GIVE AND TAKE

When Chen Lihua arrived home, she went greeted her family members stoically like a robot then proceeded upstairs. She buried herself onto her bed and cried her heart out.

"Mr. Yang is just teasing me… It cannot be true. Mommy… Daddy…" Her bedsheet and pillowcase were soon drenched by her pearl-sized tears.

An idea crept into her mind. She abruptly pulled herself together, sniffing. She sat at her bed first, wiped her tears from her cheeks then went to the dresser and pulled the drawer open. She retrieved an old yet very important journal from inside of it – their mother's pregnancy journal.

"Maybe answers to my questions should be inside Mommy's pregnancy journal." She skimmed through the pages. Once, twice, thrice.

She repeated the process with shaking hands. Because of the trembling, she couldn't get a good look at the contents.

She only stopped when her eyes caught a phrase that almost had her heart drop to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.