One Million

At three a.m., the red light in the emergency room burned into my eyes like a branding iron. The nurse handed me the payment slip. The figure—1 million—made my fingers tremble. That was the cost of my mother's coronary artery bypass surgery. I pulled out my bank card, the savings I'd been building for five years, originally meant to buy my mother a house with a balcony. At the ATM, my fingers trembling as I punched in the PIN, the screen flashed 'Balance: 1 dollar.' I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Still 1 dollar. Cold sweat ran down my back. I called Vivian Lincoln. Her voice was groggy, just waking up, with a faint trace of panic underneath. "Eddie, why are you calling so late? I'm out having a late-night snack with Harry Shawn." "What about our savings?" My throat tightened, and I almost shouted. There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then Vivian Lincoln's voice hardened: "What savings? I lent that money to Harry. He bought a sports car. You know how much he wants to look good." My mind went blank. "My mom is waiting in the emergency room for surgery! 1 million! And you lent him money for a sports car?" "Why are you yelling?" Vivian's voice grew sharp, "The money is joint property between husband and wife. If I want to use it, I will! Your mother's illness might be fake, just a trick to get your money!" That sentence stabbed into my heart like a knife. I hung up and ran like crazy to Harry Shawn's place. Harry Shawn was Vivian's childhood playmate. Since our wedding day, he'd clung to Vivian under the guise of being a "good friend," and I had endured it over and over. The streetlights in his residential complex shone harshly. I rushed to the door, didn't knock, and twisted the handle—Vivian had given me a spare key before, worried something might happen to Harry. The scene in the living room made my blood rush to my head. Harry Shawn, shirtless, had Vivian Lincoln pinned against the sofa, their clothes thrown across the carpet, the air thick with alcohol and an unmistakable intimacy. "Harry, slow down. Don't let Eddie Carter find out..." Vivian's voice was soft as water. I couldn't hold back—I kicked Harry hard in the back. Harry cried out in pain, rolled over, and got up. When he saw it was me, the panic on his face quickly twisted into mockery: "Eddie? What are you doing here? This is my home. Didn't you know to knock before coming in?" "Pay me back." I stared him in the eye, my teeth grinding, "Give me back my 1 million. My mother is waiting for life-saving surgery." Vivian suddenly lunged forward, standing in front of Harry Shawn, holding an ashtray in her hand. "Eddie Carter, are you crazy?" Her eyes were full of disgust. "Only someone with a dirty mind would think like that! Harry and I were just talking!" "Does chatting require taking off your clothes?" I pointed at the clothes on the floor, my voice shaking. Vivian froze for a moment, then grabbed the ashtray and swung it at my head. With a sharp bang, heat flared on my forehead, blood trickling down from my brow into my eyes, instantly flooding my vision with red. "Are you crazy? Want money, huh? Fine!" Vivian's voice dripped with venom. "Harry Shawn, give him one dollar every day—let's see what he can do to us!" Harry smiled, pulled out his mobile phone, and immediately transferred me one dollar. When the transfer notification sounded, I felt like a beggar, utterly stripped of dignity and trampled beneath them. "I'm asking you one last time—are you paying me back or not?" I wiped the blood off my face and stared hard at Harry Shawn. Harry shrugged helplessly, looking wounded: "I really can't come up with the money. I just bought this sports car. Besides, all my relatives and friends know I got a luxury car. If I sell it, I will be embarrassed." "What's more important? Your pride, or my mom's life?" I rushed forward and grabbed him by the neck. Harry's face turned pale under my grip. Vivian was going crazy behind me, pounding my back with her fists, and her blows landed on my injured head, making me see stars. "Eddie Carter, let go! Are you trying to kill him?!" Vivian Lincoln's voice trembled with tears, but there wasn't a hint of concern for me. "Half of that money is mine! I can give it to whoever I want! It's none of your business!" I glared back at her. "That money is what I earned working overtime until dawn every day! It's my mom's life-saving money!" No sooner had I said that than a sharp pain exploded at the back of my head.