Scumbag Romance 단편 소설 & Pregnancy 소설

At the supermarket, a child slams into my pregnant belly. The pain is so intense that I collapse to the floor and cannot get back up. I groan, "My phone... Call my husband..." Only after giving the child a slap does the woman pick up my phone. Apologizing repeatedly, she searches my contacts for "Husband". She calls several times, but no one answers. "Don't panic. I'll have my husband come handle this," she says, taking out her own phone and calling her husband. He answers after the very first ring. "Honey, our son got into trouble again! Adjourn your meeting and get over here. He knocked into a pregnant woman!" Ten minutes later, Shawn Leake, who is supposed to be working in another city, arrives at the scene. The first thing he notices is the child's swollen cheek. A look of concern crosses his face as he frowns and searches the area. He grumbles, "Was it really necessary to hit him? Who exactly did he run into—" The moment our eyes meet, his voice cuts off abruptly.

One of Ethan Sterling's closest friends got drunk and humiliated me. Called me a nobody orphan who married above her station, said I'd never be accepted by the Sterlings, that I wasn't fit to sit at their table. Ethan smashed a bottle over the man's head. He announced in front of everyone that if anyone ever disrespected me again, he'd make them pay. When I was pregnant and the morning sickness was so brutal I couldn't keep anything down, he went and scheduled a vasectomy. He didn't want me to suffer through another pregnancy. This was a man who loved me like I was his whole world. And yet — when I was lying on the operating table about to give birth, he was standing right in front of me with his arms around Iris, putting on a show for anyone watching. Iris was the daughter of another old-money family and she'd donated bone marrow to save Ethan's mother's life. The night before her own engagement, her fiance betrayed her, and the trauma wiped her memory clean. Now the only thing she knew for certain was that Ethan Sterling was her husband. In her world, I was the homewrecker — the scheming woman using the bastard in her belly to force her husband into a divorce. Ethan promised me it was all an act. Just repaying the debt for his mother's life. Once Iris recovered, he'd walk away from her immediately. But when I picked up the surgical consent form for him to sign, and his first instinct was to pull Iris behind him — to shield her — I knew. His heart had already drifted off course. The fairy tale of a Cinderella marrying into high society was over. Time to wake up.

On the night before my wedding to my childhood sweetheart, Rylan Benton, my sister, Elisa Houghton, shows up with an ultrasound image. She tells me she's pregnant with Rylan's child. When she fails to force me to call off the wedding, she leaves behind a suicide note and jumps to her death, taking her unborn child with her. Rylan hates me for it. He forces me to have his child, only to smother our newborn in its crib. His eyes burn crimson as he grips my jaw. "Amy Houghton, her baby never got a chance at life, so yours doesn't deserve to live either!" Now, I am reborn. I wake up on the eve of the wedding. Ignoring the sly glint in Elisa's eyes, I offer a faint smile. "Fine. The wedding is off."

Three years ago, I suffered severe complications during childbirth and lost our baby, leaving my husband crying outside the delivery room. For three years, Carter Reynolds doted on me with boundless devotion. Yet the progress bar for my Childbearing System remained stuck at 99 percent, leading me to believe I would never complete my mission. On the third anniversary of our baby's death, I went to the cemetery and later decided on a whim to take a walk along the beach to clear my head. That was when a little boy suddenly ran right into my legs. "Hey buddy, where are your parents?" I asked softly. He scrambled up, shoved my hand away, and took off running. I followed him, but the moment I saw the scene ahead, the blood in my veins ran stone cold. In the shade of a palm tree, Carter lounged on a sunbed, smiling warmly as he caught the little boy who threw himself into his arms. "Daddy!" And the woman the little boy giggled at and called "Mommy" was my best friend. Beside her, my parents were entertaining the child with coconut water. "Come here, Leo. Let me hold you," said my mother. My dad took a sip of coconut water and let out a sigh. "Audrey must have gone to the cemetery again today. Ah, if she only knew that Leo is actually..." "Dad!" Carter interrupted, quickly clapping his hands over Leo's ears. "Audrey owes Vanessa this child." I dug my fingernails into my palms, blinking in disbelief. Suddenly, the cold, mechanical voice of the system resounded in my mind for the first time in years. "Detection confirmed: this is indeed the child you gave birth to three years ago. Your mission is complete. Would you like to exit this world?"

The day before my wedding, I secretly go to the hospital to terminate my pregnancy with Richard Johnson's baby. In the hallway, I run into a doctor I know. She looks at me in surprise. "Ms. Xander? Just last week, you were worried that your belly would show through your wedding dress. Why did you suddenly decide not to keep the baby? "Didn't Mr. Johnson come with you?" I lower my head and gently touch my slightly rounded belly, my heart aching with emptiness. "He's very busy. "He's downstairs, accompanying his young stepmother to her prenatal checkup."

My boyfriend, Sebastian Morris, and I have been in a long-distance relationship for three years, yet he never lets me visit him. After I get pregnant, I take an eight-hour flight without telling him, hoping to surprise him. While my phone is in airplane mode, Sebastian sends me a message that reveals I've been the other woman all along. As soon as I land and reconnect, I see over a hundred unread messages from him. I tap on our chat with a smile, only to find the truth waiting for me. "I already have a girlfriend. We've been together for seven years. Our families have everything planned out. We're getting engaged soon." Sebastian says that when he first started talking to me, he and his girlfriend, Clarissa Farber, had been in the middle of a fight. Bored and lonely, he wanted someone to kill time with. "I never thought you'd take it seriously." His final message was sent three minutes ago. "If this doesn't bother you, we can keep seeing each other. You just can't let Clarissa find out about you. I don't want her getting hurt. Ultimately, the choice is yours." I rest a hand over my faint baby bump as my heart clenches. What about me? Doesn't he care if I'm the one who gets hurt?

My fiancé Felix Morgan’s secretary Claire believed in tarot the way other people believed in gravity. The first time she met me, she threw a glass of water in my face. Without missing a beat, she explained to Felix, "You have an important client today. The cards say that if your lover wears makeup, it will ruin your luck." I assumed Felix would punish her for it. Instead, he turned to me. "Audrey, go take it off. The client comes first." After that, she only got bolder. On our anniversary, she said Felix would face bloodshed or even death if he saw me that day. So I did not see Felix once all day. When we planned our pre-wedding shoot, she said I would bring Felix bad luck that year. The photo shoot I had spent weeks planning was quietly canceled. I fought with Felix about it more times than I could count. And every time, he gave me the same self-righteous speech: "Claire is an extremely dedicated secretary. Everything she does is for me and for the company. The more I earn, the better the life I can give you!" Then I found out I was pregnant. Claire said, "This baby was conceived at an unlucky time. It will hold Felix's career back." Felix did not hesitate for a second. "Get rid of it. Claire wouldn't steer me wrong. There will be other babies. We'll have Claire pick a good time later." Something inside me finally broke. I put a hand on my stomach. Fine. Then this baby wouldn't carry the Morgan name.

After I gave birth to Yates Zane's child, Leo Zane, I developed severe postpartum depression. I'd pressed a knife to my own wrist countless times. Every time, Yale fought with everything he had to hold me back when I lost control. "Don't do this. Think about the baby and me. We're here with you..." My sister, Claire Cole, and my best friend, Winnie Blake, even grabbed knives and held the blades to their own wrists. "You want to die? Fine. Then we'll die with you. Is that enough?" After that day, I committed myself to treatment. I couldn't bear to let anyone else get hurt because of me. Yet just when I thought I was finally about to see the light again, my sister took me to a wedding. There, standing on the stage were Yates and Winnie, the bride and groom of the hour. My mind went blank with a deafening buzz. The blood in my veins seemed to freeze. Claire gazed at the couple onstage with envy. "They should've had this wedding five years ago. "Your depression was the only reason the two of them spent all these years trapped by guilt." Then she suddenly turned to me. "Do you get it now? We've all been miserable because of you. "Let him go."

The day before we are supposed to go abroad to get our marriage registered, George Anderson slips a five-carat diamond ring onto my ring finger. "Geri, once you wear this, you'll be Mrs. Anderson for the rest of your life." Before I even have time to feel moved, his tone suddenly shifts. "But I've already canceled tomorrow's flight and asked for a refund. Let's put off the registration for now." He slowly turns the rosary beads on his wrist, speaking as if it's the most natural thing in the world. "Mia's depression has relapsed. She's threatening to jump off a building. The only thing that can calm her down is getting a marriage certificate with her. "I have to go register my marriage with her right now. If she finds out I married you abroad, she'll lose her mind." I freeze and stare at him in disbelief. However, he ruffles my hair with eyes full of indulgence and helplessness. "Be good. It's just a piece of paper. Once her condition is stable, we'll have our wedding. If you really want to go to Frosh Isle, just join a tour group yourself." I watch as his figure retreat in a hurry and touch my lower abdomen. Then, I tear the prenatal checkup report for the twins in my bag into pieces. Next, I make the call for my final confirmation of starting the overseas study program. I no longer intend to see the aurora in Frost Isle with George.

With 30 days left until our wedding, Derrick Holmes suddenly decides to quit smoking and drinking. He tells me he doesn't want our future children picking up any of his bad habits. The following day, he checks himself into a rehab center in the suburbs and refuses all visitors. Worried about him, I make soup every day and bring it over, but Derrick insists that seeing me would make it harder for him to keep going. Instead, I leave the thermos at the reception desk. I make the trip for 23 days straight without missing a single one. Then, the results of my pre-wedding physical come back, and I discover that I'm pregnant. I buy the smallest pair of baby shoes I can find and head to the rehab center, planning to surprise him. After searching through the entire guest registry, the receptionist looks up at me. "Ma'am, no one named Derrick Holmes is staying here." I check the location on my phone. The blue dot isn't in the suburbs at all. It's at the Luna Confinement Centre, a postpartum recovery facility. I take a cab there and find Derrick cradling a newborn in his arms. "Daddy's right here. You're okay," he murmurs patiently. A nurse standing nearby smiles at him. "Mr. Holmes, you're one devoted dad." He grins. "What can I say? The baby and his mother both need me." I touch the pregnancy report in my pocket and remain outside the room for ten seconds without going in. At that moment, I finally realize that Derrick didn't refuse to see me because he's afraid he'll lose his resolve. He's simply too busy being a father to another woman's child. I leave the baby shoes by the door, turn around, and schedule an abortion.

Three months pregnant, Gwyneth Stone spotted a little boy's suit while browsing an upscale maternity and baby store. She rubbed her belly, her face glowing with happiness. "Excuse me, could you wrap this suit up for me?" Her husband, Preston Gallagher, hadn't had time to come with her, but he'd given her a black card and told her to buy whatever she wanted. "I'm sorry, miss, but we're closing early today. A VIP customer will be arriving shortly, and she's bought out everything in the store." Gwyneth froze, clutching the suit and reluctant to let it go. "Her husband personally bought out the entire store for her. I heard she just found out she's pregnant, and he's already spending this much on her. Who knows how much he'll spoil her from now on?" The clerk looked troubled. "So, about this suit—" Before she could finish, a familiar woman's voice came from behind Gwyneth. "Let her have it. My best friend is having a girl anyway, so she might as well take the boy's clothes." Gwyneth turned around, stunned to find her best friend, Rebecca Lynch, standing there. "Becca, what are you doing here?" she asked. Rebecca clearly hadn't expected to see her either. Her face instantly went pale. "What a coincidence, Gwen. I came... to buy something for your baby." "But I'm having a son." Rebecca had been right beside her at the prenatal checkup when the private doctor told Gwyneth she was having a boy. There was no way she could have forgotten. "I—" Before Rebecca could explain, another familiar voice echoed. "Honey, the baby's not even born yet, and you've already bought out the whole store for her?" It was their friend, Selene Somerset. And the man standing beside her was Gwyneth's husband.

All because I opened a window to air out the room, my husband’s childhood sweetheart, Celine Ashcroft, caught a cold. In a fit of rage, my husband, Ronan Blackwood, had his men bind me and drag me down to the ice cellar despite my being five months pregnant. "Don’t think that just because you’re carrying my child, you can bully Celine. If even a single hair on her head is harmed, I’ll make you repay it a hundredfold!" Shivering violently from the cold, I knelt through tears, begging for forgiveness. I promised that from now on I would serve his precious sweetheart well to atone, that I would never again let her suffer even the slightest harm. He only gave a cold order to seal the cellar, saying I needed to be taught a lesson so it would be burned into my memory. A week later, when Celine finally recovered from her cold, he finally remembered me in the cellar. "Vesper, have you truly realized your mistake? As long as you agree to kneel and apologize to Celine immediately, I’ll spare you." What he didn’t know was that by then, I had already frozen stiff in that ice cellar. And the child he had treasured so dearly no longer showed even the faintest sign of life.