“Wife, this pregnancy is making you suffer so much. Even if the child is born, what if it isn’t well-behaved? I don’t want to see you go through all this pain for nothing. Maybe… we shouldn’t keep this child, alright?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, that childish voice echoed again. “Yes, Dad, I’ll try harder. Let’s hang in there together!”

“Ah! It hurts… it hurts so much…”

In an instant, my wife’s face turned pale. She curled up on the ground, her body writhing in pain. Her eyes, red and filled with tears, locked on mine with fierce desperation.

“Lucius, there’s no father like you in this world! If you don’t want me and the baby, then let’s get a divorce right now! I’d rather walk away with nothing than give up this child! Otherwise, just let me die here!”

“Dad, don’t believe her! She’s lying to you!”

But guilt had already consumed me. I gathered my wife into my arms, holding her tightly.

“Young man, you’re really lucky. Your wife is carrying twins!”

As I helped my wife into the car, an elderly woman’s voice came from behind me. I turned and saw the badge on her chest that read “Postpartum Recovery Specialist, Director Rosalind Turner.”

Noticing the surprise on my face, she quickly explained, “I’m the director here at the yoga studio, in charge of postpartum recovery. Young man, you haven’t done a proper prenatal checkup yet, right? I’ve seen tens of thousands of pregnant women, and I won’t mistake it; your wife is definitely carrying twins.”

I stared at her, stunned. “But we just had a prenatal checkup yesterday. Nine weeks and three days… the doctor said only one fetus.”

“Impossible! Your wife’s belly is already too big. If it’s not twins, then the months must have been miscalculated.”

My wife had already sat down in the car, not hearing a word of this. She looked at me with a joyful smile, but at that moment, her smile felt like a dark hole ready to swallow me whole.

Seeing the panic on my face, the elderly woman tapped her badge. “Search my name online. You’ll see I have authority in this field.”

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone to search. When the results came up, my face went pale.

The woman in front of me was the retired director of the most famous maternity hospital in Auburn, an authority among authorities.

“Young man, don’t be so tense. Go to another hospital and check again. Everything’s electronic now, mistakes can happen…”

That childish voice rang by my ear again.

“Didn’t I tell you, Dad? This time, you believe me, right? Hurry and think of a way, I don’t have much patience left!”

I numbly got into the car and forced myself to look at my wife sitting beside me.

“You didn’t look well earlier, and I can’t feel at ease. Let’s go to another hospital and check again.”

Maybe because she remembered the pain she had gone through, my wife didn’t hesitate and agreed.

The examination finished quickly. When my wife went into the bathroom, I grabbed the doctor’s wrist, my voice trembling.

“Doctor… the one in my wife’s belly… is it… is it human?”

The doctor pulled his hand free and looked at me in disbelief. “If you’re sick, go see the psychiatric department!”

“No, no, that’s not what I mean. I’m asking if it’s one baby or two?”

The doctor’s face showed clear impatience. “I already told you, one fetus, nine weeks and three days!”

“But then why is my wife’s belly so big? Someone said she might be carrying twins; if not, then the months must be wrong…”

The doctor lifted his head and stared at me for a long time without speaking. Then, all of a sudden, his expression turned angry.

“Am I the expert here, or not? Someone said, someone said, then why don’t you have that person do the checkup instead? Your family members are really something!”

“There are plenty of reasons for a big belly! The baby could just be growing faster, or the mother might be overnourished…”

I caught sight of myself in the mirror, looking miserable, and let out a bitter laugh. The hospital didn’t believe me. My wife didn’t believe me. Yet I kept clinging to a voice I couldn’t even be sure was real.

I sank down in the corridor, feeling defeated. Just then, my wife walked toward me, and that voice came again.

“Did you go to that hospital on Turner Street for the checkup? Of course, the result was normal. That hospital’s records were already tampered with by them!”

I shot up from the chair, my eyes falling on the address on the medical record, Turner Street.

My whole body collapsed inside, my heart pounding wildly. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to tell my wife everything that had happened these past days.

But just as I pushed myself up from the chair, that voice came again.

“Dad, don’t go!”

“Mom just met with that man. In three days, she’ll take me and run far away. Before that, she’s going to make you transfer all the property. You’d better think of a way!”

As the voice faded, my wife suddenly grabbed my hand. “Lucius, you said once I got pregnant, you’d transfer the family property into my name. Hurry and do it, let me be happy sooner…”

My vision went dark, and I slid down against the wall, powerless.

In those few seconds as I fell, my mind spun.

If what this child said was true, then why hadn’t the DNA report in my previous life matched?

If the child was lying, why did every clue fit perfectly?

I had been given a second life, yet even now I was still being dragged along by this voice, as if I had understood nothing at all. Fear rose and wrapped around me, swallowing me whole.

I began to wonder, could it be that the thing in her belly was controlling how everything unfolded? It seemed to sense any movement that made a sound. With that thought, an idea suddenly came to me.

Ignoring my wife’s faint look of displeasure, I rushed into the doctor’s office. I grabbed his pen and quickly wrote, [I want a DNA test done through your overseas branch! I’ll pay whatever it takes!]

This was a private hospital. The doctor didn’t like me, but the chance to earn a commission made him nod right away. He scribbled back, [Results in 72 hours.]

“Husband, why do you always look so troubled whenever I bring up the property? Do you regret it?”

On the way back, those were the first words my usually quiet wife spoke. My heart jumped, but I forced a smile.

“How could I? The auditors are still working these days. We'll handle the transfer once the audit finishes in three days.”

My wife didn’t reply. All the way, the voice that spanned two lives kept circling in my mind. As I was on the verge of believing it again, my wife pressed two sheets of paper into my hand.

“This is the property waiver agreement. These past days, your absentmindedness has been obvious. You saying you don’t want this child is probably because of this. But I truly just want to live a good life with you.”

I slammed the brakes, pulling the car to the roadside.

That voice came again, perfectly timed, “Dad, don’t believe her words! This is a trap to capture you by letting go! Your time isn’t long, only three days! They’re about to act!”

Days of nonstop torment had pushed me to the edge. I left my wife in the care of the housekeeper, using work at the company as an excuse, and didn’t go home for three days and nights.

I locked myself in the office, staying awake for seventy-two hours straight. Was she cheating or not? Was the child mine or not? My head was filled with nothing else.

I set an alarm, and when it rang at the fifty-ninth minute, I jumped up from the floor to the desk, brushing off the ash that had gathered on me.

In my inbox sat a single email from overseas. With bloodshot eyes and trembling hands, I clicked it open. It was a freshly issued DNA report.

The mouse wheel turned slowly as I scrolled, my eyes widening as I stared at the result. The moment I saw it, everything hit me.