A Fabrication of Seven Years

Early the next morning, Hector asked me to meet him at a cafe.

When he saw me again, he did not look surprised at all. He started the conversation and said, "Conrad, I recognized you the moment I saw you at the company yesterday."

I froze.

The next second, he explained calmly, "Before I married Quinn, I already knew about you. It isn't strange for women to keep a lover on the side in our circle. Quinn is considered reserved, to be honest... She only had you."

I snapped back, "I'm not her lover!"

"What you are doesn't matter," Hector said with a sneer and handed me the latest prenatal report. "Quinn is already pregnant. Now that we have a child on the way, I didn't plan to bother with you, but you made it onto the trending topics, so I have no choice but to handle this."

He pushed a nondisclosure agreement and a blank check my way. "Sign this, record an apology video, and leave Oceanton within two days. Fill in whatever amount you want."

I pushed them back and wanted to leave, but Hector stopped me. "You won't be able to survive in Oceanton. Come to me anytime once you change your mind."

Hector was right.

I took my resume to several companies all morning, but human resources shook their heads the moment they saw it. They rejected me for poor character and for the potential to damage the company's image.

Some even mocked me to my face. "Why are you looking for a job when you're a boy toy? You can just find another sugar mommy, right?"

Photos of me going to interviews were also posted online, and someone directly tagged Quinn's social media account.

The next second, Quinn called me. "Conrad, how long are you going to keep embarrassing yourself? I gave you a job, and you refused it. You insist on going outside and making others laugh at you instead. Can you stop making a scene?"

"Quinn, do you see me as the homewrecker too?" I asked as I felt Oceanton's biting wind cut across my skin.

Quinn went silent for a long time. "Conrad, I..."

I did not want to hear her explanation and hung up.

A few minutes later, my phone started to vibrate again.

My mother's broken sobs came through the line. "Conrad! I couldn't believe I have a son like you! You were someone's… Someone's boy toy for seven years?! You made your father so angry that he had a heart attack! The surgery is going to cost fifty thousand dollars! Where are we supposed to get that much money..."

With a thud, a snowball slammed hard into my head.

Two children pointed at me and shouted, "Boy toy! Hit the boy toy!"

Snowballs came one after another. They laughed as they ran away, even turning back to make faces at me.

I knelt in the snow, tears falling onto my phone screen. With trembling hands, I dialed that number. Hector's mocking laugh came through the phone from the other side. "You made up your mind that quickly?"

My voice was hoarse as I said. "I'll do it."