One second. Two seconds. Ten seconds. Nothing from his end.
I sent another message.
It's real. It's urgent. The doctor is pushing for payment.
Still no reply.
I clenched my teeth and dialed his number. My voice was shaking when I spoke.
"Irvin, my mom is in the hospital with gastric bleeding. They need five thousand dollars upfront. Just transfer it to me. Consider it a loan. You can dock it from the household budget however you want."
"Gastric bleeding?"
He cut me off, impatient.
"Grace, is your family really so desperate for money that they'd make up something like this?"
My head buzzed like a bomb had gone off. My ears rang.
"What did you just say?"
Irvin let out a cold laugh.
"Your mom had a stomachache a minute ago, and now it's gastric bleeding? How convenient. You just asked me for money for an exam, and suddenly she's hospitalized?"
My whole body went cold. Even my teeth were chattering.
"Irvin, I'm not joking! My mom is in the ER right now. The doctor just put in the orders!"
He replied in no particular hurry.
"So where are the orders?"
"What?"
His voice dripped with a mockery I'd never heard before.
"The payment slip. The medical records. The test results. Without those, how am I supposed to know if your mother is actually sick, or if your whole family cooked this up to squeeze money out of me?"
In that instant, a chill shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my skull. Every drop of blood in my body ran cold.
I gripped the phone, my hand trembling so badly I could barely hold it.
"Irvin, that's my mother."
"So what? I've told you before. The household money is for this household. It's not for you to pour into the bottomless pit that is your family. Your mom gets sick, and that's my problem?"
I bit down hard on my lip. The taste of blood filled my mouth almost instantly. I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Household money, household money! Have you forgotten that I'm part of this household too? You said you give me twenty thousand a month. I want to spend five thousand to save my mother's life, and I can't even do that?"
"Irvin, don't be so heartless!"
The moment the words left my mouth, a scoff came through the phone.
"Heartless? If you think I'm so heartless, then stop spending my money. A useless woman who can't earn a dime and has to beg for handouts has no right to talk back to me."
"I'll say it one last time. You want money? Show me a receipt first."
He hung up. Just like that.
Every word he'd said buried itself in my chest like a knife.
The nurse walked over again. Her tone had turned impatient.
"Ma'am, are you paying or not? The patient can't wait."
Tears flooded my eyes all at once, but I didn't even have time to wipe them. I held up my phone, snapped a photo of the payment slip, and sent it to Irvin.
Here. I'm sending you the photo right now. Is that good enough? Just transfer the money!
His reply came fast.
A payment slip means nothing. Could be real, could be fake. Unless it's an official receipt, I don't recognize it.
After that, silence. I stared at the screen as it went dark, feeling as though someone had carved a hole straight through my chest.
Aunt Patty stood beside me, her voice trembling with panic.
"Gracie, is it going to work or not? Your mom just threw up blood again. The doctor says they can't wait any longer!"
It was going to work. Of course it was going to work.
I wiped my tears, turned away, and typed my ID number into a loan app.
You won't give me money? Fine. I'll figure it out myself.
