On a typhoon day, my wife's childhood sweetheart said that she had a sign of miscarriage and asked me to go to his club as soon as possible.

I was still recovering from my appendicitis surgery, and my father-in-law answered the phone.

He took the ancestral magic needle to protect our child in the rain, but he died miserably in a major car accident.

When he was sent to the hospital, nobody could save him.

"Henry, you must... protect Ava's child... Otherwise, she... won't be able to be a mother anymore..."

Her father was still thinking about the child in Ava's belly and died with a grievance.

When I held back my sadness and went to the club with his needles, I saw Ava and her childhood sweetheart drinking cross-cupped wine.

"Ava, it seems that your husband doesn't love you so much. How do you want to be punished?"

Ava drank and hung herself on him, acting like a spoiled child.

"Don't worry. Even if the sky is falling knives, he will come!"

I was shocked and angry and rushed in to stop her.

"Didn't you say there were signs of miscarriage? How dare you drink?"

Ava splashed red wine on my face coldly.

"Are you cursing me for having a miscarriage? Can't you see that we are playing games?"

She turned to kiss her childhood sweetheart on the lips.

"This is your punishment for being late!"

Anger raged in my chest.

"Ava, are you playing games with the baby in your belly?"

"Your father was worried that you would miscarry, so he rushed over to look for you and had an accident!"

I didn't dare to tell her her father was dead, for fear that she couldn't stand the stimulation.

Ava snatched the first aid kit from my hand and interrupted me with a shout.

"Today is Mike's birthday. We're celebrating it for him! Why didn't you prepare a gift but rush over with my dad's first-aid kit?"

"You don't look like a man at all."

My eyes were red, and my fists were clenched and relaxed.

"Follow me to the hospital. Something really happened to your father."

Mike, who was watching the fun, teased me.

"What does your unbearable expression mean? Are you unconvinced by Ava's words? Do you want to hit her?"

"Ava is celebrating my birthday with me. Do you have to curse your child and father-in-law?"

He didn’t disguise the sarcasm in his eyes.

I knew he was provoking me again. At the same time, he provoked Ava to humiliate me in public.

In the past, in order not to make Ava angry, I would bow my head and apologize.

However, what my father-in-law said before he died was still echoing in my mind.

He told me that if Ava couldn't keep this child, she would never be able to get pregnant again.

For a woman, it was extremely cruel to not be a mother.

It was not the time for me to bow my head and be a clown to make everyone happy. I just wanted to make sure that the child in Ava's belly was fine and then took her back to see her father one last time."

"Ava, come to the hospital with me to see your father!"

This was the first time I didn't beg her in front of everyone. Everyone was waiting to watch a good show.

As expected, Ava's red lips were slightly open, and she kept saying harsh words.

"Don't always use my dad as a shield! It's just a game. Do you have to curse my dad?"

"You came so late and made me lose the game. I could only accept my punishment. It's fine if you don't apologize, but how can you ruin Mike's birthday party? How can you be so petty?"

All of a sudden, the people watching the fun laughed at me.

"Look at how shabby you are. You don't deserve Ava at all."

"Ava is beautiful and kind. Not only is she willing to marry you, but she is also willing to give birth to a child for you!"

"If I marry Ava, I will treat her as an immortal. If she asks me to die, I won't hesitate for a second!"

"You, Henry, a poor boy, how dare you make Ava angry today? You really don't know what's good for you!"

I had heard such words for two years and I could already recite these words.

I didn’t listen to them but took Ava's hand to feel her pulse.

As long as her pulse was stable, I would tell her on the spot that her father was dead.

And he died because of her!

Seeing that I didn't lower my head and touched Ava, Mike slapped my hand away and said with great disdain,

"Do you think that Ava won’t leave you when she is pregnant? Let me tell you, Ava is a woman of the new era, not a woman in the old days!"

Mike always knew how to enrage Ava.

Sure enough, her face was full of anger. The next second, she slapped me hard in the face.

"Get lost! Who do you think you are to touch me?"

Ava wiped her hand hard that had slapped me on her shirt as if she had just touched something extremely dirty.

Mike sneered at me.

"Since you're not here to celebrate my birthday, please get out of here! Get out!"

Thinking that I was really forced to get out by Ava in public, those humiliating memories were like a raging fire, burning all my reason.

I clenched my fists and punched Mike, who had a mocking look on his face.

"You bastard, what kind of game can't you play? Are you kidding me? You killed my father-in-law. I'll turn your birthday into a death anniversary!"

My punch was so quick and fierce that it caught him off guard, causing his nose to bleed profusely.

The onlookers immediately pushed me away, and Ava held Mike in her arms in a panic.

"Mike, are you all right? Does it hurt?"

The concern in her eyes was something that I had never felt before.

She gently wiped the nosebleed for Mike as if she was treating a rare treasure, for fear that she would hurt him accidentally.

Turning around, she picked up a bottle of beer and threw it at my abdomen.

The wound that had just been operated on was hit, and it hurt so much that I felt dizzy.

But the hurt was less than one-thousandth of the heartache.

My forehead was covered with sweat, but Ava turned a blind eye to my abnormality.

"Henry, are you crazy? How dare you hit him? If you don't want to live with me, we can divorce!"

In order to prevent me from going crazy again, several men in the private room put my hands behind my back as if I were a prisoner.

The humiliation made me struggle violently, but I couldn't break free of the group holding me down.

I took a deep breath in despair and tried to tell Ava in a calm tone,

"Your father died in a car accident on his way here. Now he is lying in the hospital and waiting for you to see him for the last time. As long as you come back with me to see him, I will divorce you immediately."

Ava's eyes were filled with anger. Obviously, she didn't believe what I said at all.

She slapped my face without hesitation.

"Henry, kneel down and apologize to Mike!"

"Otherwise, I'll tell my father that you cursed him to die!"

Someone immediately kicked my kneecap hard. I was already sweating due to the pain in my abdomen, and my legs immediately went weak and I knelt down.

The private room was filled with laughter.

"I thought you were tough enough! You knelt down so soon!"

Everyone agreed with Mike's sarcasm.

"We are just playing a game. How can you curse your father-in-law to death just because you are unhappy? Director Jones treats you as his own son!"

"I didn’t expect you to be so mean to Director Jones!"

When I felt the warm liquid flowing out from my abdomen, my vision went black.

Listening to them mention Director Jones, my mind was full of the picture of my father-in-law dying in front of me.

"Ava! If you don't believe me, call the hospital. How could I lie to you about this kind of thing?"

When Ava forced me to kneel, I was completely disillusioned with her.

I tried my best to keep my father-in-law away from loneliness and desolation.

Ava listened to me and hesitated for a moment.

Just as she took out her phone and was about to call for confirmation, Mike let out a muffled groan.

Ava immediately put down her mobile phone and asked Mike anxiously,

"Mike! What's wrong with you?"

Mike touched his nose, which had stopped bleeding, and said to Ava affectionately,

"My nose is burning with pain..."

"He must have broken your nose. Mike, let's go to the hospital!"

However, Mike pointed to his thin lips and said dotingly,

"It doesn't matter if a man gets hurt. As long as you kiss me, it won't hurt anymore."

As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced at me provocatively.

"However, I'm afraid that some people will kill me!"

Ava glared at me and kissed him without hesitation.

Mike immediately deepened the kiss. I knelt on the ground and looked at them without any anger.

After a long time, their lips parted.

Ava's face was flushed like a bride, and her eyes were full of love.

However, when she met my calm gaze, her expression turned as cold as ice.

"This is your punishment for being impulsive!"

"I hope you remember this lesson. Otherwise, I won't know how to make up for your mistake next time!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone understood what Ava meant.

This time, they kissed in public. Next time, they would go to bed!

I sneered and asked her,

"Don't you want to go back to the hospital with me to see your father one last time?"

Ava was so angry that she took out her mobile phone to call her father and didn't forget to kick me.

She kicked me so hard that she lost her balance and her phone fell to the ground and turned off.

Mike quickly grabbed Ava, who almost fell, and said,

"Ava, don't be angry. It's bad for your health. Don't forget that you're pregnant!"

"For my sake, let him go! I don't want my birthday to be so unlucky."

Mike's generous words made Ava so angry that her chest rose and fell violently.

But because of Mike's ambiguous posture, she gradually calmed down.

"Did you see that? This is the gap between you and Mike. He was willing to plead for mercy for you even if he was beaten to death by you, but you made a scene for a game!"

"Mike, ask the security guards to escort him out! I don't want to see him again!"

Mike was happy with Ava's words. He immediately ordered the security guards to take action.

The blood in my abdomen came out because of her kick.

"Ava, Henry doesn't look right!"

Finally, a girl found out.

After all, I used to be very resistant to pain, but now my whole face was as pale as a ghost because of the pain.

Ava didn't care at all and said,

"Don't worry about him! He is pretending!"

It hurt so much that I almost fainted. When I was thrown into the heavy rain, the club was still full of lights and laughter.

The dynamic music was mixed with the sound of rain. It was like a life-changing song, but it also seemed to be laughing at me.

I hugged my father-in-law's emergency kit tightly and allowed the rain to drown me.

If it weren't for my acute appendicitis, I would have been the one to answer the phone.

Mike just wanted me to make a fool of myself.

Because he knew that as long as it was related to Ava, I would panic, not to mention that Ava was two months pregnant.

God was playing tricks on me. I was still under anesthesia so my father-in-law went to the club in a hurry.

He died for me in order to protect my child!

When I thought that I was also one of the murderers who killed him, guilt and self-blame drowned me.

It hurt so much. My father-in-law was waiting for me to deal with his funeral affairs.

I closed my eyes and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Ava didn't show up even after I recovered and dealt with my father-in-law's funeral, as if she had disappeared from the world.

My colleagues in the hospital asked me in confusion,

"Why didn't Ava show up at Director Jones's funeral?"

I stared at the intimate photos of her and Mike in Bali on the phone and said without emotion,

"She has something important to do."

The colleague understood and said, "Well. It's not easy for her to get pregnant. I don't think she can accept such a thing. It's more important to nourish the fetus at ease."

I laughed at myself and did not deny my colleague's statement.

After checking out of the hospital, Ava came back as soon as I got home.

"Henry, I'm back!"

She held her suitcase and looked at me expectantly.

I knew what she was waiting for.

In the past, every time she went home, I would hurriedly put on comfortable slippers for her, carry her to the sofa, and massage her shoulders and feet.

It was one of our habits to show love after getting married for so many years.

However, ever since her childhood sweetheart returned to the country as the son of the Scott family, she no longer acted coquettishly with me and didn’t allow me to touch her at will.

All those little habits of love were disliked by her.

In the past two years, I've gone from being unaccustomed to her sudden detachment to slowly weaning myself off of her to being as heartbroken as I am now.

I watched coldly as the anticipation in her eyes gradually dissipated. I really didn't understand what she meant.

Did she think that after forcing me to kneel down and take a beating in front of everyone, throwing me into the rain without any dignity, and then going on a romantic trip with her childhood sweetheart, she could make me forget the humiliation and return to the old days with just a few words?

I couldn't help but tear up.