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 in her heart and asked, "Then why didn't you call me? Text me? You got your memories back, right? You must have heard I was going to marry Matthew." Three months ago, she had been engaged to her current hubby. The whole world knew about it. She was viral news for awhile.
Tessie's eyes flashed with guilt. "I was afraid… afraid you'd try to give the kid back to me. My parents would kill me if they found out I had a baby! No father in the picture, no husband, either!"
"That's it? That's why you didn't try to get a hold of me? I thought you were dead! I cried every day! Do you know what I went through?" Erica couldn't hold back her tears anymore.
Tessie's "death" hurt Erica to the core.
The year she vanished, she was really living with Tessie, who was pregnant at the time. She was taking care of her, the both of them living in a basement. Erica never left the country—she knew the place like the back of her hand. It was the perfect plan.
Tessie was very thin. Even at five or six months, the baby bump was not obvious. And she knew how to hide it. She wore bigger clothes, bulky, shapeless sweaters, leggings, black tights, and skinny jeans. Even a scarf. She draped it just right to cover her expanding belly. People couldn't tell she was pregnant, so she could still go to school.
On the other hand, Erica didn't dare go out for long because Wesley and Gifford had their people looking for her ever since she disappeared. One slip and everything would unravel.
Sometimes when she ventured out in the middle of the night, she would still bump into the men they sent. They were quite good at their jobs. She had to be better.
Tessie figured out the ideal place to have her baby. It was a tiny hospital.
After the baby was born, Erica took him to the basement and went back into hiding for a month before she finally came back home.
Those short weeks were a nightmare for Erica.
She burst into tears at the thought of it. "Do you think 'sorry' is going to cut it? Like I can forgive this easily? Tessie, do you know what I had to do? I had to take care of your baby alone!"
Erica didn't know how to take care of a baby. When the baby cried, she didn't know what was wrong or how to help him. Sometimes, he'd cry for hours. She tried her best to calm him down, but he still kept crying. That made her cry.
She knew she couldn't keep doing this, so she gave some money to a elderly mute woman upstairs and asked her to buy formula, change his diapers and bathe the kid.
She ate takeout every day, and sometimes the old lady would give her a bowl of rice. She made do for a month before finally returning home with the baby.
Tessie took two steps forward and hugged her. "Erica, it's all my fault. I'm sorry. I'll make up to you in the future. Don't be angry, okay?"
Erica quickly wiped her tears and pushed Tessie away. "We can't go back to the way things were. I've got a kid to take care of. I know you don't want him, and that's fine. I don't want to give him back. He's with my parents, and they love him like their own. I named him Feb Wu at first, and Dad changed his name to Ethan. He's taken our family name. So, from now on, he's a Li. He's not really yours anymore. Even if you want him back, that's not gonna happen."
Tessie murmured, "Ethan Li, Ethan…" She also missed her baby.
After a long moment of silence, Erica decided to let it go. She was stupid and made friends with the wrong person. Life was too short to spend time mad about it.
'I've learned a lesson from Tessie, and I will never do something like that again. I've suffered too much for this, ' she comforted herself.
She walked away, and didn't spare Tessie another glance.
Tam ran over and stopped Erica who was about to get in the car. "Mrs. Huo, I still want Ethan. Can you tell your father when you have time?"
Erica glanced at him and answered expressionlessly, "No, you can't have him. I lived in a basement for nearly a year. I ate takeout for a month and borrowed money to raise the baby. My parents have tried their best to take care of him since I came back home. From now on, he's mine! He won't be going anywhere, except with me!"
Then she got in the car, ignoring Tam.
Tam 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.
