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["Vanessa Johnson, I have to say, I'm impressed! I really hadn't expected you to be such a team player!"]
["Young people should get out there and explore more."]
["Besides, Denver isn't charity work. There's a $7,000 hardship bonus for the year. Not bad, right?"]
I nodded enthusiastically, agreeing wholeheartedly.
What a great deal – good for them, good for me, good for the company.
Patricia hadn't contacted me for three days, no texts, no visits. I was enjoying the peace.
On the fourth morning, as I was heading to work, I opened my door and nearly bumped into Mark and his mother.
They glared at me like I was the enemy.
["Where's Patty? Where are you hiding her?"]
["What are you talking about?"] I was genuinely confused.
["Make Patty come out. Has she been hiding at your place all these days?"] Mark's mother pushed past me, barging into my apartment, yelling, ["Patty! Get out here! Come out right now!"]
The apartment was quiet. Empty.
["Where is she? Where's Patty?"] Mark demanded.
I shrugged. ["I don't know. She hasn't contacted me for three days."]
Suddenly, Mark's mother slapped her thigh and wailed, ["That stupid girl! She must've gone behind our backs to get an abortion!"]
["Oh, my miserable life!!"] She wailed, pinching Mark hard on the arm.
["You useless man! Can't even control your own wife! You let her run out after an argument, didn't even try to bring her back! And now look! Wife gone, babies gone!"]
Patricia had indeed terminated the pregnancy. She'd found a private clinic near the border, paid way over the odds, and convinced a doctor to do it.
Maybe because she was older, she had complications and ended up hospitalized for a long time.
She was too scared to tell Mark, afraid he'd be furious. She didn't dare tell her parents either, knowing they'd be too busy with Kevin to care for her.
She told her youngest sister, who took care of her during the hospital stay.
Mark eventually tracked her down to the clinic. Seeing Patricia weak and pale in the hospital bed, Mark's mother almost fainted.
["You stupid girl! How dare you kill my grandbabies behind our backs! Oh, my poor babies!"]
Mark, usually meek and quiet, stood there stone-faced. He looked at Patricia and spat out two words: ["Divorce."]
["What?"] Patricia stared in disbelief.
["I said, divorce."] Mark helped his sobbing mother up and walked out without a second glance.
Mark was dead set on divorce. When Patricia was finally discharged and tried to go home, she found the locks changed. Her key didn't work.
Patricia pounded on the door like a maniac, ["Mark! Open the door! I know you're in there! We're not divorced yet!"]
Mark cracked. He finally opened the door.
Patricia stormed in and plopped back onto the couch, starting her usual spiel.
It was the same old song: Kevin was the family's only hope, she had to save him.
Babies could be replaced, a brother couldn't.
Mark and his mother had heard it all before.
Patricia refused to agree to the divorce. At first, she tried sweet-talking Mark, apologizing, promising that once Kevin was saved, she'd be a good wife.
Mark, finally seeing sense, wasn't buying it.
So Patricia resorted to threats. ["If you dare divorce me, I'll go to your office and make a huge scene. I don't care about my reputation; let's see if you can afford to!"]
