Chapter 4

Sara looked at me.

She smiled.

Her tears struck the floor hard.

"Do you really have to push me this far?"

"Do you want it or not?"

The three thousand hung there in midair.

Sara had been proud her whole life.

Begging me was already the limit of what she could do.

She braced herself against the floor.

One hand cradling her belly.

She looked from face to face, pleading.

"Please... help me..."

The agent and the models dropped their eyes,

and said nothing.

"Please, I'm begging you!"

Her tears fell one after another.

This moment.

This was when the last of her pride truly broke.

Maybe I should have taken the money back.

Helped her up.

Carried her downstairs to give birth.

But a real marriage, the kind where husband and wife respect each other,

maybe it has to come through some pain.

She shuffled forward on her knees.

Opened her mouth.

And the three thousand.

She bit down on it.

In that moment.

She was no different from any of the women here.

Tears fell onto the three thousand.

She lowered her head.

And sobbed.

That was when the agent finally turned midwife.

It wasn't long before the medical staff came up from downstairs and carried her away.

Sara never looked at me again.

The door of the private room closed.

Another agent came over with a drink.

Smiling, apologizing to me.

Crystal's hair, mussed from Sara's grabbing, was neat again.

Her hand stroked lightly up and down over my chest.

"Did she scare you, honey?"

I looked down at Crystal.

Her eyes were full of concern.

Even with the slap mark Sara had left still on her face.

At least.

There was still someone in this world who wouldn't blame me.

Sara gave birth.

A baby boy, six pounds two.

I saw him.

I loved him at once.

Sara lay on the delivery bed, her face pale.

The air conditioning in the room was cranked high.

The whole room warmed her through.

The nutrition meals sat quietly at her bedside.

She didn't speak.

Just gazed out the window.

I lifted our son up a little.

"Are you planning to check out now, or stay a while longer?"

Her hand gripped the blanket over her belly.

"I was in labor a whole day. I can't even get out of bed. How am I supposed to check out?"

"Then either I keep paying and you don't worry about anything.

"Or, if you really can't accept it, I'll arrange your discharge."

She pursed her lips.

Her eyes still fixed on the window.

As if forcing back tears.

"Which do you choose?"

I asked her.

She pulled the blanket up.

Covered her face.

I heard the muffled sound of her crying.

I knew her choice.

For the next two weeks or so.

I was upstairs during the day.

At night I'd come down to check on the two of them.

On the last day.

Crystal leaned in to kiss me.

I pushed her away.

"Honey, you're leaving today. We won't see each other again after this."

Crystal's eyes went red.

I said nothing.

"Just think of it as something to remember."

Her scent came close to me again.

I pushed her away.

Stood and straightened my collar.

Tossed her a stack of bills.

"I'll remember you."

This past month had been like a dream.

It was the happiest month I'd had.

Since Sara and I first started dating.

Leaving now.

There was so much I couldn't let go of.

But I knew.

In the end, I still had to go back to my family.

I went downstairs.

Sara had already come down ahead of me.

She held the baby.

Waiting at the curb, not saying a word.

I stepped forward with the car keys.

"Come on, we're going home."

She didn't move.

"Get in the car."

I held the passenger door open and looked at her.

She brought her face close to our son.

"I'm not waiting for you."

I froze.

A Ferrari pulled up slowly behind my car.

A man I'd never seen before came over and rested his hand on Sara's waist.

The two of them said something.

Sara nodded and followed him toward the Ferrari, going along with him.

"Sara!"

I went after her. "Who is he?"

Sara turned her head to look at me. "Whatever that model is to you, that's what he is to me."

"You've lost your mind!"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"You'd do something like this!"

She raised her eyes slowly.

Her hand still patting our son gently.

"Weren't you the one who told me to do this line of work?"

It was as though I'd been nailed to the spot.

"I have to say, there are plenty of men out there.

"Plenty richer than you."