All Chapters of His Regret Came Too Late, I Don't Want It Anymore: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

第一章

"Blood pressure 196 over 128! Patient's vision is blurring, start the magnesium sulfate drip! Ms. Mitchell, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand!"The ambulance siren screamed, the overhead lights flashing on and off, the heart monitor beeping without pause.I lay curled on the freezing stretcher, drenched in cold sweat, teeth chattering, my lower abdomen bearing down with contractions that sent tearing pain crawling up my spine."I... can hear you."It took everything I had to force out those few words."Severe preeclampsia with signs of placental abruption. She could seize or hemorrhage at any moment!"The doctor pushed the blood pressure medication, his voice tight with urgency. "The babies are only twenty-eight weeks and four days. Severe fetal distress. We need an emergency C-section right now. The babies will go straight to the NICU afterward. Where is her family? Who's going to sign the consent forms?""There's no family."The doctor's eyes went red. "Her husband? There are three li

第2章

When I came to, the sharp smell of concentrated medical alcohol and iodine was all I could breathe.The only sounds were the bubbling of the oxygen humidifier and the cold, metronomic beeping of the heart monitor."Rena, don't move, you still have a drainage tube under the incision!"A trembling hand covered mine.My vision slowly focused on Nina sitting at my bedside, her eyes swollen red, tear tracks streaking her face."The babies... where are they?""They made it, both of them made it, a boy and a girl!"Nina dabbed my cracked lips with a damp cloth, but her voice shook. "The boy is two pounds seven ounces, the girl two pounds one ounce. They both had severe respiratory distress at birth and were intubated and rushed to the NICU. Whether they can make it through the next seventy-two hours, that's up to them."I stared at the ceiling. I didn't cry.The anesthesia had worn off, and the incision in my lower abdomen felt like a dull blade sawing back and forth, but everything inside me

第3章

At three in the afternoon, the medication meant to make my uterus contract had my whole body spasming with pain. With an aide supporting me, I shuffled to the NICU viewing window.Through the sterile glass, I finally saw my babies.So tiny.Their skin was mottled red, their impossibly thin arms threaded with IV lines, breathing tubes taped into their mouths, their little chests heaving with each rapid, terrifying breath.A nurse spoke softly, "Both babies are fighters. Their oxygen levels have stabilized a little today."I pressed my trembling hand flat against the glass.The phone at the nurses' station rang. After a brief exchange, the nurse held it out to me. "Ms. Mitchell, it's your brother."Derek's voice exploded through the receiver. "Serena! Why the hell did you freeze my card? I'm supposed to pay my study abroad deposit and agency fee today, a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and the card is showing frozen. Unfreeze it right now!"Behind the glass, a nurse was inserting a

第4章

Crown Plaza Hotel, third-floor ballroom.Nearly every rising star in the city's medical and academic circles had turned out, along with most of Adrian's social circle.A three-tiered cake sat at the center of the main table, with gold-foil lettering that read: "Welcome Home, Dr. Marsh"Adrian wore a tailored designer suit and held a glass of champagne. Vivian, in a white floor-length gown, was practically nestled in his arms.The crowd around them laughed and egged them on."Adrian, I heard your wife threw a fit last night. Think she'll actually show up tonight?""A little country housewife who can't even file her own insurance without you. What's she going to do?""Pregnant women throw tantrums. Ignore her for a couple of days, buy her a handbag, and she'll come running back."Adrian swirled his glass, looking pleased with himself. "Serena doesn't know much about the world, but she does as she's told. Once the babies are born, she'll realize who keeps the roof over her head. She'll be

第5章

By the time Adrian reached the hospital ward, it was pouring outside.His suit was caked with mud and frosting, but in his hand he clutched a chipped old thermos.Eight years ago, we had lived in a cramped basement apartment. To save money, I ate only one meal a day and ended up with stomach ulcers. After his night shifts, Adrian would run three blocks to buy me hot milk and carry it back in that thermos.The sticky note on it used to read: "Serena, learn to take care of yourself first, and then take care of me."The thermos had sat in a storage closet for five years. Now he was pressing it to his chest again.The door to my room opened.I was propped up against the headboard, gazing calmly out the window.Adrian saw my deflated belly, the IV needle in my arm, and the bag of dark red drainage fluid beneath the bed. He dropped to his knees at the foot of my bed."Rena..."He reached for me. I pulled away."I'm sorry. I didn't know it was this serious. I thought you were just jealous, tr

第6章

Adrian camped outside the NICU for three days and three nights without food or water.Every time the door opened, he lunged toward the doctor and begged, "Use the best medication you have. Put everything on my account. Please, save my children!"The looks the doctors and nurses gave him went from cold to contemptuous.On the third afternoon, shouting erupted down the hallway.Derek and my mother had tracked him down.They weren't there out of concern for me or the babies. Derek couldn't pay his study abroad agency fee, his luxury apartment had been reclaimed by the landlord, and every supplementary credit card my mother held was frozen."Adrian, you pathetic loser!"Derek grabbed him by the collar. "You said you could handle my sister? She froze my card, she's taking back my mother's house, and you're coughing up the hundred and thirty grand for my agency fee today!"My mother sat down on the floor and wailed, "My own son-in-law, leaving his mother-in-law to die! My daughter just had y

第7章

On the fifth day after surgery, the NICU director stepped out of the unit, pulled down his mask, and smiled. "Both babies pulled through! The boy's brain bleed is resolving well, and the girl is off the ventilator. Two more weeks of observation, and they can leave the NICU."Sitting in my wheelchair, I gripped the armrests. Tears spilled down my face.These were the tears of someone who had survived.On the way back to my room, I spotted Adrian curled up behind the fire exit door.He wore a wrinkled jacket, so gaunt he was barely recognizable. He held a paper bag that he didn't dare bring any closer, handing it to a nurse from a few yards away."These are pure cotton preemie onesies, no optical brighteners, already sterilized. One in light blue, one in cream. Could you give them to her..."The nurse looked at me uncertainly.I remembered how at twenty weeks, I had dragged Adrian to a baby store to look at newborn onesies.He had said to buy both the light blue and the cream. Twins shou

第8章

The afternoon before my discharge, three soft knocks sounded on the door.Adrian stood outside, not crossing the threshold.He wore a sweatshirt washed so many times it had gone pale. His frame had wasted down to nothing. He bent, set a manila envelope on the floor just outside the door, and stepped back three paces."These are photos of the nursery now."He said quietly, "I rebuilt the walls myself and put on four coats of light blue paint. I traced the clouds and rainbows from your original design and painted them back."He paused. "That little yellow star by the headboard had a crease at the edge. I smoothed it out with tape."Nina brought the envelope to me.In the photos, the room had been restored to how it once looked, with the clouds and rainbows carefully repainted. Inside the envelope was the design sketch, painstakingly pieced back together.Below the sketch, he had written: "I painted every wall and tightened every screw myself, and only then did I understand how much pain

第9章

The day I was discharged, the sun was bright.Nina drove us home. Both babies had hit their benchmarks.All of Adrian's belongings were gone. His suits, his medical textbooks, and the dress shoes from the entryway had been shipped to the studio apartment he was renting on the outskirts of the city.I placed the babies in the twin crib in the nursery.The two little ones lay with their eyes closed, their lips making soft smacking sounds. Sunlight fell across the clouds and rainbows on the wall. The room was quiet and warm.The first night, the real test came.At two in the morning, my daughter started screaming with colic. The noise woke my son, and he started crying too.My body was still weak, the incision pulling painfully with every move. I held my daughter in one arm and reached for the formula mixer with the other. Warm water spilled across the floor and the formula canister tipped over.Both babies were screaming, their faces flushed red.Exhaustion crashed over me, and I called

第10章

One year later, on an early spring afternoon, the cherry blossoms along the neighborhood boulevard were in full bloom."Mama, up!"My fourteen-month-old daughter, her hair in two tiny pigtails, toddled over on chubby little legs and threw herself into my arms.On the edge of the lawn, my son steadied himself against the stroller, reaching for falling petals.After a year of care and therapy, both preemies had caught up developmentally with children their age."Ms. Mitchell, here's the schedule for next week's spring brand launch."My assistant handed me the tablet.Over the past year, I had used the capital recovered from the marital asset settlement to launch a mother-and-baby wellness brand. I now had my own office building and a team of several hundred.I circled a few items. "Soften the opening lights. Mothers bringing their babies won't want harsh glare.""Of course, Ms. Mitchell."I took my daughter's hand, pushed my son's stroller, and headed home.As we passed the large camphor

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