I went on a trip with my boyfriend of one year. He treated me exceptionally well, was incredibly attentive, and took care of my every need. Everyone considered him the perfect boyfriend. But what I never expected was that as soon as I got home, I received a text from him: “Welcome to the AIDS club.” (1) Of course, I didn’t believe it. I immediately called him, but all I heard was the mechanical voice prompt: “The number you have dialed is currently switched off…” I didn’t even have the patience to listen to the whole message before hanging up. The text was sent just three minutes ago. It couldn’t be that his phone had died. The only possibility was that he had turned off his phone immediately after sending the message. Because he knew I would definitely try to call him. I started to panic. Although I wasn’t a medical student, I knew enough about AIDS. But… how could this be possible? I couldn’t believe it. I met Jack Thompson during the freshman orientation week. He was handsome and charming, instantly capturing my heart. So, after the orientation ended, I mustered up the courage to ask for his contact information. It was the first time in my nineteen years that I had ever asked a guy for his number. After getting to know each other for a year, we naturally started dating in our sophomore year. He was my first love! During our year together, he was incredibly attentive to me. Even my roommates benefited from his kindness. He would always bring us delicious food and fun things to do. My roommates all said they were looking forward to attending our wedding someday. How did it suddenly… turn out like this? I couldn’t reach Jack, so I took a cab to the hospital by myself. When I told the doctor I wanted to get tested for AIDS, I saw a flash of shock in his eyes. He probably never expected that a young, 21-year-old girl would be infected with such a thing. I nervously followed the doctor to have my blood drawn. Seeing how cautiously they handled everything, fully geared up, my fear deepened even more. After drawing blood, the doctor told me the results would take two weeks and asked me to go home and wait for news. Finally, he asked seriously: “How long has it been since your exposure?” I thought carefully. It had been two days since I went on the trip with Jack, and since we had sex… “Three days.” The doctor’s expression immediately changed, but in the end, he just sighed: “I’ll prescribe you two post-exposure prophylaxis medications. Take them immediately when you get home. We’ll see the results in two weeks and go from there.” When I heard this, tears started falling: “Doctor, is there still hope for me?” He looked at me without saying a word. I understood. The most effective time for drug prevention is within two hours. I was way past that window. I walked out of the doctor’s office in a daze, just in time to overhear the nurses gossiping: “We got an AIDS case today. I heard the girl is only 21 years old.” “21? No way! How can someone so young already have such a messy personal life?” “I know, right? Young girls these days, they just don’t value themselves!” I couldn’t bear to listen anymore. I stumbled out of the hospital, tears streaming down my face uncontrollably. I couldn’t understand – if having my first relationship at 20 meant not valuing myself, then what would it take to be considered self-respecting? I was even more confused about how my boyfriend, who had always treated me so well, could suddenly turn into this kind of person! In that moment, I even thought about dying. If this news got out, I really wouldn’t be able to live anymore! (2) Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with AIDS. When I received the confirmed diagnosis, I felt like my entire world had collapsed. Jack was still unreachable. I went to his dorm to look for him, but his roommates said he hadn’t been back for a month. I was stunned when I heard this news. He had gone on the trip with me just half a month ago. If he hadn’t been back for a month, it meant he had been preparing for this for a long time? He took me on that trip just to infect me with this disease?! At that moment, my entire worldview was shattered. Countless feelings of hatred welled up in my chest. I had to find him, no matter what method I used. At the very least, he owed me an explanation. Why did he do this to me? What had I done to offend him so badly? But I underestimated how shameless Jack could be. He didn’t come back to school. He directly applied for a leave of absence without even setting foot on campus. Since we last parted, I hadn’t even seen him in person. To find him, I asked a friend in the student council for help and managed to get his family information. That’s when I found out that his father was one of our school’s major donors. The library on our campus was built with his donation. I stared at the name “Robert Thompson” in the records, lost in thought. No wonder he could so easily take a leave of absence without even coming to school. But now that I knew his family information, I wasn’t afraid of not being able to find him. Moreover, Robert Thompson was a well-known wealthy businessman in the area. With a quick internet search, I found the address of his company. However… I staked out his company building for three consecutive days but never saw Robert Thompson. So I had to give up. But what I didn’t expect was that at this moment, Jack suddenly called me. It was on a very ordinary night when I received the call. I had just finished getting ready for bed. Recently, everyone had been busy with internship matters, and the once lively dorm was almost empty, with only me left. The call came from an unknown number. At first, I didn’t answer, but it kept ringing, so I finally picked up. As soon as I answered, I heard loud music in the background, sounding like it was coming from a bar. “Hello?” There was no response. I called out again, still no answer. I was about to hang up when the other side finally spoke, “Emily, it’s me.” The tone was condescending, flippant and arrogant. As soon as I heard it, my scalp tingled. This voice, which had woken me up countless times and lulled me to sleep, I recognized almost instantly: “Jack!” He laughed loudly, “I heard you’ve been looking for me.” The emotions I had been suppressing completely erupted at this moment, “Why did you do this!” “Why did you deliberately infect me!” “What did I do to make you hate me so much!” I was almost hysterical, yelling into the phone. Tears fell uncontrollably, and I was shaking with anger. But Jack casually tossed back: “Who told you to be so gullible?” “Emily, don’t tell me you actually thought I loved you. How stupid can you be?” “Why? Don’t you feel any guilt?” “Guilt?” Jack sneered, “What’s conscience worth?” “Emily, let me be honest with you. For someone like me, playing around is no loss. Dragging someone down with me is actually a win. If you really want to blame someone, blame yourself for being too trusting.” “Also, don’t think about going to the police or anything. You slept with me voluntarily, didn’t you?” I couldn’t believe these words were coming from the mouth of the once sunny and cheerful Jack. Had the nearly two years all been an act? Did he feel no remorse towards me at all? I wanted to ask him more, but he heartlessly hung up the phone. When I tried to call back, the number had become inactive. I sat numbly in the corner of my bed, countless emotions tangled together at this moment. In the end, they were distilled into hatred. I had to make him pay, no matter what I had to sacrifice. I was determined to achieve this! But I never imagined that my connection with the Thompson family would run so deep. The next morning, to my surprise, my internship application was accepted by Robert Thompson’s Huachen Technology. I was a junior this year and had been busy looking for internships. Originally, the school was supposed to arrange a job fair, but it happened to coincide with the pandemic. Large gatherings weren’t allowed, so they could only give us the contact information for companies and let us reach out ourselves. Sending out resumes to hundreds of companies wasn’t a small project. Watching my roommates one by one secure their positions, with only me still waiting for news, I was starting to get anxious. I remember when I was busy sending out resumes, Jack was by my side with his arm around my waist, saying nonchalantly: “As the girlfriend of yours truly, you don’t need to frantically job hunt like everyone else.” “I’ll take care of your job for you.” At the time, I thought he was just joking around, so I didn’t take him seriously. Looking back now, I was truly too naive. But what was strange was, given the current situation, why hadn’t Jack removed me from the hiring list? Was it because he didn’t consider me a threat at all? Did he think I couldn’t do anything to him? Or was it because he wanted to tell me that even if he revealed his whereabouts to me, I still couldn’t do anything about it? I didn’t know. But I did know that this might be the last chance I could grasp. He was the typical rich kid, while I was just an ordinary citizen. After leaving school, we wouldn’t even be in the same social circles. There would be no chance of meeting again. And I wasn’t willing to accept that. I wasn’t willing to accept that he could so easily ruin my life and then walk away without consequences. I was even less willing to accept that he could live a good life after hurting me. So, I turned down offers from other companies and chose to work at “Huachen Technology” under Robert Thompson. (3) The gap between ideals and reality isn’t easily bridged. Even though I went to Huachen, I never saw Robert Thompson, who was the chairman of the board. Time flew by, and several months passed in the blink of an eye. Because I had AIDS, I didn’t dare to form close relationships with my colleagues, fearing that I might accidentally infect them. I lost the social circle I should have had. This also made me increasingly obsessed. I started to seek out information about Jack. Thanks to his good looks and rich kid status, which had the young women in the company swooning, my inquiries didn’t seem too obvious. He didn’t particularly try to hide his whereabouts. With just a few questions, I found out that Robert Thompson had sent him to study abroad. Apparently, he went to America and wouldn’t be back for four years. Four years. I didn’t have that much time to wait for him! But going to America? Obviously unrealistic. I didn’t have the financial means to go so far away just to confront him. Just when I didn’t know what to do, my boss Chris suddenly gave me a task. It was just an ordinary Friday, close to the end of the workday, when he suddenly tapped on my desk: “Emily, come with me somewhere after work.” I was a bit surprised. What kind of work required going somewhere after hours? But he didn’t give me any time to react, just turned and left. My colleague Lily kindly warned me: “Be careful of Chris. He definitely doesn’t have good intentions.” “Asking you to go somewhere after work, it can only be for entertaining clients.” She shook her head disapprovingly as she spoke: “In our company, basically any girl with decent looks will be dragged out by him to entertain clients.” “Be careful, don’t get drunk. Otherwise, you might be taken advantage of.” Taken advantage of? I mulled over these words in my mind, then suddenly smiled. Was I still afraid of being taken advantage of? It should be others who are afraid, right? With the mindset of not wanting to cause trouble for others, I originally didn’t want to go. But Chris was always a decisive person. No matter what I said, after work he still took me to a high-end club. I knew this club. Jack had been here before when we were dating. I remembered that even just a sauna and massage here required a significant amount of money. Far beyond what someone of my social class could afford. But what I didn’t expect was that the person he brought me to meet was actually Robert Thompson. I looked at Robert Thompson in surprise as he slowly walked towards me. He looked younger than in photos, without a beer belly or balding head, quite different from the typical successful middle-aged businessman. He wore a well-tailored suit and an obviously expensive watch. As he spoke, two words came to mind – “elegant.” Unlike Jack’s youthful arrogance, and unlike other entrepreneurs’ sleaziness, he carried the composure and grace of a successful person, but without that air of money. It was pleasant to look at. I couldn’t help but wonder, how could such a person have produced a scumbag like Jack? But soon, reality once again gave me a harsh slap in the face. After a few rounds of drinks, Robert Thompson suddenly turned his gaze to me: “Miss Carter, where do you live?” I hadn’t even spoken when Chris, as if suddenly enlightened, fawningly said to Robert Thompson: “Mr. Thompson, she lives in the city center area, quite far away.” Robert Thompson nodded, not saying anything more, but his gaze towards me clearly became inappropriate. I could very clearly feel the flirtatious and teasing look in his eyes. Sitting across from him, I felt as uncomfortable as if I wasn’t wearing clothes. I instinctively avoided his gaze, but still couldn’t escape his stare. I had an ominous feeling, as if I had been targeted by a hunter. Midway through, Chris found an excuse to leave, leaving just Robert Thompson and me. This time, his gaze became even more unrestrained, blatantly looking down my collar. After a while, he finally asked: “How long have you been at Huachen, Miss Carter?” I lowered my head: “Three months.” “What’s your salary?” “After deductions, I take home about $3,000.” “$3,000.” When he heard this answer, he clearly smiled, then rested his chin on his hand and asked: “Would Miss Carter like to earn more?” I didn’t speak. I had already instinctively realized what he wanted to do. “If you’re willing to be with me, you’ll get much more than that.” Scumbag! I had been holding back all night, but finally couldn’t contain myself at this moment. I suddenly stood up from my seat, looking down at him: “Mr. Thompson, thank you for your favor, but I don’t think I’m worthy of your affection.” I apologized for the few minutes of good impression I had of him when we first met. He and Jack were truly father and son, both skilled at using the sweet trap technique – giving you a good impression, then slowly torturing you. How disgusting. When I said this, he didn’t even change his expression, a faint smile still hanging on the corner of his mouth. I really couldn’t take it anymore and turned to leave. But just as I moved, I heard him say: “Miss Carter, I’ve never failed to get what I want.” His tone carried a hint of composure and certainty. (4) At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by that sentence. But the next day, I understood. The life of an intern was already difficult enough, always on edge, treading carefully. But after I rejected Robert Thompson, this situation directly escalated several times over. I became the office’s free laborer, helping people buy coffee, taking out trash, printing documents…
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