Chapter 2 Surrogacy

• “Give up the idea, Shelly. You think I’m gonna let you go after all I’ve gone through just to marry you?” He took my handbag and phone away before locking the door.
• What is he doing? Is he locking me up? The windows didn’t have any grille, but it was the sixth floor, so I’d die if I jumped down.
• Eventually, morning came, and I heard them chatting outside. A while later, they went out, so I took my chance to scour the room for something I could use to send my message out. Good thing there was a book on politics in the room, since it was heavy enough for me to toss out. I wrote down ‘HELP’ on the cover with my eyeliner, then the reward money on the second page, and Ben’s address on the third.
• I tossed the book out of the window, but unfortunately for me, it fell onto the roof of a moving car and went away with it. But I didn’t give up, so I tore the bedsheet down to write the same message on it. Since it was a big sheet, I had to make my words huge as well, so I went to work immediately. But just when I was writing the reward down, someone opened the door.
• Shocked, I quickly hid the sheet behind me, but it did not escape Ben. He quickly came over and shoved me away. When he took the sheet and saw what I wrote on it, his face fell. “You b*tch. I thought I told you to give up.”
• Since I was found out, I got up and darted to the door, but Lilian held me tightly. “Get her, Ben!”
• I smacked Lilian frantically. “Let me go! This is against the law! You’re all going to jail for this!”
• Ben grabbed me by my hair and pulled on it as hard as possible. The pain overwhelmed me, and I had to let Lilian go. The moment I did, he tossed me onto the bed, and Ben slapped me again. “How dare you lay your hand on my mother?”
• I lay on the bed, dumbfounded and out of strength to resist them. Then, Lilian said, “Give it up, Shelly. Now that you’re my son’s wife, it’s your duty to bear a child. So what if my son is sterile? I’ll just get someone to knock you up. Once you give birth to a boy, I’ll let you go.”
• Ben let me go and gave me his gentlest look. “Do as we say and you won’t have to suffer, Shelly. We’re a couple, so it’s your duty to bear my child.”
• I was shocked by what they were suggesting, for it was incomprehensible and reprehensible, especially in this era.
• “I’m here, Aunt Lilian.”
• Just when I had regained some of my strength and was trying to get up, a gaunt man with a long face and yellow teeth came in. The man was lanky, and his hair covered half of his face. Wait, I recognized him. That man was Lilian’s nephew, Ronald, a scummy f*ckboy who was always up to nothing good. And now he was leering at me. “Aunt Lilian, are we really doing this?”
• Lilian nodded. “Ben can’t get it up, so he can’t knock Shelly up either. Keep this a secret, Ronald. We’re family, aren’t we?”
• “Of course, Aunt Lilian. I’ll keep my lips sealed,” he swore.
• Ben looked somber. “Don’t push your luck, Ronald. We just need your sperm, and that’s it.”
• Ronald gave him a disgusting grin. “Yes, yes, I know, Ben.”
• I widened my eyes in shock. How could they? How could they even come up with something this disgusting? Are they even human?