Chapter 3

"John? Can you do me a favor?"

By the time I came out of the bathroom, my face had gone pale.

No answer.

I looked around. John was nowhere in sight.

So I just changed my clothes and hurried downstairs, and when I came back there was a pregnancy test in my hand.

I walked into the bathroom, uneasy.

When I came out, my face was worse.

Two lines.

John came back with a bag of medicine in his hand.

He saw me sitting on the couch, dazed.

"Why do you look so awful?"

He frowned and came over quickly, pressing a hand to my forehead.

"Do you have a fever?"

I shook my head.

"You looked like you were about to throw up earlier. I thought you'd caught a chill, so I went and bought diarrhea medicine, cold medicine—"

His voice cut off.

John's eyes were locked on the pregnancy test in the trash can.

Instinctively I moved to cover it, but it was too late.

He saw the two lines.

His face went cold in an instant.

"April Finch, don't tell me you're faking a pregnancy to save this marriage."

The unopened bag of medicine hit the floor at my feet.

Then came John's voice, full of fury.

"I've already given you more than enough compensation. What else do you want?"

"You'd better not try anything clever. Don't think being pregnant means you can tie me down with a kid."

"Don't make me look down on you."

I already knew he'd say something like that.

I stood up. "You don't have to worry. I'll go to the hospital tomorrow and get rid of it."

I steadied my breathing and gave him a composed smile.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't interrupt your reunion with Miss Reyes."

Such a perfect answer.

Maybe John would even be so satisfied he'd throw in another reward.

But instead he suddenly gripped my wrist, hard, and ground the words out through his teeth. "Don't you dare."

"What is there that I wouldn't dare do?"

I turned and looked into his eyes and said lightly, with a faint smile.

"You weren't looking forward to this child anyway, were you?"

"So let's just pretend it never came."

John didn't like children, and he didn't like me, which is why in five years of marriage he'd touched me only a handful of times.

The first time, he'd heard that Yolanda had given birth to someone else's child abroad.

He was blind drunk and mistook me for Yolanda.

The second time, he'd developed a taste for it.

He said I should fulfill my duties as a wife.

And he said, "Don't think this means you get to have a baby and chain me down. April Finch, don't even dream of having a child with me."

The last time.

He wasn't drunk, and he didn't mistake me for anyone.

He just saw me in a fitted fishtail dress and dragged me back to the bedroom.

Afterward, his voice was hoarse:

"From now on you're not to wear that kind of thing out where everyone can see."

"If you want to wear it, you can only wear it at home, for me."

Then he pressed down on me again.

It happened to be a little over a month ago.

And that day we happened to use no protection at all.

Thinking of it left me miserable. I'd have given anything to just sleep myself into the next life.

The next second, John actually changed into his sleepwear too and walked into the bedroom.

I looked up at him. He looked at me.

"What?"

"We're already getting divorced. Is it really appropriate for you to come sleep in here?"

John stared at me in silence for a long moment.

"Are you trying to throw me out?"

This time, it was my turn to fall silent.

"How is it me throwing you out? We're getting divorced."

"By any normal logic, your first love, Miss Reyes, is back. Shouldn't you be off keeping her and her daughter warm company right now?"

I turned it over carefully for a while. There was nothing wrong with what I'd said.

But John got angry.

He slammed the pillow down hard on the floor.

"Fine. You're really something."

"April Finch, I really didn't realize you were this heartless."

"So all these years you've just been waiting for me to bring up divorce, is that it?"

I shrugged, more baffled than ever.

"Your first love's child needs a father. I can't very well stop the kid from claiming his own dad, right? I'm not some vicious side character."

In the end, John lost his temper for no reason I could see and left, slamming the door hard behind him.

And I let out a breath.

The world was finally quiet.

I needed to get a good night's sleep. After all, tomorrow I had to go have the abortion.