Chapter Seven

 “Why would I do something like that?” Simon slowly walked back to the black couch, stared at Ann motionlessly, and asked back. “I’d like to ask you then, why would you do something like that?”

Ann was taken aback by Simon's sudden coldness. She froze there, without knowing what to do. “What do you mean?” She finally asked, still standing there like a stone statue.

“Well, let me ask you this, how and why on earth did you have my babies?” Simon snapped, still staring at Ann motionlessly.

“What makes you think they're yours? Maybe you guys just look alike,” Ann said seriously.

“Look at this.” Saying, Simon threw a pile of papers on the table in front of the couch.

Ann walked to the table and picked those papers up. She looked at these papers confusedly, until a line caught her eyes. “The probability that they are biological father and son is 99%.” It turned out that these papers were the results of the DNA test of Simon and the twins. Ann’s face suddenly became pale with fright.

 “Why did you have these?” She stuttered, looking terrible.

 “I’m afraid you still didn’t know my ability, Miss. There’s nothing in this world that I can’t achieve,” Simon blurted out. “After my assistant showed me your TikTok videos, I asked them to investigate your account and the two kids. When I found out which kindergarten they were in, I asked the kindergarten to organize a physical examination for the students, then I got their DNA from their saliva. So there comes the result in your hand.”

Ann’s face became even paler. She weakly sat down on the couch and couldn’t say anything. Her lips were quivering.

“So, tell me, Miss, how did you fucking have my babies? Are you their mother? Or did you adopt them?” Simon continued to ask, making Ann breathless. He got up from the couch and walked over Ann, looking at her expressionlessly.  

“How dare you?”Ann shouted. “How dare you approach my babies without my permission? They are my babies, you bastard. I’m their mother. I am their mother!” Tears welled up Ann’s eyes. She was going nuts.

“Then you tell me how you had them! How did you get pregnant? How did you have my sperm?” Simon was also yelling. He looked like crazy. “Whether was it a conspiracy? Was it a trap? Who made you do this? How did you do it?” Yelling, Simon kept shaking Ann by her shoulders, very excited.

Ann rose her head up, looking at Simon into his eyes. Tears fell down from Ann’s face. She felt so wronged and helpless.

Simon suddenly let go of Ann, perhaps he saw her tears. He signed, walked back a few steps, and sat down on the couch again.

The air in this spacious and bright living room seemed like freezing. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky outside the french windows, and ten seconds later, a loud clap of thunder roared like a monster. But in Ann’s heart, Simon’s roar was louder that.  

She wept silently, while Simon sat on the couch on the opposite side, with his eyes closed.

It started to rain outside, making Ann feel sadder.

“It was all starting from five years ago,” Ann slowly began to narrate her experiences. “In The Venice.”

Ann saw Simon's lips twitched when he heard this name. It was obvious that this hotel meant something special to Simon as well.

“I was raped by someone I didn’t know, I’d say. You may think it was absurd, but it was true,” Ann continued to say. “In March 24, 2014, I was having dinner with my family -- you know who in The Venice, but then I became unconscious somehow. When I woke up the next morning, I found myself naked in a hotel room, with blood on the sheet.”

Simon sat up straight and stared at Ann with his eyes widely opened. “March 24, 2014. The Venice,” he murmured.

“I knew what you are thinking. I swear that I didn’t have any boyfriends and didn’t hook up with anyone before. I was a virgin!” Ann said bitterly. “I knew I was set up by someone and I knew who they were, but I didn’t have evidence. Things didn’t get any better. Two months later, I found that I was pregnant, and I didn’t even know whose baby it was. Can you imagine how desperate I was?”

Hearing this, Simon frowned, but he didn’t say anything.

The rain got heavier outside, and the atmosphere in this penthouse was as cold as outside.

“But I decided to have the babies, because they were so innocent. They should not be deprived of lives without knowing anything, ” Ann stopped crying and continued to say.

“Did anyone else know this?” Simon looked at her, asking.

“No, no. Who could I tell? Beth and Vivian? I didn’t trust them. Besides, they were probably the people who set me up,” Ann said painfully. “As for my dad, Joe, he hadn’t cared about me for a long time. Even if I told him, he wouldn’t care. I have never felt more lonely than that moment, never before, never after.”

“Then what happened? How did you give labor to these two babies?” Simon asked.

“I moved to Arizona three months after I realized I was pregnant,” Ann said. “Because I needed to find a way to survive in the world. New York was not only dangerous, but cruel, so I needed to get away from this place to protect myself and the babies. I used my savings to rent a small room in a small town in AZ and it only cost 300 dollars every month. I went to the hospital for a checkup every month, and luckily, everything was fine. There was a time that I had a terrible stomachache, then I was hurriedly sent to the hospital. Fortunately, I turned out fine in the end. Four months later, I gave birth to my babies. My landlord Mrs. Lawrence sent me to the delivery room, and she had been taking care of me all those months. She was such a kind person. You can check the records of the hospital. It was all good, except I had to pay for my medical insurance every month the next few years. Even so, it was better than when I was in New York.”

Hearing this, Simon looked at Ann motionlessly. It was the first time that Ann saw tenderness in Simon’s eyes.

Ann walked over Simon and stood in front of him. Then she crouched down, with her knees on the gray carpet. Ann held his hands up, saying, “Simon, listen to me. If I wanted to set you up, I could have used my pregnancy to blackmail you five years ago, or I would have plenty of chances to do that during these years. Why didn’t I do that? The only truth was that I didn’t know you are the father of my children until today. I’m also as shocked as you are. Trust me.”

Just as Ann finished her speaking, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky over New York City. The rain got much heavier.

Simon took a deep breath. He held Ann to get up, and let her sit beside him. “How did you suffer all of these? You were only 18 years old,” he asked.

Hearing this, Ann suddenly burst into tears. She cried harder than ever. Finally someone cared about her, and he was her children’s father. It had been so hard for all those years.

Simon waited quietly for her to calm down. “Do you want to hear my story?” he asked.