My Youth Began With Him

“Yes, if you don’t believe me, give me a pregnancy test. I can prove it to you,” Huo Mian explained.

“No, Honey, that’s not what I mean. What I wanted to say was…if you’re really pregnant and your boyfriend’s still hitting you… he must really be a bastard.”

“Yes, I think so too.” Huo Mian nodded.

“Come, sit here, don’t stress yourself out…”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

“You don’t need to thank me. We’re all from the same country, I’ll definitely help you. How far along are you?”

“Almost three months.”

“Wow, I can’t even tell. You’re very ski…”

“A lot of things happened recently. I’m not feeling so well,” Huo Mian said slowly.

“Pregnant women cannot survive off of instant noodles. It’s garbage food. No nutrients. Wait, I’ll make you something.”

“Don’t, Auntie, I already can’t thank you enough for your generosity. I really don’t want to bother you further. Noodles are fine for me.”

Huo Mian really didn’t want to keep bothering the Auntie. The latter looked so kind, she also didn’t want to drag her into all of this mess.

So, she didn’t tell the auntie the truth for two reasons. One, she was worried that the Auntie would sell her out, and two, the less the Auntie knew, the less trouble she would be in.

As a way out, Huo Mian made up the story of domestic abuse… just to hide the truth…

“No trouble. Don’t worry about it. I’m a pretty good cook! A bowl of lettuce soup noodle is a piece of cake for me. Wait a minute.”

The Auntie was a good host and no matter how hard Huo Mian tried to stop her, she still entered the kitchen.

Huo Mian sat inside the small room, looking around the grocery store.

It wasn’t big but it was well-stocked, filled with all things Asians like to eat.

There were even packaged pickled veggies, fermented tofu, Lao Gan Ma spicy sauce, and other specialties.

Seeing such familiar foods in a foreign land, Huo Mian felt her heart fill up.

Soon after, the Auntie brought out a bowl of hot noodle soup… placing it on the small table beside Huo Mian.

“Honey, eat it while it’s hot. Don’t let your baby get hungry.”

“Really, Auntie, I don’t even know how to thank you.”

“Don’t be so polite. Here, eat as much as you can. I’ll bring over the pickled veggies.”

The auntie got up and searched the grocery store shelves for a bag of pickled veggies.

In a dark night like this, Huo Mian was more than satisfied eating the hot bowl of noodles.

“Honey, I don’t mean to pry… there’s a bad social phenomenon happening in our country right now. Many girls… idolize foreign cultures… They think that foreigners are rich… and as if marrying a foreigner would bring them status and prosperity. But the truth isn’t so simple. Many girls marry foreigners in the heat of the moment. They can’t communicate with each other and they experience culture shock. Those relationships are doomed to fail. In the end, it’s almost never a good ending. I’ve been in Australia for quite some years now and I’ve seen countless stories. I really don’t recommend the trend of marrying foreigners. Foreign countries are not as great as they think… and these countries are not necessarily paradise.”

“Auntie, I know what you mean.” Huo Mian nodded, feeling guilty.

“It pains me to see you like this. Actually… there was a girl who came from China that helped out in the store a while back. She was here to make some money… I mean, why not go home and get married once you save up enough, right? No, she chose something else. She found some guy, thinking that he was rich… They were eventually detained at the airport when traveling, and the police found a ton of heroin from their bags. What could she do? She was completely played for a fool. Isn’t that tragic? You young girls… I don’t even know what to say… Honey, you look pretty young… what do you do?” the auntie chatted.

“I…” Huo Mian hesitated.