3

The next morning, when I woke up, Harry had specially prepared breakfast.

He brought the breakfast to my side, his gaze falling on the corners of my eyes, and gently wiped my tears away.

"Don't cry so early in the morning. You won’t be pretty if you cry."

There was a hint of tenderness in his eyes, but it lacked the love he had for Emily.

I had once loved those features of his, because back then, his eyes were filled with love for me.

But now, everything had changed.

Halfway through breakfast, Emily arrived with a tote bag.

Watching her familiar figure enter the Somerfield family's residence felt as if she were the true mistress of this home.

Emily naturally placed the bag on the table and then pulled out a chair to sit next to Harry.

The moment Harry saw her, the calmness in his eyes was instantly replaced by affection.

The fleeting emotion in his eyes pierced my heart.

He claimed to have feelings for me, yet maintained an intimate relationship with Emily.

But if he didn’t have feelings for me, yet he was willing to comfort me.

I desperately tried to suppress my emotions, trying not to explode in another argument with Harry.

When Emily noticed my gaze on her, a smug smile appeared on her face.

She opened her tote bag and presented the oat porridge to me.

"I have to thank Hailey for helping me with my live stream last time. Otherwise, Harry and I wouldn't have reached a million followers. I made this oat porridge myself early this morning, just to thank you, Hailey."

Her words struck my heart like a dagger.

I wanted to forget that Harry had thrown me into the crocodile pit.

But that incident lingered in my mind like a shadow that wouldn’t fade away.

After all, he was my husband whom I loved for seven years, and I always thought about giving him one more chance.

But was Emily trying to provoke me with her words?

After she finished speaking, Harry thoughtfully brought her a new set of cutlery from the kitchen.

Seeing his gentle and considerate demeanor, I realized he had never treated me this way. I had always cared for him.

I realized I had been the joke all along.

I set the cutlery aside and looked at Emily.

"Don’t you know Harry is married? Even if you’re friends, it’s not appropriate to be so intimate. Take your oat porridge away. I don’t want it."

Emily glanced at me, her attitude suddenly aggressive, and then pretended to be pitiful, hiding behind Harry.

Seeing his first love upset, Harry quickly pulled her into his embrace.

"Emily has never cooked for anyone before. She’s doing this for you, just have a bite. How can someone in their late 20s not understand basic social etiquette? Stop being so dramatic."

Watching him protect Emily made my heart sink.

Why was her little temperament seen as lively and cute, while my stance was deemed dramatic?

I threw the oat porridge she had handed me aside.

"Stop pretending. I don’t need your food, just leave!"

My hand hadn’t even touched her, but in the next moment, she suddenly cried out.

"Hailey, even if you hate me, you can’t intentionally burn me with the oat porridge!"

Harry hurriedly took Emily to the kitchen, repeatedly rinsing her hand with cold water.

Seeing the two of them together completely disappointed me.

It seemed our marriage really had no reason to continue.

I turned and walked to the bedroom, preparing to pack my things and leave, when Harry grabbed my sleeve.

"Stop trying to avoid things. I really don’t have the energy to comfort you. Emily’s hand is burned; hurry up and apologize!"

I looked at Emily's hand, which showed no sign of being burned by the porridge; it was clearly reddened from Harry's rinsing.

"If I said I didn’t burn her hand with the oat porridge, would you believe me?"

Harry's expression turned cold as he pushed me back forcefully.

"I’m pushing you to apologize to Emily. If you’re this stubborn again, then there’s really no need for this marriage to continue."

At that moment, when he pushed me to the ground, my body hit the corner of the table due to the momentum.

In the next instant, I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and I instinctively curled up.

I sensed blood trickling from my abdomen and shouted his name.

"My lower abdomen hurts so much. Harry, take me to the hospital!"

But Harry didn’t look back at me and just left with Emily.

He then said, "If you don’t want to admit your mistakes, don’t use this as an excuse. Since you love to put on a show, you can stay down."

Before I completely lost consciousness, I used my last bit of strength to call for an ambulance.

When I woke up, I was already in the hospital.

The doctor shook his head regretfully. "Ms. Rane, you’ve had a miscarriage."

The doctor’s words struck me like lightning.

I instinctively touched my flat abdomen, where a life had once grown, but it was gone now.

I closed my eyes to accept it all.

At that moment, Harry called.

His tone was impatient on the other end of the line. "I can forgive you for hurting Emily, but to make up for it, transfer 10 thousand dollars to my account. I want to take her out for some fresh air."

Harry's nonchalant words completely broke my heart.

"To think you can go travel with someone else right after losing your own child. Harry, you truly are one of a kind."

4

I didn’t expect Harry to come to the hospital to see me.

He took food out of a lunch box and then thoughtfully opened a bottle of milk for me.

“This meal is specially made for you, so don’t be angry, okay? If you hadn’t been so temperamental, Emily wouldn’t have gotten hurt. What’s wrong with giving her some money as compensation?”

I looked up at the “home-cooked meal” Harry mentioned.

In the seven years we were married, he had never stepped into the kitchen. He didn’t know how to cook.

The breakfast he made for me yesterday was also just so that he could speak on Emily’s behalf.

The food he brought out was clearly takeaway, and even his way of comforting me felt so perfunctory.

In our seven years of marriage, I had always felt like I was being emotionally manipulated by him.

Clearly, it was my desire to travel with my beloved first love, but he insisted on placing all the blame on me.

“What did I do to make you hate me so much? Are you trying to squeeze out my last bit of worth?”

Harry didn’t expect me to express my stance so resolutely.

He stood up and looked at me, his eyes filled with overwhelming hatred.

At that moment, we seemed more like enemies than lovers.

“I kindly helped you ask for Emily’s forgiveness, but you, Hailey, never listen! Since that’s the case, don’t blame me for taking things to the extreme!”

After saying that, Harry turned and left.

Before he left, he threw all the food he had brought into the trash.

“You don’t deserve to eat the food I brought; I’d rather feed it to a dog!”

After he left, I wanted to close my eyes and rest for a bit.

The past few days of high stress and the loss of my child had left me utterly exhausted.

But just as I closed my eyes, my phone buzzed.

When I looked at it, I saw all my friends questioning me.

I also opened the video my best friend had sent, and my heart sank.

I wondered what Harry meant when he said that he would take things to the extreme.

It turned out he had posted videos of me in the crocodile pool online for sale.

While selling them, he had added words like “hot” and “foxy.”

The simplest way to ruin a girl was through slander.

Selling videos was no different from spreading rumors.

Looking at the comments from friends on social media, they were all explicit and harsh.

When I returned home to confront Harry, he was packing luggage with Emily.

“Selling Hailey’s video online could make us a fortune. She deserves such a fate for being a waste!”

Hearing Harry belittle me like this completely shattered my view of the world.

I thought the love and companionship over the past seven years would be enough for him to love me, but in the end, it was all for nothing.

“Harry, you’re the person that I love the most, and this is how you treat me? In the end, who do you think you are hurting? Don’t you know that slandering a woman can make her unable to survive? Do you want me dead?”

Harry looked at me coldly, not expecting my sudden return.

He stood up and walked step by step toward me.

“If you can’t help Emily gain popularity, then you are the biggest sinner. Hailey, I gave you a chance to back down, but you just wouldn’t listen!”

I thought I had completely given up on him.

But hearing those words made my heart ache uncontrollably.

When Emily saw us about to argue, she hurried over to stop us.

But by doing so, she only deepened the conflict.

When Emily stood beside me, her tone was full of arrogance.

“As long as I make a slight gesture, your beloved husband will become mine. As for you, Hailey. You’ll always be a loser!”

Seeing how arrogant Emily was, I slapped her in the face.

When Harry saw his first love being hit, he quickly pulled her into his arms to comfort her.

After he finished comforting Emily, he walked up to me.

“I gave you a chance. You were not only stubborn, but also likes to pretend to be pitiful as well. Let’s give each other some room. You disappoint me.”

Listening to Harry’s words, my lips curved into a sneer.

It seemed that he still thought my miscarriage was a fake. After being married for seven years, he still didn’t trust me.

I took out a medical report from my pocket and passed it to him.

“The child in my womb is now gone because of you. Does this count as pretending to be pitiful?”