He Let Her Be Mom, I Walked Away

On our wedding anniversary, Nora Hayes suddenly rubbed her belly and said to me,

“Claire, Ethan is the most loyal friend I have. If he hadn’t lent me some of his sperm, I would never have had the chance to become a mom.”

The air froze instantly.

Seeing my dark expression, Ethan Cole casually explained,

“Relax. Nora and I are like family. It’s just sperm—why are you being so petty?”

“Didn’t I ‘give’ you a whole box last night?”

His crew immediately burst into laughter.

Nora laughed too, teasing,

“Ethan, you’re so biased—gave Claire so much and only spared me one!”

“Claire, you’ve got to set him straight. Don’t let him forget about his friends just because of you, right?”

…

I gave her a cold look, then turned to Ethan. My tone was icy.

“How exactly did you ‘lend’ it?”

Ethan took a sip of his drink and raised a brow.

“Just helped her out like normal.”

“Why are you making a scene over a hotel room?”

“So you slept with her?”

I gripped my glass tighter, my whole body going cold.

Being interrogated in front of his friends, Ethan’s face stiffened, his brows knitting together.

“How else was I supposed to do it? Hospital procedures are too complicated. Nora and I go way back. Can’t I help her out?”

“And for the record, when I ‘helped’ Nora, we treated it as a serious matter. Totally professional. Nothing for you to worry about.”

He shot me a look of irritation.

“Stop filling your head with dirty thoughts. Not everything is filthy.”

I let out a cold laugh, downed half my whiskey in one go, and slapped him across the face.

If I stayed silent one more second, I wouldn’t even be a woman.

The loud smack instantly sucked all the air out of the private room.

Ethan stared at me in shock, his eyes turning red with anger.

Nora quickly grabbed a bottle of liquor and tried to play peacemaker.

“Claire, it was wrong of Ethan and me not to talk to you first.”

“How about this—I’ll toast you three times as an apology.”

She raised her glass without waiting for my answer.

“The first toast—to Claire, for having the saintly patience to put up with Ethan all these years and saving me from wearing out my new lingerie!”

Someone snickered in the room, and the rowdy atmosphere returned.

“The second toast—to Claire’s great training. You turned this three-second man into a big bad wolf—otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant on the first try.”

Ethan rolled his eyes at her, helpless but indulgent.

“Cut it out. Since when was I ever a three-second man?”

Nora grabbed the mic off the table, grinning at me.

“And the last toast—to Claire’s healthy body that hasn’t been knocked up by this guy in three years!”

She downed her drink in one gulp and added cheerfully,

“But don’t worry, Claire—when my kid is born, you’ll be his second mom. When you’re old, he’ll take care of you!”

The whole room erupted in laughter again.

Ethan moved over, pretending to cover Nora’s mouth, his hand resting on her chest.

“Good girl—you really are family.”

Nora punched him in the shoulder, then passed the glass to me.

“Come on, Claire, don’t be mad. Ethan and I really are just close friends.”

Just moments ago, his guys had all looked guilty, unable to meet my eyes.

Now, spurred on by Nora’s jokes, they glared at me like I was the one overreacting—

like I was the one turning their “pure friendship” into something dirty.

They started chiming in one after another:

“Yeah, drink up, Claire. We’re all family here—don’t make it ugly.”

“Come on, Ethan’s no pushover. A little attitude is fine, but don’t push it.”