Chapter 4 The Offer

I didn't open the office door. I couldn't.

My mother was still talking inside, and it took everything I had in me just to brace myself against the wall and make my way downstairs one step at a time.

People started whispering the moment I stepped out of the academic building.

"Is that her?"

"Her mom said it herself. She's the illegitimate daughter."

I slowed for a moment, lowered my head, and kept shuffling forward.

My phone wouldn't stop vibrating. Another post had gone up on the campus forum.

"Rich Illegitimate Daughter Pretends to Be Poor—What's She Really After?"

There were already hundreds of comments.

Some people said I was playing the victim to pressure my father into acknowledging me. Someone even posted screenshots of my roommate defending me.

"Is she in on it too?"

Dozens of hateful comments were thrown at my roommate.

I stared at the screen for a few seconds, and my palms suddenly broke out in sweat.

I messaged my roommate immediately. "Stop defending me."

She replied almost instantly, "Why would I stop defending you?"

I stared at those words, my eyes suddenly burning with unshed tears. My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time, but I couldn't type a single word.

Just then, a friend request popped up.

I recognized the profile picture. It was the young man who had been sitting at the head table at the Callahans' banquet.

I accepted it. His first message was, "I heard you're short on money?"

Another message followed. "$50,000 a month. Be my kept woman."

I stared at the $50,000. Suddenly, my stomach started cramping up again.

I bent over, clutching my stomach as my throat tightened. I gagged twice, bracing myself against my knees. Unfortunately, my stomach was so empty that I had nothing but bile left to throw up.

My eyes were unfocused as I stared at the ground, tasting the bitter, rancid taste lingering on my tongue.

I crouched there for a long while before picking up my phone again. My fingers were trembling slightly as I replied, "All I care about is money. If I really become a kept woman, I might be even more shameless about money than my mother."

"Bags, cars, properties. You name it, I want it."

After a few seconds, I typed one more message. "Would you still be okay with me?"

His reply came almost instantly. "Yes."

I stared at that one word and suddenly started bursting into peals of breathless laughter. Tears slipped into my smiling mouth. They tasted bitter.

Just then, my phone started ringing. It was my mother. "Did you hear me talking to your advisor?"

I tightened my grip on the phone until my knuckles slowly turned white. "Mom, why won't you give me the $80,000 my father gave me?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end. I held my breath.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in her voice but irritation when she finally did speak. "Why is everything always about money with you? I don't want to raise you into that kind of woman."

I looked at the $50,000 in the chat. "What kind of woman?"

My mother's breathing grew heavier as she ranted, "Your father and I are together because we genuinely love each other. I'm not like those women out there who are only after his money.

"If you ever do anything disgraceful just for money, you can forget about ever calling me your mother again."

She hung up almost immediately.

I kept the phone pressed to my ear. It took a long time before I slowly lowered my hand.

Not long after, my father's messages started coming in one after another.

"Money isn't something you should be worrying about."

"Your mother has been through a lot with me all these years."

"Don't make a mess of the family over money."

"Call me back. Now."

My mother was texting me as well.

"Stop bothering your father."

"You can still apologize and fix this."

"Don't make me stop caring about you."

My phone kept vibrating.

I sat on a bench behind the academic building, watching their messages pile up on the screen. Then, I muted both of them.

The man sent another message. "Have you made up your mind?"

My stomach clenched in protest once more. I held my phone tightly and sat there for a long time.

Finally, I opened his chat. My finger hovered over the input field for a long time before I finally typed one word. "Okay."

The message went through.

My father called again. I stared at the screen for two seconds before silencing the call.