Chapter 2

Lim Toby returned the next morning, and when he saw Lydia, a hint of surprise crossed his face, with only a question, "Are you okay?" Lydia nodded, "Okay." Was he surprised to see his wife at home as a husband? Did Master Lim think it's amazing that the kidnappers didn't kill her? At the breakfast table, Mrs. Lim looked askance at her son and chided, "Lim Toby, did you stay out all night again last night?" Lim Toby doesn't answer, keeping his head down and nibbling on his sandwich. Lim Edith took a sip of milk and looked at Lydia, who was eating her breakfast without a word, and sneered, "I'd stay out late in the morning with such a good wife." "Lim Edith, you shut up!" Mrs.Lim scolded her lowly, glaring at her. Lim Edith scowled and ducked her head to eat. "I'm full, and you guys take your time." Lim Toby threw down his knife and fork and got up to leave his seat. "Mom, I'm full too." Lydia followed up and stood up. Mrs. Lim looked at the half-eaten slices of bread on her plate and frowned, "Why are you eating so little, will you be well?" "How can you carry a baby if you're not healthy enough?" Lim Edith added. Lydia didn't mind, smiling at the pair and turning away from her seat, heading for the second-floor bedroom. Lim Toby was changing in his bedroom, and when he saw her enter, he said in a nonchalant tone, "I hope you don't mind about Ann's pregnancy." Lydia laughed bitterly. That woman was carrying her husband's child, how could she not mind? Lim Toby sat down on the couch, lit a cigarette, and smoked it. Lydia sat down across from him, stared at him, and said, "Can I borrow some money?" "How much?" "Two hundred thousand." "Cheng Lydia! Are you a vampire!" With a thud, Lim Toby threw a hard slap at her face. Lydia was not expecting it and hit her head on the corner of the coffee table, and her eyes closed in pain as blood fell down the corners of her eyes. The pain that eats away at your bones is no match for the hurt in your heart. She pulled a handful of tissues from the tissue box to cover the wound, still gazing at him, "Or thirty thousand will do." "No! Not a single point!" Lim Toby stood up from the couch, leaned down excitedly, grabbed her by the shirt on her chest, ripped her up from the couch, and glared at her from close range. "Lydia, what else do you do all day long but ask for money? Early in the morning, you don't even ask how Ann and the baby are doing, but when you open your mouth, all you do is ask for money?" Lydia was shaking him so hard that the palm covering the corner of her eye slipped, and blood began to seep out of her skin again. Does he accuse her of not caring enough to ask about Feng Ann and the baby in her belly? Should she have cared? Should she have rushed up to him with a distraught face when she saw him early in the morning and asked him how Ann was doing? Had she been overly shocked by what happened last night? Should she go and calm Feng Ann down sometime? But she was the one who was almost killed by the kidnappers! "You want 200,000. Fine, sign the divorce papers, and I'll give it to you right away!" Lim Toby tightened his grip on her shirt and gritted his teeth, "To sign or not to sign?" "I won't sign it." Lydia shook her head, not even thinking about it. The shirt on his chest loosened, and he let go of her. "Then don't ask me for any more money!" Shrugging that off, Lim Toby turned and walked quickly out of the bedroom. It was an early shift today, and Cheng Lydia arrived at the hospital early to work after casually treating her wound. Her co-workers were surprised to see the cuts on her face and asked her what was wrong. She laughed and said she had accidentally bumped into it. Her co-workers heckled her again and asked if she had a good time and where she had gone for romance with her husband last night. Lydia was still smiling, a grin that stiffened her cheeks. She never told her co-workers about her and Lim Toby, but they assumed that she and Lim Toby were in love and in love with each other. How did they know that just yesterday, on her and Lim Toby's third wedding anniversary, how viciously Lim Toby sent her into the jaws of a tiger and nearly cost her her life? "Oh, by the way, Lydia, the patient in room 603, bed 2, has named you to treat him, so go over there." Doctor Song suddenly remembered this and said to Lydia. Lydia nodded and grabbed her chart, and headed for room 603. When she walked into ward 603 and saw Feng Ann leaning against bed two playing on her cell phone, she was stunned and surveyed her in surprise. What was this woman doing here? What good could come from coming here and naming her for treatment? Lydia took a light breath, mentally preparing herself for the battle, stepped forward to gaze at her, and asked in as polite a tone as she could muster, "Excuse me, miss, where are you not feeling well?" Feng Ann looked up and saw her, smiled brightly before laying her body flat on the bed and pointing to her abdomen, "Doctor Cheng, I'm probably feeling very uncomfortable because I was in shock last night; please take a look at me." "I'm sorry, this is Internal Medicine; the OB/GYN department is on the fifth floor." Lydia looked serious and earnest. "Oh, I could also be suffering from cholecystitis, anyway. It's just an upset stomach, so check it out for me first, and I'll go to the gynecologist when I'm sure it's not cholecystitis." "Pull up your shirt and let me see." Lydia took a step forward. Feng Ann dutifully pulled her shirt up, and Lydia leaned over and pressed her fingers against her upper abdomen, asking, "Does it hurt here?" "No." "And here?" "It doesn't seem like it." Feng Ann gazed at her with a smile and said, "You said how women are so troublesome to get pregnant? You cant even eat, you can't even sleep, and you're always throwing up. Can you understand this feeling? Alas, you've never been pregnant; you definitely won't be able to experience it." Lydia's hand wandering over her stomach paused, resisting the urge to press down harder. Just inside this belly, there was her husband's flesh and bone growing little by little, a treat she, as a wife, could never have, and it was no wonder the woman came here so smugly to show off to her. "By the way, when are you planning to have a child? Gotta hurry up, or you'll be even less likely to conceive when you get older." Feng Ann continued to speak as she observed her reaction. "This young lady, please follow me to the consulting room for a moment." Lydia still had a serious look on her face. "What for?" Feng Ann looked wary. Lydia turned and left the room first, and in a moment, brought in a stack of sheets handing them to her one by one, "This is the ultrasound test payment form, this is the CT test, this is the blood test, this is the white belt test, and this is ......." A dozen in all, all in Feng Ann's hands, "Go on, give me the results sheet when you are done with the test." Feng Ann stared indignantly at the dozen sheets, knowing that Lydia had done it on purpose! But instead of showing her anger, she deliberately looked sad, "So much, doesn't that cost a lot of money?" Said quickly and smiled again, "But that's okay. It's Toby's card that's being swiped anyway." Cheng Lydia quietly clenched both fists and had to admit that she was really pissed off at this woman! All-day long, Lydia was in a depressed state. At the end of her shift, she received a text message from an unfamiliar number: When will the 200,000 be paid? Lydia bit her lip and returned; please give me a little more time. After sending it, she turned off her phone in annoyance. Two hundred thousand. Where could she get the money? She still owed 30,000 for her mother's medical bills. Bored out of her mind, she volunteered to participate in her colleague's Karaoke party. In the pandemonium of the KTV room, she let herself and her colleagues lose in a rare moment to yell the loudest songs, drink the strongest drinks and laugh like a heartless child. Alcohol can numb a person's mood, but it can't really take away a person's sadness. Lydia is drunk and staggers back to The Lim Family mansion. It was late, and Mrs. Lim and Lim Edith had gone to bed, and the first-floor hall was empty. Lydia slumped on the stairs with a fit of dry heaving, but nothing came out because she hadn't eaten anything at all during the day. The bedroom was dark and empty, as it usually was every day when she returned. She stood by the door and turned on her heel to head for the adjacent study. Lim Toby comes back once in a while, and when he does, he only sleeps in the den. Lim Toby was about to go to bed when Lydia walked in, and at the sight of her, flushed and unsteady on her feet, Lim Toby paused in his palm of lifting the covers and looked askance at her with a sullen and jaded look, and a tone of extreme displeasure, "What are you doing here?" "I came to see you." Lydia smiled brightly and stepped in, carrying a whiff of alcohol. "You've been drinking?" Lim Toby frowned, sizing her up unpleasantly. "Had a few drinks with my colleagues." "Did I ever tell you no drinking or staying out late?" "Toby, I just had a couple of extra drinks because I was bad." Lydia took his hand, tilted her little face slightly to gaze at him steadily, and said in an almost pleading tone, "Toby, will you look at me properly, just once." She let go of him and put her hands on the buttons of her dress instead, unbuttoning them one by one, revealing bit by bit her white, delicate skin. She had never shown her body to any man, not even her own husband, and if she hadn't been drinking tonight, she certainly wouldn't have had the guts. Lim Toby really hadn't seen her properly, had avoided her and everything about her from the start. So at the sight of her beautiful body, Lim instantly awakened the most primal desire in his body. He pinned her down on the bed. No man in his right mind could resist this green but sweet temptation! He kissed her face, her neck ...... hot and frantic. Lydia fought back the pain, pressed about the tears, took his handsome face in her hands, and gazed at him with affection, "Toby, I can have a baby for you too if you want ......" The softly spoken words poured down on Lim Toby's head like a basin of cold water, instantly sobering him up. "Bitch!" He tumbled off her with a vacant thud and kicked her off the bottom of the bed. Lydia let out a low whistle, mostly awake from her drink. Lim Toby was not relieved by the kick; he chased her under the bed, pulled her arm upwards, forced her to look at him at close range, and scolded her through gritted teeth, "Cheng Lydia! Do you think that if you give birth to my child, you will be able to stay in this family as my wife without any worries? Do you think I'll fall for your trick? Get dressed and get out of here right now!" He pushed hard, and Lydia fell to the ground again. This time, she was indeed awake. Yeah, I'm not thinking too simplistically myself. He has plenty of women to have children for him, no need for her, a woman who can't do anything but ask for money! Lydia's dignity, which she held firm, shattered to pieces. Lydia suddenly felt that she was actually no different from his mistresses, using all means for the status of Lin's young grandmother, even going so far as to sell her body and soul. Cheng Lydia blushingly pulled her clothes back on her body, got up, and took a step out of his study.