My boyfriend dumped me after he deliberately made me have three abortions.

He vanished after making sure I could never get pregnant again.

All he left me was about 300,000 dollars in usury loans and a message.

"George, I totally ruined Grace. Your family owes me; consider this the interest I charge you."

George Parrish was my dad.

I thought Antonio and I were in love. As it turned out, it was just a plot he had set.

He had already completed the formalities for going abroad and was gone.

Dad sent me an announcement, disowning me.

Ten years had passed.

When I saw Antonio again, I was kneeling in front of another man for 200 dollars...

***

"Grace, you've already advanced your salary twice this month. What, do you think I'm a charitarian?"

I lowered my head and said in a low voice, "Please help me, Nelson."

Nelson Howe sighed helplessly and said to the others while pointing at me, "What could I do? The only thing I fear in my entire life is women playing coquettish while begging me, especially those pretty ones."

Amidst everyone's laughter, I received a money transfer.

Just as I stood up, Nelson pulled me and sat me on his lap.

I didn't resist at all.

He took a sip of his wine and smacked his lips. "Women with a bit of educational background and an unfortunate family background are the best kind.

"They're docile, and you don't have to worry about them having STDs. Not to mention that when you're in bed with them... Their cold, pretty faces will only make you wanna conquer them even more."

I wasn't displeased or offended at all. Instead, I laughed together with the others.

With the money, at least I could pay for Mom's dialysis this month.

Maybe I could even buy a burger for my daughter.

As long as I could survive, self-esteem meant nothing.

"You're lucky indeed, Nelson," someone suddenly said in a cold voice while holding a glass of wine.

His voice was as cold as ever-just like ten years ago when I called him and told him the test results.

"You can't get pregnant again?

"What's that got to do with me?"

Indeed. From the voice alone, I could tell it was Antonio.

During these ten years, I had repeatedly imagined countless scenarios of our reunion.

Maybe I'd rush toward him, slap him, kick him, and even bite him hysterically.

Maybe I'd burst into tears, and we'd look at each other in silence.

Or maybe he'd walk past me, acting as if he didn't know me.

But here we were today. After some small talk with Nelson, Antonio turned to me.

He smiled, asking Nelson, "Nelson, would you be willing to let me have her?

"I'll offer 400 dollars."

Nelson grinned, tightening his arm around me.

I quickly said coquettishly, "Stop it. I'm only loyal to Nelson."

Nelson patted my cheek with a smile. "Silly woman. You really think Mr. Kaufman is interested in you? He was just joking.

"Mr. Kaufman, you're about to marry Professor Hampton's daughter next month, right?"

Antonio nodded.

Then he refilled Nelson's glass. "You're right. I was just joking. You won't be mad, will you?"

The party became livelier with Antonio's presence.

Now that he had graduated, he exuded an overbearing aura exclusive to a successful elite.

With his every move, he seemed confident and charming.

During the meal, my daughter Misty Parrish called me.

Though she was only nine, she had learned to do simple chores such as cooking and washing the dishes.

I told her I'd be home late tonight.

She said sweetly that it was fine, but I could tell she was upset from her tone.

Then I glanced at Nelson's hand groping my thigh.

He had just closed a deal. In a good mood, he had a lot of wine.

I knew that usually, he had strong desires at times like this.

I couldn't afford to upset him, my benefactor, so I could only choose to ignore Misty's disappointment.

As I turned around to go back to the party, I saw Antonio.

It turned out he had been behind me all this time.

In the narrow fire escape, he put out his cigarette a bit irritably.

He tilted his head and looked at me. "Grace, you cheap slut."

Deadpan, I said to Antonio, "Excuse me, Mr. Kaufman."

Then I was about to leave.

As I walked past him, he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

Then he pulled me with great force, causing my back to hit the wall.

Looking into my eyes, he asked, "You even had a child with him?

"You really sold yourself out, didn't you?"

Hearing him mention Misty, I was suddenly filled with great resentment.

Yet, before I could lash out, someone outside suddenly called his name.

Then a gentle female voice rang out. "It's fine. I'll wait here for him. It's a good chance to get to know you guys."

The person who called Antonio's name smiled, "That'll be great. It's our honor to get to know you, Ms. Hampton."

The sound-activated light above my head went out since neither Antonio nor I said anything.

One's senses became keener in the darkness.

I felt Antonio's warm breath on my face and struggled instinctively.

He scoffed, "What is it? You think I'll kiss you?"

I still remembered those countless times when we hugged each other tightly in the darkness.

Amidst our passionate kiss, he held me so tightly while biting my earlobe. He murmured in my ear, "Grace, I love you so much. I wanna lock you beside me 24/7."

Perhaps he felt so sick that he wanted to puke when he planted kisses on every part of my body.

He hated my guts, yet he had to act as if he were madly in love with me.

It must have been so hard for him.

I said, "Mr. Kaufman, please behave.

"I don't want to see your fiancee at my door."

He let go at the mention of Rita Hampton.

But then he gripped me with even greater force and said through gritted teeth, "It's been ten years. Don't you have anything you wanna say to me?"

How absurd.

What did he want me to say?

Should I tell him that after he left, my dad beat me up crazily and locked me in the basement when he found out I was pregnant?

My dad sold the house and fled with the money after he realized he couldn't find Antonio no matter what. Was that what Antonio wanted to hear?

To protect me, my mom was hit in the head by debt collectors and gradually started to lose it. Perhaps I should tell him this?

If I had run into him in the first few years, I might have gone crazy, cried hard, or clung to his leg, not letting him go.

But it had been ten years; I was already thirty.

All my temper had already been worn away by all those sufferings.

I snapped back to reality and said nonchalantly, "1,500 dollars then."

Antonio looked puzzled.

I explained, "Nelson gives me 750 dollars a month. Double it, and I'll be yours.

"But you have to prepay me for one year in advance. After all, you have a fiancee.

"If she really shows up at my door and hurts me, I'll have to charge you for medical fees."

After a few seconds, Antonio let go of me, kicked the railing angrily, and turned to leave.

The sound-activated light lit up.

It was so bright that tears were welling up in my eyes.

Antonio went back to the room and saw Rita, who came here to pick him up.

Instead of leaving, he held her in his arms and introduced her to everyone, "This is Rita Hampton, Professor Hampton's daughter, my fiancee.

"She's the youngest associate professor at Ascaedor University with a promising future, and she participated in a national key research project last year.

"We're about to get married this year, or she would have cooped herself up at some secret base doing research now."

Rita glanced at Antonio with a bit of a surprised look, seemingly bewildered by his sudden showing off.

Yet, she kept her confusion to herself and accepted everyone's compliments gracefully.

At first glance, I could tell she was an educated, well-mannered woman from an outstanding family.

On the contrary, I was just a woman who gave up everything, including my pride, in exchange for money to survive. Leaning against Nelson, I smiled self-mockingly.

At the end of the party, Nelson was wasted since Antonio had toasted him too many times.

Antonio had a lot to drink, too, and he couldn't even walk steadily. But he forcefully carried Nelson off me and said, "I'll drop him off since it's on my way. Take a cab back."

Rita happened to pull up. She poked her head out of the car and said, "It's so late. Ms. Parrish, why don't you go back to Nelson's place with him? I'll give you a lift."

Antonio stuffed Nelson into the back seat.

He opened the door to the passenger seat while saying, "There's something you don't know, Rita.

"Ms. Parrish charges a service fee for home visits."

Rita widened her eyes in astonishment. When she looked at me again, I saw scrutiny in her gaze.

I smiled and stepped back sensibly.

Then I watched as they left.

Antonio probably thought he could get under my skin by doing this.

But he was wrong.

I couldn't afford to have self-esteem.

At first, Mom hadn't completely lost her mind.

When she was clear-headed, she took me to my uncle, asking for help.

We stayed at his home for two months, and her condition worsened.

She went out and hurt people several times, and they came to the door, asking for compensation.

I gave them all the money I had.

My uncle and his family were already unsatisfied because they thought my mom hadn't helped them enough in the past.

After they knew we didn't even have a penny left, they kicked us out.

Back then, I was about seven months pregnant.

But since I was so skinny, no one could tell when I wore baggy clothes.

Taking my mom, I wandered everywhere, spending nights at places such as under the bridge and the basements.

Finally, I met a kind restaurant owner.

He hired me to wash dishes in the kitchen.

I worked for a month and was about to get paid.

Yet, one day, I dozed off.

My mom broke free from the ropes, rushed into the restaurant, and smashed all the tables, hurting several diners.

That day, I kept bowing to everyone who got hurt and demanded compensation.

My mom sat behind me, patted my head, and grinned.

Someone suddenly pointed at my lower body and exclaimed in horror, "Blood... So much blood!"

That was when the first man who kept man stepped out.

His name was Osbert Massy, and he used to be my dad's subordinate.

He recognized me and took me to the hospital together with the restaurant owner.

Worried that he might get into trouble, the restaurant owner didn't ask me to compensate; he just wanted me to stay away from him.

Osbert covered the medical bills for me.

According to him, my dad was the crappiest boss he had ever seen.

So, he felt great sleeping with me.

My dad messed up.

Yet both Antonio and Osbert took it out on me.

Osbert loved cursing and dirty jokes, and when he got drunk, he hit me.

Yet, back then, he helped me get rid of all the trouble and found me and my mom a place to stay.

He even paid for Misty's baby formula and diapers.

I could raise my mom and Misty without going out to work or begging on the streets.

To me, Osbert was my lifesaver.

***

As I arrived home, it was already 2 a.m.

Opening the door, I saw that Misty had curled up on the couch in the living room, asleep again.

She feared the dark but didn't want to turn on the lights for the sake of saving money.

The windows in the living room were bigger, which made it brighter than the bedroom.

We were never rich. She grew up with me and was already used to a thrifty life.

I wanted to pick her up, but my arms were so weak.

I could only wake her up and ask her to go back to the bedroom to sleep.

When she opened her eyes and saw me, she was so happy that she wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me again and again.

She kept holding onto my arm tightly even after she fell asleep again.

Bitterness engulfed me.

Whenever facing Misty, I was always guilty.

Life had been tough. Another reason was that I hesitated when the doctor told me I might never get pregnant again.

Because of the decision I made, she came to this world and suffered ever since.

After sleeping for less than five hours, I got up, ready to take her to school.

To my surprise, I ran into Antonio at the corner of the street.

He came over and said hi as if we were old friends and looked at Misty. "This is your daughter? She has your eyes."

I was so glad that I put on a mask for her because of the cold weather.

Or Antonio would have definitely noticed that Misty was the smaller version of him-besides her eyes.

Before I could respond, he bent over and said to her, "Hi, kiddo. I'm your mom's friend. My name is Antonio Kaufman."

Misty glanced at me and said in a small voice, "Hello, Mr. Kaufman. I'm Misty Parrish."

He joined me in taking Misty to school.

Misty was very curious about him. She even looked back at him after she entered the school.

Antonio asked me, "Why didn't you let her take Nelson's last name?"

I slept poorly last night and was in low spirits. I was in no mood to deal with him.

Yet, he wouldn't let me alone. Following me, he said, "You lied to me on the phone, saying you could never get pregnant after you got the abortion.

"But it seems Misty is about, what, seven now, right? So, shortly after I left, you got pregnant with another man's baby."

Misty didn't have enough nutrition when growing up and had always looked weaker and shorter than those of her age.

But I had no intention of explaining anything to him. He could think however he wanted.

He continued to question me, "Nelson isn't the father? Grace, how many men have you been with?

"You graduated from a prestigious university. And you sold yourself for 750 dollars? Who would ever believe that?

"Your dad's reputation means the world to him, right? How come he didn't break your legs?"

I stopped, irritated. "Antonio, what the heck do you want?"