Chapter 7 Fertility Issues

• The BMW woman returned to the patient's room, where her daughter lay connected to various tubes and medical equipment. The instant she came in, her daughter asked urgently, "Mommy, where is daddy? Why is he not coming in?"
• The woman was stunned. She wanted to tell her daughter that the man she saw was not her father but a shameless scammer. However, seeing how pale her daughter was and the various tubes connected to her body, the BMW woman could not bear to tell her the truth.
• "He… He…"
• "Where has daddy gone to? Mommy, I want daddy! I want to see him…" The girl saw her mother hesitating and immediately burst into tears.
• "Your father didn't leave… He… He went to get something for you. Didn't you say you wanted a big Barbie doll? Your father left to buy it. He will buy one and bring it back to you." The BMW woman urgently came up with an excuse. But saying it made her feel guilty and sad. She had lied again to a little girl who had suffered so much pain despite her young age.
• "Really? Has daddy really gone to buy me a present?" The girl became excited.
• "Yes… He will come back to see you again once he finds the doll, so you must be good and rest, okay?"
• "Yes, I will be good. I will wait for daddy to return." The girl smiled and lay on the bed quietly, imagining her father returning with a present for her.
• Seeing her daughter like this, the BMW woman could not help but leave the room quickly. She rushed to the staircase and hid there to cry.
• As she was crying, her phone sounded with a notification. She wiped her tears and saw Ben's message and ID photo. She sank into deep thought.
• Meanwhile, Ben walked along the road and dialed a number on his phone.
• "Hello, Benny. What's up?" A male voice sounded on the phone.
• "If I'm not mistaken, today's weekend, right?" Ben asked.
• "You can look at your phone to find out what day it is. Stop beating around the bush. What do you want?"
• "Is your wife home today?" Ben asked.
• The man asked him, "Are you planning to come here and ask for free lunch again?"
• "What the heck? Why do you make it sound so bad? Asking for free lunch? Did I ask you to give me food? I'll have you know that I don't just dine with anyone. You know what I'm like. If I don't like someone, I would never dine with that person even if he sends a limousine to fetch me."
• "Alright, alright, I know. It's an honor that you are willing to dine with us. Anyway, I was planning to call you even if you didn't call just now. Jamie prepared your favorite baked fish. She told me to call you over for lunch. Where are you? You can come to our place now."
• "See, Jamie is nice to me, unlike you heartless jerk. It's a waste treating you like a brother for years." Ben laughed and continued, "But I don't want to go anymore."
• "Are you out of your mind… Didn't you call to ask if you could come here for lunch? How can you now say you're not going?" The man on the other end sounded furious.
• "It's different when I'm calling, but I won't go if you're the one asking. There ain't such a thing as a free lunch. You and Jamie don't like me coming over once in a while for free food. Since you invite me to have lunch, it means you are up to something. I'm not falling for it! I'll eat mac and cheese at home." Ben sat on a stone bench by the road and lit a cigarette.
• "Hey, can you not be so shameless? What do you mean we don't like you coming over once in a while? How can you call that once in a while? You scoundrel! You came for meals at my house six days a week, and you dare call that once in a while. Do you know what once in a while means? Enough. Cut the crap and get yourself here."
• "Alright, but I'm telling you first. If your wife introduces another blind date for me, I will leave straight away. Don't say I didn't warn you."
• "You brat. How can you be so ungrateful? Don't you understand why Jamie put in so much effort to introduce nice girls to you? She doesn't want to see you suffer by yourself. Furthermore, the ladies she introduced were all pretty and well-educated. Were they not good enough for you?"
• "Thank you for your concern, but I refused because all the ladies she introduced were too good. Aren't you cheating those ladies by introducing them to me? What makes you think they would want to be with me? How are we suited for each other? They are all outstanding white-collar members of society. I'm only a man selling barbequed meat. I have neither a house nor savings. Moreover, I'm in huge debt. So stop sending nice girls to a hopeless guy like me. I am busy trying to earn more money to pay off my debts. I don't have time to date."
• "Do you know what Jamie asked me recently?"
• "What did she ask?"
• "She asked me whether you have fertility issues. Otherwise, why would you not be interested in getting a wife at your age? Tell me the truth. Are you impotent and have no interest in women at all?"
• "You scoundrel! Whatever. The bus is here, and I need to go now." Ben hung up straight away.
• The man on the phone was called Calvin Payne, but Ben usually called him 'Cal'. He was Ben's best friend since they lived in the dorm during their university days. His girlfriend was called Jamie Novak and also went to their university. After graduation, Calvin and Jamie took white-collar jobs in London. Despite their white-collar jobs, living in the city with their salaries was still tough. In this big international city, their wages were only enough to cover their cost of living. They had been planning to marry for a few years but could not go through with it because they had not bought their marital home. They kept working hard to gather money for the down payment on a house. Unfortunately, housing prices kept rising much faster than they could save money. In the end, they could not buy a house, and Ben borrowed all their savings.
• Ben took a public bus to head to Calvin's place. He was very familiar with that place. When he first came here, he did not have money and could not find a job. Since he could not afford rent, he stayed in Calvin's apartment. The apartment Calvin rented was small. It had only a room and a living room. At the time, Calvin and Jamie stayed in the bedroom while Ben slept on the couch. The walls were thin, so Ben could hear all their sexual activities. Still, Ben remained in the apartment for three months. In the end, Calvin and Jamie could not stand it anymore and chased him out. After all, they had no privacy at all whenever Ben was around.
• Despite all that, Ben and Calvin still saw each other as brothers. They were closer than biological brothers.