1 - What are you waiting for? Throw her out!

CHAPTER I

“You are pregnant?!”

June was returning from a long day of work when she heard the voice of her mother-in-law from behind the front doors.

“That’s so amazing! Congratulations, my son! You have finally proven that you are a man, and the problem was that low-life scum you married!”

June walked into the house where she lived with her husband’s family, looking confused.

“Hello, Mother,” she greeted her mother-in-law first, and all the former traces of joy were wiped from the elderly woman’s face.

Olivia Lontoc, Ethan’s mother, answered with a grotesque look. “Don’t you dare call me mother! Don’t you know the woman that gave birth to you?!”

“Oh, Mother, please don’t be upset,” a small voice said from behind her, notifying June of the presence of her sister behind her.

Why was her sister in her home without prior notice?

June moved to inquire, but the sight of her sister’s hand intertwined with her husband’s took words out of her mouth.

“How can I not be upset when this barren woman has come to spoil the joy of the news you have just shared?” Olivia spoke with distress.

“Sister, please step out for a minute,” her sister, April Rivera, said in a polite tone. However, her eyes were mocking. “Mother has just had her blood pressure checked. The doctor says she does not need to be stressed.”

Seeing the distraught look on his mother’s face, Ethan stepped forward with his hands intertwined with her sister’s as he spoke.

“This marriage was never meant to be, June,” he said. The cake in her hands suddenly felt heavier.

It was their third marriage anniversary, and she had brought some cake on her way back home, hoping to celebrate and rekindle the passion in her marriage that seemed to be dwindling.

“What are you talking about, Ethan?” She blinked repeatedly. “Today is our marriage anniversary. I brought us cake so we could have a—”

He waved her off. “I have tried to love you since we got married, but it is clear I can never be with you. Maybe the heavens punished me for choosing the wrong sister by making this marriage unfruitful.”

June dropped the cake on the floor when she noticed what was about to happen. She knew her marriage had been going through a rough patch, but she believed it was normal in every marriage. She had hoped to fix things tonight, to rekindle the passion, and perhaps try for a child.

“Please, Ethan, is this about my inability to conceive? I just got on some new supplements my parents suggested. They said it will work wonders, and I just have to—”

“I don’t love you! Don’t you get it? Darn it!” Ethan roared in frustration. “I can’t continue this marriage. Not when I have a woman who I love and who is already pregnant for me. I need to take responsibility for the woman I love. You are standing in the way.”

With every word, June felt her world collapse. Bit by bit. There was no way she was hearing things correctly. There was no way her marriage to Ethan was coming to an end.

She looked between her little sister and her husband, and suddenly, everything became clear. She shook her head in disbelief. Not again. This was not happening again.

“P-pregnant?” she stuttered, and her lips trembled as she turned to her sister, pain clear in her eyes.

Just then, her mother-in-law, who couldn’t contain herself, spoke in an angered tone. “Ethan! Why are you wasting time? Give her the divorce papers! I don’t want her in this house any longer!”

April wore a triumphant look when she noticed her sister’s eyes on her. With a coy smile, she cupped her stomach, giving her a dirty look as she placed a possessive arm on Ethan.

June’s anger grew as she recounted her cruel life experiences—how she had been lost as a young child for four years and managed to return to her family after much hardship, only to find she had been replaced.

April had been adopted as a young child when she was lost, right after her father died from a heart attack and her mother remarried. She also had the favor of her mother, who hated her for getting lost as a child and distressing the family.

Ever since then, she had lived in the shadow of her sister, who manipulated her family and wielded them as a weapon against her—until she met Ethan.

When she got married into the Lontoc family, June believed that everything was finally looking up for her and gave her all in working for her husband’s family construction company. She spent her days dedicated to making sure she was accepted.

Until one year passed and she was unable to give birth. Her mother-in-law suddenly turned against her, and everything went downhill until the present moment, when her sister was pregnant with her husband’s child.

Ethan reacted to his mother’s distress. With a wave of his hand, one of the servants of the Lontoc household came forward with an envelope in her hand.

He received it and flung it in her direction with a cold look on his face. “Sign the papers and get out of here.”

“Ethan…” she sobbed, but it only made him angrier.

“Don’t make things harder than they need to be!” he roared. “I am a busy man, and my new wife and unborn child need to be comfortable in my home. If you claim to love me, then you will sign the papers without a fight.”

Although Ethan put up a cold front, he was scared inside. He knew the divorce could easily become a problem if June refused to sign it or chose to drag him to court. The last thing he needed was for his company to face any hardship due to his discrepancies.

“Sign the papers, June,” he instigated, while the house watched her with expectation and dirty looks.

Stuck at a crossroads, June remained rooted to her spot, wondering where things had gone wrong and how her life had suddenly collapsed. However, her hesitance was taken to mean rebelliousness.

“Since you have refused to do this the easy way, I will get you to sign these papers the hard way,” Ethan said with a formidable look on his face.

Immediately, the security details stationed at the house were summoned.

“Make sure she stamps that paper with her fingerprint and throw her out of this house!” Ethan fired his orders.

The effects were instant. Before June could protest, she was caught by two men who used to escort her out of the house, and an ink pad was brought.

Forcibly, her thumb was placed on the pad, and the papers were marked with her print. Ethan smiled when he received the documents.

“What are you waiting for? Throw her out!”

His mother screeched, and just like that, June was bundled out of her matrimonial home and thrown into the streets with a warning never to return to the Lontoc family house ever again.