Ting Fang sped all the way to Olivia’s place, which she had memorised by heart. That was the only way not to be tracked by her husband or his guards by switching off all location, and she deliberately had to park her car near a mall close by. Despite the urgency to see Olivia as soon as she could, she had to pretend to head into the mall for shopping before disguising her look and hail a taxi to Olivia’s condominium front.

  Olivia heard the intense bell ringing as she quickly went to the peep to see that it was Ting Fang panicking. She opened the door for Ting Fang to rush in before quickly closing it back again. Ting Fang’s first reaction was that the condominium was a mess.

  “What happened to you, Olivia?” Ting Fang questioned as she quickly switched on the lights to find Olivia, who was sobbing in front of her, had a baby bump.

  “Via…” Ting Fang approached her as she hugged Olivia, who broke down in her arms.

  “Dear… this is good news. Don’t cry… How far long are you?” Ting Fang asked as she led her to sit by the sofa, but Olivia still couldn’t bring herself to speak. She felt overwhelmed by guilt and worry.

  Ting Fang gently took Olivia’s hands into hers. “Via, no matter what happened between you and Oli, you will always be my daughter…” Olivia began to tear up again as Ting Fang smiled and touched her belly.

  “You’re quite far long. Around six months?” Ting Fang guessed as Olvia odded.

  “Did Oli know?” Ting Fang asked as she shook her head. Ting Fang sighed in disappointment.

  “I’m so sorry, Via…” Ting Fang apologised as Olivia shook her head again.

  “Mum…” Her voice cracked as Ting Fang held her face in her palm to wipe away her tears. “Yes, my dear?”

  “Mum, the baby…” Olivia forced herself to stay strong while explaining her situation, but she kept choking on her words.

  “Slowly… The baby, don’t worry. Mum will give you the best care I can find for you. I will provide you with all the necessities…” Ting Fang’s mind was busy thinking of the preparations when Olivia tightened her grip on Ting Fang’s hands.

  “Mum, I’m worried I might… I mean, I don’t know how bad the situation is, but the baby might die or I might die too…” Olivia tried explaining more, but ended up sobbing.

  “Why? What’s wrong, Via? Where’s the diagnosis report?” Ting Fang questioned as Olivia tried to calm down and went to fetch it from her room, as Ting Fang nervously followed her in.

  She read the report as several words and phrases caught her attention like lightning strikes.

  Preeclampsia. High protein in urine. Severe headaches with blurred vision. Constant vomiting even at 27 weeks. The fetus is unstable. Suggest premature delivery.

  Ting Fang tried to keep herself composed as she thought of the situation and solutions for a moment. Olivia was hopeless as she was worried about so many uncertainties.

  “Mum, I want to give birth to this baby. I don’t care what happens to me, but if anything does go wrong, could you please keep and raise this baby, Mum? You don’t have to tell Oliver. He doesn’t have to recognise his son, but I need someone to look after him… My parents were still upset with me over the divorce…” Olivia pleaded with Ting Fang’s whose eyes got teary. The thought of old Loong crossed her mind.

  “Olivia, you are going to make it through this. I will make the arrangements for your delivery, but we need to head somewhere first…” Ting Fang urged.

  “Huh? No, Mum. I don’t want to get anywhere near Oli or dad’s hospital, please no Mum… I don’t want to get Oli into trouble either. Mum…” Olivia began to feel dizzy as she held her head and sat on the bed for a moment.

  “Via! Calm down. Breathe. Did you attend prenatal classes before?” Ting Fang asked as Olivia shook her head.

  “Alright, follow me… Breathe in, breathe out…” Ting Fang demonstrated as Olivia followed and felt slightly better.

  “There, there. Better… It’s only been a few months since you signed the divorce papers. Did you know you were pregnant when you signed it?” Ting Fang began to nag at her as she nodded guiltily.

  “Olivia! How could you?!” Ting Fang exclaimed in shock.

  “I’m sorry…” It was all Olivia could say repeatedly as Ting Fang held her hand.

  “Just exactly what happened between you and Oli? How could you deliver the Su’s grandson has anything to get him into trouble, Via?” Ting Fang asked worriedly, but Olivia wasn’t ready to talk about it.

  “I don’t know…” Olivia mumbled in tears.

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  “Alright, let’s not think about it first. Let’s head somewhere. Pack your bags first…” Ting Fang urged. “Where are we going?” Olivia asked sceptically.

  “We are heading to an old friend’s place in Malacca, who can help you. In fact, he is an in law now. Come, let’s go pay him a visit!” Ting Fang went to busy herself with packing for Olivia, who sat holding her belly. She had heard about a rivalry between her father-in-law, living in Malacca, but they used to be very close. She wondered if it was him whom they were meeting. She could only shrug off her doubts and obediently followed Ting Fang’s arrangements, as she didn’t have the luxury to banter much given her dire situation.

  After leaving the Su’s residence, Elly invited everyone to her place as she had some leftover groceries and she would be able to whip all a meal. As the girls were busy preparing the ingredients in the kitchen, Ethan was enjoying himself at Elly's game console in the living room.

  “He seemed very good with the game!” Isla praised while chopping up some onions.

  “Didn’t know he liked video games so much though…” Jazzlyn replied while chopping up some potatoes.

  “We can play with him later over a challenge in co-op*!” Elly cheered with Isla while she marinated the chicken.

  “Good for you two…” Jazzlyn lamented. “Aww, come on, you can join too! It’s fine to be noob*, alright…” Elly comforted as Jazzlyn chuckled.

  “So, what are we making today with all these ingredients?” Jazzlyn asked.

  “Simple chicken stew with rice,” Elly announced as the girls clapped. “Aww, what a comfort food! Thank you, Chef Elly!” Jazzlyn hugged her slightly.

  “Hey, hey, focus on chopping! There are still carrots!” Elly ordered as Isla chuckled.

  “Yes, chef!” Isla saluted as the girls laughed, but Isla had noticed a certain soft sound from the background since they entered the house.

  “What’s that soft sound? Did you hear it?” Isla quietened the girls as Elly instantly knew what she meant.

  “I bought a dehumidifier plus purifier recently. Things had been moulding. Didn’t really want to spend so much and so fast on moisture absorbers, so yeah. It’s sort of cheap, too.” Elly explained before chilling the marinated chicken in the refrigerator.

  “I see…” Isla commented. “Speaking of which… I had a funny encounter recently with their customer service…” As Elly washed her hands, the girls were listening in.

  “So the dehumidifier has a filter. The first few days it was great… My sinus was sort of gone, but lately I noticed it had returned. So I went to check on the filter. The filter does get dirty fast, especially when I’m only a stone's throw from the main road.” Elly directed the girls’ vision by pointing to the window with her chin. The girls nodded.

  “So I contacted the customer service on the app. I asked if they sell the filter or if they can send one since the machine is still under warranty. That way, I can wash this piece and rotate with the new one.” Elly explained while pouring a cup of rice into the rice pot.

  “Aha… Hey, lesser rice, please. Just two cups are enough.” Isla told Elly, who nodded as she scooped the second cup of rice.

  “Hmm… Healthy eating, Elly. No second servings.” Jazzlyn reminded Elly before moving on to peeling carrots.

  “Yes, Madam!” Elly said while washing the rice.

  “Then the whole morning, the customer service ignored me or simply sent me a 'bye’ sticker. They even said they were busy, will reply later.” Ellie whined as Jazzlyn and Isla chuckled.

  “Did you just get scammed?” Isla questioned as usual, on high alert.

  “No, no… listen…” Elly insisted as Isla nodded to encourage her to continue.

  “Come afternoon, I got so pissed I spammed them with messages asking for a solution. I had to repeat everything to them, like there was no chat history. They finally apologised, saying they don’t sell the filter separately. They will try their best to accommodate such requests in the near future. Ok, bye.” Elly's explanation made the girls laugh.

  “At first I wasn't pissed off if they answered in the morning, but because they gave me an attitude, so I pattern balik* la. I said, Oh, it's still under warranty, so why don’t you replace the whole machine la*?” Ellie explained in annoyance before Jazzlyn and Isla broke out in another laughter.

  It made Ethan, who lost his concentration, lose his game, and he began to pay attention to the girls’ conversation.

  “I think I gave the warehouse a big laugh! Just because they can't replace the filter then they had to replace the machine for me. In the end, the customer service stalled me for a while and later told me that the warehouse said both the machine and the filter are out of stock. They will only be available in 1-2 months time.” Ellie explained while the girls were still giggling.

  “I demanded a solution to this. Hence, they mentioned they will send me the filter once available. I asked them how many filters they were sending me then. One isn't enough. I demanded that they send me 12 then. I assumed the filter can’t be washed and is not liquid proof…” Ellie paused, letting the girls continue their laughter.

  “Elly, you can be a comedian at this rate!” Jazzlyn laughed.

  “But good job! Bravo! Stand up for yourself!” Isla praised as she clapped.

  “Then the customer service replied saying that I can buy it when it's available by then, but they will only send me one free of charge as a support solution. I warned them to remember, and they said they had all recorded. So by June or July, later, I hope I remember to go back and create chaos again.” Elly concluded as she let the rice finally cook.

  “Don’t worry, I will remind you. I will set a reminder on the calendar later.” Jazzlyn supported while putting aside the vegetables she had chopped up.

  “I will help you to scold them next!” Isla cheered as she began to start the fire for the cooking wok.

  “Well, don’t forget our trip this weekend to Lahad Datu first…” Elly reminded as Isla sighed.

  “Yes, ma’am!” Isla forced herself to oblige with the girls’ trip, though she was reluctant to meet Luna.

  Glossaries:

  * co-op - to cooperate together in a game

  * noob - an inexperienced person, especially in a game or computing

  * pattern balik - give an attitude

  * la - a common grammatical particle used in Asia expressing a variety of emotions