Her fried rice was so good that I begged her to teach me. I learned perfectly. For that, I was truly grateful to Adrian’s mother.
Even now, I spent my free time running a small food stand myself, and business was decent.
Back then, Adrian had the face of a sweet puppy, which my adolescent heart adored.
I ordered him around constantly—fetching drinks, cleaning up—and when he apologized timidly, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Once, I made him hand-wash my clothes, forgetting to take out my underwear. He blushed furiously the whole time, while I scolded him with a red face of my own.
Then, for a long while, he stopped coming with Mrs. Johnson.
I asked Mrs. Bennett about it and learned that Adrian had a younger sister, Olivia, who was born with a congenital heart disease. They still hadn’t found a donor, and the treatments were overwhelmingly expensive.
Mr. Walker worked day and night to save for the surgery, sleeping only three hours a day. Before he could raise enough, he collapsed and died at work.
The family’s situation went from hard to unbearable.
I begged Mr. Bennett to help Olivia get a donor and used all my savings to cover her treatment.