I looked around the shabby rental, the anger choking up to my throat was suppressed by another inexplicable sadness.

I sighed deeply, feeling heavier than if a thousand kilos were pressing on my chest.

"How can I give birth to a child? Can you afford it?"

I turned away from Jack, silently for a long time, calmly yet helplessly stating the facts, without a trace of blame, yet enough to give us a cold war all night.

He couldn't afford it, yet I was pregnant again!

During lunch break, while colleagues went out to eat, I hid in the last stall of the office bathroom, carefully placing the test strip in the urine cup.

Watching the urine soak the test strip and slowly climb up was more nerve-wracking than waiting for the college entrance exam results.

When the glaring two red lines appeared, I felt like I had been struck by lightning, violently throwing the urine cup into the trash. The arrival of this child, like a loud slap, pained me deeply.

The tears I had been holding back all day were almost bursting out.

After calming down for a long time, I gently picked up the urine cup from the trash, wrapped the test strip with two lines in layers of toilet paper, and then stuffed it into a fake Gucci bag to take away.

I had no choice. I had waited three years for a promotion opportunity. If my manager found out I was pregnant, not to mention a promotion, I might not even keep my job.

''I'm pregnant again!''

Sitting at my desk, I quickly sent a message to Jack, then swiftly turned off my phone's screen light, guiltily stuffing the phone back into my bag.

Ten minutes later, I took out my phone, Jack hadn't replied.

Was he busy? Was he in a meeting?

I still habitually made excuses for him, never wanting to admit, maybe we didn't love each other anymore.

If it were a few years ago, how could Jack be like this, no matter how busy, he wouldn't take more than ten minutes to reply to my messages. Ten years had passed, the passion between us had long been exhausted, leaving either kinship or something else, I didn't know.

After much thought, I still sent a message to my mom, thousands of miles away.

''I plan to marry Jack!''

The moment I pressed the send button, my hands were trembling.

Yes, this decision was hasty and ludicrous, but other than getting married, I couldn't think of any other way to give a perfect ending to these ten years of effort.

I didn't want to abort this child again. I wanted stability, even if it was impoverished stability. I desperately wanted it.

"Without a betrothal gift of 200,000 dollars, forget it!"

My mom's reply came almost instantly.

I held the phone, tiredly resting my forearm, tears buried in the 300 dollars women's suit from e-shop I was wearing.

'Angel, you have to understand mom. Jack's family is poor, relying on you two to struggle, you won't have good days!"

My mother's message popped up again.

My heart felt like it was soaked in bile-filled vinegar, both bitter and sour.

''Baby, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. let's go to the hospital together tomorrow!''

Jack finally replied to my message two hours later, but his words lacked the resolve of that night.

I sneered, typed a response, and then deleted it, eventually stuffing the phone back into my bag.

I Understood Jack's pressure. Given our current life, we indeed did not have the capacity to bear the arrival of this child. This pressure weighed on him and on me.

But at that moment, I suddenly mustered a kind of reckless courage.

"I want to get married and give birth to the baby!"

I quickly typed a line of text, pressing send before I could regret it.

Another long wait, until the end of the workday, Jack still hadn't replied.

Dragging my already exhausted body, looking at my reflection in the subway station glass, I felt my supposedly self-righteous courage was so laughable.

The subway was crowded. I felt like a sandwich cookie being compressed to its smallest.

I felt my stomach churning, a sharp pain in my lower abdomen.

''Fine, if it can crush this child out, so be it!''

The tears I had held back all day finally broke through at that moment. I bowed my head and cried silently, the crowd too dense, no one saw me.

I had already thought it through. I would abort this child and pretend to live as if nothing happened.

Or, I would follow my mom's advice, break up with Jack, go back to my hometown for a blind date and find a reliable man to settle down with. After all, no matter how I lived, as long as it wasn't like this, I just wanted a way out of this life!

When I reached the door of our rental, I indulgently bought a Haagen-Daze, the sweet taste of cream melting in my mouth, and my troubled heart gradually stabilized.

I wiped away my tears, casually straightened my hair.

"Let's break up!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe we are not suitable!"

I practiced these inevitably awkward topics as I walked to the rental.

I couldn't tell if I was just angry or really ready to leave.

However, all the hesitations weighed down as I opened the rental door, rationality once again suppressed by emotion.

As the door opened, a delicious smell of stewed meat wafted towards me.

Jack was wearing an apron, stewing ribs in our small pot on a tiny electric stove.

''Angel, sit down. I made meat soup for you.''

I ignored him, threw the empty Haagen-Daze wrapper on the floor, then sat down on the bed, feeling a mix of emotions, still upset he hadn't replied.

"Angel, I went around several streets to buy the meat. It is perfectly marbled. You eat more later."

Jack clearly noticed my displeasure, yet habitually played dumb.

''Why didn't you reply to my messages?''

I looked coldly at Jack, my tone not gentle.

The ashtray was filled with countless cigarette butts. I knew, Jack couldn't have missed my messages.

'Angel, I was on the phone with my mom for an hour. She and my dad sold the cattle back home, scraped together a few tens of thousands for us. Along with what we've saved, it's just enough to buy a small apartment. let's get married!"

Jack's eyes were so sincere. I almost mustered the courage to bet my whole life on it.

"My mom..."

I started to say but stopped myself, unable to bear telling Jack that my mom wanted 200,000 dollars for the dowry.

"What's wrong, Angel?"

Jack wiped the tears from my face with his fingers, his eyes full of concern.

I said nothing more, just turned into his embrace. At that moment, it felt like I could really escape the troubles.

"Did you buy this ice cream?"

Sure enough, sweetness lasted only a second!

Jack's eyes fell on the ''Haagen-Daze'' wrapper on the floor.

''This ice cream is so expensive!''

The atmosphere turned a bit awkward, and before I could speak, Jack released me from his embrace to pick up the ice cream wrapper from the ground.

''I just wanted to taste it.''

I tried to explain patiently, my voice tinged with an absurd sense of guilt.

''Angel, can you not be so vain? What's so good about this? I really don't get it. You're the one who wants to get married. Don't you know our situation? We need to save every penny we can!''

''I just wanted to try the flavor.''

I sat on the bed, tears inappropriately welling up in my eyes again.

''Do you really need to eat this one bite? It's so expensive!''

Jack's sigh was so loud that it disturbed the calm in my heart.

"How does eating an ice cream make me vain? I bought it with my own money. What's wrong with that? Don't I even deserve to eat ice cream now?"

I angrily grabbed the ice cream wrapper, threw it into the trash, and stomped on it several times.

The room fell silent again. Jack and I sat at opposite ends, neither of us speaking.

"Have you got a meal yet?"

Just then, David sent me a Twitter message with a picture of seafood, featuring shrimp and shellfish, from a restaurant near my company—a place Jack and I had passed several times but never entered.

"I have eaten."

I replied to him, adding a cat emoji.

David was a client at our company, and I was in charge of his project.

We first met two months ago when I wore standard professional attire and gave him a warm smile. I noticed then how his gaze lingered on my face.

David was pursuing me, with casual messages and gifts on holidays clearly indicating his intentions.

I had gently told him I had a boyfriend, but he only joked, saying as long as I wasn't married, he still had a chance.

I maintained a polite distance with David, keeping the ambiguity just right. He didn't know about my pregnancy or upcoming marriage!

I never thought about betraying Jack. After ten years together, I couldn't just let go.

"Angel, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Just don't buy such expensive ice cream in the future, okay? Let's go look at houses tomorrow!"

Jack's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I quickly put away my phone.

He didn't see the panic that flickered through my eyes. We embraced, a gesture of making up, as simple and straightforward as a routine.

Yes, I was ultimately going to marry Jack. I never doubted that.

Over the next week, Jack and I visited countless real estate agents and brokers in City K.

After much comparison and consideration, we decided to buy a 60-square-meter second-hand apartment near my company. The original owner was eager to go abroad and offered a low price. The money Jack and I had saved over the years, plus a few tens of thousands from his parents, was just enough.

The apartment, compared to that ten-square-meter rental, was like a mansion to us. We were both very satisfied.

After agreeing on a time to pay the deposit, we even indulged in a celebratory meal of crayfish for the first time.

Somehow, sitting at that roadside crayfish stall with cars speeding past, my mind kept going back to David's seafood photo—the broth creamy white, the shrimp a tender red. It must be delicious!