Chapter 3

We went to three different clinics. The results were identical. The baby was mine.

"I have low motility! How is this medically possible?" I demanded.

The doctor shrugged. "Low motility doesn't mean you are completely sterile. In medicine, there is still a small margin of probability. It's rare, but it happens."

Maya sobbed softly, looking incredibly fragile. "Professor Vance, do you believe me now? I never lied to you. It's your baby!"

Olivia looked at me, her eyes dead. "Arthur, I trusted you. And you lied to me over and over again."

"Expect divorce papers."

With that, Olivia turned and walked out. No matter how much I begged her to stay, she didn't look back.

"Olivia! If you leave like this, you will ruin my career and my life! Something is wrong here, I feel like I'm being set up!"

But my desperate cries didn't slow her down for a single second.

"You're pathetic," she threw over her shoulder. "Cheating on me with your charity case and refusing to admit it. There is only one way this ends, Arthur. We are done."

Watching her walk away, my heart froze.

It was my fault for attending that stupid gala in the first place. If I hadn't gone, none of this would have happened.

As I struggled to find a way to clear my name, the online cancel culture grew more vicious.

My "scandal" became the hottest topic on campus. Even the hot dog vendor outside the university gates knew every sordid detail.

"Professor sleeps with his charity student, uses his academic position to blackmail her into bed, and abandons her after she gets pregnant." The headlines on social media grew wilder by the day, but the villain remained the same: Arthur Vance.

Finally, the Dean called me into his office.

"Arthur, after careful consideration, the board has decided to suspend you indefinitely to protect the university's reputation. We will revisit this once the investigation is complete."

"Dean Harrison, I was just nominated for the Distinguished Professor Award this month. Please, just give me a little more time..."

"Time? The DNA test is out! What is there to explain? Forget about the promotion, Arthur. You'll be lucky if you don't lose your teaching license."

When I got home, the front door was wide open.

Olivia's suitcases were gone. Every trace of her existence had been meticulously packed up and moved out.

Instead, Maya was sitting on my sofa, as if she had been waiting for me.

"Arthur, you're back?"

She stood up and walked toward me. "Don't be sad. You still have me and the baby."

I frowned, looking at her with pure disgust.

Tonight, Maya was wearing a tight, short skirt. She had clearly just showered. Her wet hair dripped onto her shoulders, dampening her shirt and clinging to her curves.

Combined with her pretty face, she was undeniably alluring.

But I felt absolutely nothing.

"I funded your education. I gave you monthly stipends. And in return, you took my job and ran off my wife."

"You ruined your own reputation just to stab me in the back. And now you expect me to be with you?"

Maya's face instantly turned cold. "That’s a harsh way to put it. You're the one who couldn't keep his hands to himself."

She walked a slow circle around me, a mocking smirk on her lips. "Men really are trash. You make all kinds of promises when you're in bed, but the moment you put your pants back on, you act like a stranger."

"Arthur, I'm young, beautiful, and carrying your child. How does Olivia even compare to me?"

She leaned into my chest, her eyes heavy with seduction.

I let out a cold laugh and pushed her away. "Maya, did you really think I wouldn't find out what you did?"

I pulled out my old phone and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Nothing happened between us at the country club that night."

Maya glanced at the screen, which showed a security footage playback. Her pupils dilated. "How... how did you get this footage?"