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"Giving birth to a baby indeed hurts..." Layla Lewis thought as she lay down weakly in the delivery room bed.
With the help of a nurse, she was transferred to a senior VIP ward.
...
Three days later.
"You're not going to accept the baby? No way! He is your child. You must be responsible for him! And you must give me my money. We have a deal, ok?"
"Hello? Hello? Asshole!"
The man hung up the phone on her.
Layla slammed down her phone, covered her face in her hands, and cried.
She felt so desperate and so helpless.
...
A year ago, Layla was a sophomore sociology student at the University of California. She was working three part-time jobs a day after courses.
She worked hard to support her family. And she studied hard, wishing that she could find a good job after graduation.
She dreamt of bringing happiness and wealth to her single mom and her little brother.
Even so, God played a joke on her.
Her little brother, David Lewis, was diagnosed with a rare disease, and his treatment cost several hundred thousand dollars, a desperate sum. At one point, their mother, Daney Lewis, wanted to give up on her only son, but maternal love made this poor woman abandoned this cruel decision.
As for their father, the man had been disappeared since Layla's sixth birthday. Daney had once mentioned that he was an addict who had probably died in a dingy corner of the drug trade.
When God closes a door, he opens another window.
A mysterious man approached Layla and offered her a million dollars to carry a baby. Being so hesitant for a while, Layla said yes to the deal and signed a confidentiality agreement with him.
As promised, the man would transfer $1 million to her bank account when the baby was born healthy.
A million dollars! That is a tremendous amount of money, a number that many people can't imagine in their lifetime.
Most importantly, $1 million will pay for David's medical bills.
It's a shady treaty.
I do all this for David. Layla comforted herself.
...
The man's butler sent her to a private lakeside villa to prepare herself for the pregnancy.
One month later.
When the family doctor determined that she was fit enough to undergo artificial insemination, she was sent into a VIP operating room by the wheel bed at an exclusive private hospital. She soon lost all consciousness under the influence of the anesthetic.
Everything went according to the precious plan, and she got pregnant.
After ten months of pregnancy, the baby was born healthy.
But the man refused to accept his baby!
"Yes, I had your baby through artificial insemination, but he is your child! What do you mean the baby has nothing to do with you? That kid inherited your genes, and now you deny that he's your son? What the fuck are you talking about? I don't care what would happen to you and your son. Now, pay me the money as we agreed. When..."
"Pa!" The man hung up on her.
When Layla dialed again, the phone tone was busy.
This son of a bitch blocked her phone number!
Layla pulled an old iPad out of her backpack and viewed a file.
Name: Henry Quincy Adams
Age: 34
Family: The Addams family, one of the three giants of the arms industry, owns tens of billions of dollars worth of assets worldwide
Spouse: Olivia Ann Adams, Congressman Bob Wilson Only child, infertile
Intention: Finding a surrogate mother
Surrogacy price: $1 million
...
"Adams, you can't rob me of my money! I won't let you get away with it."
Gritting her teeth, Layla quickly put on her clothing. Despite her weak body, she strapped on her backpack and hurried out of the room.
...
In a rush to the hospital, a plump nurse at the nursing station called and stopped Layla. Mrs.Smith was frowning as she tapped her checklists. "Hey, Miss Lewis! You must pay your brother's surgery fee and hospitalization bill now."
"I'm sorry, Mrs.Smith. You know the situation. Please, give me a few days. Maybe a week, just a week, ok?" Layla pleaded.
Staring at Layla's pretty face, Mrs.Smith shook her head and sighed: "Well, I'm sorry, baby. But we won't treat your brother tomorrow if you don't pay us the money. You know, quality health care is always scarce in Los Angeles. People are queuing up for medical treatment..."
Why is it so hard to live in this world?
Layla thought, then when she was about to beg the nurse, a familiar voice came up.
"Sweetheart..."
Layla's mother, Daney Lewis, somehow reached out to Layla and patted Layla on the shoulder. "Honey, don't worry, I'll pay the bill now..."
Layla watched her mother pay the bill with a black bank card that Layla had never seen before.
Daney took Layla back to the ward where David Lewis lay peacefully, gravely ill.
If it were not for the graph on his electrocardiogram, David, suffering from the pain of illness, would seem to have fallen into a permanent sleep forever.
Layla lovingly touched her brother's pale, bony face.
"Is he all right?" Layla asked.
"Yeah, by so far."
"What does it mean by so far, mom?"
"It all depends on the results of his operation tomorrow afternoon..." Daney sighed.
"Tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yeah, David's operation will be on time..."
"Mom, I don't understand. How could you afford the bill? I mean, I know our financial situation. Where did you get that money from?" Layla was so confused.
Daney gave Layla a flashing glance. Then she hung her head guiltily. As Layla could wonder anything, a deep voice answered behind her.
"From me."
...
Layla turned her head and saw a strange middle-aged man. The man was sitting in a chair in the dark corner, his legs crossed, his hands on the arms of the chair, his upper body hidden in the shadow, but Layla could feel him observing her from head to toe.
"My little bug, you have grown up. What a surprise. You... You looked exactly like your mother when she was young, except for your sky-blue eyes, which you got from me. And your white skin reminds me of your grandmother, who was once also an enchanting beauty."
The man's face moved to the light. And Layla immediately angrily exclaimed, "It's you!"
It was none other than Layla and David's biological father, John Lewis.
"Aren't you dead long ago?" Layla showed no love and no politeness to the man who abandoned his family and children.
"Daney, it seems that you haven't done an excellent job in educating our daughter well these years."
"You better stay away from us. I'm warning you." Layla shouted.
John stood up from the chair, his tall figure shadow weighing heavily on Layla. He looked down at his daughter coldly. "Listen, little bug. It would help if you were thanking your mother and me for giving you life and beauty. I made a deal with your mother. I paid for David's surgery, and you must marry Arthur O'Hara as a condition of the payment. If you don't know Young Master O'Hara, I advise you to search his information on Wikipedia."
"No way! I won't do it!"
"Don't you even think about it!"
Furiously, Layla turned to her mother and asked, "Mom, how could you do this to me?"
Tears welled up in Daney's eyes as she helplessly grabbed Layla's arm and explained herself, "I have no choice. If we don't pay the hospital today, they'll leave David in the hallway. We'll watch him die! He'll die! My poor boy!"
Daney cried and threw herself on David.
Moments later, Layla continued shaking uncontrollably. Then she looked at her father and said, "If I pay you back, can I refuse the marriage?"
John sneered. "Then I advise you to ask Master O'Hara yourself. After all, he's the one who's paying for it."
"Then, take me to him!" Layla said.
...
Arthur O'Hara was looking at a photograph of a young girl sitting somberly on a bench under an oak tree. Her eyes were wandering into the distance as she clutched her worn schoolbag.
"I like her eyes. Look at here, that shape curves like a full cherry petal, with a mysterious oriental, elegant sharpness, but her pupil color is an innocent soft blue. I think this is the pure Irish May sky blue."
"Young Master O'Hara, you know everything. You always do. Miss Layla's maternal grandmother is a beautiful and elegant Chinese woman. And her grandparents were both from Ireland, as you conjectured." Replied Toby, the butler, deferentially.
"She looked quite depressed and confused, as she didn't know where she was going," Arthur said so.
"I think Miss Layla just lacks her direction in life," Toby said, pointing to the line of Lila's jaw and lips in the photo. "To tell you the truth, my young master. I see toughness and stubbornness in her here. I think our young lady is likely to be a delicate, fragile beauty who is, in fact, very stubborn and strong."
"Yeah, I knew it," Arthur smiled: "I knew it a long time ago."
