Chapter 4

On Xander's eighth birthday, Jasper rented out a children's theater in the south of our city.

The video of the photo collage they put together for Xander was playing on repeat on the big screen.

In the photo, he was accompanying Xander as Xander learned to walk. There were photos of them at the beach too. It was as if Jasper had always been there in Xander's childhood.

Jasper promised to spend ten minutes cutting the cake before personally taking Sadie to her extra dance practice.

When I was signing my contract with the ballet company, Melanie called me.

"Sadie hasn't arrived yet. If she's late, she'll miss the group practice."

The driver said that Jasper asked him to wait outside of the theater, but that Sadie was unwilling to go on her own.

"She said Mr. Anderson has promised to send her there personally."

I rushed to the theater, but I did not immediately head in.

The side door was cracked open a little. I stood behind the curtains, but Jasper did not see me.

The emcee asked what Xander wanted the most.

Xander hugged Jasper.

"I'm afraid you'll not want me one day."

Jasper crouched down and hung a silver necklace with the initial 'A' pendant around Xander's neck.

"I won't.

"In the future, I'll be in the front row for all your competitions, birthday parties, and parent-teacher conferences."

Sadie stood behind the side door with a pale face.

She slowly walked to the stage from the side stairs.

Jasper lowered his head and saw her. His smile dimmed a little for a while.

She looked up and asked softly, "Daddy, can you repeat what you said earlier to me too?"

Jasper put the microphone aside.

"Today is Xander's birthday. Don't make a scene here."

"I'm not."

Sadie took out the ticket to her Swan Lake show. On the back of the tickets, she had written: Daddy's ticket with no expiry date.

"I don't want forever. I just want you to say this once today."

Xander started crying, "Daddy's mine!"

Dakota started to coax him softly.

"Daddy's going to send Sadie to dance class. Xander, you can blow your own candles, alright?"

Xander immediately grabbed Jasper.

"Are you going to come back?"

Jasper stopped in his tracks.

He took the ticket. He wanted to speak, yet Xander was throwing a tantrum because he wanted to cut the birthday cake.

Jasper pressed the ticket back to Sadie's hand. A bit of cream stained Sadie's handwriting on the back of the ticket.

Jasper put the jacket around Sadie's shoulders and sent her to the car.

"I'll definitely fetch you home later."

He lowered his voice.

"Don't tell your mommy about what happened today. Otherwise, she'll think too much.

"You're the most understanding, right?"

Sadie looked at him. "Are you sure you'll come?"

"When did I ever lie to you?"

He shut the car door and walked back to the party.

I confirmed that the driver would send Sadie to the dance studio, so I did not follow her.

She still wanted to believe in her father for another time. I did not want to kill her hope in the crowded hall.

I left the theater from the other exit. Then, I signed the divorce petition that my lawyer had prepared.

In the early evening, Jasper sent me a birthday video.

[This is the last time. Tomorrow, I'll have dinner with you and Sadie.]

Two hours later, Melanie called me again.

"The practice is over now. Mr. Anderson said he'd come and pick Sadie up, but he hasn't arrived. Sadie's been waiting for a long time."

I called Jasper.

He hung up on me the first time. The second time, he answered and said, "I'm busy celebrating Xander's birthday. Whatever it is, we can talk tomorrow."

It was raining.

When I arrived at the dance studio, there was only one light left in the lobby.

Sadie was hugging her bag as she sat on the stairs. Jasper's jacket was covering her legs, and her ballet shoes were half-wet.

She looked behind me. "Where's Daddy?"

"He's busy."

After we got into the car, she wiped the ticket with her sleeve.

The cream had left a stain on her handwriting and smudged it.

"Mommy, does everything have an expiry date?"

I tightened my grip around the steering wheel.

"Then we won't write "forever" anymore."

When we were crossing the bridge, the car in front of me suddenly swerved.

I turned my steering wheel in response, and my car rammed into the divider. It flipped, and the car windows in the back broke into pieces.

Just before the impact, I only had time to turn and reach back to shield Sadie.

When I woke up, the steering wheel was pressing against my chest. Sadie was crying.

A truck driver who had stopped for us was already calling the emergency services.

Sadie was stuck in the back. Through the broken car windows, she saw that I was bleeding profusely.

With her smartwatch, she kept calling her pinned caller.

The first call was hung up.

The second call was rejected too.

When the call finally got through on her sixth attempt, Jasper was whispering, "Daddy's still at Xander's birthday party. Stop making a fuss."

"Daddy, Mommy's bleeding a lot…"

After 40 minutes, the paramedics saw that Sadie had dialed Jasper's number six times. Then, they called the same number.

The paramedics said, "The adult and child were involved in a serious car accident, and they're in the hospital receiving emergency treatment.

"Please come to the city hospital to sign their consent forms for the surgery and blood transfusion."