Whispers of Smoke: A Second Chance at Life

“Alania, I’m sterile! Just who is the father of your baby?!”

The sharp edge of the paper cut my cheek, and the pain brought my mind back to the present.

I instinctively touched my belly. It was soft, warm, and had a slight bump.

When I looked around, I found that my family and friends were all staring at me strangely.

“If I hadn’t gone to the hospital for a checkup because I was feeling unwell, you would have kept this from me!

“You cheated on me and want me to take care of the baby you had with your lover?! Alania, you’re such a conniving schemer!”

Jeremy Kingston, who was the one saying all these things, was flushed red as he yelled at me from a moral high ground.

I stared at Jeremy with a stony face and dug my nails into the flesh of my palms. Burning hatred swam through every part of my body. I wanted to skin all the people in the room alive and feast on their flesh.

I brought my hand up and wiped the cut on my cheek. The sweat that had pooled up on my skin from agitation slipped into the cut, and my slightly muddled mind became clearer.

Thankfully, I had returned to the point three hours before my death.

Earlier, I had announced to my family and friends that I was three months pregnant.

This was supposed to be another piece of good news on top of my birthday, but Jeremy did not react as I expected him to. He pulled a long face.

He brought out a medical checkup report from his bag and threw it at my face before saying that he was sterile.

Shock made my mind still. I could only stare at him in dumbfoundedness as my lips quivered.

When the people around us saw that the situation was not right, they wanted to mediate the situation, but Joy Murray, my best friend, suddenly stomped her feet. “I told you not to go to that man anymore, but you refused to listen,” she grumbled. “Look at what happened now! You’ve caused such a huge ruckus! What’re you going to do now?!”

Her simple words made me an unredeemable criminal, simply because Joy had been my best friend for seven years.

We were like twins attached to the hip and shared all our secrets with each other.

Hence, whatever she said had to be the truth.

In the last cycle, Joy and Jeremy’s accusations caught me off guard. Before I could regain composure and defend myself, they had already sent everyone off.

After that, me getting pregnant because of cheating became fact.

This time, I stared at Joy and the excitement and restlessness on her face before slamming my hands on the table and shooting to my feet. I looked as imposing as the tall and well built Jeremy.

“You’re sterile? Then, why didn’t you tell me when you got the checkup before our marriage? I’m going to sue you for marriage fraud!”

Joy and Jeremy had been smugly waiting for me to make a fool of myself, so they were stunned by what I did. They instinctively looked at each other.

I picked up the report from the floor and quickly stuffed it into my handbag while no one was looking.

This was proof handed to me for free. Why should I not take it?

When I tried to leave, they snapped out of their shock and tried to stop me, but I had already broken free of everyone’s grasp and arrived at the door.

“Alania, what’re you doing? This is just a misunderstanding between you and your husband. You can resolve it by talking. Besides, you’re pregnant. Sit down.”

Joy ran over to me and grabbed my arm to stop me. With a fake smile, she pushed me back down into my seat.