Chapter 4
It must have been my strange behavior that tipped Dwayne off. His gaze shifted to my flat stomach, and his voice took on an
unusually nervous tone, “What’s wrong with you?”
Just as he seemed ready to accompany me for the examination, Annie suddenly doubled over in pain. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her face turned pale as she weakly called out to him.
“Mr. Doyle, I feel so uncomfortable…”
Dwayne hesitated for a moment but ultimately turned away from me, choosing to help Annie instead. He guided her back to the examination room, leaving me standing there frozen.
A wave of memories hit me, and I suddenly recalled the day I had begged Dwayne to
take just ten minutes to drive me to the hospital.
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I had pleaded desperately, insisting that it would only take ten minutes, but he refused.
I was shaking from the cold, my body convulsing, but I kept begging him.
But his response was cruel, “Annie says that pregnant women are just being dramatic. I know you want to keep me, but using the child to manipulate me won’t work anymore!”
“If you want to pretend, then go ahead- pretend as much as you want!”
He slammed the door on me and locked me
inside the house.
The stark contrast between his callous departure back then and his nervous
concern for Annie now was jarring–like night and day.
Perhaps due to some lingering conscience, Dwayne turned back and said to me, “Wait here. I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
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Watching him help Annie leave, I took a deep breath, then turned and walked into the outpatient department.
Although Dwayne never cared for me, he was always there for the children.
On every prenatal check–up day, no matter how much Annie cried or caused trouble, Dwayne would always show up by my side, fulfilling his so–called fatherly duty.
But it was only for the check–ups. He never wanted to be around at any other time.
Because Annie told him that the more a pregnant woman is pampered, the more pretentious she becomes.
And what Dwayne hated most were pretentious women.
I had once thought that this was his true nature, but now it seemed his dislike was reserved only for me.
Eight years had passed.
It was long enough to replace every cell in
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a person’s body and transform them into someone entirely different.
In the end, my children and I were nothing more than relics of the past.
So before I left, I wanted to give Dwayne an unforgettable surprise.
I found all of Annie‘ s social media profiles and saved every piece of her and Dwayne’s shared life, using it as leverage for our divorce.
Once I finished, I blocked Annie and did the same to Dwayne.
My world seemed to have pressed the pause button at that moment.
The day before I was set to board my flight, I received a call from an unknown number.
It was Annie on the other end, and her tone was so sweet that it made it impossible to feel angry:
“Tricia, tomorrow is my housewarming. Are you free to come and join us?”
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I knew Annie’s call was meant to provoke me. On such an important day for her, Dwayne would undoubtedly be there.
Sure enough, Annie started showing off in the next sentence:
“Recently, Mr. Doyle has been personally buying furniture for me. He stays at my house when he’s too busy. You won’t mind, right?”
“I always say a woman needs capital- whether it’s a career or youth. Without either, no one will care, even if she runs
away.”
If I had heard these words before, I would have rushed over and slapped Annie twice.
But now, her provocations no longer stirred anything in my heart.
Another whisper of intimacy came through the phone, and Annie intentionally inserted my name between her breaths.
Dwayne couldn’t help but sneer and said
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with disgust, “You still think you‘ re a young girl, playing these childish games of running away from home. You have no shame.”
“Anyway, she’s carrying my child. Even if she runs to the ends of the earth, she can’t get rid of me!”
“But honey, you can’t leave me. If you disappear, I will die of anxiety!”
The tip of my nose felt sour. I didn’t expect such words to come out of Dwayne’s
mouth.
He was once a father who longed for a family of three,
What’s the difference between him now and the person he scorned when he was a boy?
I turned off the record button on the phone, looked at the countdown to the
boarding reminder, and breathed a sigh of relief.
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Next, we just need to wait quietly for tomorrow to arrive.
On the day of her housewarming, Annie was so excited that even the live broadcast room, which had not been updated for a long time, was restarted.
In the camera lens, she held Dwayne’s hand like a pair of beauties. Those who came to visit and give gifts were all friends of Dwayne’s company.
It turned out that these people had long known about Dwayne and Annie’s affair.
Among them was a courier boy whose attire attracted everyone’s attention. He held up the document bag in his hand and shouted loudly, “Mr. Dwayne, here’s a courier sent to you by Miss Tricia.”
When Dwayne heard my name, all the
friends present showed contempt and were
unwilling to take the folder.
However, Annie walked over openly,
smiled broadly at everyone, and said, “Is
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this a gift from Tricia to me?”
Dwayne didn’t expect that I would use express delivery to upset everyone at this time. He took the express delivery and was about to throw it into the trash can.
The raised hand paused again, and after thinking for a moment, Dwayne opened the folder.
There was only a thin abortion surgery report sheet inside.
“How is it possible…” Under the live broadcast camera, I saw Dwayne’s face gradually turning pale.
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