Take My Breath Away

Tessie bit her lower lip and made a choice.

After parting with Tessie, Tam walked towards his daughter. Julianna immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him to her side. "Dad, stay away from Miss Troublemaker, okay? You don't know how much of a bitch Erica is. Look at Tessie and the state she's in. That's thanks to Erica!"

"Erica?" Tam glanced back at the car, where Erica was waiting, leaning against the passenger door. "What did she do?"

"Erica got Tessie drunk, took her to the sink and tried to drown her. She even took off Tessie's clothes and took pictures of her to blackmail her. Erica did even worse shit, but Tessie wouldn't tell us! She said it hurt too much to remember!" Julianna said angrily.

Tam said nothing. He was listening, and mentally trying to poke holes in Tessie's story.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Erica finally saw Tessie come over. She looked into Tessie's eyes, red from crying. After a tense moment between them, she broke the silence. "I didn't do anything to you! Just what the hell is going on?"

Tessie's voice was a bit shaky. "I'm sorry, Erica. This is all my fault. You remember how difficult labor was, right? After you took the kid away, I got better, but..." She lowered her head and looked at her shoes. "I lost my memory. I couldn't remember a thing until three months ago. I could remember how to do basic things like tying my shoes or getting dressed, but I didn't know who I was..."

Tessie had thought about this a lot. She'd gone over it a thousand times. She had to make sure her story was perfect, even if it was made up.

"You lost your memory?" Erica was dumbfounded by her explanation. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Yes, the doctor said that I lost my memory because of a screw-up when they gave me the epidural. They said I moved too much and the needle slipped and damaged the nerves."

Erica chose to believe her, mainly because her story seemed to make sense. "Well, then why is everyone saying I hurt you? What's up with that?"

Tessie burst into tears and sobbed, "I'm sorry, Erica. If I didn't say that, my parents would have found out what happened. They'd never let me stay here if they knew I had a kid. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Please forgive me!" She grabbed Erica's hand, a pitiful expression on her face.

Erica felt bad for her. After all, they used to be so close. They slept in the same bed, shared food, wore the same clothes, and used the same cup.

They laughed and cried together.

She suppressed the sadness

anxiously stopped the driver who was about to close the door for her. "Erica, I know it's unfair to you. But I really want that child. If anyone misses him, they can come see him anytime. You, Mr. and Mrs. Li, anyone! What do you think?"

"No way! Where's your sense of justice? I paid dearly to do something nice for you and Tessie. And what do I get in return? Spit on by my classmates. My reputation ruined at home. An arranged marriage. So something's going to go my way. You'll never get your kid back. That's the price you'll have to pay for ruining my life."

Tam had been calm up till now. But now his voice was on the edge of hysterics. His eyes were wide, his speech too rapid by half. "I'll take you to court!" he threatened. "My sister's a chief justice in the city. You won't win this one...I'll make sure of it!"

Erica always hated being threatened. "Oh, really? You think the Lis are afraid of you or your sister? Or the Huos, for that matter?"

Tam felt like he was being strangled. It became harder and harder to breathe. He had to have that child. He said without thinking, "Aren't you afraid we'll sue you for stealing our child? We can do a DNA test, you know!"

Erica felt that her anger was boiling in her heart. The anger instantly devoured her reason. She pushed the door open and got out of the car. Smack! She slapped Tam without even thinking about it.

Tam was taken aback. He was more than forty, and this was the first time a woman hit him. Just to add insult to injury, the person who slapped him was the same age as his daughter.

For a moment, he didn't know how to respond. He stood there with a blank expression, his head tilted from the slap.