âYan Su, you can keep it secret now, but you canât keep it secret forever. The press is too intrusive,â Xiang Wan said earnestly. âIf you have a child on your own before youâve graduated from college, people will talk. They might see you as a slut.â
âBut, Iâm a singer, not an actress,â Yan Su gathered the courage and said, âWatching TV and listening to songs are different. All I need to do is to focus on my music. People can say whatever they want about me, but as long as my music is good, theyâll still listen to it. I know I can make this work.â
âYou are too naive,â Xiang Wan said frustratedly, âTo be honest, I donât think you know what youâre doing. Why are you having the child on your own? Where is the father? You think youâre giving it a life? Youâre wrong. When the child is old enough to learn that it doesnât have a father, that it was born out of wedlock...do you think itâll be happy? And do you want to get married? Will the man you love accept the fact that youâve already had a baby? Wonât he mind? Well, he might be okay with it, but what about his family? Will they accept you?â
Yan Su, on hearing those words turned pale. Tremblingly, she said, âI donât plan to get married. I might never get married. Thatâs why I want this baby. No, I canât give my baby a father. But, it was destiny that brought the baby to me. My friend just had a baby. Heâs so little and so adorable. I canât kill my baby. I canât.â
She had given up on love. Her first relationship turned out to be a nightmare, and her second one ended really badly, too.
She didnât know if she was the one with the problemâor if she had awful taste in men. Maybe she wasnât meant to be a good girlfriend. She wouldnât have another boyfriend, she believed.
Seriously, it all started beautifully and sweetly but ended in such a harmful way. âYou say that, because youâre young,â Xiang Wan shook her head. She completely disagreed with that. âIâm not much older than you are, but Iâve been through more than you have. When I was a student, I too felt that love could be my whole world. Well, when you graduate and take your place in society, youâll realize how silly you were to have those thoughts because of just one relationship. When you turn 30, youâll feel lonely at night. Youâll want a family.â
âThatâs why Iâve decided to have this baby,â Yan Su raised her head and said, âMiss. Xiang, I might be childish in your eyes. But people always make mistakes when theyâre young. If this turns out to be a mistake, Iâll suffer the consequences. Iâve thought about it. Iâm two months pregnant now, and I can work until the fourth or even fifth month. Iâm thin, so I think it wonât be so obvious. If you canât accept it, Iâll have no choice but to end our contract. Iâm willing to pay the penalty.â
Xiao Wan knitted her brows into a deep frown and spent a long while looking at Yan Su in the eyes, then said, âThe company is going to have a concert tour for you this year. This is your best time. Your popularity will decline if you disappeared now. We donât know how many people will still be willing to buy tickets to your concerts when you came back. If you have to have this baby, I donât want your money. I want you to give me two new songs in the next two months, no matter how busy you are. The company will release the songs while youâre having the baby. Weâll tell people youâve gone abroad to study music. But you need to come back after youâve recovered from childbirth.â
âThank you,â Yan Su stood up, bowed deeply.
âAlso, where do you plan to have the baby?â Xiang Wan asked.
Yan Su hesitated a moment before saying, âI want to go back to my parents. It would be really awkward for a pregnant woman to go abroad alone.â
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