Chapter 4
His shoulders slumped, and his voice softened, pleading: "Alice, Alice, listen to me... Dad was just confused for a moment... I was really just confused! I'm sorry to your mom, I'm sorry to you... But things are already like this, Zoe is so young, and she's so sick... She needs her dad, she needs money for treatment... Your mom isn't well, and she's strong-willed, she definitely wouldn't be able to handle it if she found out! Alice, please keep it a secret for Dad, okay? Dad promises, I'll make it up to you two properly in the future, just don't tell your mom, I'm begging you..."
I stopped looking at him, turned, and pulled open the stairwell door.
Outside, Mom was standing there, I don't know how long she'd been there.
Dad's legs buckled, and he sank to his knees. "Sarah, Sarah, let me explain..."
Mom didn't look at Dad; she just took my hand. "Alice, let's go home."
"Mom..." I began cautiously in the car.
"Alice," she cut me off, her voice soft but exceptionally clear. "When your dad knelt down, I wondered what kind of person I had truly known for these past twenty years."
"Then I thought about that child, Zoe, only six years old, diagnosed with leukemia."
My heart sank. "Mom, what do you mean?"
"The child is innocent."
Mom's words were like a needle, piercing my most sensitive nerve. "What about me?! Am I not innocent? For these twenty years, isn't *our* family innocent? Mom, Dad lied to us! He has two families! That child... that child is his evidence!"
"I know. I know all of it. But Alice, that child is dying."
"So what?"
"So we're supposed to be saints, give our money and resources to save his and the other woman's child? Mom, wake up! When he begged me to keep it a secret from you, he only thought of himself and that child! He never considered how much you'd suffer if you found out!"
"If he had considered me, none of this would have happened in the first place."
Mom looked up, a terrifying resolve in her eyes that I'd never seen before. "Alice, I will work with your dad to save that child. As for your dad and me," she paused, "we'll talk about it once that child's condition is stable."
I stared at Mom in disbelief, as if seeing her for the first time. "You're crazy!"
I grabbed my bag and signaled the driver to stop. "If you want to be a saint, go ahead! I don't want to see either of them again!"
I sat down on a stone bench, quietly sobbing.
I even wondered if I was wrong?
I pulled out my phone and called my boyfriend, Ethan Hayes.
"Ethan," I choked out, almost incoherent. "My dad... my mom... they've all gone crazy... Are you home? Can I come over?"
"I'm home. Take your time, don't rush, I'll wait for you."
Half an hour later, I knocked on Ethan's apartment door. I poured out everything that had happened that day, from the confrontation at the hospital to my mother's shocking decision.
Ethan listened quietly, his brow gradually furrowing. "So, your mom's saying, save the person first, then deal with right and wrong."
"That's not even about right and wrong!" I sprang up from the sofa, agitated. "Ethan, why are you saying that too? That's his mistress's child!"
Ethan was silent for a moment. He then took out a file folder. "Alice, there's something your mom didn't want me to tell you. For the past eight months, your mother has been secretly commissioning me to investigate your father." Ethan's voice was low. "She started to suspect something was wrong about nine months ago, but she had no evidence. She asked me to investigate your father's itinerary, spending records, communication links..."
I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning, frozen on the spot.
Nine months ago... that was precisely when Dad started his frequent "overtime," and also Zoe's earliest medical visit.
"Why... why did you keep it from me?" My voice trembled.
"She said you were still young, and with your job at the hospital, you were already under a lot of stress. She didn't want you to be distracted."
"She said today she'd use 'her half' of the money to save Zoe," I looked at Ethan, and he nodded, confirming my guess.