Take My Breath Away

What happened on July 7th was beyond belief. Every copy of Debbie's albums, a million all told, was sold out on the day of release. An aggressive promotional cycle including hourly Twitter and Instagram updates fueled a number of pre-orders. Most of the physical products, which contained limited edition posters, signed photos, and a DVD of the music video never made it to the shelves.

When Ruby told Debbie the news, she thought she was lying to make her feel better. "Come on! If all of my albums were really sold out in one go, I'll hold twenty concerts in a row to thank my fans," said Debbie.

Ruby handed her iPad over to Debbie. She could clearly see the sales figures on the AMOLED screen. Debbie's heart skipped a beat when she saw Ruby's serious expression. 'So she's telling the truth?' she wondered.

Debbie took the iPad from Ruby, and the screen was filled with small, closely-written figures. She scrolled the screen all the way to the end. It showed that a million albums had been sold out in a single day and the sales had reached $17 million.

"Know what, Deb? You're the most popular singer now!" Ruby was practically in tears; she was so excited. Debbie was number one among all the singers with the best album sales.

Debbie clenched her fists without uttering a single word. Her head was spinning because of the figures on the iPad. She had only one thought, 'That's a lot of money!' Of course it wasn't all going to her, because the company needed to be reimbursed for its efforts. The promotional cycle came to $500, 000 easily, and that wasn't chump change. But neither was how much Debbie would be getting.

Of course, when Debbie held a concert here before, she was already a popular recording artist.

Maybe she was both excited and exhausted. She slept for 32 hours straight, alone in her apartment, after being notified of the album sales. After that much sleep, she felt better. She hopped in the shower and went through her morning routine before heading to Curtis' house to take Piggy back to her own apartment, planning to spend the rest of the time with her.

At dusk, Debbie went downstairs, holding Piggy in one hand and Harley's leash in the other. She decided to go the garden of the apartments, and that was where she ran into Carlos.

Last time she saw him at the hospital, she had decided to change her methods. So she walked right past him, pretending not to see him.

However, to her surprise, Piggy shook off her hand and rushed headlong towards Carlos. She held onto his leg, looked up at him and called out, "Uncle Carlos!"

Harley saw Carlos as well and barked excitedly. And loud. If it weren't for the leash in Debbie's hand, Harley would have already pounced on him too.

Carlos couldn't help but curl his lips when he saw Piggy. "Evelyn," he said, greeting her softly.

"Uncle Carlos, I'm so happy to see you," Piggy said cheerfully.

Carlos looked past Piggy, and then saw Debbie with her dog. He squatted down on the ground and scooped her up in his arms. "Did you have supper, Evelyn?"

"Yeah! Mom cooked. Yummy! Uncle Carlos, you want to eat?"

Upon hearing that, both the adults were at a loss for words.

In order to save Carlos from embarrassment, Debbie chipped in, "Uncle Carlos already ate. Piggy, we should go."

"Mom, I want to play with Uncle Carlos," Piggy said with a hopeful expression.

"You can't!" Debbie turned her down without hesitation. It was harsher than she intended, but she was getting more uncomfortable by the moment.

Piggy pouted her lips and didn't want to give up yet. And she was too smart for her own good. "Uncle Carlos lives here too."

"Sorry, darling. Uncle Carlos still has work to finish. We can't take up his time. Piggy, be a good girl, okay? Let's go back home." Debbie gestured for Piggy to get down.

She was not sure whether Carlos would even get back together with her, so she didn't want Piggy to get close to him. What if he found out Piggy was his daughter? What if he wanted to take Piggy away from her? She didn't want to take any chances.

Piggy felt sad, but she had to listen to her mom. So she said to Carlos, "Uncle Carlos, we play later, okay?"

Carlos' heart somehow softened when he saw Piggy's dejected look. Turning down this little girl would be a dick move. He turned to Debbie and said, "I haven't eaten yet. Go home and cook."

Debbie rolled her eyes and snapped, "Okay, and...?"

Carlos' face darkened. He even felt a little wronged. 'What's wrong with her? She gave up easy. Is that it, then?'

Kicking those thoughts around his skull, Carlos decided to act. In a feigned sad voice, he told Piggy, "Evelyn, I'm starving. I need to go home and have supper."

Piggy was cleverer than children her age, and she realized that her mom wasn't willing to cook for Carlos. She blinked her innocent eyes and pleaded, "Mom, please cook spaghetti for me. I want to eat it."

Debbie was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. Her daughter was so sneaky.

Finally, she gave in. She walked towards the building where they lived, saying, "I'm going home to cook."

Piggy cradled Carlos' neck and said cheerfully, "Uncle Carlos, Mommy agrees."

Carlos gave her a broad smile. "Nice job!"

Debbie couldn't help but curse inwardly, 'Carlos Huo, you said you wanted a son. But now you like Piggy!'

Ding! The elevator came to a halt on the seventh floor. A family of three and a dog walked out. When they entered the apartment, Debbie walked into the kitchen.

'We just had supper. Piggy is actually stuffed.

As for Carlos, I don't think spaghetti is enough for him, ' she thought.

Debbie planned to make beef and noodles for him. She opened the fridge and then saw the frozen wontons she made for Piggy this morning. 'Well, I'd better cook some of these as well.'

Piggy was so excited that she took out all of her toys to show them to Carlos and kept chatting with him.

While waiting for the water to boil, Debbie stared at father and daughter through the glass door, her eyes red.

She had never seen Piggy this happy before. Piggy was laughing the whole time, and shared her favorite toys with Carlos.

Carlos, somehow, could sense Debbie's tense gaze even with his head lowered. He raised his head and his eyes met hers.

He frowned at her red eyes. 'Why is she crying?'

Debbie immediately looked away when their eyes met. She wasn't ready for that yet. She opened the lid and put the noodles in the boiling water.

Twenty minutes later, she came out with a bowl of beef and noodles. She placed it on the dinner table and went back to the kitchen to fetch the wontons. "Time to eat, old man!"

Then she came to the kitchen to wash some fruits. Piggy looked at Carlos quizzically. "Why does Mom call you 'old man?'"

Carlos stroked her hair and answered, "Because I'm older than your mom."

'That is a good question. I'm not that much older than her, ' he thought, confused.

Shaking his thoughts away, he went to the bathroom to wash up. Then he held Piggy's hand and led her to the dining room. "Evelyn, don't you want any?"

Piggy shook her head. "Uncle Carlos, I'm full. Just eat! The wontons are yummy!"

There were two bowls on the table, one for beef and noodles and the other for wontons. Carlos found the layout rather strange. 'No veggies?'

Nevertheless, he picked up the chopsticks and began to eat the wontons.

The wontons were small dumplings, with a shell of thin dough, and minced fish inside. Piggy hated meat, but she would sometimes eat fish if Debbie insisted. The wontons were mainly for Piggy, so the girl at least got some kind of meat in her.

'I love this!' Carlos praised in his mind.

He polished off the wontons in just a few minutes and even slurped up all the soup. He wasn't full, though.