Chapter 10
A few months later, in the basement of a residential building.
“James! You worthless piece of trash! Where’s the money from your delivery job today? If we don’t pay rent tomorrow, we’re getting kicked out!”
Sarah stood with her visibly pregnant belly, her greasy hair stuck to her forehead. Her once–delicate face looked gaunt and bitter from resentment and malnutrition.
She snatched James’s just–removed delivery uniform, which reeked of sweat, and roughly searched through the pockets.
“Stop nagging me!”
James irritably pushed her away and collapsed exhaustedly onto the squeaky broken couch. The springs dug painfully into his back.
“I ran around all day and got two complaints! They docked half my pay! What’s left was just enough to buy these crappy canned food!”
He pointed at the two cheap canned food on the table.
“Half?! What can that little bit of money do?! I’m carrying your child! We can’t even afford nutritional supplements!”
Sarah screamed and threw the delivery uniform hard onto the floor.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t offended that witch Linda back then, how would we have ended up like this?! How would that maniac Steven have destroyed us like this?! I can’t even afford proper prenatal checkups now!”
100%
“My fault?!” James suddenly stood up, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Sarah.
“If it wasn’t for you! If you hadn’t insisted on wearing that stupid ring! If you hadn’t thrown the ring in the river! If you hadn’t pushed her like some crazy woman! How would I have lost Linda! How would we have offended Steven?! How would the Morrison family have gone bankrupt?! Sarah, you’re the jinx! You and your thieving mother are both disasters!”
“You’re insulting my mom?! James! You heartless dog! Now you think I’m dragging you down? I’m carrying your child!”
“Child? Who knows if it’s even mine!”
James roared without thinking, his long–suppressed resentment and life’s pressures making him completely lose control.
“You’re just a poor, ugly shrew now! I must have been blind back then! I gave up a real catch like Linda for a fake sparrow like you! She’s Mrs. Garrett now! She’s the Watson Group heiress!
“And you? You’re not even as good as your mother! At least she managed to steal something. What did you steal? The fate of living in a basement with me eating canned food!”
“James! I’ll kill you!” Sarah shrieked and lunged at him. The two wrestled together in the narrow, filthy basement.
Curses, screams, and the sound of things breaking mixed together, filled with the despair and sorrow of a couple destroyed by poverty.
Meanwhile, at the city’s most prestigious Guardian Angel Cathedral.
I wore a custom–made trailing wedding dress by a top designer, my arm linked with my father’s. His eyes were slightly red as he gently patted the back of my hand, his gaze full of relief and contentment.
At the end of the red carpet, Steven wore an impeccable suit, standing tall and confident. He looked at me with gentle, focused eyes filled with
undisguised love and promise.
As I walked toward him step by step and placed my hand in his warm, steady palm, all the gloom and pain seemed to completely disappear.
Under the priest’s witness and with the blessings of family and friends, Steven placed the ring symbolizing eternity on my finger, then lowered his head to press a solemn and passionate kiss on my lips.
J’I love you, Linda…”
Applause erupted like a tide.
At this moment, flowers bloomed brilliantly, and life was peaceful and beautiful.
All the suffering had become a prelude to the past, while true happiness was just beginning to unfold.
Those who had once trampled me into the mud were now living the very life they had once looked down upon.
And I would finally stand in the sunlight, embracing the brilliant life that belonged to me.
