Chapter 0017

My jaw dropped down. Did he actually fear for his safety? Was he really scared of me?

“Or will you leave, and come back later and finish me off? Will you put a pillow on my face so I’d suffocate?”

“Sarah, leave. You should be thankful I didn’t call the police. From now, on I want nothing to do with you. You’re free to marry him if you want. I’m sure you’ve been dying to divorce me.

What a fool I was for even thinking he would at least give me a chance to explain. He was blinded by his love for her.

I wanted him to answer the question I asked him when he wanted me to donate my bone marrow to Maureen.

Marcus Mo, I\'ll ask you a question. My decision will depend on your answer. Before we were married, you treated me much better, so I assume now that you pretended to be nice to me. Was there ever a moment when you sincerely liked me? Before you started hating me, I mean.

“You never answered my question before I ran away from you. I want to know the answer before I sign the divorce agreement.”

Though it was pretty obvious what he was going to say, I just wanted to hear him say it. I waited for him to answer.

\"No.”

“Okay.” That was enough for me.

Tom\'s family was based in the United Stated, and though he came here often, he was a US citizen. He’d studied here most of his life but left during our senior year. He’d come back here every now and then.

Their family owned an apartment complex, and let people rented most of the units. Tom kept one for himself, this was where he stayed when he had something to do here. They also owned some manufacturing plants and various other businesses here.

Tom began to set up his businesses so that he won’t have to go back here to manage these himself. He hired a couple of managers who could handle his affairs here. He’s still directly manage whatever needed to be done in the United States.

He was always a low-key sort of person, and if you didn’t know him personally, you’d have no idea how many businesses he had. He was the exact opposite of my now ex-husband, who was very visible and well-respected.

At this point in my life, the only people that kept me going were the child in my belly, and my best friend Tom.

Today, Tom asked me to marry him.

For the past couple of months, he spent most of his time with me. He tried to comfort me, but for a long time, he couldn\'t even make me laugh.

I barely had an appetite but forced myself to eat for the sake of my child. I had to get bigger.

On the last prenatal examination, doctors told me that I had something called placenta adhesion which was very serious, and likely to cause postpartum hemorrhage. I had to be signed for by my next-of-kin to operate on it. My parents were dead. I had relatives but most of them had migrated to other countries and couldn’t fly back here on such short notice.

Marcus Mo and I have divorced, so even though he was the father of the child inside me, he could not easily sign for me. Not that he would want to. Plus, I wouldn’t let Maureen anywhere near my baby.

I looked at the condition notice in my hand and suddenly didn\'t know what to do.

\"Sarah, marry me.\"

\"What?\" I exclaimed in surprise. By the look on his face, apparently, it was an indirect refusal. Without even realizing, I had already said no to him.

It wouldn’t be fair to Tom . He was such a good person, how can drag him down? It\'s unfair to make him responsible for my child.

\"Are you saying you won’t marry me because I\'m a cripple now? \" Tom smiled bitterly, looking at his legs. His face was full of loneliness.

\"Tom ! You got injured from saving me. I don\'t want to drag you down. You clearly deserve a better woman than me. Even if it\'s a fake marriage, it would be unfair to you.\"

Tom wheeled himself to me, and held my hand gently.

He looked up at me, and his eyes were full of tenderness. \"Fool, you are the best woman in the world to me. You’ve loved Marcus Mo for ten years, but what you don\'t know is, I’ve loved you for a long time, longer than you’ve loved him.\"

At this moment, I suddenly realized. I should have known that everything he has ever done for me, it was all because he was in love with me all along. I’ve been stupid enough to think that all this time, it was only friendship he wanted from me.

What do I do? I simply don’t feel the same way about him.

Can I learn to love him?

“I know you have only Marcus Mo in your heart. Even if he has done so much to hurt you, you still can\'t forget him,” Tom said to her. “I’m not asking you to love me back, I just want to take care of you. I want to be the father when the child is born. It\'s hard. Do you want to tell her the truth about her father?\"

And so, Tom and I got married, and I applied for an immigrant visa to the United States so we could live there.