In My Desperate Time

If it were anyone else, I wouldn't be afraid to miss his/her calls.
But he is Frances Louis.
He won't call me if there is nothing of particular importance. Two missed calls illustrate the seriousness of the matter.
After all, he is the patron. After a while of hesitation, I call Frances Louis back.
It rings several times before he answers the phone.
“Come to my room, now.”
Then Frances Louis hangs up.
My heart is beating severely. His wife and he live together, if I go to his room, I would be a sheep who sends itself to the tiger's
mouth.
But Frances Louis speaks in such a decisive tone that I don’t have the courage to refuse.
Steven Song only knows that I called Frances Louis, but he doesn’t know what I said to him. After he sends me to the hotel, he
goes upstairs alone.
When I get out of the elevator and pass 306, I find the door is unlocked.
I have already got an idea in the car. If I ran into Whitney Jordan, I'd say I come here to discuss with her about her works.
Anyway, I watched yesterday's show carefully, and it is easy to select a topic about it.
I knock softly twice, and the voice of Frances Louis sounds from inside.
“Come in.”
I walk in, don’t dare to close the door.
Frances Louis is sitting at the head of the bed. His fingers are rapping on the computer, apparently, he is dealing with business.
Whitney Jordan isn’t in the room. The bathroom light is off. It looks like she isn’t here.
“Where is your wife?” I ask.

“She’s gone.” He closes the computer and gets out of bed.
With two steps, he is in front of me.
I couldn't get used to his sudden approach. I step back a little bit. Until there is no room for me to retreat, and my body sticks on
the wall.
I am confused. His wife is still here in the morning, why she left in the afternoon?
I want to ask more when I remember what he said to me. It’s not my turn to ask about his business. So, I press down the doubt
in my heart.
“What do you want?”
I ask him nervously.
“You went to the hospital?”
He asks, frowning. He stares at me, his eyes serious.
I am a little surprised. I don’t remember I tell him that I’ll go to the hospital, how could he know?
“The smell of disinfectant.” He reads my mind and says lightly.
His nose is as sensitive as a dog’s.
“You threw up at the show and then you went to the hospital. Tell me, are you pregnant?”
The man approaches close to me, and his breath has filled all the space between he and I.
He thinks I am pregnant.
Women can’t throw up casually. Otherwise, there would be some misunderstandings.
“No.” "I answer flatly, meeting his eyes.
But no matter what I say, he doesn’t believe me.
Luckily, I got preparation.

I show him the results of my blood test, “It’s just the sequela of a mild concussion. It's not pregnancy as you thought.”
He stares at the result for a while and looks not happy, but I don't understand why.
He is supposed to be scared that I am pregnant. Because there are so many pregnant women scrambling for properties. Men
should be afraid of being haunted by women with the excuse of pregnancy.
To reassure him, to let him know that I have no thoughts about his fortune, I explain, “You can rest assured that I am not going to
conceive your child. Every time we have sex, I take pills. I'm not the kind of woman who would blackmail you with a child. I know
who I am and I'm not going to embarrass you. I...”
Frances Louis glances at me sharply. His face is cold and grave.
“Get out.”
Doesn’t he believe me?
“I will leave when my brother’s problem is settled, and there will be no chance for me to conceive. If you're worried, you can wear
a condom next time.”
“Get out!”
Frances Louis suddenly roars at me, like fire is coming out of his eyes.
Damn him! All right! I will go out! Why is he so angry? Just because I need his help?
I am also a person with a temper. I am yelled by him for no reason. I feel humiliated and slam the door and leave.
Frances Louis doesn’t attend the show for the next day. He doesn’t call me again, and I haven't contacted him.
After the show, Steven Song and I fly back to Virginia overnight.
When I get home, Frances Louis is not there. For the first time, I stay in this huge villa alone.
When Frances Louis left, he said he would be away for a week. Now the show is over, does he have other plans? I don’t want to
ask him because we are in the cold war. It’s nice to have him not here. I don't want to see him anyway.
The next morning, I go to work.

Nicole Snow should have known that I was at the show with Steven Song these days, so she doesn’t ask where I've been.
It's just that when she looks at me, her eyes are with more hostility. I think she sees me as a woman who climb up by flirting with
men.
I don’t want to explain to someone who doesn’t know about me.
“Jane Noyes, get these materials for me.”
Nicole Snow throws me a pile of paper, on which carefully noting the materials and brands to buy.
I look out of the window and recoil.
Today, the force of wind is seven to ten.