Sarang spends every night at her comatose husband’s bedside, waiting for him to wake up and despairing about her growing medical bill. A posy of roses tucked into her hands by a secret admirer gives Sarang a desperate idea for a way to save her husband.
Sarang tenderly kissed her husband’s cheek, just above the pipe for his nasal cannula. Kwan had been comatose for several days, and Sarang had barely left his bedside. It helped that she worked as a nurse at the same hospital where Kwan was admitted.
She settled down and fell asleep staring at her beloved but woke to the sight of a posy of roses tucked into her hand.
“Kwan?” Sarang leaped from her chair and set her palm against his cheek.
But Kwan’s condition hadn’t changed. He couldn’t have given her the flowers. Sarang was studying the phone number on the card when her work friend, Diane, entered.
“So you found your gift.” Diane smiled at her. “One of your patients from the VIP floor was discharged earlier and insisted on delivering those to you.”
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“And, Mandy in accounts is getting antsy about your bill,” Diane continued as she checked Kwan’s vitals.
Sarang’s blood pressure skyrocketed at the mention of her outstanding bill. She left to prepare for work in the staff bathroom, taking the flowers with her. A desperate thought came to her as she considered which VIP patient might’ve given her the roses.
If she played her cards right, Sarang could get her wealthy admirer to help pay for Kwan’s care. She tucked the card into her pocket. During her lunch break, she dialed the number, and a deep, masculine voice answered.
“I called to thank you for the flowers,” Sarang said. “They’re beautiful.”
“A beautiful woman deserves beautiful things,” the man replied. “But if you truly want to thank me, then you’ll meet me tonight for dinner.”
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Sarang agreed to meet the man, who introduced himself as Lucas. Her heart revolted at the thought of the seduction she’d have to weave around Lucas to get him to part with his money, but she needed a benefactor.
That evening, she dressed up in her most alluring gown and the amethyst drop earrings she’d inherited from her grandmother. The restaurant hostess escorted her to a private dining room where Lucas was waiting.
“You look good in your nurse’s uniform, but you look even better like this,” he remarked as he welcomed her. “I hope you don’t mind if I call you Sara.”
Lucas didn’t take his eyes off her as they ate their appetizers, and Sarang pulled out all the stops to charm him. Fortunately, he seemed more interested in discussing himself than asking about her, so she found it easy to feign interest.
When she felt confident he was falling for her seduction, Sarang excused herself to use the washroom. It was time to put phase 2 of her plan into action. She removed one of her earrings and placed it in her purse, then she smeared her mascara and eyeliner.
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Sarang rushed back to Lucas in tears and told him her earring had fallen down the drain in the bathroom basin. Lucas tossed several hundred-dollar bills on the table and rose.
“Come, Sara, I’m going to get that pretty smile back on your face.”
Lucas led her out to a luxury car, where his driver was waiting. Sarang sobbed into her hands while Lucas phoned a jeweler and ordered him to open his shop.
When they arrived at the jewelry store, Lucas asked to see all the earrings with purple gemstones. He picked out a pair of purple sapphire studs set in platinum. His fingers brushed against Sarang’s bare earlobe as he held the earring up to it.
“We’ll take these.” He returned the earring to the jeweler without taking his eyes off Sarang. “I’m sure they’ll make my lovely lady smile again.”
A sense of foreboding ran down Sarang’s spine when Lucas cupped her cheek. It grew when Lucas dismissed his driver for the evening and insisted on driving her home.
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Lucas parked outside Sarang’s apartment block, and she thanked him for dinner. She screamed internally as he leaned in to kiss her. Her heart had no space for infidelity, no matter how necessary. She turned at the last minute, so his kiss landed on her cheek.
“This is moving too fast,” Sarang murmured. She reached for the door, but the car locked with a solid click.
“I don’t think so, Sara,” Lucas whispered gruffly. “I know why you’re here and what you need. They say you can’t buy health but they’re wrong. Everything has its price, Sara… name yours.”
Sarang could barely breathe, let alone speak. She demurely glanced down as she sifted her thoughts for the right thing to say.
“Here.” Lucas placed the earring box onto Sarang’s lap. “Consider this an incentive. We’re both adults with needs… call me when you’re ready to trade fairly.”
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The following day, Sarang pawned the earrings and used the money to pay the hospital.
“You still owe thousands of dollars,” Mandy said. “I’m sorry, Sarang, but we can’t keep this up much longer.”
That night, Sarang sat at Kwan’s bedside and searched the internet for information about Lucas. She scrolled until she found a series of photos and articles featuring his family. He’d inherited a billion-dollar corporation from his father and was married to a woman from New York’s elite social circles. They had a young son.
A sneaky plan entered Sarang’s thoughts. She typed a message to Lucas, set her phone aside, and reached across to hold Kwan’s hand. There’d be no second guesses this time.
The following evening, Sarang met Lucas at the door to her apartment and welcomed him inside.
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Lucas spurned the dinner Sarang had prepared and closed in on her instead. She quickly suggested they move to the bedroom.
Sarang unbuttoned his shirt. She glanced at the hidden camera she’d set up as she kissed his chest. The red light was on, and everything was going according to plan. Her fingers shook as she unbuckled his belt. She stepped back and looked up at him as she removed her blouse.
Lucas smirked and sat on the bed to watch Sarang undress. Once she was down to only her underwear, Lucas grabbed her hips and planted a kiss on her belly. Sarang slithered from his grasp.
“That should be enough for your wife!” Sarang retrieved the hidden camera and ejected the memory card. “Now, if you want this to stay between us, then you’ll pay all my husband’s hospital and treatment bills. Refuse, and I’ll send the recording of this meeting to your wife!”
Lucas leaned back and laughed.
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“Go ahead, Sara!” Lucas said between chuckles. “Tara and I married because my father wouldn’t let me inherit his business unless I settled down. I intended to get divorced after the old man died, but Tara’s father has great business connections.”
“But…you have a child together!” Sarang said.
“We got drunk and one thing led to another. The kid gives her something to do, and I needed an heir anyway, so…” Lucas studied her with an amused glint in his eye.
“Nice try, Sara, but you’re nowhere near good enough to outfox me.”
Lucas bounded to his feet, gathered his things, and left. Sarang sank to the floor and wept. She’d bet everything on this plan, and now she had nothing.
Sarang returned to Kwan’s bedside with a heavy weight on her shoulders. All the time she’d wasted on Lucas would’ve been better spent looking for a second job. She held Kwan’s hand and tried to figure out a way to resolve this problem once and for all.
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The following day, Mandy called with urgent news. Her supervisor had discovered Kwan’s overdue account and intended to transfer him. If Sarang didn’t pay off her balance soon, Kwan might even be given a medical deportation.
After everything Sarang and Kwan endured to get to the US, the thought of him being sent home was chilling. She hopped into a cab and headed for a skyscraper downtown. Minutes later, she marched into Lucas’s corner office. He was seated at the head of a 12-seater conference table on one side of the spacious room.
“I’m ready to give you what you want, Lucas.” Sarang sashayed toward the table. “I’ll pay your price right here and right now. No games. It’s just good business, right? I give you what you want and you give me what I want. We both walk away satisfied.”
Sarang looked Lucas in the eye as she started unbuttoning her uniform dress. When she reached the third button, Lucas smiled.
“I can’t say no to a gift that unwraps itself, can I?” he said.
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A few weeks later
Lucas kept his word and paid Kwan’s bill. Sarang was there when Kwan opened his eyes. Everything seemed worth it when he whispered her name. But Sarang’s joy didn’t last.
Supporting Kwan through recovery and rehabilitation exhausted her. Initially, she dismissed her queasiness as stress, but a creeping suspicion nagged at her. The day she brought Kwan home from the hospital, she also took a pregnancy test.
Alone in the bathroom, Sarang stared in horror at the two lines that had appeared on the test wand.
“This can’t be happening,” she whispered, placing a hand on her belly.
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