เรื่องสั้นแนว Feel-Good Story และนิยาย Bias Pregnancy

My wife hid the fact that she was carrying another man’s baby. She told me the truth only after she gave birth. I did not get angry. I even agreed to let her lover move into our home. Then, one day, she found a photograph in my bedroom. The moment she saw it, she fell apart.

As the future daughter-in-law, I am making my first formal visit to my fiancé Patrick Underwood's family on Thanksgiving. At the dinner table, I raise my glass to make a toast when Patrick's childhood sweetheart, Lana Rowe, suddenly stands up and says to my future father-in-law, Alfred Underwood, "Dad, thank you for letting Patrick give me a son." I freeze on the spot. Mr. Underwood looks at Lana with emotion and says, "You've always known how to repay kindness, and you and Patrick grew up together. He should consider himself lucky to have you bear his child." Everyone at the table nods in agreement. Not a single person thinks there is anything wrong with this. Only then does Patrick finally notice me standing off to the side. He explains, "Don't get the wrong idea. Lana has no intention of ever getting married. She'd be lonely in her old age if she didn't have a child, so I was just helping her out. "Agnes, you already have me, so whether we have kids or not doesn't change anything." Dad shoots me a stern look. "If you dare cause a scene at Thanksgiving dinner, you can get out!" Lana suddenly laughs. "Come on, don't be so serious, everyone. Agnes has always been so understanding—surely she won't make a fuss over something so trivial." She then turns to me. "If Patrick and I really had something going on, you wouldn't have had a chance to marry him in the first place. Besides, you can be our son Douglas Underwood's godmother. The three of us can raise him together." I don't take the glass of wine Lana offers me. Instead, I glance at Patrick again. He gestures for me not to make a scene. A lump forms in my throat. In that instant, I find the whole situation utterly ridiculous. I immediately message my professor, Gary Massey, who has been hoping I would become his daughter-in-law. "Professor Massey, does your son, Bradley Massey, know about my situation?" Professor Massey replies instantly, "Yes. As long as you're willing, this marriage is as good as settled." "Okay, I'll marry Bradley."

At the coming-of-age ceremony my sister and I shared at twenty-one, our father produced two marriage contracts. One came from the ducal House of Beaumont. A century-old line with power beyond measure, whose heir Alexander was composed, wealthy, and the dream of every unmarried girl in Saint-Vérain. The other came from the bankrupt Moreau family. Their estate mortgaged, creditors at the door, their heir Elias had nothing but a handsome face. In my last life, my sister Vivienne chose Alexander first and left Elias to me. Later, she was caught in an affair, and the Beaumont family confined her for life under the name of "psychiatric rest." Elias, with my help, climbed from ruined nobility into City Hall and became the youngest chief secretary to the mayor. Vivienne didn't hate the in-laws who destroyed her, or the husband who was cold to her. She hated only that I lived better than she did. The day I visited her, she smashed my skull with a silver candlestick. When I opened my eyes again, we were back at the moment of choosing. Vivienne snatched the Moreau letter and said smugly, "Little sister, this time it's my turn to be the wife of the rising star of politics." I looked at her and smiled. She didn't know that in the last life, the one who had truly raised Elias to high office was never fate. And that Alexander, who had never touched her, had never been cold by nature. He had simply married the wrong woman.

My cousin, Lexie Wood, showed up in Cedarbrook over the Memorial Day weekend without making a reservation. She had nowhere to stay, so she practically begged me to let her stay at my bed-and-breakfast. At the time, I couldn't bring myself to turn her away. I thought I was doing her a favor. To my dismay, she refused to pay a single dime when it was time for her to check out. Worse still, she left me a nasty one-star review. "What kind of dump doesn't even provide bottled water? Yet, you still have the nerve to charge people to stay here?" I was furious, but I swallowed my anger and let it go. I thought that would be the end of it. Little did I know, the worst had yet to come. Lexie came storming back into my B&B three months later, pointing an accusing finger at me. "This is all your fault! I would've taken my morning-after pill in time if you'd left a bottle of water in my room! Now, I'm pregnant. You've ruined my life! I want compensation for emotional distress, child support, everything! You owe me three million dollars!" Of course, I refused to give her a single cent. Alas, Lexie didn't back down. Instead, she took her accusations straight to our family group chat. She even filed complaints against my B&B, intent on making my life miserable. The constant trouble eventually wore me down, leaving me no choice but to close the business. Losing my B&B meant losing my only source of income, which meant I couldn't afford the medical bills for my seriously ill mother. Not long after, she passed away. I was devastated. I'd lost my business, failed to save my mother, and had nothing left but grief and regret. In the end, I lost my own life, too. I thought everything was over. Suddenly, I opened my eyes again, and I was back on that fateful Memorial Day weekend—the day Lexie first came looking for a place to stay. Somehow, I'd been given a second chance. And there she was, standing right in front of me with her suitcase in hand, wearing that same sweet smile I now knew was completely fake. "Hey, June! Any chance you could squeeze me in at your B&B for a few days?"

When a wave of labor pain brought me to my knees in the hospital hallway, Orson Caldwell, a brilliant doctor, was just about to wheel me into the delivery room. Just then, his phone rang. When he answered the call, his expression fell. "Seraphina, Cressie's teddy is having trouble giving birth. It's in critical condition, but the vet clinic in her town is closed. I have to perform a C-section on it." I clutched my stomach as blood slowly began to seep between my legs. "I'm fully dilated. If you leave now, what am I supposed to do?" Orson looked annoyed. "We'll get another doctor to do it. You're only giving birth, but Cressie's dog could die. I'll make it up to you and our child someday." With that, he rushed into the elevator without even taking off his white coat. I laughed through my tears, pulled out my phone, and called my father. "Dad, I'll agree to the arranged marriage."

When my younger sister gave me a blessed pendant, I immediately hung it around the neck of a pregnant sow. In my past life, my sister and I got pregnant at the same time, and she bought an expensive blessed pendant from Tenezia to ensure my baby and I would be safe and sound. I was touched, and I wore the pendant every day. Months later, my sister and I went into labor at the same time. I gave birth to a deformed, dead fetus, while my sister gave birth to a healthy, chubby baby boy. My in-laws thought I had cursed my son to death and would also end up bringing misfortune to their family, so they drugged me and sold me to Tenezia. I was turned into a freak show and placed inside a vase to become a public spectacle for all who came to see me. It was only after my death that I found out it had all been my sister's doing. She had known from the start that there was something wrong with her baby, which was why she got me the blessed pendant to exchange the fates of our babies. When I opened my eyes again, I smiled as I stared at the round belly of the sow…