I quietly followed them.

Inside the examination room, Daniel's voice trembled as he spoke to the doctor.

He had always been calm and composed—I’d never seen him so panicked before.

The woman clutched his hand tightly, her words spilling out in a frantic mess. “Danny, my stomach hurts so much… I’m scared…”

Daniel patiently comforted her. His voice was so gentle it could have melted into water. “It’s okay. Our baby is safe inside you, remember? The doctor said this morning that in just one more month, we’ll finally get to meet him.”

She calmed a little under his soothing words but still refused to let go of him. “Danny, do you prefer a boy or a girl? What if the baby isn’t cute? Will you stop loving them?”

Daniel let out a helpless chuckle, and his voice was filled with indulgence. "I'll love them no matter what. And with a mother as beautiful as you, our baby will definitely be adorable. Don't overthink it…"

Tears streamed down my face. I just could not watch any longer—I turned and walked out of the hospital.

I forced myself to make it home, but the pain in my heart made it hard to breathe.

Daniel and I had dated for three years and been married for seven. A third of my life had been spent with him.

When we were together, he had always been gentle and thoughtful, his eyes filled with nothing but love for me.

I came from a broken home, so I grew up sensitive and insecure. He had spoiled me, little by little, turning me into a willful princess.

His parents had never approved of me, and after our marriage, their dissatisfaction only grew as I failed to conceive.

Daniel had argued with them for my sake, insisting that our fertility issues were his fault, not mine.

He had treated me so well that I had never even considered the possibility of us parting ways. However, today, at the hospital, seeing the way he treated that woman…

I finally realized that Daniel's gentleness and attentiveness had never belonged to me alone.

He could be this way with anyone, as long as he wanted to.

I had been such a fool to believe otherwise.

That night, Daniel came home. It had only been a few hours, but he already looked visibly exhausted, his eyes were clouded with fatigue.

He walked straight to me, knelt down, and buried his head against my knees.

It was a vulnerable posture—one that would have tugged at my heart in the past.

My nose tingled as tears threatened to fall again, but I reminded myself not to soften.

"Talk to me. Who is she? How does she know me? How long have you two been together?"

With every question I asked, I felt another piece of my heart shatter.

His muscles tensed for a moment before he finally spoke, his voice strained..

"She… she's my new assistant. She saw you once last year when you visited my office."

I thought for a moment and vaguely remembered. If I was not mistaken, her name was Elena Morris. She had just graduated last year.

When I went to see Daniel, she was the one who served me tea.

I vaguely recalled her sneaking a few extra glances at me back then.

During that time, Daniel often complained about her, saying she was clueless and could not do anything right.

He had made those comments while his eyes lingered on their chat screen. Lately, he had been like this often.

I would casually remark, "She seems pretty smart. And she's quite pretty too."

Daniel would hesitate for a moment before vaguely replying that he never paid attention to any woman's appearance except mine.

I’d laughed it off back then, calling him a smooth-talker. After that, he never mentioned her again.

I assumed he had fired her, until now…

I struggled to get the words out. "So, you two started this way back then?"

"No!" Daniel hurriedly denied it.

However, I did not know whether I could trust him anymore.

"It was an accident," he explained anxiously. "Last year, when you went on that trip, I had too much to drink at a business dinner. She helped me home, and I don't know how it happened…”

"I swear, it was only that one time. I had no idea she would get pregnant. She has a unique medical condition, so she couldn't terminate it, and I…"

Daniel was still rambling in a panic, but my eyes widened as realization hit me.

"So that time when you suddenly came to see me… that night, when you were especially intense…”

"It wasn't because you missed me like you said. It was because you had slept with her, and guilt was eating you alive, wasn't it?"

Daniel's pupils contracted. His lips trembled as he gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

A wave of nausea surged up my throat, and I rushed to the bathroom, vomiting until I was dizzy.

Daniel followed me, patting my back in a panic, trying to make me feel better.

"Don't touch me!" I spun around, glaring at him with pure hatred.

It was no wonder he had been acting so strangely back then. A man who had always been a workaholic suddenly abandoned his job to spend half a month with me.

I had been overjoyed, thinking it was because he truly loved me. Turns out he was just drowning in guilt after cheating on me.

What made it worse was that they had been together in our bedroom, on the bed where Daniel and I had slept for seven years…

My furious stare seemed to terrify him. He stood frozen, motionless, for what felt like an eternity.

With nowhere to vent my rage, I shot to my feet and stormed into the bedroom. My eyes scanned the room until they landed on the eyebrow razor sitting on the vanity.

I grabbed it and slashed at the duvet cover, the sheets, the pillows—like a mad woman.

Feathers from the down comforter scattered through the air like snow, leaving the room in complete chaos.

Even so, it still was not enough. Everything dirty needed to be destroyed!

Daniel followed behind me, his face twisted in pain as he tried to stop me.

In my blind fury, I accidentally slashed his hand. Blood gushed from the wound, stark against the sea of white feathers.

At last, I felt a strange sense of calm. My empty gaze landed on our wedding photo. We looked so happy back then.

Closing my eyes, I finally spoke in despair. "Daniel, let's get a divorce."

It was as if I had uttered the most terrifying words imaginable. Ignoring his still-bleeding wound, Daniel lunged forward and held me tightly.

His voice was thick with sorrow, almost suffocating. "No, Abby, we're not getting a divorce. I swear, once the baby is born, I'll cut all ties with her. Everything will go back to the way it was. You know I only love you. I can't lose you."

A cold sneer rose in my heart.

How could anything ever be the same again? The Daniel who had once loved me with all his heart no longer existed.

We became locked in a strange standoff.

No matter how much I lashed out at him, he remained patient, always smiling, always treating me with the same tenderness as before.

Yet the moment I mentioned divorce, he played dumb.

Meanwhile, his phone rang constantly, and every time, it was Elena.

Whenever I was around, he would decline the calls.

Yet late at night, he would sneak onto the balcony, whispering to her in that unbearably gentle voice, soothing her emotions like she was the most precious thing in the world.

One evening at the dinner table, his phone rang again. He rejected the call just like always.

I scoffed. "Go ahead and answer. our midnight whispering really messes with my sleep.”

I had expected him to look ashamed.

Instead, he responded smoothly, "Then I won't call her anymore. Eat more broccoli—you've lost weight lately."

I was about to call out his pretense when my own phone suddenly rang. Daniel's expression darkened the moment he saw the caller ID.

His reaction told me everything I needed to know.

I then put the call on speaker, and Elena's tearful voice came through immediately.

"Abigail, can you ask Mr. Cooper to come see me? Please, have some mercy on his child… It's his own flesh and blood…"

Daniel frantically ended the call, his face was filled with panic and fear. I simply stared at him.

Strangely, there was no hatred left inside me. Only sadness.

This man was no longer mine.

"I want to see Elena."

Daniel took me to one of his properties. Everywhere I looked, there were signs of two people living together.

A pair of slippers—one large, one small—sat neatly by the door. Matching mugs were placed side by side on the table.

Everything in this house screamed at me, reminding me that while I had been oblivious, Daniel had built a second home with someone else.

Elena noticed the daze on my face and flashed a smug look before speaking softly.

"Everything here was prepared by Danny. Even the nursery—he oversaw every detail of the renovation.”

"Since we don't know the baby's gender, he designed two versions: one pink, one blue. He's so thoughtful, isn't he?"

Her voice dripped with pride.

Of course, I knew just how thoughtful Daniel was.

Otherwise, he would not have managed to do all this right under my nose without me suspecting a thing.

Elena continued, "Abigail, if I were you, I'd divorce Mr. Cooper immediately. He loves children. That means he'll be tied to me forever. Doesn't that drive you crazy?"

The moment Daniel was not looking, Elena dropped the innocent act, revealing her true colors. I knew she was deliberately provoking me.

I smiled. "Why should I divorce him? As long as I stay married, everything he owns belongs to me—including this house. Daniel loves me and is drowning in guilt. If I wanted to, I could kick you out anytime."

"You…" Elena gasped, her breathing quickening in anger.

Yet within a second, she regained her composure.

She took a step closer and whispered near my ear, "Then let's see who Danny chooses."

Before I could process what she meant, she suddenly knocked over a cup on the table and deliberately slammed herself against the edge of it.

"Ah… Abigail, don't push me!"

The next moment, Daniel rushed to her side like the wind, his face full of panic. Elena clutched her stomach as she cried out in pain.

Without hesitation, Daniel scooped her into his arms and hurried toward the door.

As he passed me, he glanced at me. There was disappointment flickering in his eyes.

"Daniel," I called out. "If I say I didn't push her, would you believe me?"

He hesitated for just a second—but it was enough. Then, he turned and left without a word.

I knew Elena's scheme had worked.

I stood there in a daze for what felt like half the day before slowly crouching down to pick up the shattered glass pieces from the floor.

It was not until a sharp fragment sliced my finger that I snapped back to reality—this was not my home.

This was Daniel's home with another woman.

I had never truly had a home.

At that moment, something inside me shattered—irrevocably, completely.

While Daniel stood anxiously outside the operating room, waiting for Elena's child to be born, I lay on an operating table of my own.

I ended our child's life with my own hands.

While he held his newborn and discussed who the baby resembled with Elena, I took out the divorce papers I had prepared, along with a video recording

Then, I walked away from the home I had lived in for seven years.

At the hospital, Daniel watched as his parents beamed and cradled the baby in their arms. Their smiles stretched wide with joy.

For a brief moment, he felt relieved.

Finally, he had fulfilled his duty to continue the family line. His parents could no longer pressure him.

He could not deny that seeing the child filled him with happiness.

After all, this was his firstborn—perhaps even his only child.

He thought about how, when he got home, he would tell Abigail that the Cooper family now had an heir.

She would never have to go through the agony of hormone injections for IVF.

He had given his parents what they wanted.

From now on, things could return to the way they were—because he had only ever loved her.

However, when he recalled the despair in Abigail's voice when he had carried Elena away, a deep unease crept into his heart.

He needed to go home. He had to explain everything to her. Ignoring his parents' attempts to stop him, he rushed out of the hospital room.

He thought about buying a bouquet of Abigail's favorite white roses on the way.

Every time he upset her, all it took was flowers and a heartfelt apology, and she would forgive him.

This time would be no different.

As he hurried down the hospital corridor, he ran into the doctor who had been overseeing Abigail's IVF treatments.

The doctor grabbed his arm. "Hey, where's your wife? She missed her prenatal checkup last month."

Daniel's steps came to an abrupt halt. His mind buzzed as if someone had struck him over the head.

It took him a long moment to find his voice. "What… did you just say?"