Take My Breath Away

Ivan waved his hand at Debbie. "No, that's okay. I'll take Piggy with me. She can charm my client over dinner."

Debbie was surprised. 'Charm your client over dinner?' she wondered. "No, no. She's a kid. Kids are cute, but..."

"Never mind. Just leave everything to me. You have enough to worry about," Ivan assured her as he patted her shoulder.

Since he insisted, Debbie nodded and said a warm maternal goodbye to her daughter before leaving the office with Ruby.

Luckily, her daughter was easy to manage. She did what she was told, and wasn't very clingy. Otherwise it would be hard for Debbie to balance family and career.

In the evening, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up in front of the entrance to a five-star restaurant downtown.

The driver got out of the car and opened the backseat door. A man dressed in an expensive grey suit got out and straightened his clothing. Then he poked his head into the car and, when he emerged, he was carrying a little girl wearing a pink bubble skirt.

Her black hair was braided fashionably. Holding a limited edition doll in her hands, she curiously scanned her new digs. Expensive restaurants were nothing if not opulent, and that applied to the outside as well. She took in everything with a pair of big, bright eyes.

"Wow, what a beautiful little princess!" someone passing by on the street was moved to remark.

"Yeah, no kidding! That bubble skirt is designer threads. Over thirty thousand! I sure can't afford that," said another.

"I just want to hug that girl. Her face is so cute."

As people were eagerly commenting on her beauty, they saw the man whisper something in the girl's ear, making her giggle.

The group of people erupted in audible wonder, with gasps, oohs, and ahhs. The smile on the girl's face was like a blossom flower in spring, healing everyone's heart. "She's so cute! I'm her fan now."

"Is that guy her dad? I don't see the family resemblance. Still, he's a good-looking guy."

Ivan kept a calm face as he heard everyone talking. He was used to it. This little girl always attracted so much attention each time they went out. He wasn't surprised—because he was fond of this lovely girl. He still didn't want kids, but he had to admit it was nice to carry her.

Quickly enough, the manager of the restaurant came out and ushered Ivan inside.

The restaurant was luxuriously decorated. Piggy ran her big eyes over the whole place to see if there was anything interesting. There was, but not necessarily to a child. There was a very serious-looking bar area, with colorful bottles aes

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.

, the soft kiss touched his heart, and touched something deep inside of him. Something he didn't even know was there, buried deep under layers of ice.

A warm feeling now coursed throughout his body. "Your name is Piggy?" he asked. The workaholic man put aside his work and tried to connect with this little vision of heaven.

Piggy sat on Carlos' lap, raised her head to look into his eyes and answered with seriousness, "Evening. Mom calls me Piggy."

'Piggy? Evening? Maybe she means Evelyn...' Carlos was amused by her names. He wondered what kind of strange parents would name their cute daughter Piggy. What was going through their minds?

As Ivan was filling two glasses of red wine, he chipped in, "Normally, a two-year-old kid can only say a few simple words. But Piggy can speak in full sentences when she wants to. She even knows several English words. Her IQ is remarkable. Probably her dad's good genes." Of course, it had to be Carlos' genes. Ivan didn't think that Piggy's high intelligence had anything to do with Debbie.

Carlos raised his eyebrows. And he remembered that Damon's son wasn't able to speak so fluently at the age of two. So he praised her, "I'm impressed, Piggy! But why would your parents call you Piggy?"

Certainly a nickname like "Sugar" or "Bunny" would be more suitable for this cute girl.

Piggy's cheeks bulged up as she complained, "Mommy said I didn't like... eating meat. I was thin. She wanted me...like a fat pig... so she called me Piggy."

Her words came with great difficulty. It seemed that she still needed to pause and think when it came to longer sentences. After all, no matter how smart she was, she was still a kid who wasn't even in kindergarten yet.