Chapter 1

The day Ethan and I get legally married, my best friend Chloe hands me a newborn as a gift.

“You were too scared to have a baby yourself, so I had one for you. Consider it my way of repaying you for saving my life. ”

“He’s Ethan’s and mine. So don’t worry—you can raise him as your own.”

I stare at her, stunned.

But Ethan just nods, like there's nothing wrong with this.

"You never wanted kids. I never tried to change your mind."

"But you know my family needs an heir. This way, everybody's happy."

My hands tremble. The baby nearly slips out of my arms.

My brother Ryan's face changes instantly. He lunges forward, catches the baby, and snaps at me.

"Careful! They spent three years trying to have this baby. Do you have any idea what Chloe went through?"

"I was the one who covered for them the whole time — making excuses, giving them chances to be together."

Ethan reaches over and brushes the tears off my face. His voice is soft.

"Chloe went through so much to give us this baby."

"To make it up to her, Chloe will take your place as my bride at the ceremony next week. You don’t mind, right?"

The wedding ring I'd waited ten years for gleams on my finger.

Suddenly, none of it means anything.

I don't want the wedding anymore.

I don't want Ethan anymore.

……

I say nothing. Ethan takes the baby from Ryan and speaks to me gently.

"Look at him. He's adorable. Just hold him. Chloe was so afraid you wouldn't like him, she couldn't sleep all night."

I hide my trembling hands behind my back and step away from the baby, refusing to look anywhere but at Ethan.

"You promised me we'd be childfree."

Ethan meets my eyes, calm as ever.

"I know you're scared of giving birth. I've always understood that."

"But my family needs an heir. It's a win-win."

My fists curl at my sides.

The day he first asked me out, I told him straight — I'd never have kids.

He laughed and said as long as we were together, nothing else mattered.

I believed him. For ten years, I did.

But his mother refused to approve our marriage because of it.

I saw how torn he was, so I offered to break up.

He wouldn't hear of it. Stood outside my building every single night, begging me not to give up on us.

To force his family's hand, he went on a hunger strike and wasted away frighteningly fast.

When he showed up again, he was skin and bones — but smiling. "They said yes."

I held him and sobbed. But I still gave him an out.

Before we married, if he ever changed his mind, we could walk away. No hard feelings.

He said, "I'll never regret marrying you."

I thought our love was honest. Turns out, I was the only honest one.

My gaze falls on the baby's face. Every feature — unmistakably Ethan's.

My stomach turns. I gag, over and over.

I swallow the nausea and look at him.

"I told you — if you couldn't accept childfree, we could just break up…"

Ethan looks genuinely confused.

"Why would we break up? I did all of this so I could be with you — no strings attached."

"Now my family's satisfied, and you're still my wife. Problem solved."

Ryan shoots me a look and cuts in.

"Break up? Easy for you to say. Last time you two split, you couldn't eat, couldn't sleep."

"If Chloe hadn't offered to have the baby, you think his mom would've ever come around?"

"You got your marriage certificate, and you don't even have to carry a baby yourself. What the hell are you making a fuss about?"

Every word cuts deeper than the last.

Tears pour down my face. I scream at him.

"Ryan — you know why I can't have children. Everyone else might not get it, but you? How could you not understand?"

When I was seven, my father walked out on us for another woman.

My pregnant mother went into premature labor from the shock. She bled out — her and the baby both.

She died in my arms. I felt her last breath leave her body.

The blood on my hands was still warm.

Ryan held me that night, shaking, crying. "Don't be scared. I'm here."

After that — nightmares every single night. A terror of childbirth so deep it lived in my bones.

When I bring it up now, his eyes flicker — just for a second. Then he doubles down.

"That's exactly why I helped them keep it from you! I was protecting you!"

"This was all for your own good. What more do you want?"

I go rigid. Even my tears stop.

What exactly am I supposed to be grateful for?

That my husband of ten years had a baby with my best friend?

Or that my own brother helped them hide it?

But at this moment, every question feels pointless.

The last of my anger, my grief, and every last flicker of hope I had for any of them —gone.

Like air hissing out of a punctured balloon.

Just — gone.