After work I came home and pushed open the door to the spare bedroom.

That was the nursery we had planned out half a year in advance.

The fairy-tale mural I had painted with my own hands was now plastered over with garish pink soundproofing foam.

The floor was a tangle of loose cables and huge livestream fill lights.

Kayla sat in front of the camera, testing the lighting.

The moment she saw me, she jumped up, all innocence.

"Cousin, I've decided to become a beauty influencer. This room gets the best light, so I'll just borrow it for a few months. You don't mind, right?"

Jason walked over and slipped an arm around my waist as if it were nothing.

"Janice, Kayla's just starting out, she needs a good setup. Moving the nursery to the little study on the shaded side is the same thing anyway. The baby will sleep with us for the first few years regardless."

Give the room with the best sunlight to her cousin's livestream.

Leave the shaded study for his own flesh and blood.

I looked at that face of his, so certain he was in the right, and gave him a single word.

"Fine."

I turned and went back to the master bedroom.

That night, Kayla brought her whole livestream team to the house and sold products straight through till morning.

The whole living room was as loud as a street market.

Head splitting, I ignored it as long as I could, then pushed open my door and walked out to the living room.

The team had gathered around Jason in the middle, and he was smoothing down Kayla's mussed hair, completely at ease.

Kayla whined at the camera. "Guys, I've talked so much today my voice has gone hoarse."

Jason turned at once, picked up the still-steaming bowl of honey-lemon tea on the coffee table, and lifted it to her lips.

That was the batch he had made a point of brewing last night, for my cough.

The chat in the livestream exploded.

The top donor posted a comment in bold:

"If you didn't know better, you'd think the streamer and this handsome guy were the real married couple."

Jason's face darkened in an instant.

He turned his head and saw me standing in the corner.

He strode over, brows drawn tight.

"Janice, go over and say hello to the fans, clear things up. Don't let anyone get the wrong idea about Kayla's reputation and hurt her sales."

I looked at him, and it was just absurd.

"Clear up what?"

I walked deliberately in front of the camera, my voice low but unmistakably clear in the quiet living room.

"Clear up that you turned my baby's nursery into her livestream studio?"

With that, I yanked out the power plug.

The living room went black in an instant, and the stream cut to a dead screen.

The team broke into a flustered chorus of complaints.

Jason flew into a rage and shoved me hard.

"Are you out of your mind?"

I stumbled back two steps, caught off guard, and slammed into the wall.

In the chaos, Kayla's assistant crushed a package on the floor.

Inside was the first outfit I had spent three months sewing by hand for the baby.

Now the fabric was covered in black footprints, filthy and ruined.

Kayla glanced at it with distaste and made no move to pick it up.

Jason frowned at me.

"Your hormones are seriously out of whack right now. You're being impossible, like some shrew!"

Irritated, he took out his phone and wired me ten thousand.

"So a few scraps of cloth got dirty, so what. Tomorrow I'll have someone go to the mall and buy a pile of designer baby clothes. Is any of this worth throwing a fit over?"

I steadied myself against the wall and looked at the dirty clothes on the floor.

"No need."

I got to my feet and went to grab my bag from the entryway.

Jason rushed over at once, grabbed my wrist, and snapped at me:

"Are you done making a scene? Can't you be sensible, for the baby's sake?"

I wrenched my hand free.

"Go live with my overgrown baby of a cousin."

I pulled open the door and walked out without looking back.

The wind outside cut to the bone.

I took out my phone, called the hospital, and booked the labor-induction procedure for three days out.

Jason came after me, draped his coat over my shoulders, his tone softening.

"It's cold out. Let me take you home."

I didn't refuse.

Because this was the last time.

Three days later.

The storm warning had come true. Outside, wind and rain lashed the windows, and the tree branches thrashed hard.

In the bedroom, I quietly packed my documents and a few clothes into my backpack.

Then a violent, dragging pain tore through my belly.

Something warm gushed out of me.

I looked down and saw a wide, glaring stain of red spreading across my dress.

Clutching my stomach, cold sweat pouring off me, I dragged myself into the living room.

Jason was standing there with his car keys, pulling on his coat, ready to leave.

"Jason..."

"Take me to the hospital. The baby... I don't think I can save it."

My voice came out weak as I grabbed the hem of his coat.

His brows knit tight. He glanced at the blood on my dress, and his hand closed harder around the keys.

But he didn't move.

"Janice, Kayla got trapped at an audition out in the suburbs. There's a mudslide risk out there any minute. She's out there alone, crying her eyes out. I have to go get her."

I stared at him, not believing it, and the words came out almost a scream.

"This is your own flesh and blood!"

Right then, Kayla's video call came through.

On the screen, she was soaked through and sobbing.

"Jason, the wind is so strong, I'm so scared. Am I going to die out here..."

Jason looked at the screen, his eyes full of panic.

He pried my clinging hand off him by force.

"It's just some spotting. Call 911 and you'll be fine. Kayla could actually die out there."

And with that, ignoring my cry of pain, he rushed out the door.

The door slammed shut.

I dropped to the floor. Through the window, I watched his car vanish down the road.

The pain in my belly was tearing me apart, but it was nothing next to the pain in my chest.

I forced through it and called 911 myself.

The ambulance fought its way through the downpour to reach me.

The paramedics lifted me onto the stretcher, working on me while they asked, "Where's your husband? A situation this dangerous, and no family here?"

I pulled a bleak little smile.

"He's dead."

At the ER, the doctor examined me fast.

His face was grave. "The fetal heartbeat is faint. You waited far too long to get here, and the severe emotional shock triggered heavy bleeding."

"We have to do the induction procedure right now to save your life."

I lay on the cold operating table, staring up at the harsh light overhead.

I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene.

I just calmly took the pen and signed my name on the consent form.

Just before they pushed in the anesthetic, my phone buzzed on the pillow beside me.

A message from Jason.

"Got Kayla. The rain's too heavy and the roads are closed, so we're going to stay at a hotel tonight. Does your stomach still hurt? I'll order you some delivery."

I looked at the screen and felt nothing but how absurd it all was.

I pulled the engagement diamond off my ring finger and dropped it into the metal tray beside me.

"Nurse, could you throw this away for me? Thank you."

Then I opened the message and sent him my last reply.

"Don't bother coming back. Your baby is gone, and so are we. It's completely over."

Sent. Then blocked.

The anesthetic took hold, and I closed my eyes and sank into endless dark.

When the surgery was over, weak as I was, I checked myself out under cover of night.

With the backpack I'd packed long before, I boarded a night train for somewhere far away.

And vanished completely from his world.