Chapter 4

With that, Nolan murmured to me, "I'll take you home."

He completely ignored Celia, who'd frozen in place.

We sat in silence in the back of a cab. I glanced at the band-aids on his hands and suddenly said, "Your wounds have dust in them. They're going to get infected."

He pulled them back a little. "I'm fine."

Slowly, I said, "Celia said you two are moving in together."

Nolan snapped his head toward me. "She's talking nonsense!"

His voice was sharp and edged with a rare anger. Then, he realized he'd lost his cool and softened his tone, explaining, "There's nothing between her and me. I'm living in the dorms at the construction site."

I let out a hum and didn't say anything else.

Comments floated out in front of me.

[Wait, are we ever going to find out why Nolan gets so rich later?]

[Does any other male lead have it as rough as he does? I'm speechless!]

The cab pulled up to the villa. Before I got out, Nolan suddenly said, "Don't worry about the money. Just use it, and tell me if it's not enough."

His eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was steady.

I nodded, remembering I had a prenatal checkup tomorrow. After taking a couple of steps, I turned back. "Will you be working tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay. You can get back to your stuff now."

With that, I headed straight into the villa.

Before bed that night, I got a text from an unknown number. "Leave Nolan. You're not good enough for him."

I stared at it for a moment, then lazily typed back, "Are you Celia? You sent the message to the wrong person. I'm his ex-wife."

Then, I blocked the number, turned off my phone, and went to sleep.

…

Early the next morning, I went to the hospital by myself. I registered, waited in line, and waited to be called.

The morning sickness was worse that day. By the time they drew my blood, my face had gone white. After the ultrasound, the doctor said I was slightly anemic and prescribed iron supplements.

I left the exam room, holding the folder with my results and feeling dizzy. I just wanted to find somewhere to sit down, but when I looked up, I saw a crowd gathered near the emergency room.

I spotted Nolan in the middle of that crowd. He was sitting in a chair in the ER, his left hand wrapped in gauze. Celia stood next to him, bending over as she talked to him.

She was holding a cotton swab, trying to dab at the scrapes on his face, but he turned his head away to avoid her. She wouldn't give up and reached out to grab his shoulder. They were intimate enough that they caught the onlookers' attention.

I stood where I was and watched them.

The comments exploded.

[Holy crap! Drama alert!]

[Nolan got hurt saving a coworker at the construction site!]

[Celia heard about it real quick. See how soon she showed up!]

[Wait, I got it! I know why Nolan ends up rich later!]

I was just about to see what the rest of the comments said when I heard Nolan's voice ring out from in front of me.

"Lyra!"

I looked up and saw him shaking Celia off before striding toward me. She tried to grab him again, but he flung her off. He walked fast, taking only a few strides to get to me.

He lowered his gaze and caught sight of the folder in my hands. Printed on the front in big, clear letters were the words "Obstetrics & Gynecology".

Then, he looked up at me, taking in how pale and weak I looked. His whole body went rigid. As his gaze traveled between the folder and my face, his eyes slowly turned bloodshot.

His Adam's apple bobbed hard. When he finally spoke, his voice was so hoarse it almost wouldn't come out. "Are you… pregnant?"

I blinked, trying to remember if I'd forgotten to tell him. I'd meant to ask him to come with me to that day's prenatal checkup, but he had to go to work.

At my silence, Nolan's lips began to quiver. He lifted his left hand, his fingers shaking badly. He didn't dare touch me, though. His voice was broken and raw with despair as he asked, "…Did you get rid of our baby?"