Take My Breath Away

Erica walked towards the staircase and replied to Gifford without turning her head, "Talk about it later!" She was too busy worrying about her marriage to think about anything else.

"You have to respect Matthew's opinion, you know?"

"Okay." When she had just hit the first step, she suddenly turned around and smiled fawningly at Gifford. "Hey, do me a favor?"

Gifford refused directly, "No. You treat me like that and expect me to do anything for you? Get real!" He strode towards the staircase too.

When he brushed past Erica, she took his arm and said, "Gifford, don't be so mean! I've been gone for nearly a year, and I don't have much to show for it. Life's been hard. Don't you feel sorry for your sister?"

Gifford pretended to be nonchalant. "Not really. Should I?"

"Seriously? I'm not kidding." That was kind of a shock. Was he dating someone that hated her? That was about the only thing she could think of. Otherwise, why had he stopped caring about his sister?

"Okay. Fire away."

"Well, here's the thing. I ordered instant noodles every day while I was gone, so I owe Hyatt Li sixty thousand bucks. So..."

Gifford stood there, shaking his head. He didn't believe her. She had enough money with her when she left. Besides, who could spend sixty thousand dollars on instant noodles in just ten months? "You always cheat Hyatt. You'd think he'd know better by now."

Erica protested, "Why don't you talk about how I got injured for defending him? Besides, I just borrowed sixty thousand dollars from him. Can you help me pay him back? I'll get you three times that when I get a job!"

"Think I believe that? You started saying that when you were six or seven years old. How old are you now? You're going to be twenty-two, right? You kept saying the same thing for fifteen years. When you can make money on your own, you'll pay me back. Your probably owe me several hundred million by now."

"It's only a few hundred million. No problem. I'll give you an IOU now, and pay you back a billion!" Erica said confidently.

Gifford squinted at her and said, "One billion? Sounds like a pipe dream to me. I've got an idea: stop borrowing money!"

"Well, if you don't believe me, then forget it."

"I believe you."

"Wha

er face without saying a word, as if waiting for her to continue.

Erica clenched her teeth and blurted out, "I'm pregnant again! I thought you should know the truth. If I hide it from you, it will be—" '—unfair to you.' The last three words disappeared under his cold gaze.

"Show me the examination results."

"What?" Erica suddenly raised her head.

"You said you were pregnant. Where are the test results?"

His sharp question made Erica's heart sink. She racked her brains, trying to come up with an answer. "Oh...um... I didn't think the papers were useful, so I threw them away. The test results were in there."

"Let's go, then!" Matthew turned and made his way to the door.

Erica was confused. What did he mean? But she still caught up with him and asked, "Where are we going?"

The man didn't even look at her this time. "The hospital."

"Why?" 'A pregnancy test?' she wondered. At the thought of this possibility, Erica didn't know what to do.

"A pre-natal exam." Since she was his fiancee, he tried to be patient and explain it to her.

She was right. Erica gave a wry smile.

She had two choices. Either let Matthew take her to the hospital or try on the wedding dresses. If they wound up in the hospital, he would find out she lied to him, so she figured that the dresses would be preferable. "Look! Isn't that wedding dress beautiful? It's simply gorgeous! Do you want me to try it on?" She randomly pointed at a wedding dress, hoping her lie would be forgotten.