It was 6:00 am the next morning Eun Ha had rounded up her night shift at the hotel, she knew she had to resume work at the grocery but the last thing In her mind was work. she thought about the 10,000 dollars, her father's life was on the line, she needed to do something and do it fast, getting pregnant wasn't one of them, perhaps she could talk to her friend Mi Sun, maybe she would be able to borrow her 5000 dollars, perhaps, she could beg them having 7000 dollars at hand. she walked out through the exit and boarded a bus home, she needed to think, the deadline was just a few hours away, if she didn't get that money, her father could die. she subconsciously hit an old woman while walking in to take a seat
"watch it, girl," the old woman said angrily
"I'm sorry ma'am," she said picking up the old woman's things from the floor and respectfully handing it over to her.
she took a seat close to the window as she observed the busy streets, lots of people were heading to work, she could feel the wind hitting her face, she looked at some people jogging and laughing, she wished her life was as easy as that. she wished she could just keep running till she got to a better place, run away from it all but she couldn't, she was stuck here.
the bus stopped at her drop point to drop some passengers off but she hadn't noticed till it was about moving away from the terminal.
she quickly ran to the front of the bus close to the driver, stop sir, this is my terminal, we're you sleeping young woman? the driver asked angrily and abruptly came to a halt, she apologized and got down. she had to get to the grocery store at 10:00 am where she worked for 5 hours.
more importantly, she had to get 10,000 dollars from God knows where.
she walked into the house, it was a 3 bedroom bungalow, her neighbourhood had people normally referred to the lower class citizens, they weren't rich, they were just regular people, she passed by Mrs Cheng who was sweeping the little garden she had in front of her apartment, good morning Madam Cheng she said in a low voice,
"how's my favourite girl today?" she said with a wide smile on her face that revealed her crooked brown coloured teeth.
"fine" she muttered
Madam Cheng was an old woman and she had known Lee Eun Ha since she was little, they had been neighbours for quite some time, but she was a really strange woman, Eun Ha didn't care about her life history, she just helped her with some manual Jobs around the house whenever she had the time.
Madam Cheng knew something was wrong but she was going to let her be and ask her later.
Eun Ha knocked slightly at the door, her mother immediately got up from the couch and answered the door, she hadn't slept a wink,
"good morning mum" Eun Ha greeted, it was clear that she wasn't happy, not in the least bit.
"mother, did you sleep?" she noticed her mum had eye bags and dark under eyes.
"I tried to, but I just couldn't," she said as they both walked into the living room,
Eun Ha fell back to the chair and sighed, she was exhausted, she didn't get much sleep either.
"have you been able to come up with the money?" her mother asked looking at Eun Ha with high hopes
"well... I met with someone who could help but he wants me to carry his child, a contract pregnancy"
"and what did you say? don't tell me you turned it down?" her mum questioned her like it was a police investigation.
"of course, I did mother, I just can't, I can't carry a man's child I'm not married to could be a life-changer for me, how will people look at me. what will they say? if I am to leave this place who will take care of you and Han Jae, I still have responsibilities," she said trying to reason with her mother.
but the reasoning was totally out of it right now for her mother, they wanted a solution and there was one.
"you can't refuse," her mother said.
Eun Ha was shocked,
"mother are you suggesting I do this," she asked in disbelief.
"yes I am" she retorted back slightly angered.
"it's your father's life over the opinion of others"
she went cold, her mother had a valid point, she isn't supposed to gamble with her father's life.
"Okay, mum, I'll go see Mi Sun see if she'd be able to lend me some amount of money to pay up then I'd be in her debt. I need to call the grocery to inform them I won't be coming today," she said as she stood up carrying the bag she took to work into her room, she emptied it and entered the bathroom to take her bath.
"okay"
her mother simply said, she felt hurt, she knew no mother should encourage her child to do what she was propelling Eun Ha to do, but she didn't have a choice. Seo Jun was an unreasonable jerk but he was still her husband and the father to her children, she couldn't lose him now.