Cheating Husband

“Ooohhh. That’s new. So you’ve given up on Camilla… your dear wife?” the woman asked softly.

There was a pause, just long enough to make Camilla’s chest ache.

How ironic. Just minutes ago, she had been smiling to herself in the hallway, still replaying the doctor’s words in her head. Her heart had been racing with excitement.

Now it was racing for a completely different reason.

“Yes,” he answered. “She can’t even give me a child. I stopped hoping a long time ago.”

Her fingers curled slowly at her side. The words felt like something heavy crashing down on her chest. 

She wants to tell herself that she had heard him wrong. Maybe it wasn’t his voice. Maybe it was someone else inside the room.

But she knew that voice too well.

“She still believes, though. You even went through in vitro fertilization,” the woman said.

“I didn’t want to crush her optimism. Letting her believe is easier than having the same argument over and over again,” Leandro replied flatly.

Camilla felt her knees weaken at his words. Her mind flashed back to the nights she spent crying quietly in the bathroom after another failed test. The times she forced herself to stay hopeful because he told her not to give up.

Leandro held her hands. He told her they would keep trying.

And all this time…. he already stopped believing?

“You don’t even imagine it anymore? A life with her and a child?” the woman asked.

“No,” he said immediately. “I can’t see it. Every failed attempt just made it clearer. It’s exhausting. Damn, I’m just pretending I still care.”

The woman hummed thoughtfully. “Then why stay married?”

Camilla wondered the same thing. She always believed they were still fighting for their marriage together. That the two of them were facing the problem side by side.

But apparently, she had been the only one fighting.

“Oh, one of these days I won’t be anymore. I’m just waiting for the perfect timing. For our perfect timing.”

Camilla swallowed hard as her throat burned in pain.

“Our timing?” the woman asked.

“Yeah. You’ll replace her. I’ll make sure you carry my child… because you can, right? Unlike her.” 

His voice softened, and that change hurt more than the words themselves. That softness. That warmth.

Camilla realized with a painful clarity that she haven’t heard him use that tone with her in months.

The woman laughed quietly. “You really want that.”

“I do,” he admitted. “If I’m going to have a child, I want it to be with you, darling.”

Camilla pressed a hand against her stomach with her mind screaming, ‘But I am already pregnant’.

“You’d choose me over her?” the woman asked teasingly.

“I already have,” Leandro said. “I’m just waiting for the right moment to stop pretending otherwise.”

Behind the door, Camilla’s heart shattered piece by piece.

“So while she waits for test results,” the woman said slowly, “you’re hoping I’ll give you what she couldn’t.”

“Yes, darling…” She heard him answer without hesitation. “I don’t expect anything from her anymore.”

“What if she suddenly got pregnant tomorrow?”

Leandro scoffed, “That’s impossible.”

“Eh? Impossible?”

“After years of trying?” he said. “Come on, let’s be realistic.”

Camilla closed her eyes.

“She can’t,” he continued casually. “I told you. I’ve already accepted that.”

The woman hummed.

“Well… if that’s the case…”

“What?”

“Why don’t we stop talking and start doing something more… something that would fulfill your desire of having a child?”

“Damn you, impatient woman….”

“I always am.”

“Bianca—”

“Fuck me, Leandro—Aaahhhh! Shit! Faster, faster!”

“B-Bianca, you woman. Yeah, ride me….”

Something inside Camilla broke. She had walked into the clinic that morning believing she was carrying hope, believing she was finally giving him what he wanted. 

All this time, he had already let her go. Already decided she was no longer enough.

Her hand trembled as she reached for the door handle, hoping that opening it would wake her from this nightmare. That everything she was hearing was wrong.

And so she pushed it open.

The room fell silent.

Leandro turned first, his face draining of color. The woman gasped, scrambling back, her eyes wide with shock. They were in a very intimate position.

“Camilla—” Leandro started, but she couldn’t hear him anymore.

She stood there, pale and shaking, her bag clutched tightly to her chest, the test results inside burning like a cruel joke.