link flipped through a magazine, not looking up as he spoke.

James scratched his chubby face, hesitated for a while, and then slumped into a lounge chair as if giving up.

“Link, I don’t want to get married. I’m completely unprepared for marriage.”

“It’s too late. Lilian is already pregnant with your child. Now you say you don’t want to marry her. What were you doing before?”

Link raised an eyebrow.

Over ten days ago, he had returned to Miami, exhausted, and planned to rest there for a while.

He heard that James had a new girlfriend named Lilian, a Latina girl with a slightly plump figure. She wasn’t particularly pretty but not unattractive either, which was more than enough for James.

Lilian was hired by James at the dive shop last year. She was diligent and quick, managing the shop efficiently on her own.

After working together for three or four months, it was only natural that they ended up sleeping together.

Within two months, Lilian was pregnant. When she asked James what to do, James was terrified and ran to Daniel's shop to hide.

Lilian then found James’s mother, Cathy, and told her about the situation.

Aunt Cathy knew Lilian and was satisfied with her as a daughter-in-law. She was diligent, had a good character, and had attended community college for two years, which was a step up from the girls James used to know.

She told Lilian that she hoped she would have the baby and said she would make James marry her.

Later, Aunt Cathy found James at Daniel’s shop and told him to marry Lilian.

James flatly refused. His ideal wife was a stunning beauty with a hot figure, not someone like Lilian who was average-looking and a bit plump.

He stammered and asked Cathy if Lilian could have an abortion.

Cathy slapped him and told him it was impossible. She asked him why he slept with Lilian if he wasn’t interested in her, and now that she was pregnant, he didn’t want to take responsibility. She wanted to know who he had learned this from.

Cathy pulled him by the ear back home and also let Lilian stay at the house to prepare for the baby. She started planning their wedding, which would take place in two months.

As the wedding approached, James was increasingly anxious. Seeing Link back, he bothered him daily, wanting to go to Los Angeles or New York with him.

Link learned the details from Cathy and naturally wasn’t going to indulge James’s wishes. If he were to take him to Los Angeles, Cathy would really think that James had gone astray because of him.

Lilian and the unborn child would also blame him in the future, and he didn’t want to be that bad guy.

“Get married first. Once the baby is born, if you still want to come to Los Angeles or New York, you’re welcome.”

Link took a sip of lemon water, moistening his dry lips.

“I don’t want to get married. I’m only 24. I haven’t had enough fun yet. And with that baby, I’m completely unprepared to be a father,” James said, spreading his hands.

Link glanced at him. If he didn’t own a store and wasn’t an American citizen, someone like him would end up single in other countries. Who would chase after him to marry him and have his child?

“There are still two months before the wedding. It’s not too late to start preparing now. Also, Cathy plans to open a small café in the city and let you and Lilian manage it. You’ll have a wife, a child, and a café. Life will be pretty good.”

“Don’t you think it’s terrifying? I’ve never been outside of Miami, and now I’m supposed to get married, be a father, and run a café for the rest of my life. It’s too scary. I regret not going to Los Angeles with you earlier.”

James said.

“What’s so special about Los Angeles? Parties may be lively, but you can’t attend parties every day. Universal Studios, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills, Sunset Boulevard—while these places are beautiful and bustling, you’ll get tired of them over time.

Bars, dance halls, and clubs are just places for bored people to kill time. The more you go, the more boring it becomes. Staying in Miami, in a place you like, might not be such a bad thing.”

“You didn’t used to say that. You used to encourage me to go out.”

“You didn’t have a child back then.”

Link said.

It wasn’t just about the child; it was also about James’s personality. For someone as timid as him, moving to a big city would be even more uncomfortable. It was better to stay in the comfortable zone of Miami.

The notion that living in a big city would toughen someone up and make them mature didn’t apply to everyone.

Some people, with a strong foundation, become gold through hardship, but more people end up as rubble. James clearly didn’t belong to the former group.

Additionally, after living in New York and Los Angeles for over two years, Link had gone from idealizing them to feeling a bit jaded.

To him, these cities felt like two bottomless pits. In these pits were treasure chests labeled with wealth, fame, status, and lust. The more you obtain, the heavier you become, and the deeper you sink.

Link considered himself not particularly greedy or lustful before. His past goals were a few beautiful women and a savings of seven or eight hundred million.

But exposure to the materialistic world of Hollywood and the opulence of Manhattan had subtly influenced him. His values became distorted, his desires magnified, and he gradually became greedy, lustful, and vain.

Although Link resisted and fought against these changes, upon returning to Miami and reviewing his past year, he realized all his resistance had been in vain.

Once a person enters the pit, they become a part of it, even if their physical self is floating on the Miami sea.

Another part of him still resided in New York and Los Angeles, with newspapers, TV, and the internet still broadcasting his activities in those cities.

It was as if he had never left.

Even someone considered strong like him couldn’t maintain his true self in a big city, let alone James.

“Link, I heard about your child with Taylor…”

“Don’t mention it.”

Link said.

“Oh, alright!”

James awkwardly scratched his face.

(End of Chapter)