I stayed by the streets for three nights before I finally found such a client.

“Client?”

Austin coldly laughed. “Belle, you’re unbelievable. You have arms and legs; what kind of job can’t you do? Did you really have to come out here and trade your body?”

I looked far ahead, my mind empty. Yes, during these four years, the thing I heard most was exactly that: you have arms and legs, what kind of job couldn’t you do?

Everyone stood on their moral ground, judging me and yelling at me.

But they had no idea that I had tried everything.

A girl who had just graduated from high school at eighteen. For over ten years, I had focused on studying and saw the world with simplicity and innocence.

My parents had given me a very comfortable life when I was young; I had never worried about money at all.

But in one night, both of them died.

Just to stay alive, I took endless part-time jobs, serving food, clearing plates, washing people’s hair, and feet.

I even worked three jobs every day.

Still, the money was never enough.

No place wanted to give me a normal job. Nobody would choose someone with only a high school diploma, and even less someone with a bad name following her.

Even when I pushed myself until I was worn out, even when I worked until I could barely stand, the small pay from odd jobs was still far from enough to take care of Tanya and me.

You may wonder, who was Tanya?

She was a child I rescued. She had a disability and was left behind by her parents on a main road. When I came across her, she was almost run over by a big truck.

That day, I had wanted to lie down on the road too and let my life end there.

But that child smiled at me.

I struggled for a long while, but in the end, I chose to keep living and to raise her.

Thinking about this made me suddenly become anxious. I had been away for so long; Tanya must be longing for her mother.

“Please step aside. How I sell myself is my own matter; it has nothing to do with you.”

“Austin, your life is so good. It really makes others feel bitter. The next time you see me, just act like you never did. Otherwise, I’m scared I won’t be able to stop myself from pulling you down into the dirt with me.”

I gave a small, bitter smile. Right when I was ready to turn and leave, Austin caught my hand.

“Belle, look at yourself now. Where is even a sign of the smart girl you once were?”

“If your parents could see this, see the daughter they cared for so much turned into a woman standing on the street, they would probably be angry enough to die again!”

I froze, then suddenly started laughing.

I laughed until tears came out.

Would they really see it?

If they could see it, then why didn’t they come back to life to help me?

Something felt off about Austin. He actually left his girlfriend behind and pulled me into a mall to buy clothes.

I stood by the clothing shelves, feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

“No need. These clothes cost too much. I can’t pay for them.”

Austin suddenly lifted his head and stared at me in surprise, then quickly frowned.

“Belle, can you stop acting?”

“When you were in high school, anything you wore without thinking cost more than this. Putting on a show like this just makes people annoyed.”

I showed a bitter smile. That was the past.

The past and the present were two totally separate lives.

Austin stayed as controlling as always. He frowned, stopped asking what I thought, and straightaway pulled a bright yellow dress set from the hanger, telling the shop clerk to have me try it on.

I shook my head.

Austin looked slightly angry. “Don’t act ungrateful. I remember you once liked yellow the most, like a sunflower.”

That also belonged to the past, back when I lived freely under my parents’ care, surrounded by plenty of friends, like a glowing little princess.

Yet in the video from that night four years earlier, I had also been dressed in yellow when I was harmed by those three strange men.

From that moment on, I wore only dark clothes. Even if I got hurt, no one could notice the stains.

Dark colors work best as a shield.

They quickly make men who stare with lust lose interest.

Austin ignored my refusal and stubbornly told the worker to pack everything up. He then asked me to get into his car. “I will drive you home.”

“No.” I declined without thinking.

Austin pulled his brows together and said again, “Get in the car.”

“Is it the same address?”

I shook my head. “That house was sold a long time ago.”

Then I gave him a different address.

Austin drove slowly and carefully. The ride stayed quiet the whole time. Only when we were nearly there did he finally talk.

“What happened back then was a rash mistake on my part. I carry a lot of regret.”

I softly answered, lowered my face, and stayed quiet.

Austin looked toward me more than once. Seeing that I did not speak, he swallowed the rest of his words.

“Just stop here.”

I pointed toward the candied hawthorn stand in front.

Austin stopped the vehicle right away. I thanked him, then spent the last few coins I had to buy one stick of candied hawthorn.

“You enjoy sweets?”

Austin’s voice made me jump. I thought he had already driven off. I did not expect him to step out and walk after me.

I shook my head. “My daughter enjoys them.”

Even though Tanya lived because I saved her back, she still had a difficult life with me and hadn’t eaten many good things.

This plain stick of candied hawthorn was something she had been hoping for for a long time.

As expected, Austin’s face turned very unpleasant. “You have a daughter? When did that happen?”

He let out a cold chuckle, his face losing color.

“So I even thought I owed you something back then. Belle, I didn’t think you would be this low, already having a child while still in college.”

“Looks like I thought too much!”

Austin slammed the car door and drove off fast.

Choked by the smoke and dirt thrown up by the car, I couldn’t stop coughing until tears streamed down.

I had done it on purpose when I mentioned my daughter earlier. Even though Tanya wasn’t my birth child, I wanted him to get the wrong idea.

I wanted him to understand that he and I no longer lived in the same place in life.

I didn’t know if what he did came from regret or sympathy, buying me clothes and giving me a ride back.

There was no promise that once we reached where I stayed, he wouldn’t suggest going inside to look around.

But how could I ever allow him to enter?

I walked all the way down the steps to the lower level, and in the deep darkness, pushed open the door to the old storage room.

Back then, to pay for Tanya’s medical care, I sold the house.

I lived like a bug, like a rat in a drain, barely staying alive in this dark, tight space underground.

Back when I was studying, I read in books that some people had already used up all their energy just to stay alive.

I didn’t believe it then. I thought it was simply because they didn’t try hard enough.

But people who weren’t lucky, each time, their luck was always just a bit worse.

In the end, people who had nothing didn’t think about luck at all. Life was already too harsh. Just staying alive already costs them everything.

When I returned home, Tanya was coughing badly.

Her face had turned blue and purple from it.

But when she saw me come back, she still dragged one leg and came over to hug me.

“Mom, I missed you so much…”

I held her tightly, my heart hurting. “Be good, Tanya. When Mom earns a little more money, I will take you to see a doctor.”

Tanya was as sweet as an angel.

But heaven often didn’t protect angels.

She not only had trouble with one leg, but she also had a very severe case of pneumonia.

The last time she cooked food for me, her hand was badly burned. Even though she hurt a lot herself, she still smiled at me and gently soothed me.

“Mom, don’t cry.”

“I was only hurt a little. Mom can just blow on it…”

I passed the stick of candied hawthorn to Tanya. She cheered with joy and softly kissed my cheek.

After I lulled Tanya into sleep, I sat beside the bed holding my phone, thinking again and again. In the end, I still sent a message to Jameson Stevens.

[I know I’m troubling you, but can you help me introduce a client to me? Someone who can stay long-term.]

At my lowest point, Jameson had kept me for some time.

But before long, his family found out and forced him to cut ties with me.

Even the money he had access to was frozen.

He had no way to support me anymore. Once in a while, he still sent me some cash to help me survive so I wouldn’t go hungry.

But last year, he got married. I no longer wanted to interrupt his life.

Yet the doctor told me that Tanya’s sickness couldn’t wait any longer.

If it grew worse, it might very easily turn into lung cancer.

As long as there was even a single path forward, as long as I could gather the treatment money, I was ready to do anything at all.

Jameson replied to me, [I will try.]

I gratefully answered with thanks. The following day, just as I was getting ready to head out again to make money, a figure blocked my path.

He seized my arm. “Belle, are you badly lacking cash?”

Austin’s voice sounded low and dull.

I nodded truthfully. “Yes. Do you have a way for me to make a lot of money?”

“I keep you. I give you twenty thousand each month. Is that enough?”

I showed a painful smile and agreed right away.

“But can you give me half a year all at once? I need it right now.”

Austin’s face went pale. He pulled out his phone, asked for my card number, and sent the money to me.

“Starting today, don’t stand on the roads anymore. From now on, you belong to me. And your daughter. I can take care of her, too.”

I lifted my head in surprise and looked at him, yet I accepted everything he offered.

Tanya was very small and had stayed underground for a long time, and that had harmed her body. Because of the money Austin gave, she was finally able to come with me and move into the Coleman home, living in the helper’s room.

When Austin found out that I was staying in the helper’s room, his face showed anger at once. “Who set this up?”

The young woman who had sat in the sports car that day stepped out in high heels, her face calm and lazy.

“Isn’t she just the maid you hired? If she doesn’live in the helper’s room, should she live in a guest room?”

She looked at me with dislike. “Someone like her is already lucky to stay in the helper’s room.”

“Get out.”

Austin spoke in a cold voice. The young woman froze. “You mean me?”

“That’s right. We’ve broken up.”

The young woman panicked right away and tried to beg, but Austin didn’t hold back and pushed her out.

He led me to the room on the second floor that had the best light and told me that I would stay there from then on.

I looked out the window without showing feeling, at the yard outside covered in blooming wisteria.

I knew this place well. Four years earlier, when Austin and I were together, we had kissed deeply under that curtain of hanging wisteria.

He had told me that when we married someday, this place would become our home.

Thinking about all that had happened before, I smiled faintly.

“No thanks. A helper doesn’t deserve to stay in such a high-end place.”

Austin stopped. “You think you’re a helper?”

“Then what am I, Austin? After that night four years ago, didn’t you already believe I was dirty?”

“Are you willing to touch me?”

As I spoke, I loosened my clothes by myself. Austin’s face shifted again and again, and in the end, he turned and left with a cold face.

Austin seemed to quietly accept that I had taken on helper duties. From time to time, he teased Tanya, and now and then he stood at the second-floor railing and watched me.

The older helper smiled as if she understood everything.

“Young Master, this must be the woman you haven’t been able to forget for four whole years, right?”

“Back then, I saw her photo kept in the drawer. Even though times change and people change, since you meet again, it must be fate. Young Master, you should treasure her.”

Austin smiled and was just about to turn and look at me when his face suddenly shifted, and he shouted in panic, “Belle!”

I passed out from anemia.

Austin said nothing and carried me straight to the hospital.

The doctor said a family member had to sign the papers. Before he could find one, another nurse nearby recognized me and spoke up.

“Her parents passed away long ago. She has no relatives. Same rule as before, treat her first, she pays later.”

Austin suddenly looked up, his face turning white as he grabbed the nurse by the collar.

“…What do you mean?”