At seven months pregnant, my water broke and I required urgent medical intervention. Only my husband, who was the head of the obstetrics department, had the expertise to save the baby.

Although the situation was critical, as long as he came back, there was hope for the child.

But I couldn’t reach Aaron on the phone.

In the end, the baby was delivered via C-section but tragically suffocated to death.

After coming out of the operating room, I saw Yvonne's post on her social media.

“I told Aaron that I’ve been feeling anxious since getting pregnant, so he brought me to the church to pray for blessings!”

The accompanying picture showed Yvonne beaming like a flower, while Aaron stood beside her, solemnly clasping his hands in prayer.

A single tear rolled down my cheek and my heart sank into despair.

She had just gotten pregnant, yet the baby I had carried, fully formed, had died at their hands.

——

“It’s too late. The baby isn’t breathing anymore…”

In an instant, my mind buzzed with a deafening roar.

The partial effect of the anesthesia hadn’t worn off yet. Just moments ago, I could still feel the baby being taken out of my abdomen. How could it be gone now?

“Please, I beg you, save the baby. There must still be hope,” I begged to the doctor

Hearing this, the nurse patted the soles of the baby’s feet again, but there wasn’t a single sound.

I knew what this meant.

My nose felt sore and my eyes were filled with tears.

The doctor took off his mask and looked at me with an expression that seemed reluctant.

“Please accept my condolences. You’ve just undergone a C-section; you absolutely can’t cry. Otherwise, it could trigger amniotic fluid embolism and cause massive bleeding."

A nurse I was familiar with tried to console me. “That’s right. You and Mr. Mild will have more children in the future. Please take care of your health. Hold back your tears and I’ll take you back to your room to rest.”

I forced back my tears, stubbornly lifting my head and using all my strength to grasp the doctor’s sleeve.

“Darren, please, I beg you, save the baby one more time. Please…”

Darren shook his head and sighed. “The only one in our hospital capable of performing respiratory surgery on a premature baby is Aaron. But he’s not here right now. There’s nothing we can do…"

The color drained from my face. At that moment, it felt as though ice-cold water had poured over me from head to toe, leaving my heart frozen to its core.

I withdrew my hand with a trembling fingertips.

I was seven months pregnant and had a caesarean section because of a ruptured amniotic fluid.

At the critical moment, Aaron couldn't be contacted at all. All the text messages and phone calls seemed to fall on deaf ears and Aaron didn't respond.

I comforted myself that he might be busy with a medical meeting. After all, he told me he was going on a business trip when he left home a few days ago.

Until I saw Yvonne's social media updated a few hours ago.

“I told Aaron that I’ve been feeling anxious since getting pregnant, so he brought me to the church to pray for blessings!”

Yvonne in the picture smiled gently and lovely and my husband was beside her, clasping his hands devoutly, praying for her child.

Suddenly, there was a strange sharp pain in my chest, as if a sharp blade cutting into my heart, deep and heavy and splashing blood all the way.

I gasped for breath, but the suffocating feeling refused to subside.

Yvonne was Aaron’s junior from university and his care for her far exceeded the bounds of ordinary friendship.

Whenever I felt unhappy about it, he would always frown and scold me, "You know Yvonne’s husband is a sailor and often away. She’s frequently home alone and now that she’s pregnant, how could I not take extra care of her?"

Even after I became pregnant, he always put Yvonne first in everything and even demanded that I did the same.

There were several times when he woke me up in the middle of the night, just to ask me to arrange for some newly released nutritional supplements from the company for Yvonne.

I should have realized long ago that Yvonne was the one he truly cherished, the one he feared might feel pain, suffer grievances, or experience discomfort.

As for me, I was nothing more than someone insignificant.

I could endure everything in the past, turning a blind eye to it all. But now, the pain of contractions, the aching in my lower abdomen and the sound of a baby crying from the neighboring ward all told me.

“Ziva, it’s because you’re so weak and you kept giving him the chance to hurt you again and again, that you caused the death of your own child!’ I cursed at myself

I endured the pain, tears welling up in my eyes and dialed the lawyer's number. "Mr. Scott, help me draft a divorce agreement. I want a divorce."

On the third day after the baby’s death, Aaron finally rushed over.

He was still wearing the same clothes from Yvonne’s social media post and I could faintly smell the perfume on him.

"Ziva, why did you make so many calls? Is something wrong?"

Aaron approached, his hand reaching for mine, his expression clearly showing an unspoken sense of guilt.

"I was busy preparing materials for the surgery meeting on my side and didn’t see your calls."

Before the surgery, both the hospital and I had called countless times, but none of the calls were answered.

Clearly, as a doctor, Aaron never turned off or silenced his phone.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t received my calls, it was that he was too busy attending to Yvonne to care about me.

The young nurse who was changing my IV leaned forward, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something, but I quickly grabbed her hand before she could speak.

"It’s nothing, just that my water broke and I was urgently admitted to the hospital."

I nodded at the nurse, signaling her not to speak of it.

After all, the baby was already gone. It was better to just let him be with his junior, Yvonne.

As the head of the obstetrics department, Aaron naturally knew that a broken amniotic sac was no small matter.

The guilt on his face grew heavier and he awkwardly asked, "Is our baby alright?"

I silently smiled, watching the leaves fall slowly outside the window.

For a long time, Aaron had always been like this.

Whenever I needed him, he was never there and only afterward would he come to offer a few comforting words.

In the past, I could deceive myself into thinking he still cared about me.

But now, the baby was gone.

When my child was gone, he was out with Yvonne, praying for blessings. I could no longer deceive myself.

"The baby is alright."

Upon hearing my answer, Aaron’s expression finally relaxed a bit.

"Then rest well. If you want anything to eat, I’ll go make it for you."

I remained indifferent, offering no reaction.

Aaron sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling me into his arms. "Ziva, you know that Yvonne is my junior. She’s very anxious since she just got pregnant and she’s alone, so I took her to pray for blessings."

I listened to his explanation, recalling when I was seven months pregnant. My body was overwhelmed by pregnancy discomfort, leaving me sleepless for nights on end, yet I never saw him pray for our child.

Indeed, love and indifference were so unmistakably clear.

I lowered my eyelids and my heart was filled with an endless bitterness and sorrow.

Seeing that I didn’t respond, Aaron assumed he had convinced me and continued, "You’re also pregnant, so you must understand Yvonne’s feelings, right?"

"Yes, I understand." I nodded, turning my head to wipe away the cold tears on my cheek.

"In the early stages of my pregnancy, I also couldn’t eat anything because of the pregnancy symptoms. I’m fine here. You can go take care of her. There’s no need to stay by my side."

There was a hint of despair and a touch of childish defiance in those words.

A faint glimmer of hope lingered in my heart, as if I was still waiting for him to react in some way.

But Aaron simply stood up from the bedside, gently patted my head and his face was full of joy.

"Ziva, you finally understand me. Then I’ll stay with Yvonne these few days to help her with some check-ups. If you need anything, just call me. I won’t ignore your calls."

Before I could say anything, he turned and left the room.

As I listened to his footsteps fade further away, the dull pain in my chest turned into a twisting knife, causing a sharp ache that made it hard to breathe.

That last shred of hope in my heart was completely crushed.

I thought again of the child that had already taken shape. At the time the baby was delivered, the one person who could have saved him, the father, remained unreachable.

In the end, the baby died in front of me, suffocating to death.

At that moment, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that the pain was unbearable.

I bit down on my pale lower lip, gripping the blanket tighter and tighter.

A week later, I was discharged from the hospital and handled all the procedures by myself.

During that week, Aaron hadn’t called me once, yet Yvonne’s social media posts never stopped.

From the pile of supplements Aaron had bought for her, to the sweater he personally knitted for her baby, to every meal carefully prepared for her, these were all things I had never received.

After becoming pregnant, there were hardly any days when I had warm meals.

Aaron always made excuses, saying that the hospital was busy and there were many pregnant women to check on. But now, he could focus entirely on staying by Yvonne’s side.

The latest update was a photo of Yvonne, wearing a pearl necklace around her neck.

That was something Aaron had promised to buy for me when I first got pregnant.

It was strange, but seeing these things again, I found myself able to scroll past them without any emotion.

I dragged my exhausted body home, staring at the clothes and toys I had prepared for the baby in the bedroom. In the end, I couldn’t hold back the tears.

The baby was supposed to arrive in just three months.

The pain in my heart felt as if it were being sliced by a knife, making every breath I took feel like a sharp, bitter ache.

I fell asleep on the bed, holding the baby’s little clothes.

In a daze, I didn’t know how long I had slept, but I was suddenly disturbed by a noisy commotion coming from the living room.

My head throbbed with pain and I peeked through the crack in the door to see what was happening outside.

Aaron had brought a group of classmates and friends to our house for a meal and Yvonne was there too. The two of them were sitting very close to each other at the table.

The shawl he had given me was now draped over her shoulders.

"Back in school, the two of you were so close. We all thought you two would end up together!"

The classmates teased them, their suggestive glances shifting between the two.

Yvonne blushed and shook her head.

"Stop joking around, we’ve both already married."

Aaron noticed her discomfort and furrowed his brows, speaking up to defend her. "You're all so old, how can you still joke around like this? Drink up!"

After a few rounds of drinks, several people were getting drunk. Trash and empty bottles were scattered all over the floor.

I couldn’t sleep because of the noise. Wanting them to quiet down, I suddenly heard someone ask Aaron.

"Aaron, you didn’t end up with Yvonne and now you’ve married another woman. Do you regret it?"

I held my breath, watching as Aaron’s lips moved, speaking.

"Not everything in life has to have the perfect ending. I won’t betray my wife. Right now, being by Yvonne's side as a brother is enough."

His gaze fell on Yvonne, who was asleep on the sofa and there seemed to be an endless tenderness in his eyes.

Even though I had mentally prepared myself for so long, hearing those words still pierced my heart like a sharp dagger.

What I had thought was mutual affection turned out to be nothing more than his second-choice option.

I took a deep breath and retreated back into the room.