After graduating from college, I returned to my hometown, a small and quiet town, to work. During my internship, I stayed temporarily at my sister Janet's house.

At first, my brother-in-law, York Kingsley, was quite unhappy with my stay. He frequently picked fights with Janet, both openly and subtly, trying to drive me away.

I had even found a new place to live.

But then his attitude suddenly changed. He began to show me constant care and attention, always looking out for me. He even made sure to have hot syrup ready for me when I was on my period.

It was strange—how did he know when I was on my period?

One day, with a sly smile, he finally revealed his intentions. "Yvonne, how about you help your sister and me have a child?"

So that was what he was after all along.

Janet and York had been married for seven years without having a child. My sister had seen numerous doctors and endured a lot of hardship, especially facing scorn from York's family.

Of course, it was always my sister facing the brunt of it, not him.

"York, medical science is very advanced now. You and Janet can have your own child. If necessary, there are medical procedures like IVF."

I refused him.

"How can that compare to a natural pregnancy? Yvonne, why don't we live together for a month and see if we can conceive naturally? If it doesn't work out, we'll think of another way."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. If you bring this up again, don't blame me for turning hostile!" I said, turning to go back to my room.

"Yvonne, you eat my food, live under my roof, and I even paid for your college education. What's wrong with helping me have a child?" York's tone shifted, his true colors showing.

I was fuming.

"This house was left by my parents, not yours! And my college tuition was covered by dividends from the hotel, which my sister sent to me. It was rightfully mine. Don't forget, I own shares in the hotel too!"

"Shares? Without me working tirelessly to secure clients, the hotel would've gone under long ago! And those dividends your sister sent you were my hard-earned money. Without me, the hotel wouldn't be thriving, and you wouldn't have finished college.

"Now that you've graduated, you don't need to worry about the hotel. Since your sister can't have children, why not have one for her? She's your sister, after all; she wouldn't mistreat your child."

I've never seen someone so shameless!

"York, don't think everyone else is a fool. If it weren't for my sister, you wouldn't be where you are today. And about those dividends, just because I haven't asked doesn't mean I'm clueless. Shall we go check with the accounting department?"

York's expression shifted.

"Do you think you can just walk into the accounting department? And what do you, a literature major, know about financial statements..."

"What's going on here? What are you two arguing about?"

Just then, Janet walked in from outside.

2

Janet carried a large grocery bag in each hand as she entered the house.

"The supermarket had a big sale today, so I bought a lot of groceries. York, why don't we invite your parents over for dinner tonight?"

"All you think about is eating. Do you think it's easy for me to make money? I work my tail off at the office every day, and all you do is shop. Your allowance is cut in half this month!" York Kingsley snapped at Janet with a look of disdain on his face.

He shot me a nasty look.

I ignored him and rushed to help Janet with the bags.

"Janet, don't worry about it. I've already found a place, and I'll be moving out this Sunday."

"What are you talking about, Yvonne?" Janet's voice was full of concern. "York works hard all day, so it's understandable if he's a bit irritable. If he said something hurtful, I'll apologize on his behalf."

She then grabbed York's sleeve.

"York, you know she's my only sister. She's young and doesn't know any better. Don't hold it against her. If you're angry, take it out on me. But it's not fair to let a girl move out on her own..."

"She doesn't know any better? I think she's grown quite defiant, completely disregarding me. And you, Janet, since when do you call the shots in this house? Did I agree to let your sister live here?"

York's rant was escalating, so Janet quickly pulled him into their room.

From behind the closed door, I could hear their heated argument, with words like "infertile," "disgrace," and "waste" being thrown around.

I took a deep breath and started packing my things.

I could never understand how things got this bad.

York had once begged my parents to let Janet marry him, promising to treat her well for the rest of his life.

The second year after their marriage, his parents were in a car accident, and Janet quit her job to take care of them.

She looked after them well, but York changed completely.

Over the years, he constantly belittled and mocked her for not having children.

Meanwhile, his career flourished. He led thousands of employees, drove one luxury car after another, and recently even got himself a chauffeur...

But he never moved houses.

This house was a wedding gift from our parents to Janet, as York had married into our family...

That was right. York had married into our family.

But since our parents passed away, no one ever brought it up again.

In recent years, York's parents had even taken to openly and secretly blaming Janet for not having children, calling her a curse that would end their family line...

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud shout from the other room.

"You eat my food, use my money, and I even support your sister. What right do you have to argue with me?"

Then came the sound of a door slamming heavily.

3

York had left.

I breathed a sigh of relief, went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, and pushed open the door to Janet's room.

She sat alone on the floor, her head buried in her knees, her frail shoulders shaking slightly.

The room was a mess, with wet clothes, broken glass, and some white pills scattered around...

"Janet, are you okay?" I handed her the glass of water.

Janet looked up, her eyes red.

When she saw me, she quickly turned away, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Yvonne, I'm sorry we disturbed you."

I had suggested divorce to her before. Over the years, Janet had endured so much pain and humiliation because of the issue of having children. I saw it all.

But every time I mentioned divorce, tears welled up in her eyes.

After all, it had been almost ten years. During their toughest times, York had once held her and cried, promising that he would make her life better someday.

Life had gotten better, but York had completely changed.

Still, Janet persisted, always believing that if she just tried a little harder, things would get better, especially if they had a child.

I didn't say anything. I just bent down to pick up the clothes and the pills from the floor. The white pills had gray letters on them, the same ones I had seen at my friend's house that morning.

"Yvonne, you should get some rest. You have that business trip tomorrow, right? Go to bed early; I'll handle this myself," Janet said, nudging me.

"What's this medicine?" I stared at the pills for a while before finally asking.

"It's for preconception. York brought it back from abroad. He said the many people use this for preconception," Janet explained, taking out a bottle and carefully packing the pills inside.

I glanced at the bottle, and indeed, the words on the packaging were related to preconception.

But this medicine was exactly the same as the one I saw at Queena's place this morning.

Queena had just gotten married last month. The newlyweds wanted to enjoy some time alone together before having children, so they planned to wait a couple of years before starting a family.

The medicine was something Queena had brought back from abroad, claiming it was a contraceptive.

4.

I secretly pocketed some pills while Janet wasn't looking.

Early the next morning, I headed over to Queena's place.

In the meantime, Jimmy Leacock called, asking where I was since we had agreed to go on a business trip together today.

I suddenly remembered that Jimmy had asked me to accompany him to meet a client in the city yesterday.

After saying goodbye to Queena, I took a cab straight to the office, where Jimmy was waiting and immediately began scolding me.

"Yvonne, you're getting bolder! You're late even for a business trip with the boss."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"If you keep nagging, we'll really be late."

Jimmy and I had known each other since we were young. After graduating high school, he went abroad and only recently returned to take over his family business.

When I graduated from college, he came to our school for recruitment and lured me in under the pretense of an internship, but I needed to do all kinds of labor.

We arrived at the client's location, and with Jimmy there, the negotiations went smoothly.

Afterward, I took out the pills from my bag and showed them to him.

"Jimmy, you know a lot of people. Can you help me find out what's in these pills?"

Although Queena insisted they were contraceptives and showed me the purchase receipt, I couldn't bring myself to believe it.

This was something York bought, and Janet had been using it for years.

"What is this, a magical elixir? Yvonne, when did you develop an interest in immortality?" Jimmy teased.

"Stop joking! This is what York bought for my sister, supposedly for preconception, but it doesn't look like it."

Jimmy knew Janet well and was familiar with our family's matters, so I wasn't trying to hide anything from him.

Fortunately, Jimmy didn't ask further and carefully put the pills away.

I turned my head toward the window, and suddenly, a familiar figure caught my eye.

Was that York?

He was dressed casually, with a beautiful woman with curly hair in his arms. They were chatting and laughing as they passed by our car, looking very intimate.

I was startled, thinking I must be mistaken. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but they had already entered a nearby restaurant.

Without thinking too much, I opened the car door and chased after them.

4

But it was too late.

Pushing open the restaurant door, York was nowhere to be seen.

"This restaurant is just the entrance; the mall is huge," Jimmy caught up and reminded me.

"Did you see them?" I asked.

"My eyesight is better than yours."

I refused to give up and dragged Jimmy around the mall, but we still didn't find any sign of York.

"Scumbag!"