2: 2
"Grown-up business isn't for kids to meddle in."
My tone was flat.
"Just focus on your studies. Leave the rest alone."
Eunice's tears spilled over. "Grandma could lose her medication any minute, and you'd rather throw hundreds of thousands at a streamer than save her life!"
"Mom has to take care of a sick patient and she's stuck with a personal loan too. How is she supposed to pay it back?"
"Enough! I'm teaching her to stand on her own two feet."
My voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.
"I'm building her ability to solve her own problems."
"An adult's hardships should be an adult's to carry. I'm just helping her break the habit of leaning on other people."
"You..."
Eunice was shaking with rage. She pointed at me. "You're just getting revenge on Mom, because she wouldn't let you take the family's money for your startup back then!"
"And if I am?" I admitted it without flinching.
"Marriage goes both ways. She was cold to me first."
Then I shook my head, smiling.
My daughter was only a child, ignorant of the tangles between adults. There was no point taking it to heart.
The color drained from Eunice's face.
"I want to see Grandma."
Her voice was small.
I knew there was no stopping her.
"Fine."
I picked up my car keys.
"I'll drive you."
Down in the corner of the hospital corridor, Ellie was crouched by the door of the ward.
She had a cold, day-old bagel clenched in her hand, gnawing at it with difficulty.
Her hair was a mess, her face so pale it looked almost translucent.
When she saw me, she froze.
The bagel slipped from her hand and hit the floor, picking up grime.
"You... why are you here?"
She got to her feet on reflex, twisting the hem of her shirt, at a loss.
Her voice carried a careful, cornered unease.
"You didn't have to trouble yourself."
It was the first time she had ever shown me that small, ingratiating look.
A rush of satisfaction went through me.
I didn't say anything, just set the fruit basket on the windowsill.
Her eyes suddenly went red.
"Thank—thank you."
She swayed as she opened her arms, as if to hug me.
I took a step back.
Her arms hung frozen in the air, and the expression on her face stalled.
"This fruit basket, three seventy-eight."
I pulled up the payment code and held it out to her.
"Scan to pay."
Ellie went completely still.
Tears rolled down without warning and struck the pale back of her hand.
"Tristan, I really don't have any money left."
She stared blankly at the payment code in my hand.
The gratitude in her eyes drained out, bit by bit, into emptiness.
"One more thing."
"You've stopped working to look after your mother, so you're not earning."
"Marriage runs both ways. You can't just think about your own troubles and make me and our daughter suffer alongside you, can you?"
My tone was flat, strictly business.
"So on top of paying off the debt, you have to bring in a second income and hand it over to the household."
Ellie's head hung low, her shoulders trembling faintly.
"You're—you're right, I'm sorry, I've been a burden to the family."
Big tears fell, one after another, hitting the floor.
Seeing it, something in me softened a little.
"Still, special circumstances can be handled specially."
She lifted her head, a thread of hope in her eyes.
"I can help you apply for another loan. Whatever comes through, you give to me to help with household expenses."
"You just pay it back slowly. I can arrange the longest installment plan for you, so it's less pressure."
"Tristan, I'm begging you..."
"You're a mother too. You should set an example of independence for our daughter, not raise her into some useless thing who only knows how to beg from other people."
After a long while, she gathered every last bit of strength.
And forced one faint word out of her throat.
"Okay."
Early the next morning.
The moment I got up, I saw a warm breakfast sitting on the nightstand.
A note was tucked underneath.
"Tristan, eat it while it's hot."
Back when we were first married, Ellie was always finding new ways to cook the things I liked.
Later, as my own social obligations piled up, I rarely ate at home anymore.
I hadn't expected her cooking to have lost none of its touch.
I went back to sleep for a while.
By noon I was hungry again, and I texted her.
"What about lunch?"
Ellie replied instantly.
"Tristan, I'm out earning money now."
"I'll head back in a bit and make you lunch~" followed by a little smiley face cheering me on.
I glanced at it, didn't reply, and casually ordered some delivery.
Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang.
The instant I opened the door, my fingers went still.
The person standing there with the food was Ellie.
