son.
“Where else do you want to go today,
birthday boy?”
My son happily embraced him: “Nowhere,
dad, mom, let’s go home!”
After saying that, he looked at Alex, and then
tightly grabbed my hand, afraid that he would
attract my attention.
His behavior was a clear sign of him trying to
win my affection, and I couldn’t help but
stroke his head.
Alex’s eyes looked both envious and sad.
I got up and said to Alex:
“You should go home soon too; your family is
probably worried about you.”
Chris looked at me confusedly.
I quietly explained: “A friend’s kid.”
<
Turning around to leave, Alex suddenly called
out to me: “Today… is also my birthday.”
It was true; today was also his birthday.
That robotic voice told me to marry Jake so that my loved ones could be resurrected. With that slim hope, I found the courage to keep
living.
I happened to be working the night shift when
I first met Jake.
He was standing in the hall with a wailing
baby.
His technique was clumsy, and the formula was lying by his side as he answered the
phone.
“She just left me with a kid, and she won’t
text me back. I told you about my company’s
situation. Find me a babysitter, I’m not the
type who can’t hire help.”
In that moment, I knew that I hadn’t been
hallucinating and that there really was
someone named Jake.
I told him how to take care of the baby, and
what kind of formula to get. Later, we
exchanged contact information, and he and I
started talking more and more.
“Dr. Karen, what do I do, my son has a
fever?”
“It seems like my son is allergic to pollen.
What kind of medicine should I get?”
L
As the conversations progressed, things
started to change, and I got a call from him
late one night.
“Dr. Karen, even though it might be rude for
me to say this, can you be a mom to my
son?”
After that, he would give me gifts, and even
though he didn’t say those kinds of rude. things anymore, his intentions were clear.
I accepted.
When I went to register Jake’s son, they
asked for the kid’s date of birth. Jake said
that he didn’t know, and that Sarah never
gave him a birth certificate.
I thought of my son, who was born around the
same time, and I gave him the same birthday.
One, it would remind me to never forget my
son, and two, I hoped that I could treat this
poor kid like I did my own son.
Later, Jake took me back to see his parents.
He insisted on marrying me.
I knew that Jake’s mom looked down on me,
but with Jake as a single dad, it was hard for
him to find someone suitable, so she went
along with it.
There was no big wedding; Jake being a
single dad wasn’t something that was worth
bragging about. The less people who knew,
the better.
After we got married, the thing Jake would
<
been going through a lot. After my company
gets over this crisis, I’ll make it up to you with
a real wedding.”
But promises are meant to be broken.
However sincere they were, they would be pworn down by time, broken apart.
I was glad that I had never believed Jake.
However, I really did put my heart into taking
care of his son.
Unfortunately, Jake’s son was just like Jake
and had his own obsessions.
When Jake’s son was three, Jake’s company
