The two men smirked when they saw her. “Mind your own business before I kill you, ugly hag!”
Kristina glared at them coldly. “Kill me? I dare you to.”
The two men exchanged uneasy looks and spat at her. “I’m not gonna get my hands dirty touching you. You’re disgusting.”
With that said, the two men turned and left.
I watched them leave before looking back at Kristina. It was then that I realized she had a name card in her hand.
I wondered what that was, but the question was not pressing enough for me to ask her about it. Instead, I thanked her in all seriousness.
She did not reciprocate my affection. “This is not a safe place, so just stay away.”
I wanted to ask her why she was here.
Yet before I could say a word, she held out her name card to a man who just came out of the bar with a lascivious smile on her face. I was stunned by her sudden change of expression. The man threw the name card on the floor and I caught a glimpse of it. There was a picture of an attractive woman printed on it. Beside the picture were her phone number, address, and a price tag.
It did not take much effort to recognize the person in the photo. It was Kristina herself. I was at a loss for words. I wanted to say something, but I had to try so hard to swallow my emotions back in. “Do you need money?” I asked without much discretion.
My brutal question elicited a painful expression on her face as she pursed her lips. “Of course I do. Who doesn’t need money? No one can live without money.”
“You know I don’t mean it that way.” I tried explaining myself.
She clenched her name cards tighter and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just leave before you meet another drunkard.”
I stood where I was, refusing to leave. “Is it because you have to do chemo?” That was the only reasonable explanation I could think of. She had lost her hair and she looked battered. Even her face looked pale.
She covered her face with thick makeup and even had a wig on. I knew she was a prideful person. There was no way she would stoop so low just to earn money. It must be because of the expenses for chemotherapy.
“You mind your own business. Stop getting in my way. I need to get customers,” she said coldly.
What I heard about her illness must be true. She must have lung cancer.
I knew she had her ego. There was no way she would accept my help. “Since you want to do business, you’ll have to do as your client wants you to. You’re coming with me tonight,” I said with a commanding tone.
She fixed her gaze on me. “What do you want, Sienna?”
“I’m your client now, so just do as I say,” I repeated.
“I only take male clients. I don’t have time for you if you’re just here to shame me. If you’re getting revenge on me because of that kid, karma has already hit me hard enough, so just leave me alone,” she said with a hint of remorse in her voice.
“Just follow me, please. I know you feel guilty toward Summer, so you’re obliged to listen to me. You must live nearby. Bring me over to your place,” I said with a sigh.
Kristina looked at me for a while before she finally relented. “Follow me.”
She led Camelia and me down an alley. Before long, I stopped and cried out, “Kristina, don’t you think you should help me out a little?” Camelia was already so wasted she could not even walk properly.
Kristina looked back at me. “I can’t carry her. Walking itself is already difficult enough for me. This is the truth, whether you believe me or not.”
I smacked my lips and shrugged helplessly. “Just lead the way then.”
It was not like I could force her to carry Camelia.
We finally reached after some time. “You should just go back to J City. I’m sure Dr. Ludwick will do everything he can to cure you. You can’t just stay here all on your own. You’re gonna get more sick.”
“We all die someday. I’d rather die somewhere I want to. I’ve been striving so hard my whole life just to go up the social ladder. If there was an afterlife, I hope I would be born in this city, so I can be nearer to the things I’ve always wanted to achieve,” she said, pouring me a glass of water.
Kristina was really a woman I could never understand. She came from a relatively good family, but it was her worldview that I could never understand. She had always wanted to pursue wealth and status. Anthony was her first target, but when she knew there was no hope with him, she turned to Jared instead. Her motivation was clear as day—she wanted to marry a rich man. But why, I could not tell.
Was it because of money?
Her family lacked nothing.
Power?
Anthony and Jared had money but not power.
Love?
That was impossible. If it were love she wanted, she would not move on from one person to another so easily.
“Both of us need to stay overnight here,” I said, “I’ll pay you at your rate, but you’ll have to stay here with us. Also, stop taking customers. You know what sort of men come in and out of the bar. Your body won’t be able to take it. What if you get STD? Do you want to die earlier?”
She drilled her gaze through me. “Are you showing concern for me now?”
“Not really. Who are you to me? I’m just reminding you of the possibility of things getting worse if you carry on with this,” I turned aside and replied.
She sat on her small bed and a pathetic smile played on her lips. “Isn’t life just ironic? You, of all people, are the one who came to my help when I’m in the deepest pit.”
I did not know what to say, so I kept quiet.
Kristina looked at the name card in her hand and said mockingly, “It’s not like I’ve never thought about going back. I don’t want to go back to J City like this. I told myself when I left that I’d only go back when I’m happy and accomplished. But what am I now? I’ve lost everything. How can I go back like this? I’d rather just die here.”
A pang of sadness ate away at me as she spoke. “Why are you so hard on yourself? There are so many options available, why do you have to choose the hardest one? Don’t you know your family is still waiting for you?”
“No one is waiting for me. I’m the only person who’s waiting for myself,” she said with her head low as tears rolled down her eyes. “My parents were gone when I was two, and my uncle sent me to the orphanage for ten years before he took me back again. He did that because his wife couldn’t bear a child herself. But they had a boy after that, and I became a burden to the family. Come to think of it, life is really a joke. I thought I could have a perfect family if I found someone I could spend forever with. I thought I could give my children the best if I could just find that right person, but I went a long way and ended up being all alone.”
I did not know how to comfort her. Looking at her crying her heart out, I could only pass her a tissue and listen to her. “Everyone has their own hopes and dreams.”
“I guess this is just my life. I should accept it,” she said derisively, pressing her hand against her chest.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, looking at her contorted face.
“Get me the painkillers in the drawer,” she said, sucking in a long breath.
I drew the drawer open and started looking for painkillers among the many medications she had. I passed it to her and got her a glass of water.
She looked much better after taking the pills. “Thanks,” she said.
I looked around the cramped room and then at her. “Have you been staying here all this while?” I asked.
Anthony and his group of friends might have very different personalities, but when it came to their women, they were never stingy. Take Rylee for example, the three of them made sure she lacked nothing.
Since Kristina was with Jared, there was no way she would spiral down to this state if she spent her money wisely.
“Jared has a house for me, but I rented it to someone else because I needed money. It’s cheaper to rent a small room here since it’s further away from the city center.”
I had a rough idea of how much chemotherapy would cost. Given the high cost, she must have spent most of her income. That was probably why she was selling her own body.
Neither Kristina nor I slept that night. Camelia was the only one who slept through the night. When morning came, Kristina could not take it anymore and finally fell asleep.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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