The Price of Choosing Mother

1
I spent my entire month's salary on emergency care after my mother's stroke. When I didn't give the money to my wealthy girlfriend instead, she was enraged—my love wasn't blind enough. She gathered friends to discuss how to teach me a lesson.
One suggested blacklisting me from my industry; another proposed cutting off my mother's life support. Her childhood friend smirked and told her to fake marrying him to make me jealous.
Amelia agreed to it all. Spitefully, she turned to him and said, "If loyalty isn't absolute, it's betrayal. Since his mother matters so much, let's get a marriage license and crush him. Let's see him gold-dig with shattered dreams."
I stood outside the private room, holding flowers, having rushed there to apologize. I heard every word. My heart felt sliced open.
When we started dating, she said our backgrounds were too different—I had to pass "tests" to marry her. For seven years, I gave her everything. Yet it all meant less than a joke from the man she grew up with.
As I turned to leave, a cool, unforgettable voice cut through the noise:
"If you don’t want him anymore, can I have him?"
…
I froze, struck by lightning. My feet felt nailed to the floor.
She was supposed to be overseas. What was she doing here?
The room fell silent for a moment before someone tried to smooth things over. “Miss Sterling, what are you talking about? Alex is just a broke, money-grubbing loser. Do you know him?”
Stella Sterling didn’t answer.
Instead, Amelia’s indifferent, mocking voice filled the silence. “Of course, you can. If you can manage to pry him away.”
She was confident that I was hopelessly in love with her, that I wouldn’t look at another woman. The scars I’d earned for her, the blood and tears I’d shed over the past seven years—they were all trophies she proudly displayed.
But that didn’t stop her from continuing her “tests.”
Or maybe the tests were just an excuse, a way to wait for me to mess up so she could shamelessly favor her childhood friend, Liam.
Liam chuckled. “Don’t misunderstand, everyone. Stella only wants to get to know Alex because of me.” He shot her a playful, admonishing look, his eyes full of pride. “Stella, you really took what I said to heart. Alex did bully me once, and it’s sweet of you to want to stick up for me, but don’t do anything too drastic!”
The realization dawned on the others, and they immediately started showering him with praise.
“So that’s why the heiress of the Sterling family came to our little get-together right after returning to the country! It was all for you, Liam!”
“You’re really something, Liam! Even a goddess like Miss Sterling is falling at your feet!”
My clenched fists slowly relaxed.
Right. It had been so many years. Stella probably didn't even remember who I was.
But Amelia’s composure had vanished, replaced by a tense, guarded hostility. “Miss Sterling, if you want to pursue Liam, have you asked for my permission?”
The group chuckled knowingly. “Amelia, we all know you two were childhood sweethearts. You’ve seen him as your future husband since you were kids. Don’t be so possessive!”
No one took Stella’s words seriously.
I couldn’t listen anymore. I threw the crushed bouquet into a nearby trash can and headed back to the hospital.
My mom, lying in her bed, seemed to sense my presence. She struggled to open her eyes and weakly fumbled for a bank card. “Alex, honey, this is my pension. Take it and give it to Amelia as your ‘salary.’ Don’t let her be angry.”
A lump formed in my throat. My mom knew I had to hand over my salary to Amelia every month as a sign of my devotion. For the sake of my happiness, she had never asked me for a cent, working well past retirement age until she collapsed from a stroke.
I was a terrible son.
The thought that Amelia might actually harm my mother made my blood run cold. I wiped my face and tucked the card back under her pillow. “Mom, it’s okay. We’re not right for each other. I’m going to transfer you to another hospital. We’re leaving this place.”
My mom had always been proud of me and trusted my judgment.
When I went back to my apartment to grab some things for the hospital stay, I found someone was already there.
Amelia was tearing the place apart, packing her things into a massive suitcase that stood at her feet.
Liam was leaning against the doorframe, his tone dripping with disdain. “Amelia, this is the kind of place Alex makes you live in? You deserve so much better.”
I looked down. If I lived alone, I would have found a basement apartment for a hundred bucks a month. But for Amelia, I had gritted my teeth and rented this place for a thousand. She complained that the salary I handed over was too little, but she had no idea I was already running on empty.
The soft click of the door opening startled them.
Liam turned, a wide, malicious grin on his face. “Alex, I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen. You’d better apologize and beg for her forgiveness. Now.”
Amelia didn’t turn around, but her packing slowed.
I opened my mouth, wanting to talk things through one last time, to give our seven years a proper ending. “You’re leaving me just because I used my salary to pay for my mom’s medical bills?”
She threw a shirt down and spun around, a cold sneer on her face. “You make it sound so simple! Alex, you could have given me the money first and then asked to borrow it back for your mom. But you couldn’t even give me that much trust. Maybe we should just break up!”
Ever since Liam’s family went bankrupt and he started clinging to her, she had been using the word “breakup” like a punctuation mark, constantly finding fault with me.
But what had I done wrong? My own salary, after passing through her hands, had somehow become a debt I owed her.
My voice was hollow. “I do trust you. But when I had acute appendicitis and asked you for five hundred dollars for the surgery, you listened to Liam and used it as another ‘test.’ You made me wait for a whole day and night. I lost a part of my intestine because of you. Amelia, how can you expect me to put my mother’s life in your hands?”
Amelia’s face flushed. “Don’t you dare drag Liam into this! That was an accident! Alex, it was just a few thousand dollars. One of my earrings is worth more than your entire salary. What hurt me was your attitude!”
Attitude, attitude! I was so sick of hearing that word. Every time Liam’s name came up, she would twist everything around.
A wave of exhaustion washed over me.
I pressed my fingers to my temples and asked coldly, “So because of this, you’re determined to break up with me?”
“Yes!” she snapped, certain I would back down and grovel like I always did.
I just smiled, a sense of release washing over me. “Fine. Then we’re broken up.”

2
It turned out those words weren’t as hard to say as I’d imagined.
Amelia’s expression froze, her eyes wide with disbelief.
I pushed past her and started helping her pack. Years of doing all the housework meant my movements were swift and efficient as I folded her clothes into the suitcase.
Liam sneered from the sidelines. “Alex, how could you? It’s your fault, but you’re raising your voice at Amelia. You need to be patient with your girlfriend. How do you expect to marry into a rich family with an attitude like that?”
I ignored him, focusing on gathering everything that belonged to Amelia. The matching mugs, the matching slippers, the matching pajamas…
As I separated each item, Amelia’s eyes grew redder and redder.
When I opened a drawer and my fingers brushed against a thick stack of love letters, I paused. A sharp pain shot through my heart, a physical ache that was impossible to ignore.
Seven years ago, she had fallen for me at first sight while I was working as a waiter to pay off my family’s debts. She was like a ray of sunshine in my dark life. She was sweet and beautiful, with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes and dimples that appeared on her cheeks.
To be with me, she had endured dozens of lashes from her parents’ whips, kneeling on the floor for three days and three nights. Even in the ICU, she had defiantly threatened to pull out her IV if they didn't let her be with me.
When she tearfully told me her parents had relented but insisted on testing me, all I felt was relief.
Later, when she started showing a clear preference for Liam, I pretended not to see it. I didn’t want to believe that the bright, vibrant girl who had loved me so fiercely could have changed so much.
Seeing my hesitation, a flicker of triumph crossed Amelia’s face. She snatched the letters from my hand, marched into the kitchen, turned on the gas stove, and tossed the letters into the flame. The fire leaped up, licking at the paper like tiny blue teeth.
“Alex, you wanted to break up, right? Fine. You’re not keeping a single one of the love letters I wrote you. I was wrong about you!”
The acrid smell of burning paper filled the air. The bright flames danced in my eyes.
The last embers of warmth I felt for Amelia were turning to ash.
I walked over to the stove. But instead of frantically trying to salvage the letters as she expected, I reached out and turned the gas up to its highest setting.
My voice was ice. “Amelia, since we’re settling accounts, how about you give me back my seven years of salary?”
I wanted to be magnanimous, to say I was writing it off as a bad investment, to quote some proverb about fortunes turning. But my mom’s recovery would be expensive. I had to be realistic.
Amelia was trembling with rage. She slapped me across the face. “Alex, so your true colors are finally showing! I’m so glad I listened to Liam and tested you for a couple more years. Otherwise, you would have bled me dry!”
Liam gave me a shove. I lost my balance and fell toward the stove.
The flames instantly caught on my shirt, climbing up my chest. The searing heat made me cry out in pain.
For a second, panic flashed in Amelia’s eyes. She rushed forward, trying to pat out the flames.
I shoved her away and stumbled into the bathroom. “Get away from me!”
The cold water extinguished the fire, cooling my burning skin and leaving an angry red patch that was already starting to blister.
When I emerged, shaken, the apartment was a mess, as if it had been ransacked.
A bank card lay on the table next to a note, the words pressed so hard into the paper they were almost torn through: “Alex! You told me to get lost?! Stop playing the victim. You just wanted money, right? Here, take it. But don’t you ever expect me to forgive you!”
I looked down, my hand closing tightly around the card.
The girl who once cried because a tiny speck of hot oil splattered on my arm while I was cooking for her was now accusing me of playing the victim.
Don’t worry. I won’t forgive you either.
The next morning, I went to my office to resign.
Before I could say a word, my boss slapped a piece of paper against my chest and started yelling. “Alex, your mom has a minor surgery and you need to take time off? If everyone was like you, how would this company stay in business? You’re fired! And don’t even think about asking for severance. You’re lucky I’m not suing you!”
Before I could process what was happening, Amelia and Liam emerged from the conference room, dressed in sharp business attire.
Amelia’s eyes were full of scorn. “Alex, cat got your tongue? I can crush you with a single finger. Do you regret it now?”
Liam chimed in with fake sympathy. “Alex, just stop fighting with Amelia. Apologize properly, and this will all be over.”
The burn on my arm throbbed. I remembered what Amelia had said in the private room. She really was going to blacklist me. And she had moved fast.
My colleagues were all watching, enjoying the show.
My boss was bowing and scraping before Amelia. “Ms. Ashford, I did as you asked. I tested this Alex guy, rejected his promotion applications, and gave him the heaviest workload to build his character. Who knew he was such a lost cause? He should have been fired long ago!”
A shiver ran through me, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.
Amelia was the company’s mysterious chairman.
No wonder… every time I was ostracized at work and wanted to quit, she would impatiently tell me I lacked perseverance, that it would reflect poorly on me in her parents’ eyes, and that I had to work harder.
It wasn't that I wasn't good enough. It was that she never wanted me to succeed. She enjoyed the power she had over me.
I did have regrets. I regretted not seeing her for the arrogant, self-righteous person she truly was sooner.
I laughed coldly. “If I had to do it all over again, I would make the same choice. Amelia, I can’t fight you, but I can stay away from you. Don’t worry, you’ll never see me again.”
I turned and walked away.
As soon as I stepped out of the building, a text message came in from a number I knew by heart.
“You were fired? I’d like to hire you as my vice president. Annual salary of five hundred thousand. Interested?”

3
I deleted the message without a flicker of emotion.
When Stella Sterling left without a word all those years ago, I had a broken leg but refused treatment, spending all my money on phone credits to call her a thousand times. Every call went straight to voicemail.
Whatever her reason for contacting me now, this message, eight years too late, just made me feel sick.
In the few seconds I hesitated, Amelia caught up to me, grabbing my arm. “What did you mean by that? What do you mean I’ll never see you again?”
Her fingers dug into my burn, and I hissed in pain.
She quickly let go, a look of surprise on her face. “It’s really hurt?”
Before I could answer, a strange noise came from above. I looked up. A large billboard on the skyscraper was swaying precariously, about to fall directly onto Liam, who was strolling out of the building.
Amelia’s eyes widened. Without a second’s hesitation, she shoved Liam out of the way.
The next second, there was a deafening crash.
The billboard slammed into her back, and she collapsed in a pool of blood.
Liam was in shock, frozen to the spot.
I, on the other hand, was eerily calm. I knelt down to check on her. She was still breathing. Her hand reached out and clutched the hem of my suit jacket, her face pale as she whimpered in pain.
I was about to call 911 when she whispered weakly, “You care about me this much… why won’t you just apologize…?”
I gave a sarcastic laugh. “I’d save a dog if it were lying here. Don’t flatter yourself.”
I used to cherish her, doing all the housework, all the cooking. I was so afraid of tiring her out that I’d stay up late to finish her work reports for her. She took my devotion for granted, even making me go to business dinners in her place, where I would drink until my stomach bled. If I ever showed the slightest hesitation, it meant I didn’t love her anymore.
And now, the woman I had so carefully nurtured had thrown herself in front of a falling billboard for Liam.
It left a disgusting taste in my mouth, like I’d swallowed a fly.
Just as I was about to dial for an ambulance, my phone rang. It was Stella.
I assumed she was calling about the vice president job and declined the call.
She called again.
I answered, annoyed. “What?”
“Alex, something’s happened to your mom. Get to the hospital, now!” Stella’s voice was dead serious on the other end.
Her tone transported me back in time, to the day she had looked at me with cold eyes and said, “Alex, I see breaking one of your legs wasn’t enough. I should have sewn your mouth shut. Don’t ever come looking for me again, and don't you dare say you love me.”
A jolt went through me.
Amelia, thinking my pale face was due to worry for her, whispered, “Playing hard to get…”
But I ripped my jacket from her grasp and strode into the street to hail a cab, tossing her aside like a piece of luggage.
Liam was there. She wouldn’t die.
Behind me, Amelia stared at her empty hand, a powerful wave of panic washing over her. She struggled, pinned under the billboard, and shrieked, “Alex! How could you leave me? Come back!”
She even pushed Liam’s hand away.
…
When I reached the hospital, my mom was already in surgery.
“Someone cut your mother’s oxygen tube, causing a cerebral hemorrhage. I’m sorry, I got here too late—” Stella said, her face full of guilt.
My head was spinning. My knees buckled, and I almost collapsed, but she caught me.
Amelia had actually tried to kill my mother. A living, breathing human being.
“Alex, she’s going to be okay,” Stella said softly, crouching down to comfort me.
Time hadn't changed her. She still had that same delicate, beautiful face, her thin lips pressed together, her amber eyes fixed on me.
My senses suddenly returned. I shoved her away and stood up straight.
Her fingers curled slightly. “I know you hate me. About what happened back then… I had my reasons…”
My head was pounding. “Miss Sterling,” I said, my voice strained, “thank you for saving my mom. You’re a busy woman. I won’t keep you. You should go.”
Her breath hitched. She saw my rejection and didn’t say another word.
Time ticked by. Thankfully, my mom’s surgery was a success.
Stella refused to leave the hospital room, insisting that I, as a man, wouldn't be attentive enough to care for my mom properly.
A nurse saw me trying to get her to leave and rushed over to stop me, praising her for being such a filial daughter-in-law and telling me to be nicer to my wife.
Stella glanced at me, a flicker of hope in her eyes.
I pretended not to see it and went to pay the bills.
On my way back, I was so preoccupied with how to get rid of Stella that I wasn't paying attention and bumped into someone.
“Sorry—” I looked up and froze.

4
The person in front of me was Amelia, wrapped in bandages. She had clearly been treated. Her injuries must not have been serious if she was able to stand here, waiting for me to run into her.
She was leaning on Liam, a smug look on her face. “Playing hard to get? If you’re going to pretend to be cold, at least see it through. Weren’t you just secretly coming to check on me? Alex, if you promise to do everything I say from now on, I might consider forgiving you. Where else are you going to find a girlfriend as generous as me?”
She clutched the corner of her shirt and cleared her throat. “Let me ask you, if your mom and I both fell into a river, who would you save first?”
I knew this was her way of offering me an olive branch. If I just said I would save her, everything would go back to the way it was.
But my mom had just been pulled back from the brink of death. I was in no mood to play her games.
“Amelia, why do you always have to have it out for my mom? Why did you try to kill her?”
She stared at me, stunned. “What are you talking about?”
A dark glint flashed in Liam’s eyes. He pointed a finger at me. “Alex, what does your mom’s stroke have to do with Amelia? Amelia got hurt, and not only are you not taking care of a her, you’re here interrogating her?”
Amelia nodded, huffing coldly. “Exactly. Your mom is so old, but she’s still clinging to her son, even faking being sick to get your attention. She’s clearly not a respectable woman—”
SLAP!
I couldn't control the rage that surged through me. I slapped her across the face. “Amelia, don’t you dare talk about my mother like that! The world doesn’t revolve around you. You want me to put you first, but where do I rank in your heart? This slap is a lesson. Do whatever you want to me, but leave my mother alone!”
Amelia stared at me, her hand covering her reddening cheek, her voice choked. “You hit me?”
Liam frowned, about to speak.
Just then, Stella found me and rushed over, whispering, “Your mom’s awake!”
My heart leaped. I turned to go to my mom’s room.
Liam’s face lit up when he saw Stella. “Stella, how did you know I was here? Did you come looking for me?”
Amelia bristled like a threatened porcupine, grabbing Stella’s arm. “Liam and I are childhood sweethearts. Stella, stop chasing after him. Haven't you ever heard of first come, first served?”
When it came to Liam, her emotions were always all over the place.
Fine. Let them sort it out.
Back in the hospital room, the doctor told me my mom’s condition was stable. We could arrange for a private medical flight to a better hospital tomorrow. And by some stroke of luck, I had won a discount that made the flight affordable.
As I was discussing the transfer, Amelia and Liam burst in.
Amelia’s face was hard as she slapped a thin invitation against my chest. “Alex, I gave you enough chances, but you refuse to see reason. Tomorrow, Liam and I are getting married. You’ll regret this for the rest of your life!”
She turned and left, her posture proud. It seemed she thought her previous tactics weren't working and was now resorting to marrying Liam to provoke me.
Liam clapped me on the shoulder. “Don't worry, I haven't agreed to actually marry her. If you come and crash the wedding tomorrow, I'll let you have her. What can I say? The heiress of the Sterling family is after me too. You should be glad you don't have such sweet burdens.”
When Stella entered the room, I was staring at the invitation, lost in thought. She saw my expression, turned, and quietly left.
She didn't know the real reason for my deep concentration. If they were getting married tomorrow, they wouldn’t be able to stop me from leaving with my mom.
The next day, as Amelia and Liam were about to exchange rings, I was still a no-show.
As if by telepathy, neither of them reached for the rings, both frowning as they scanned the crowd. The person they were waiting for hadn't come.
The atmosphere in the venue grew awkward.
Suddenly, a gasp went through the guests. They all pulled out their phones, murmuring as they watched the same video.
Amelia was confused until she heard a voice from one of the phones, loud enough for everyone to hear: “Alex, for your mother’s sake, can you please not refuse my help? Besides, if you really don’t love me anymore, why were you with Amelia, who looks so much like me, for seven years?”

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