Chapter 2

Early the next morning, my phone vibrated with a message from Susan.

The voice note was only a few seconds long, but when I tapped it, all I heard was her holding back choked-up sobs.

"Hazel, my stomach hurts so badly. I think my acute appendicitis is flaring up again... Can you please come with me to the hospital? I'm all alone in my apartment, and I'm really scared something bad might happen..."

I squeezed my phone tightly until my knuckles turned white. In the end, I still typed back, [Okay.]

When we got to the hospital, the place was packed. The nurse at the triage desk took one quick look at Susan and frowned immediately.

"That pain doesn't look like appendicitis at all. Head up to Gynecology on the second floor first to get checked out. Just in case it's something else."

"Gynecology?" Susan’s body stiffened, a flicker of panic darting through her eyes.

Soon, the test results came back.

She was pregnant, six weeks along. Yet there was no panic on Susan’s face, unlike what I had imagined.

She turned her head to look at me, her eyes brutally innocent. "Hazel, you’ve been married for so many years. You must have been pregnant before, right? What does it feel like… to be a mom?"

A huge lump formed right in my throat.

In three years of marriage, I had suffered two miscarriages.

The first time happened right when we started our business. I worked myself into the ground until I passed out from sheer exhaustion, and the baby was gone.

Later on, to protect Jason from drinking at a business dinner since he was allergic to alcohol, I downed drink after drink until I was admitted to the hospital with stomach bleeding. That was when I found out I had lost another baby.

After my body took such a heavy toll, I went through countless round-the-clock hormone injections for IVF, but I never got pregnant again.

I stared at her somewhat provocative face, and just as I was about to say something, a figure suddenly rushed over from the end of the hallway.

Jason ran up completely out of breath, his tie lopsided, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Hazel! What on earth is going on? I saw your location showing you were at the hospital while I was in a meeting, and it scared the life out of me!"

Susan stood to the side, biting her lip, and called out shyly, "Mr. Gibson, it’s all my fault..."

Jason whipped his head around, his eyes instantly turning cold as ice. "Shut up. Don't think you can just harass my wife every time you get a minor illness."

Instead of being scared, Susan’s eyes glittered as she flirtatiously glanced at him. "Mr. Gibson, you’re totally right to scold me, but isn't it just because my body is too weak? You said last time that you were going to help me work out properly..."

The two exchanged a glance, and that subtle, taboo tension laced with pure desire instantly exploded in the air as Jason's gaze swept over the ultrasound report.

"Pregnant?"

Susan bit her lower lip, tears welling up and spilling over in an instant. "Mr. Gibson, Hazel... please don't yell at me. I... I’ll go get an abortion later."

She sniffled, dodging our gazes and refusing to lift her head no matter what. "As for the father, it was just me being careless. It has nothing to do with him."

Jason’s expression darkened, appearing extremely sensitive to the word "abortion".

"Hazel, just listen to the ridiculous nonsense coming out of her mouth. An abortion wrecks a woman's body. If things go wrong, it could end up taking two lives at once."

He turned to look at me and let out a sigh. "Hazel, you’ve been through this before. Even though we couldn't keep ours, you definitely have more experience taking care of a pregnant body than she does.

"Sign her up for a VIP inpatient room, find a top specialist for a check-up, and prescribe the absolute best medication to keep the baby safe. After all, a life is still a life."

Those words hit me hard.

Jason pulled his phone from his coat pocket and tapped frantically on the screen.

My phone vibrated, and a transfer alert flashed across my screen: One million dollars, more than double the three hundred thousand from yesterday morning.

Jason pulled me close and whispered, "She’s a student you’ve sponsored for so many years. Haven't you gotten close to her? She's all alone in the hospital right now. Who else can she rely on if not us?"

I stared at that glaring string of digits, and a laugh suddenly burst out of me. With that laugh, fat tears rolled down my cheeks uncontrollably.

Jason froze, instinctively reaching out to wipe my tears away. "Hazel..."

"Rely on us?" I raised my head, my eyes bloodshot. "Jason, stop the act. You know damn well whose baby that is."

My voice shook as I choked back a sob. Jason’s face turned pale in an instant, his hand freezing mid-air. "Hazel, what are you talking about..."

My eyes swept over Susan’s protective hands on her stomach, my heart aching as if cut by a knife. "Six weeks. Counting back the days, you two really were quite busy back then, weren't you?"

"Hazel! Do you even realize what you're saying?" Jason’s face turned completely livid, stepping forward to grab my hand.

I took a step back, my eyes filled with disgust. "Jason, let's get a divorce."

The air seemed to freeze at my words.

I shoved past his shoulder and took long, heavy strides right out of the hospital lobby. It wasn't until I stepped out into the biting cold wind that I realized I was trembling so hard I could barely stand.