My pregnant wife was in excruciating pain, so I rushed her to the ER. After filling out the admission forms, the doctor gave me an earful: “Look, intercourse during pregnancy is generally safe, but you need to cut back! And when you do, take it easy on her.” Those words hit me like a bucket of ice water. I’d been on a business trip for two weeks and just got back today. I hadn’t even laid a hand on her. I asked the doctor in a low voice: “Could masturbation cause issues too?” The female doctor shot me a dirty look: “Don’t try to pin this on your wife! Whether you’re the one or not, you need to take proper precautions during pregnancy to lower miscarriage risks.” I nodded numbly. After a chaotic night, Cassandra had finally drifted off into a deep sleep in her hospital bed. She’d struggled with mild insomnia throughout her pregnancy. This was the first time she’d fallen asleep so fast. I went to tuck the blanket around her, when I caught a clear glimpse of the red marks all over her chest! Had she really cheated on me? Right before I came home? If I hadn’t texted her that I was landing soon, would I have walked in on them? The marks varied in color—some darker, some lighter. Clearly, they weren’t all from today. But remembering her past allergic reactions and skin rashes, I pulled out my phone to look it up. I found that some pregnant women do develop red rashes on their chests as their breasts grow during pregnancy. Once again, I pushed down the paranoid thoughts swirling in my head. To get back early to be with Cassandra, I’d pulled three all-nighters in a row at the office. Now, watching Cassandra breathing steadily in bed, I couldn’t sleep a wink. I stayed by her bedside all night long. When Cassandra woke up well-rested and energetic, she was shocked by the dark circles under my eyes: “Babe, you didn’t sleep at all last night?” She glanced at the empty bed next to hers, looking confused: “Didn’t the nurse tell you? You could’ve slept there.” I stared at her unblinking, looking kind of dazed. This face I’d cherished and protected was so beautiful. “Babe, is there something on my face?” I shook my head: “No, I was just too worried about you and the baby. I couldn’t fall asleep.” At that, Cassandra’s eyes immediately welled up. She affectionately looped her arm through mine and kissed my cheek: “Babe, I love you.” But the doctor’s words loomed over me like a dark cloud. When we got home, I found cigarette ashes while cleaning. Nobody in our house smoked. Cassandra definitely didn’t. Before she got pregnant, the smell of smoke would make her feel suffocated. After getting pregnant, she couldn’t stand it even more. So which guy had been to my house? And felt comfortable enough to smoke in the kitchen? Just then, Cassandra said to me: “Babe, your mom brought over a chicken the other day. Could you make me some chicken soup?” My mom had been here? That made sense then. After all, my mom was a smoker. I opened the fridge and sure enough, there was a fresh chicken, already cut up. After getting everything ready and putting the soup on to simmer, I called my mom: “Mom, thanks for looking after Cassandra!” “How’s her appetite been these past few days? Is the morning sickness any better?” My mom went on and on with advice about taking care of pregnant women, but then suddenly asked: “Liam, did you get a new car?”
My heart sank for no apparent reason: “I didn’t get a new car!” “Oh, I must have seen wrong then. Never mind.” My mom hung up before I could say anything else. After tidying up the house and bringing Cassandra a nice lunch at the hospital, I finally couldn’t hold out any longer and collapsed into bed. I forced myself not to overthink. But in my restless half-sleep, I kept feeling like someone was staring at me. The sleep was fitful because my mind was troubled. I even seemed to hear Cassandra calling me, but no matter how I struggled, I couldn’t wake up. In my semi-conscious state, I thought I heard familiar sounds of heavy breathing. I don’t know how much time passed before I finally woke up. Cassandra handed me some strawberries: “Try these, they’re so sweet!” Now that she mentioned it, my throat did feel dry. “You’re supposed to be resting. Why’d you go out to buy strawberries yourself?” “I didn’t go out. Delivery’s so easy these days.” I ate the strawberries, but my mind was weighed down with worry. Once suspicion takes root, you can’t control where your thoughts go. Unfortunately, even up until discharge, I couldn’t find any more evidence. But when I went to handle the discharge paperwork, the attending physician pointed at the ultrasound and said: “Your wife needs to watch her diet. She’s only in her second trimester, but the baby is already measuring large.” I blurted out: “How is that possible? She had severe morning sickness the first three months and couldn’t keep anything down. Her appetite only improved these past two months. How could the baby be measuring large?” “It’s related to metabolism. Maybe the baby just absorbs nutrients well, or maybe your wife’s last period date wasn’t accurate. Some variance is normal!” “At this rate, the baby is about a month ahead of other fetuses the same gestational age!” Hearing this, my vision went black! A month? How could there be so many coincidences? Dammit! Was the baby in Cassandra’s belly even mine? I’d dated Cassandra for three years, and her mother flat-out refused to let her marry me. But Cassandra proposed to me herself. A month later, she started having morning sickness. I’d never imagined Cassandra would betray me. Now my mind was completely blank. To catch the son of a bitch she was sleeping with, I secretly installed surveillance cameras at home. But even when the baby was almost due, I hadn’t found a single trace! After all, this was someone I’d loved for years. I still took meticulous care of Cassandra. But no matter how I controlled her diet, her belly kept growing like a balloon, way bigger than other women at the same stage. At 35 weeks, Cassandra went into premature labor. My heart dropped. When the doctor urged me to sign the surgery consent form, I signed with shaking hands. A premature baby weighing nine pounds? Who would believe that? My mom was grinning from ear to ear as she held the baby: “This little guy looks just like you did as a baby!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I also hoped this chubby boy was my biological son. I took some of the baby’s hair for a paternity test. The waiting process was torture. When I got the results, the hope I’d been clinging to finally died…
The child had no blood relation to me whatsoever! After the other shoe dropped, I wasn’t in a rush anymore. Since Cassandra had played me like this, I wasn’t going to be polite either. While she was busy with postpartum recovery, I wasn’t idle either. Channeling my inner Sherlock Holmes, I investigated every man connected to Cassandra. Unfortunately, except for discovering an innocent teenage crush from her youth, I found nothing. Until the day before the wedding, Cassandra told me: “Babe, I have class tonight, so I’ll be home late, okay?” I hung up the phone casually. I watched her get into an Uber. I followed all the way to the airport. Looks like the mystery was about to be solved. I stared intently at Cassandra waiting in the crowd at arrivals. A tall guy wearing a baseball cap appeared, and Cassandra ran over and wrapped herself around his waist like a koala. The two kissed passionately, oblivious to everyone around them. I clenched my fists, forcing myself not to rush over. I tailed them all the way to a luxury hotel and watched them go into a room. My heart ached uncontrollably. Over the past six months, I’d gone from initial suspicion to denial, shock, and anger, gradually becoming cold and disappointed. Now I should be completely done with her. My years of genuine feelings meant absolutely nothing! Defeated, I punched the wall several times in the stairwell! I kept telling myself to stay calm. The pain from my swollen, bleeding knuckles shot through to my heart, but couldn’t mask the grief rising up again. I pulled out my phone and suddenly realized there had been signs all along. At some point, she’d stopped pestering me with silly, pointless jokes like she used to. She no longer rambled on about celebrity gossip. There was a time when we used to have endless things to talk about. Did she ever have any genuine feelings for me at all? Was I too busy? So busy that I never noticed her changing. Looking through our old chat history, hatred surged in my heart. It was time to end this charade! Getting close to the door, I could hear sounds that made my face burn. Timing it right, I knocked on the door. The man who answered was him. Steam from his recent shower still clung to his hair. He was casually wrapped in a bathrobe, his broad shoulders and narrow waist alluring. His exposed chest had several bite marks and scratches. Looks like things had gotten heated. Rage burned in my chest, adrenaline rushing to my head. I clenched my fists tightly and got straight to the point: “I’m looking for Cassandra!” “Oh, she’s in the shower!” The man’s nonchalance made my flushed face look pathetic. The man was a good half-head taller than me, creating invisible pressure just from the height difference. When I saw his chiseled, strikingly handsome face, I actually felt a twinge of inferiority. Facing me, but still with his hand on the door, the man said: “I’m Cassandra’s college classmate, Adrian.” That’s when Cassandra came out of the bathroom. “Did someone come?” Her lazy tone conveyed utter contentment. I bit my lip hard and said nothing. I wanted to see how Cassandra would react when she saw her husband. She was casually drying her hair as she walked to the door. When she saw it was me, panic clearly flashed in her eyes. Then she recovered from her initial surprise and awkwardly pulled the wide collar of her bathrobe closed. Adrian sensibly moved his hand from the door: “Come in and talk.” His manner of acting like he owned the place made me furious: “What have you two been doing alone together?!” I shoved the door wide open! “Cassandra, is this what you call ‘going to class’?”
Faced with my anger, Adrian remained calm as a rock. Like the ones who got caught weren’t them, but me. “If you don’t tend to your garden, someone else will come along and plant in it!” Even though I was prepared, I hadn’t expected this guy to be so shameless. “Is that right? Then why don’t you guess why I’d rather leave this ‘fertile field’ alone than touch it?” Cassandra’s expression immediately changed, and she stamped her foot indignantly: “Liam, what are you trying to say!” “What am I trying to say? You don’t get it?” “Don’t you know how dirty you are?” The moment I saw the guy’s face, I knew the baby was his. No matter how desperate I was, I’d never touch a cheap woman who’d been cheating on me from the start! I threw down the paternity test: “Cassandra, how long were you planning to lie to me?” Seeing the paternity test, Cassandra dropped all pretense, her face twisting: “You didn’t have to lift a finger to become a father. What more could you want?” So she was done pretending now that I’d torn off the mask! Not only was she shameless, she actually thought I should be grateful to them! I believe a good man never hits a woman. But in that moment, my hand was itching to move. I’d been slaving away at the company every day to keep the promise I made her. And she repaid me like this! Making a fool out of me?! I made the money while she stayed beautiful and had another man’s baby? My chest tightened with pain. My hand didn’t hesitate anymore. I slapped her hard across her flushed face. Not expecting me to actually hit her, Cassandra stumbled backward from the force. Adrian caught her quickly and steadied her. Those slender hands held firmly on Cassandra’s waist. Like he’d done that movement countless times before. “Liam! You hit me? You bastard!” Adrian frowned in displeasure as he helped Cassandra up: “Grow up. Can’t you handle this?” I laughed bitterly. He calls this “can’t handle it”? This was a first for me! “Cassandra, you’ve been playing me this whole time, haven’t you?” “This guy is your dream man you kept pining for, right?” “You’re so pathetic. Let me guess – he’s already married, isn’t he!” “When I was on that business trip, it was him, wasn’t it? That’s why you almost miscarried?” Hearing my rapid-fire questions, Cassandra’s face turned pale: “No! I didn’t mean to deceive you!” “I genuinely wanted to marry you at first!” “The pregnancy was an accident. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me get an abortion!” I was stunned. She’d thrown that blame at me so unexpectedly. Before I could respond, Adrian said with a sneer: “If Cassandra had really married me, you never would’ve had a chance!” “If she hadn’t rejected me to get back at you, you wouldn’t have been good enough to be my son’s father!” “I guess fate works in mysterious ways.” Turns out, when Cassandra found out Adrian was getting married, she decided to marry me out of spite. Adrian came back to stop her, but she refused. The two of them had one last perfect goodbye to commemorate their past! The result of that goodbye was me becoming a dad. Then Adrian had a shotgun wedding. Cassandra gave up completely, and came to propose to me while carrying Adrian’s baby. No wonder Cassandra looked so terrible when she first had morning sickness! She was terrified! She never expected to get pregnant! But she knew from the very beginning that the baby wasn’t mine! That’s why she started having insomnia! With guilt on her conscience, how could she sleep peacefully? When she first found out she was pregnant, she was particularly insistent that I didn’t need to accompany her to prenatal appointments. She insisted she could handle it and told me to work hard and earn money for baby formula! When the morning sickness was severe, she mentioned abortion several times. But I talked her out of it every time: “Honey, we’ve been together three years, and this is the first time you’ve gotten pregnant. It must be fate bringing us this baby.” At the time, her face was pale as she hugged the toilet, throwing up nothing but bile: “Honey, I…” She trailed off, unable to continue.
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