Semua Bab I Got Pregnant For The Wrong Twin: Bab 131 - Bab 140

SERENAThe days after everything changed felt like walking through a dream.Aiden and I spent hours talking. Real talking, not the surface level stuff we'd done before. He told me about growing up in the shadow of his family's name, about the pressure to be perfect, about the way his mother's expectations had shaped every decision he'd ever made. I told him about my mother, about the trailer park, about clawing my way out of a life that wanted to swallow me whole.We talked about the baby too. About names and nursery colors and whether we wanted to find out the gender. Aiden said he didn't care either way, he just wanted the baby to be healthy. I said the same, though secretly I hoped for a girl. Someone small and fierce who would never have to fight as hard as I did.He came with me to my next doctor's appointment. Sat in the waiting room with his knee bouncing and his hands clasped together so tight his knuckles were white. When the nurse called my name, he stood up so fast he nearl

SERENAThe baby shower was Lily's idea.She'd been dropping hints for weeks, subtle at first and then increasingly less subtle, until finally she just announced that it was happening whether I liked it or not. Arya was released from the hospital two days before and immediately thrown into planning mode, which seemed to be exactly what she needed after being cooped up for so long."You need this," Lily said firmly when I tried to protest. "You've spent months being scared and stressed and running from things. It's time to celebrate."I couldn't argue with that.So on a Saturday afternoon in early March, I found myself in a rented community room not far from our apartment, surrounded by pastel decorations and too many people who claimed they wanted to celebrate me. Most of them were Lily and Arya's friends, people I knew casually from the bakery or the neighborhood. But there were a few faces that surprised me.Ms. Stanton flew down from New York. I almost cried when I saw her walk thro

SERENAThe first few weeks with Hope were a blur of sleepless nights and endless feedings and moments of such intense love that I thought my heart might actually burst.She was perfect. Tiny and wrinkled and demanding, with her father's dark eyes and a surprisingly strong set of lungs that she deployed whenever she wanted attention, which was often. Aiden was obsessed with her in a way that made me fall in love with him all over again. He changed diapers without being asked, walked her around the house at 3am when she wouldn't stop crying, sang her ridiculous songs he made up on the spot. I'd wake up sometimes to find him standing over her bassinet, just watching her breathe, a look of wonder on his face that I'd never seen before."She's so small," he said one night, somewhere around week two. "How can something so small be so loud?"I laughed from the bed, too tired to move. "She gets that from you.""From me? I am the picture of quiet restraint.""You are the picture of something,

SERENAThree weeks into the job at Nova Innovations and I was starting to understand why people said be careful what you wish for.The work itself was good. Better than good, actually. I was using parts of my brain that had gone dormant during maternity leave, solving problems that actually mattered, feeling like a professional again instead of just someone's mom. Chen had been true to her word and given me real responsibility, real projects, real chances to prove myself.But the workplace dynamics were something else entirely.It started small. Comments in meetings about how I must be used to nicer offices, coming from Knight Enterprises. Questions about whether Aiden and I were really engaged or if it was just for show. Jokes about how I probably didn't need this salary anyway, not with a billionaire fiancé.I laughed them off at first. Told myself people were just curious, just adjusting, just being human. But the comments didn't stop. They escalated.Danielle, the woman from my fi

SERENAThe HR investigation lasted three weeks.Three weeks of interviews and questions and walking on eggshells. Three weeks of watching Danielle spread her poison through the office, subtle enough to deny, persistent enough to feel. Three weeks of coming home exhausted and hollow, falling into Aiden's arms, letting him hold me together when I felt like I was falling apart.The worst part was the not knowing. The way people looked at me now, like I was something fragile or something dangerous, they hadn't decided which. The way conversations stopped when I walked by. The way my team, my own team, seemed to be pulling back, unsure whose side to take.Priya was the only one who stayed steady. She brought me coffee in the mornings, sat with me at lunch when no one else would, made quiet comments about how this would pass, how I just had to hold on. I don't know what I would have done without her.Chen was fighting for me behind the scenes. I could tell by the way she looked at me in mee