Take My Breath Away

Erica pushed the stroller around the neighborhood. She passed by a pregnant woman out for a walk. She was obviously not very far along. When the woman noticed the baby in the stroller, she walked over and said, "Hi, little one! You're so cute! How old is he?"

"Less than two months old," Erica said.

"I hope my kid'll be as cute as he is. Is he on breast milk or formula?"

Erica's mouth twitched. Instead of answering, she asked, "You must have moved here recently, huh?"

The pregnant woman was surprised by her question. "Why, yes! How did you know?"

With a faint smile, the girl said casually, "Because everyone around here knows me. And they pretty much keep their distance. Especially if they're pregnant."

"Why would they do that?" This confused the other woman even more.

Just then, a man strode over to them. 'Probably the woman's husband, ' Erica thought. He nervously took the pregnant woman in his arms and stared at Erica warily, "I'm sorry, Miss Li. We'll leave you alone. Honey, let's go!"

The pregnant woman didn't know what he was talking about, but followed her husband anyway. As they moved away, she asked, "Who is she? It almost seems like you're afraid of her."

"That's Miss Troublemaker, all grown up. She's the youngest daughter of the Li family. She's also unpredictable and reckless. You'd do well to stay away from her. Everyone else does. See the baby stroller she's pushing? That kid was born out of wedlock. She wouldn't even tell her family who the father was. See what I mean now?"

The man's voice got further and further away. Eventually he was out of earshot.

Standing under the tree silently for a while, Erica walked to the front of the stroller, squatted down and pinched the little boy's face, smiling sweetly. "Don't worry, Feb. No matter what they say, I won't leave you. I'm not like that."

When the baby saw her smile, he gave her a cute smile in return. Or was it just gas? There was a lot of guesswork to parenting an infant.

The nanny came along not long after. She heard the man talking to his wife. She was now a lot warier of Erica. "Miss Li, you forgot to take the baby's bottle with you."

She ignored the nanny, as she ignored most people. She was used to the reactions by now. Erica said n

Drugged one night by her ex-boyfriend, a mysterious man took advantage of her in an ecstatic night filled with sex.

To take her revenge, she married the man, and used him.

"As long as I'm alive, I'm still his legal wife, while all of you are just his mistresses."

She remained adamant even when he was involved in scandals with other women.

Eventually she stormed off after she learned that he had betrayed her again.But life brought her back to him a few years later, to his astonishment.

caused lots of drama here. If you marry someone else, I'm afraid they won't be very nice to you."

"But, what about Matthew? Aren't you afraid that he'll bully me as well?" Erica didn't understand their way of thinking. What made them think that Matthew would treat her well?

"Not really. I know the guy. It was Uncle Carlos' idea, not ours. Besides, Uncle Carlos and Aunt Debbie are good people, and they raised Matthew right. As long as you behave yourself, I think everything'll be okay."

Erica wasn't convinced. She said angrily, "Gifford, Dad sent you to talk to me, huh?"

"No, this is my brotherly advice. I also think it's a good idea to marry an older guy."

"I totally agree with you about Uncle Carlos and Aunt Debbie. But what about Matthew? He's the vice president of a big company like ZL Group. Think I can outsmart him?" Erica wondered why everyone in her family was on Matthew's side. They all wanted her to marry him.

"Listen to you. You're going about this all wrong. Matthew's rich, as are all the Huos. You'll have a good life. Why fight that? Why worry about outsmarting him? This is your chance to be happy. Don't blow it."

"I should know better than to talk to you. You're still single!"

Arms akimbo, Gifford glowered at her and shouted, "Erica Li!"

Erica picked her ear. "I get it. I'll stay here. I'm headed upstairs to comfort the little guy abandoned by his father!"

"Hey, wait. What about the baby? Is he going with you after you marry Matthew?" Gifford asked.