"I won't do it, Papa! I won't go to that clinic!"
Nicole's voice echoed in her father's study. Her mother was weeping into a silk handkerchief, while her father stood by the window, his back rigid.
"You have disgraced this family, Nicole," he hissed. "Who is the boy? Tell me, and I will make sure his family pays for this."
"No!" Nicole stepped forward, her eyes wild. "If you touch him, or if you make me get rid of this baby, I'll jump. I'll go to the balcony right now. I mean it."
Her father turned, shocked by the venom in his daughter's voice. She was their only child, their "Baby Girl." He saw the resolve in her eyes and knew he had lost.
"What do you want?" he asked, his voice defeated.
"Taiwan," Nicole said, her voice trembling but certain. "You have the electronics branch in Taipei. Move the family there. Tell everyone you're migrating for business. No one can know why. Especially not... him."
A week later, Kenneth stood outside Nicole's gates, clutching a bouquet of supermarket flowers. He had finally built up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend officially.
But the gates were locked. A "For Sale" sign hung on the fence. The house was empty.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text: Nic? Where are you? I'm at your house. Please talk to me.
The message stayed on "Sent." It would never be "Read." Nicole was already at 30,000 feet, clutching her stomach and sobbing silently into a travel pillow as the lights of Malaysia faded into the clouds.