Maya reacted almost instinctively, hiding her phone under the covers in embarrassment.
Morgan looked utterly confused.
“Sister,” he asked earnestly, “what does she means?”
Maya then realized that this fool, Morgan, didn’t even understand what the phrase meant.
The thought eased her embarrassment somewhat.
She cleared her throat twice and explained with a straight face, “It just means lying on the bedsheets together.”
Morgan’s dark eyes lit up.
“I love fucking with you, sister!
I want to fuck with you every day!”
His audacious words left Maya completely speechless.
She sighed.
“You really are a fool.
Close your eyes and go to sleep!”
Seeing him obediently close his eyes with a smile, she couldn’t help but curve her own lips into a smile, chalking it up to the innocent blunders of a child.
She fished her phone out from under the covers and messaged Hilary: No, you know my crappy apartment only has one bed.
His back is injured, so he can’t sleep on the floor.
I see him as a child, so don’t let your little mind run wild.
Hilary sent back an “Oh~” followed by a knowing emoji.
Maya knew any explanation she offered now would be pointless.
After teasing her, Hilary got serious: Maya, I’m actually happy for you that you’ve found a man who treats you so well.
But his mind isn’t right.
He’ll become a burden.
Don’t be foolish and get in too deep.
These words made Maya’s expression darken.
She thought about what the doctor had said.
‘I think I’m already in too deep.’ A woman who loved money more than life itself was willing to spend everything she had to cure a fool she’d met by chance.
If that wasn’t being in too deep, what was?
She dodged the topic and brought up something else: Let me tell you a little secret.
I think the fool used to do *that* kind of work.
Hilary York: What kind of work?
Maya sent a duck emoji, which is slang for a gigolo.
Hilary York: HOLY SHIT!
You you you—
Hilary York: HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT, he he he he—
Maya sighed as she looked at her phone.
Hilary York: Did he get caught with someone’s wife and get beaten stupid by her husband?
No wonder he’s so handsome and has such a great body!
But his brain’s not working right!
Maya: My thoughts exactly.
Hilary York: Honey, you need to get to a hospital for a check-up!
Don’t go and catch something.
Maya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: We haven’t done anything.
Stop talking nonsense.
Hilary York had lost all interest in teasing her: That’s for the best.
Listen, Maya, if you really need to deal with your family, I can introduce you to a reliable guy, someone you can build a life with.
You should get rid of that fool as soon as possible.
A man who sells his body like that can’t possibly be a good person!
She sent a flurry of messages.
Hilary York: People in that line of work have messed-up values.
Sweet-talking women is second nature to them.
You say he’s simple-minded, but he knows exactly how to please you.
It’s probably just professional instinct!
You really have to be on your guard around him.
Don’t fall for him just because of his face!
Her words weighed heavily on Maya’s heart.
‘Is Morgan really that kind of person?’
She didn’t want to believe it.
He was, at least, the first man in the world who had been so wholeheartedly good to her, a man willing to risk his life for her.
The way he protected her couldn’t be an act.
Not wanting her friend to worry, she replied: Don’t worry.
He might be a fool, but I’m not.
You think I could really fall in love with a fool?
I was just kidding before.
I’ll send him away as soon as I find his family.
After saying their “goodnights,” Maya was even less sleepy than before.
Beside her, Morgan was already breathing evenly, fast asleep.
She gently poked the tip of Morgan’s nose and murmured, “Tell me, am I worth it?
Will you break my heart someday?”
No one answered her.
Maya quietly got out of bed, took out her ledger, and started calculating her finances.
She had to pay back her second aunt next month, which would empty her wallet.
The rent was going up in two months.
The two hundred thousand for the surgery… how could she ever save up that much?
But without the surgery, Morgan’s condition risked getting worse.
She couldn’t bear to watch him become a shell of a man, stripped of his dignity.
Hilary York had money; two hundred thousand wouldn’t be a big problem for her.
But Maya still hadn’t paid back the money she’d borrowed to open her shop, and she was too ashamed to ask for more.
As for everyone else, she had already borrowed a round of money from them when she opened her shop, and she hadn’t finished paying them back.
Plus, with her father having disowned her, the rest of their relatives would never lend her money.
Maya had known poverty and hardship, but never before had she felt so hopeless because of money.
「The next day」
She even found time to buy a lottery ticket, pinning her hopes on the tiny investment.
While she was busy that afternoon, an unexpected visitor arrived at the shop.
Maya asked coolly as she tidied up a beauty bed.
“What are you doing here?”
Her mother asked, fraught with worry, “Where’s that fool?
You two aren’t together anymore, are you?”
Maya kept busy, not even looking up as she quipped, “Oh, so you’re here to see your son-in-law.”
Mrs.
Rivers stomped her foot in anger.
“He’s a beggar!
Where would he get a household register to marry you?
Your father was just so furious with you that day that he actually believed your nonsense.
He said if you go back and admit you were wrong, he’ll let this whole thing go.”
Maya cut right to the heart of the matter.
“What, have you found a new husband for me?
How much is the bride price this time?”
Mrs.
Rivers retorted angrily, “Better than a fool, anyway!
Maya, you’re a college graduate!
Marrying a beggar!
Everyone is laughing at us!
If you go back and find a new man now, everyone will know the thing with the beggar was fake.”
Maya laughed.
“I don’t care if they’re laughing.
It’s not like I can hear them.
If anyone dares to gossip to my face, I’ll tear them apart!”
Mrs.
Rivers couldn’t win an argument with her.
Anxiously, she said, “Maya, Mom is only doing this for your own good!
What do you see in that beggar?”
The sarcastic smile vanished from Maya’s face.
“I see that he’s good to me!
Mom, if you really want what’s best for me, then lend me some money.”
At the mention of money, Mrs.
Rivers’s face immediately became wary.
“What do you need to borrow money for?
To support that fool?”
Clinging to her last bit of hope, Maya’s tone became much more sincere.
“Morgan and I… even though our marriage certificate is fake, we’re a couple in every sense of the word.
I’ve decided he’s the one for me for the rest of my life.
The doctor said his brain can be treated, but it costs two hundred thousand.
If you lend me the money to get him treatment, he and I will honor and support you in your old age.”