Chapter 4

Molly's POV

After leaving Harrison’s office, I had barely stepped through the school gates when the hospital called.

“Ms. Molly? Marcia suddenly developed critical symptoms and is being resuscitated. Please come as soon as possible.”

At that moment, it was as though I could hear nothing. My ears rang.

I did not remember how I hailed a cab. The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror and asked with concern, “Miss, are you all right?”

My face probably looked awful. I glanced at the driver, unable even to force a smile.

When I reached the hospital, I rushed straight to the operating room. Nurse Mary placed a consent form in my hands and said anxiously, “Ms. Molly, Marcia is being resuscitated right now. You need to sign a surgical consent form.”

Tears streamed uncontrollably from my eyes. My hand would not stop shaking as I held the pen. After signing, I collapsed onto the bench outside the operating room, utterly drained.

Mary put away the form and comforted me. “Don’t worry. The doctors will do everything they can, but you need to wait outside.”

After Mary left, I sat there with my mind blank. It was very quiet, and my heartbeat seemed ready to burst from my chest. The corridor was a chilling white, and the smell of disinfectant bored into my nose.

During the operation, nurses came out three times for me to sign critical-condition notices. Each time was torture by slow slicing. My heart hurt until it went numb, my tears dried on my face, and every muscle in it drew taut. I had never believed in religion, but now I could not stop making the sign of the cross over my chest, hoping God would protect Marcia and see her through this ordeal.

I did not know how much time had passed before the operating-room doors finally opened. Marcia was wheeled out with an oxygen mask over her face, her eyelashes perfectly still. My legs were so weak that I leaned against the wall, pressing my palm to the cold tiles before I could barely stand upright.

Dr. Crane, the attending physician, removed his mask and gave me a reassuring smile. “For now, we’ve managed to save her. But the toxins damaged her nerves, and she is in a vegetative state. She’ll need to remain under observation in the ICU for some time. After that, her care and treatment will be long-term, and the cost will be substantial. You need to prepare yourself.”

A vegetative state...

When those words fell, I stopped trembling instead. I seized Dr. Crane’s hand and said in an almost pleading voice, “Doctor, I have money. Please, you have to cure Marcia. She’s my only living relative. I can’t bear the pain of losing her too.”

Dr. Crane said solemnly, “Of course we’ll do our best.”

I watched Marcia being wheeled into the ICU. Only then did I feel reassured, and I immediately went to the hospital’s front desk to pay. Without any hesitation, I transferred the entire one million Harrison had given me into the medical account.

After the tension came exhaustion. I stood before the window outside the ICU, watching Marcia through the glass with tubes running all over her body. Drowsiness clouded my mind, but then something suddenly occurred to me—I had not kept a single cent for my medical examination. I was penniless now...

Worse still, that one million was the deposit Harrison had given me. Now that I had spent it, there was no turning back. What if the examination found a problem? What if there was something he was not satisfied with? How could I repay his one million?

Would Harrison spare someone who took his money and then broke the agreement?

I leaned against the glass and gave a bitter smile. Molly, oh Molly. Back then, a single bag you casually charged cost more than one million. Now you’re worrying over a few hundred.

Wait. A few hundred.

I abruptly straightened. I remembered that a coat of mine still had a few hundred in its pocket. Before my family went bankrupt, I had casually left the money there. When everything in our home was taken away, they had not seized that coat because I was wearing it.

I practically ran out of the hospital. When I returned to my rented room, the coat was still hanging in the wardrobe. I reached into its pocket and found the crumpled bills. I counted them. There were a little over six hundred. Clutching those few pieces of paper, I stood in the dim room with a tangle of emotions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Thank goodness for my old bad habit of always keeping a few hundred in my pocket.

I immediately returned to the hospital, registered, paid, had blood drawn, and went through each examination in turn. When it was time for the uterine examination, I took off my pants and lay on the examination table. Thinking that I was doing this to prepare to bear a child for Harrison, whom I had known for only a few days, filled me with shame.

At last, the final examination was over. Once I had completed everything, my phone vibrated. It was a message from my adviser, Perla, containing only one brief sentence: “Come to school when you’re free.”

The next morning, I collected my examination reports. By the time I reached the school, it was already afternoon. I took a deep breath and entered Perla’s office.

Perla greeted me with a gentle smile. “Molly, you’re here. Have a seat.”

I sat across from Perla, and she asked with concern, “Molly, I heard what happened to your family. I’m very sorry. But if you truly can’t manage everything, taking a leave of absence now would be the safest choice. Otherwise, before your life has stabilized, your studies may also suffer. You’ll lose out on both sides and end up with nothing.”

I held the cup, its heat making my palms slightly numb. There were six months left until graduation. Fortunately, I had almost no classes this semester. Many students had already chosen to enter the workforce and look for jobs, while my family’s troubles had delayed me until now.

“Professor, thank you.” I raised my head. “But I don’t want to take a leave of absence.”

Perla frowned, and I explained, “Graduation is in July, and it’s only January. If I give up now, it will affect my job search later. What I lack most right now is money, not time. Only after I finish my degree will I have a chance to earn money.”

Perla studied me for a long time before slowly nodding. “All right. I respect your decision. Go back to your classes, then. Although very few classes are scheduled for the second half of the academic year, you still can’t neglect them and let your continuous-assessment grades suffer. It wouldn’t be good if you failed a course.”

I thanked her. When I stood, my legs felt weak, and I had to grip the back of the chair to steady myself.

As I walked back toward the classroom building, powerless exhaustion washed over me. Everything weighed on me until I could barely breathe. Late at night, I sometimes even envied Marcia for being able to close her eyes. I, too, wanted to ignore everything like her. But I knew it was only a fantasy. I could not fall. My parents had sheltered me for more than twenty years. Now it was time for me to learn to grow up.

Without realizing it, I reached the classroom door. A familiar voice came from inside. “Molly is desperately short of money now. You all know that, right?”

It was Luna’s voice.

“I saw her at the hospital yesterday. She was waiting outside the gynecology department for an examination.” Luna paused, as though giving everyone around her time to absorb it. “Think about it. With her family in that state, how could she suddenly have spare money for that kind of examination? Someone must be keeping her. Her sugar daddy made her get checked to make sure she was clean before he’d sleep with her.”

A chorus of muffled gasps rose from the classroom. Someone could not help letting out a quiet “Wow.”

Blood rushed to my head, and indescribable fury made me clench my fists. I had once considered Luna a friend. I remembered sitting with her all night when she cried about her family’s problems. On her birthday, I gave her the exact bag she wanted, untouched. Over the years, I had helped her financially many times because she had no money. Yet now she had not only betrayed me but was spreading lies about me!

With a cold expression, I raised my hand and shoved the door open.

It slammed against the wall with a bang, and the entire classroom instantly fell silent.

Dozens of gazes stabbed toward me at once. I stood in the doorway with my chin slightly raised and immediately spotted Luna beside the lectern. She turned her head.

I had expected her to panic, hide, or at least show some embarrassment at being caught. She did not. She looked at me, even letting a trace of a smile rise in her eyes, and lifted her chin higher than mine. She appeared completely justified, without the slightest guilt or remorse over what she had just said.

“Well, well.” Luna even gave a soft laugh, raised a hand, and pointed at me. Addressing the entire classroom, she said, “The woman herself is here. If there’s anything you want to ask, ask her directly—how much does it cost to keep her?”