Chapter 3

"I signed up for a pregnancy wellness retreat. Just to clear my head."

He didn't suspect a thing.

"Fine. Just be careful. Stop running around like a child. Remember you’re pregnant."

"Chloe has a fever. Get out of bed. We need to drop her off at the clinic first. I'll drive both of you."

"Okay," I replied.

My appointment was this morning anyway. I didn't want to delay it, so I didn't argue.

The door slammed shut.

By the time I finished packing and went down to the garage, Chloe was already sitting comfortably in the passenger seat.

Seeing me approach, she made a show of struggling to sit up, asking weakly:

"I'm so sorry, Vivian. I accidentally sat in your seat."

Before she could move, Ethan pushed her back down. He gave me a cold, commanding look:

"Chloe gets motion sickness. Let her sit in the front."

For the past ten years, whenever Chloe was around, the passenger seat never belonged to me.

I was used to it.

I didn't have the energy to watch them act. I just opened the back door and got in.

But the moment I stepped inside, the heavy scent of gardenia perfume hit my nose. It rushed straight down my throat.

My face flushed instantly. I struggled to roll down the window, coughing violently.

Looking down at my arms, small red hives were already starting to break out.

Everyone who knew me knew I was severely allergic to gardenias. I had ended up in the ICU once and almost died.

But I never expected Ethan to remember that.

He only remembered me when he needed something.

Looking through the rearview mirror, Ethan’s face was filled with impatience.

"All I hear is you coughing, Vivian. Do you have to be so loud?"

"We got up early just to take you to the clinic, and you’re making all this noise. Can't you show some consideration for Chloe? She’s trying to sleep."

A sharp, throbbing pain pierced my chest.

I couldn't even count how many times Ethan had defended Chloe over me.

But this time,

I didn't cry. I didn't beg for his attention, and I didn't sit in the corner wiping my tears, hoping he would love me again.

I just leaned my head against the cold glass, letting the chilly wind blow over my face.

Ten years of devotion couldn't move Ethan's heart.

Only now did I realize that it was all just my own delusion.

Since that was the case, there was no need to keep clinging to a man who wasn't worth a single tear.

I was actually curious—

When I get rid of this baby everyone is waiting for, and when I disappear from your life completely...

Will you actually regret it?

Maybe he realized his words were too harsh, or maybe my silence finally made him uneasy.

He looked at me in the mirror, his voice softening a bit as he tried to sound caring:

"Just bear with it for a bit when we're with Chloe, okay?"

"Everything I do—including the fake proposal to Chloe—is for this family. It's for the future of our unborn child."

"The board wants a merger through high-society dating. I don't have a choice, so—"

I looked up, meeting his eyes in the mirror, and cut him off:

"I told you, I don't care."

"I don't need your explanation, and I don't want to hear it."

When Ethan first confessed his love to me, he wanted the whole world to know.

Back then, he had held a cheap silver ring, kneeling in the dirt with absolute devotion, swearing to me:

"Vivian, I swear I will only love you in this lifetime. No matter what happens, my heart will never change!"