Chapter 10: you needed to have a brain

"Ma’am, are all these babies yours?" asked the taxi driver whom the hospital staff had called for Hana.

"Ehm," Hana replied confidently.

"You gave birth to all three of them at once?"

Hana nodded, trying to convince him again.

The driver stared at Hana for a moment before helping her load the food cart carrying all three babies into the taxi.

"Ma’am, you’ll have to carry the baby on top yourself. It’ll hit the roof of the car."

"Oh? All right. I’ll carry him," Hana said as she picked up her first baby.

After arranging the seats, the taxi carrying Hana slowly drove away from the hospital.

"Ma’am, are you really the one who gave birth to those babies?" the driver asked, still unable to believe that Hana’s petite body had given birth to three babies at once. "They’re not your younger siblings, are they?"

Hana frowned, especially when she noticed the taxi driver staring at her rather improperly.

"They really are my children. You can check the hospital records yourself. I really gave birth to them."

The taxi driver shook his head before turning his attention back to the road.

His eyes occasionally wandered toward Hana’s body through the mirror above the dashboard, making Hana hold her first baby even tighter.

"Will it take much longer?"

"We’ll be there soon," the taxi driver replied. "But, ma’am, by the way, where’s your husband? Didn’t he come to pick you and your babies up?"

Hana’s brows furrowed even deeper at the question.

"Ma’am?" he asked again when Hana did not answer.

"Your husband isn’t around?"

"He’s not around? Is he dead?" the taxi driver asked to confirm.

"What does that have to do with you?" Hana asked without answering his question.

"You’re young and beautiful. How old are you?"

"Does that have anything to do with you?"

"Ekhm..." The taxi driver cleared his throat softly. "Taking care of three babies isn’t easy. You need someone to help you."

"Ekhm..." He cleared his throat again. "You’re still young. Supporting three children by working hard will certainly be difficult for you. I know you’re poor. How about this..."

"How about what?" Hana asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Would you be willing to become my mistress? I’ll help support your three babies, as well as you. You won’t have to work. You can simply stay at home. With your circumstances, it’ll be very difficult for you to get married again. No one will want to marry you, especially after you’ve already given birth to three children. But I’m different. I really like children. I’ll provide for you, and help you raise all three of them. What do you think? Are you interested?" he asked.

Hana snorted softly.

Just as she had suspected.

She looked at the taxi driver’s appearance. He was fat, ugly, and bald. Even if the person making the offer were handsome and wealthy, she would never agree to become a mistress. Especially not to someone who looked like this.

"Ma’am, I’m serious. I can start supporting you from today, but on one condition. You can’t leave the house and must stay home to take care of your three children. I’ll come to your house four times a week, and you have to be willing to have children for me."

Bah! Bah! Bah!! What a pig. You damn dog. Bastard. Asshole.

All kinds of insults flooded Hana’s mind. Every crude word she could think of came pouring out inside her head.

Yet not a trace of it appeared on her face.

When dealing with someone like this, she couldn’t reject him outright. She had to use her brain.

Hana suddenly remembered something her mother had once told her.

A faint smile appeared on her beautiful face.

"Sir, are you really serious?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with hope, even as she tightened her hold on her first baby.

"You want to marry me? If you really mean it, I’d be very happy."

Seeing Hana’s expression, the taxi driver smiled in satisfaction. He immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"Miss, you really agree?" he replied with a hearty laugh.

He turned around, his eyes shamelessly roaming over Hana’s body.

Having never been treated like this before, Hana could only cry internally.

She had never experienced anything like this. In her previous world, whenever someone looked at her with bad intentions, Brandon would beat them up for her.

She swallowed hard.

"You really are a smart girl," he praised.

His hand moved toward Hana’s face, but she quickly backed away.

"B-but..." Hana hurriedly said. "My ex-husband... he has a debt of one hundred thousand dollars. Debt collectors have been chasing me. They even break into my house almost every day. I have to hide somewhere else whenever they come. So I can’t keep hiding inside the house the way you want me to."

"Besides, I’ve already tried escaping to another city, but somehow, they always manage to find me. Sir, if you become my husband, you’ll help me pay off that debt, right?" Hana asked hopefully.

"I’m tired of being chased by them. And on top of that, I have to take care of these three babies all by myself. If you’re willing to marry me, forget about one child. Even if you want me to give birth to ten children, I’ll do it," Hana said.

The taxi driver’s eyes immediately darkened. The lustful look in his eyes disappeared in an instant.

"You owe that much money and you expect me to pay it for you? Bah! Dream on."

The driver immediately turned around and started driving again.

"With that much money, I could buy plenty of different women every day to satisfy myself," he sneered. "Even though you’re somewhat pretty, I’d rather spend my money having fun."

Hana’s expression turned dejected.

No one knew that she was actually cheering inside her head.

Five minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of a ten-story apartment building.

"We’re here. Now pay the fare. Don’t tell me you can’t even afford the taxi fare?"

Hana looked through the side window at the apartment building where the original owner of this body lived.

"Could you help me get my babies down? I can’t do it myself. I’ll pay you once you’ve helped me get all three of my babies down."

The taxi driver grunted harshly before getting out and helping Hana unload the food cart carrying her babies.

"Thank you," Hana said.

She took out ten dollars to pay the fare.

The taxi driver accepted it and immediately drove away without giving Hana another glance.

Hana said nothing.

In this world, if you didn’t have money, then you needed to have a brain. Even if you only had a little of it, it was still far more useful than having none at all.

Hana pushed the food cart carrying her three babies toward her apartment on the seventh floor.

Ding!

The elevator doors behind her began to close.

When she finally reached the door to her apartment, Hana instinctively searched for the key inside the flowerpot beside the door.

It was a habit she had always had when she lived in a dormitory in her previous world.

But her fingers suddenly froze when they found something hidden between the soil and the stem of the plant.

The key was really there.

Not only was it inside the flowerpot, but it was placed in exactly the same spot as Hana had always kept her key in her previous life.

Hana slowly pulled out the key.

Her face turned pale.

How could a habit that she had only ever had in her previous life... also be something this body had done?