All Chapters of My Best Friend Helped With My Wife’s IVF: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The next morning, Willow started arguing with Luke on the phone, as usual. “Are you crazy? Why are you calling at 7:30 a.m.?”Luke chuckled lazily on the other end. “I’m just worried about you driving Samuel to his death. The hospital starts seeing patients at 8 a.m., but you’d still be picking the color of your lipstick at 9 a.m. Your baby is more punctual than you are.”Willow slammed her eyebrow pencil on the basin. “Seeing how rude you are, your tongue will rot sooner than later.”I stood at the door of the bedroom and watched as her cheeks turned red from all the yelling. In the past, I would play the peacemaker at this point. “That’s enough. He just likes running his mouth. Don’t pay him any mind.”Willow would then complain at that point. “Look at your childhood buddy. Even dogs hate him.”I believed that they hated each other for years.When we reached the hospital entrance, Luke was already waiting for us. He wore a black windbreaker and held two cups of milk as we

Willow started bleeding at midnight. When I rushed home, she was sitting on the sofa with a pale face. She was clutching the hem of her sleeping gown tightly. Luke stood beside the tea table with a tight grip around the car keys. His expression was dark, and he was not as quick to make cutting remarks this time. When he saw me enter the house, the first thing he did was snap at me. “Why are you back so late, Samuel?!”I froze. Willow was in so much pain that her forehead was covered in cold sweat. Even so, she snapped at him. “Why are you yelling at him? I didn’t tell him.”Luke whipped his head at her, and I could hear rage simmering in his voice. “You’re bleeding, and you still want to defend him?”Willow bit her lip. “Stop sticking your nose into my business, Luke.”“Am I supposed to watch you just tough it out?”After that, he seemed to have realized that his tone was too sharp, and he immediately turned his face away. It was quiet in the living room for two second

Willow miscarried. When I received the news, I was on my way to the airport. The nurse said that she was already showing signs of miscarriage, and the emotional turmoil from last night was the last straw for her. She could not keep the baby, and no one could have saved it. “Mr. Stane, Mrs. Stane kept calling out to you, and she was really emotionally unstable.”I stared at the retreating flyover outside the window. “Luke’s there in the hospital.”The nurse was silent for a few seconds. “Mr. Xavier is in the corridor… but he says that he isn’t family.”Suddenly, I laughed. Yesterday, he had ardently signed the form.This time, since the baby was gone, he was no longer family.“Please contact her parents,” I said. “Aren’t you coming here?” the nurse asked softly. “No.”I hung up. Willow sent me a voice message. Her voice was so hoarse that I could barely make out the words. “Samuel, the baby’s gone.”I did not listen to it again. Half an hour later, Luke called.

Willow stayed at the hotel across from my photography studio for three days. Not once did I accept the ginger tea and hot compresses she brought me. When I opened the door, I saw her standing at the roadside with a reservation form. The Mother and Child Center in town was working with me for a charity photoshoot for new parents. She must have seen the poster at the entrance. [Reserve your first family photo for your future baby.]Willow stared at the words on the poster and teared up. I stepped past her to open the door. “Samuel, can I help with something?” she whispered. “You don’t have to.”“I used to set up the lights and hand you the lenses.”I stared at her. “That was in the past.”Her hands trembled, and she stopped talking. The first pair of customers I had in the morning were a young couple. The wife was seven months pregnant and struggled to walk. The husband was flustered, unsure whether to support his wife. A thin sheen of sweat had broken out across

Two years later, I moved my photography studio to the entrance of an old street. An apricot tree stood right outside my door.Every spring, its branches burst into bloom.One day, I took a family photo for a young couple who were celebrating the birth of their one-month-old baby. The baby was tiny and was covered in a red blanket. He was crying so much that his face was all scrunched up. The father was flustered. “Mr. Stane, I don’t dare to hug him. I’m scared of hurting him.”I went over and taught him how to hold the baby’s back. “You can hold him steadier this way.”The man did as I taught him, but he was so nervous that his forehead was covered in sweat. “This is my first time being a dad. I still have a lot to learn.”I pressed on the shutter. When the camera flashed, I saw Willow standing outside. She wore a light gray trench coat, and her hair was slightly longer. A paper bag hung from her hands.She did not come in. I opened the door after the family left. “What