Chapter 4

‘You shameless, disgusting little bitch!’

Leona's eyes were already swallowed by fury,

and just as that hand, loaded with all her rage, came down again,

a large hand clamped hard around her wrist.

‘Mom, what are you doing!’

Reginald rushed forward and put himself between me and Leona.

His hand stroked the top of my head over and over, gentle, and his eyes held a pain that wouldn't fade.

‘Genevieve, this time it wasn't your fault. Don't worry, I won't blame you.’

‘I promise you, next time, I will absolutely let you carry the baby to term.’

A few months ago,

when Reginald pulled me down off the hospital rooftop and dropped to one knee to propose,

he'd said the exact same words.

Back then those words had made me feel so warm,

but now they only sickened me.

The LED screens along the corridor were flooded with my agonized wailing.

Eight years. Nineteen times losing a child. The pain of it broke me all over again.

I jerked away from Reginald's touch,

screaming, clutching my head, and slid off the operating bed.

That sudden fall wrenched open the wound they'd just stitched shut,

and the raw pain of flesh being torn apart swept through me.

Cradling my ruined belly, I shrank and crawled to the corner, a smear of bright red blood trailing behind me.

I slammed my head against the wall, again and again,

trying to dull the pain in my body, trying to forget the pain of all nineteen times.

‘Turn them off!’

Reginald's furious shout came from a few steps away.

He pointed at the wall of LED screens and roared himself hoarse,

‘Who put these on?! Tired of living?!’

No one answered. Everyone's eyes just turned toward Constance.

Taking in the scene before him,

Reginald understood at once.

Slowly he turned his gaze on Constance beside him,

and after a long moment, all he gave was a sigh,

letting those videos of me at my most wretched play in front of me, over and over……

‘Dr. Fox, move my wife up to the top-floor VIP suite. It's quiet there.’

All of Reginald's patience just now had finally bought Constance's silence.

I was wheeled toward the VIP room,

and at last the noise fell away from my ears.

Reginald bent down, pressed a kiss to my forehead, then turned and left.

Soon Reginald's familiar voice drifted in from outside the room,

‘This surgery, there won't be any complications, will there?’

‘My wife's uterus is all right? She'll still be able to conceive?’

‘Yes.’

Dr. Fox answered coldly,

but before he turned to go, he chose to add a warning,

‘But your wife absolutely cannot be put through any more shocks. That Miss Henson, I'd hope you'll have a word with her.’

With that, Dr. Fox turned and walked away,

and Reginald stood frozen where he was, letting out a quiet breath of relief.

They hadn't been together long,

but standing outside the operating room, hearing my wails from inside,

he'd suddenly realized

he had truly come to think of me as his wife.

Looking at me, covered in blood and shaking, tore at him.

As long as she can still have children, that's enough,

he thought. Next time, I won't let anything happen to the baby.

Seeing that I seemed to be sleeping peacefully in the room, Reginald got up to leave.

He'd barely reached the ground floor when Constance slipped into his arms like a little bird.

‘Reginald, it's all taken care of. Let's celebrate.’

Constance looped her arms around his neck, lowered her voice, and flushed.

‘Come back to my place. That lace set you bought me last time, I'll put it on for you……’

Any other time, Reginald would have gone with her without a second thought.

But now he shoved Constance away, almost on reflex, his tone flat and cold.

‘Something came up at the office. I need to get back.’

And with that he left the hospital without looking back.

Through those few hours at the office, his head was full of me.

Finally he couldn't stand it any longer and called his assistant in.

‘Go to that place on the North Side and get a bowl of soup dumplings. I'm going to the hospital to see my wife.’

The assistant was surprised, but went off cheerfully all the same.

Reginald also ordered a bouquet from the florist he usually used, meaning to bring it along too.

Once everything was arranged, he leaned back into the couch and lit a cigarette.

Through the curling smoke,

a picture rose in his mind of me and the baby, the three of us together as a family.

But before the picture could last long,

the office door was thrown open from outside with a bang,

and his assistant, face ashen, dropped to his knees in front of him with a thud, stammering, voice shaking,

‘Mr. Delgado, your wife, your wife, something's happened!’

‘Miss Henson went into your wife's room, said a few words, and then your wife started hemorrhaging. She's gone now……’