"Ah!"
The clock read 12am as a heartbreaking scream came from the Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
"Rose, push! Push!"
The labor has been going on for thirteen hours. Rose was lying in the hospital bed, sweaty hair clinging to her cheeks, tears overflowing from her eyes, and she was so weak and tired that her breathing was not regular.
She had no strength left.
"Rose, push! Hold your breath and push! The little guy can't wait!" The obstetrician was so anxious that he was red-eyed. If he delayed it again, he would kill two people, the baby and his mother because she will have no will to live if anything happen to her child.
Rose closed her eyes, clenched the sheets on her side, breathed a heavy sigh, and suddenly pushed hard-
"Ah!"
Baby, you must survive!
...
Seven years later, New York City, the airport-
A seven-year-old boy, standing at the center of the airport lobby, kept waving at the woman pushing her luggage behind him. Then he couldn't be patient anymore, he ran over, grabbed the box from the woman like a little adult, and pushed it forward with all his strength.
"Mommy! Walk faster! Uncle David promised to go to the Heckscher playground with us, you didn’t forget right?" The little guy mentioned the word ‘playground’, and his eyes were shining.
Rose was wearing a Rose-red professional suit, beige jeans and four inches high heels, which made her legs to look slender.
She took off her sunglasses, hugged the little boy tightly, and replied him kindly, "Mark, we sat too long on the plane and Mommy is a little tired. We can go to the playground some other time. When Uncle David comes, we will have dinner with him together?"
"Mom…" The boy whined, his refusal shinning from his eyes, "You don't keep your word!"
Rose smiled and didn't speak, placed a hand on his shoulder, they walked out of the airport together.
A sapphire BMW SUV stopped in front of the mother and son just as they reached the curb.
When the door opened, the man with broad shoulders that filled his suit nicely got off, his face lined with short black hair. He was very handsome and with the way he carried himself, he knew it.
"Rose!" He called her.
"David." Rose smiled.
Mark's little face immediately filled with joy as he left his mother’s hold and flew over to the man. "Uncle David!"
The man bent down and picked up his chubby little body and raised him high. "Has Mark grown taller?"
"How can I protect mommy if I don’t grow tall!" The little guy frowned his response, puffing out his chest to show that he was doing a good job growing up.
Rose laughed at her son’s words. She shrugged her shoulders and walked quickly to David.
"How have you been recently?" David looked at her.
Rose nodded pretending to be relaxed. "Very good! You can relax David, let's go? Can we get dinner together?"
"Sure!" The man looked at her with heated gaze, and then picked her luggage from her. Only the little Mark in his arms made a dissatisfied protest and murmured, "What about the Heckscher playground, you promised!"
David flicked his forehead. "Uncle told you, listen to your mother and do whatever she wants."
The little flame in Mark's eyes disappeared.
"Hmm..." Came a stuffy response from Mark but he settled down.
*****************
As soon as the waiter handed the menu over, Mark grabbed it with his little hands. After turning over several pages in a row, his brows frowned like little earthworms.
"Mommy, is there no steak, salad sauce and even burger here... I am tired of eating foreign food!"
"… Hmm." Rose glanced awkwardly at David and took the menu out of Mark's arms. "You'd better order it. Mark is not selective about what he eats. Don't care about him."
David smiled gently. "It's okay. You don't have to worry him going for what he prefers. You know, I take Mark like he is my own child."
These words poke at her heart and others who were sitting close to them enough to hear David’s comment. The waiter standing next to him couldn't help his red cheeks and secretly glanced at the man.
Rose's face was also red, afraid to look David in the eye, and hastily submitted the menu to the waiter. "Two French steaks, one children's set meal, and one foie gras, thank you."
"OK, just a moment."
After the waiter left, David poured a cup of tea, pushed it to Rose and asked her, "What are your plans for returning home this time?"
"The headquarters arranged for me to join M&R Company as the chief secretary." Rose took a deep breath.
David frowns. "M&R? Isn't that a small film and television company that is about to close down?"
She made a small non-committal sound at the back of her throat. "Yes, they used a large amount of money to invest in our Chinese headquarters and decided to send a prestigious team to New York as a pillar. I happened to be selected. What a coincidence?"
Just as Rose spoke, the waiter brought another hot drink to their table, and she moved aside to make room.
At that moment, in the quiet corridor not far away, a few figures suddenly came out of a private room, the rustling sound of leather shoes rubbing against the floor with force filled the air.
And the sound of high heels.
"Joseph, did you really stop thinking about our project? For an actress with both beauty and talent like Isabella, if we spend a lot of money on packaging, and this movie will end up being a blockbuster!" A middle-aged man wearing a suit and looking like a manager quickly followed.
"What we need is a valuable award winning movie, not a fluffy binging movie with empty gimmicks and a gorgeous woman making an appearance."
Joseph has one hand in his trouser pocket, a lighted cigar between his other finger, and Isabella, one of the reigning female superstar actress currently, was holding on to his arm.
Blonde shiny hair that cascaded down her back and fell around her heart shaped face, a straight nose and perfect pouty lips. In other words, she was looking like the dream girl of every man and the lady whom everywoman wanted to be.
She was also smiling, just like holding the most eligible man in New York was some sort of achievement for her.
"How can we call it a binge movie? Joseph! There are some kissing scenes in this script, I don't think there is anything wrong with improving the script to add s*x scenes into it!" The middle-aged man was still gushing.
Joseph didn't seem to hear him. After his lips slightly stretched in a grimace, he spit out a thin flocculent smoke, but Isabella stopped.
She tilted her head and said in a funny way, "Christopher, don't you understand what Joseph means? What kind of relationship do Joseph and I have? How can he let me make a movie or TV series with s*x scenes?"
The word 'Joseph' was intimate when she spoke, like it had a special meaning which others were supposed to know. And it confused the middle-aged man.
What kind of relationship exists between Isabella and Joseph?