Chapter 2

"Vivienne, not only are you corrupting our daughter, but you're also conspiring with her to concoct such a low-class excuse to trick me into seeing you."

"If anything's wrong with Sunshine, it's because you've cursed her!"

She finished speaking and, without looking at me again, snatched the phone away.

"Give me back my Dashiell bro right now!"

"I haven't replied to his message yet. Can't keep him waiting anxiously."

Our daughter is gravely ill, her life hanging in the balance, yet all she can think about is her precious Dashiell.

In that moment, I clenched my fists, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Vivienne, your daughter's fever has spiked to 104 degrees. She's been desperately hoping you'd come see her, and here you are, sitting around playing with your phone?"

To my disbelief, she responded with utter indifference.

"It's just a fever. Some fever medication will do the trick! Why make such a fuss?"

"When I had a fever, I don't remember you making such a big deal out of it."

A big deal?

Last month when she had a fever of 102 degrees, I came home from my night shift and spent hours making her porridge.

She complained it was too bland and refused to eat it, saying the ceramic bowl was too tacky compared to the elegant ones Dashiell Anderson had given her.

Speaking of Dashiell Anderson.

Back in the day, when he fobbed her off with free seaweed soup from the cafeteria, she was moved to tears, claiming it tasted like a three-star Michelin meal.

A wave of bitterness washed over me."Vivienne, our daughter has leukemia. Her white blood cell count is dropping rapidly."

"You have to understand, even the tiniest illness could be fatal for her now!"

Teary-eyed, I thrust my phone at her, showing the hospital bill.

"I only have $150,000. We still need to come up with another $50,000."

"If we can just get this surgery done, Sunshine's chances of survival will improve dramatically."

To my disbelief, Vivienne just hugged her phone, typing away without even looking at me.

"What leukemia? It's obviously just a little cold."

"Hospitals are all scams. There's no need for surgery. Be careful, or you'll get ripped off."

"Instead of throwing all that money away on them, why not use it for something meaningful?"

She looked up, a gentle smile spreading across her face.

"Honey, to build up good karma for you and our daughter, I just upgraded Dashiell's ChatGPT account to a premium membership."

"It's like extending his life, in a way."

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Heaven will bless you for this!"

I froze, not quite processing what I'd heard, when I felt my phone buzzing furiously in my pocket.

It was a new bank card transaction notification.

"Your ChatGPT premium membership payment has been processed. Successfully unlocked for 30 years."The bank card ending in 8863 has been charged a fee of $150,000, leaving a balance of $0.82.

In an instant, shock mixed with fury burst through my skull.

"You used Sunshine's life-saving money?"

My whole body went cold as I stared at her in disbelief:

"Vivienne! Are you crazy? One hundred and fifty grand!"

"That was the medical fund I worked so hard to save! And you blew it all on AI?"

"How could you spend it all? What about Sunshine?"

Faced with my interrogation, she furrowed her brow, her beautiful face filled with displeasure.

"You have the nerve to lecture me?"

She raised her hand and slapped me hard across the face.

"Tom, it's your fault for being so useless."

"You only managed to save $150,000 in a year, and you're freaking out over me spending a little cash?"

"Instead of whining, why don't you go deliver more food to save your daughter?"

I suddenly felt utterly disappointed.

In seven years of marriage, Vivienne had never looked for a job.

Daily living expenses, mortgage, car payments - I bore it all, leaving practically nothing from my paycheck each month.