After the car accident, I was rushed to the hospital. Before the anesthesia fully took effect, I heard the lead surgeon making a phone call. “Mr. Wilson, are you sure you want to proceed with a complete hysterectomy? This will have a significant impact on the patient’s body, and recovery will be very difficult.” “Yes, make sure to remove her uterus completely. Leo is enough for me.” A tear rolled down the corner of my eye. So Leo wasn’t the child of his deceased comrade after all. I was utterly devastated. There’s no room for betrayal between lovers, so I decided to set him free. Pain exploded from deep within my uterus, and I suddenly coughed up blood. “Blood pressure is too low, we can’t stop the bleeding.” “Quick, blood transfusion!” I could smell the metallic scent of blood all around me. “The patient is conscious! Push more propofol!” At that moment, it was pouring rain outside. Just like that night three years ago. James came home carrying Leo, saying he was the last bloodline of his comrade. That was also the first time I saw Leo. Just then, a young nurse said with a trembling voice, “Doctor, she… she’s pregnant… six weeks along.” Then came the lead surgeon’s voice, “It’s not written in her medical records that she’s pregnant!” As my consciousness faded, I suddenly remembered something. At the shooting range, James stood behind me, holding my hands as I pulled the trigger. The moment the bullet pierced through the center of the target, my heart skipped a beat. He chuckled softly in my ear. “My darling, what a good shot.” This belated bullet now struck me right in the heart, piercing through me, leaving me bleeding profusely. “Quick, tell Mr. Wilson, what if this child…” “No, Mr. Wilson is busy.” The assistant’s voice continued. “Proceed as planned, take care of it.” When I woke up again, James was sitting by the bed with reddened eyes. Seeing me open my eyes, he let out a sigh of relief. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Finally awake, I’m so glad you’re okay.” His voice was trembling as he spoke. But I remained expressionless. Seeing no reaction from me, he thought I hadn’t fully recovered. James quickly called for the doctor. The doctor looked at me with sympathy, hesitating to speak. Finally, the doctor prescribed some sleeping medication for me. The doctor said my physical recovery was going well. But the loss of my uterus had caused significant psychological trauma, leading to extreme stress. I don’t know if it was because I had taken too many sleeping pills over the years and developed a tolerance. Surprisingly, I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. James didn’t know. Seeing me lying in bed with my eyes closed for a long time without moving, he thought I had fallen asleep. I heard him let out a sigh. “Darling, don’t blame me, I had no choice. I” “promised Sophia I would take good care of her child.” “I know you’re kind-hearted, but once you have your own child, you definitely won’t be able to treat Leo as your own.” “For Leo’s sake, we can’t have any more children.” So, this was the truth. It wasn’t the first time I had heard the name Sophia. The first time I learned of her existence was at her funeral. At that time, James and I had just gotten married. James didn’t have much reaction to her death, he calmly told me she was his first love. He said that after Sophia broke up with him, she married a gambler out of spite. The gambler often abused her. This led her to develop depression and eventually commit suicide by jumping into the sea. Her body was never found. The coffin only contained her clothes from when she was alive. When I heard this story at the time, I only thought about the unpredictability of life and didn’t think much more of it. But now, replaying that scene in my mind, I realized something was off. At that time, he was smiling, but there was no joy in his eyes. As I thought about it, I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up again, James was still by my bedside. He looked very tired, constantly rubbing his temples. Seeing me wake up, he quickly put down his work. He saw me trying to sit up and moved with extreme gentleness and care. Two nurses nearby exchanged glances, their eyes filled with envy and curiosity. They whispered to each other. “Mr. Wilson is so good to his wife, he’s been here the whole time, never left.” “Yeah, everyone knows Mr. Wilson is a doting husband.”
As I listened, it became increasingly grating. After the young nurses left, James also joked along. “What’s wrong, is my wife feeling shy?” I pressed my lips together, not looking at him. He thought I was still upset about losing my uterus. “Don’t be sad, we have Leo, don’t we?” “When Leo gets a bit older, I’ll send him to school daycare, and we can have our time together.” James held me in his arms, chuckling softly in my ear. In the past, I often said similar things. I used to say that no matter how tough things got, we shouldn’t make life hard for ourselves. Once the kids were older, we’d send them all to daycare, and James and I would live our lives together, free to go wherever we pleased. But now I couldn’t even smile. My child was gone. And I would never have another. At that moment, I suddenly noticed the brownish stains on James’s sleeve cuffs. I recognized it as the watercolor paint mixed with turpentine from James’s private studio, with its distinctive sweet and pungent smell. In his studio, there was a hidden painting – a girl in a school uniform standing on a rock, smiling wildly and carefree. That girl was Sophia. Even when I was in a life-threatening car accident, he still went to the studio to look at her. When did I discover this painting? Just before the car accident happened. James never allowed anyone to enter his studio, not even me. He usually liked to stay in there, sometimes for an entire day. Once, Leo mischievously snuck into the studio. When James found out, he was furious, even though none of the works in the studio were damaged. That was also the first time I realized how important the studio was to him. Of course, to be precise, it wasn’t the studio that was important, but that painting. After that day, I vaguely guessed something. Finally, I couldn’t resist and snuck into the studio when he wasn’t home. There were many works in the studio, most of which featured me and Leo. But the most eye-catching was a life-sized portrait as tall as a wall, beautifully framed. The person in the painting was unmistakably the same as the one in the funeral photo. So, every minute and second he locked himself in here, he was looking at Sophia. In a mix of grief and anger, I got into a car accident. “Where’s Leo? I want to see him.” The moment I spoke, I startled myself. My voice was as hoarse as a rusty blade. James’s arms around me suddenly tightened, his eyes filled with concern. This look reminded me of that special funeral. When he saw Sophia’s belongings in the coffin, he had the same lost and helpless expression. James answered me, “Leo is back at the family estate, my parents are with him.” Mr. and Mrs. Wilson had always doted on Leo. I originally thought it was because they were open-minded enough to accept a child not related to them by blood as their grandson. Now I realize, they probably knew all along that Leo was James’s biological child. From the beginning, I was the only one kept in the dark. I stayed in the hospital for over two weeks. He came to see me every day. But on the day I was discharged, he didn’t come. I didn’t even get a call from him. When I took a taxi home by myself, I heard laughter coming from inside as soon as I reached the entrance. I went in, and everyone looked over. Inside, besides James and Leo, there was a young woman I didn’t recognize. She seemed to have a great deal of hostility towards me. Seeing me appear, she snorted lightly and turned her face away. James looked at me in surprise, “Weren’t you supposed to be discharged tomorrow?” “It was today.” I answered casually, not taking it to heart. James felt very guilty, looking at me carefully, afraid I might get angry. Leo also happily ran towards me.
“Mommy.” But the girl suddenly stood up and pushed Leo back onto the sofa. She said viciously, “She’s not your mom, she’s…” James reacted faster than her: “Emily.” Emily… Sophia… I went over these two names in my head. But Emily wasn’t afraid of offending James. She put her hands on her hips, “You’re just a homewrecker.” “Enough!” James roared. After saying this, James turned to look at me. Seeing that I wasn’t hurt by Emily’s words, he let out a sigh of relief. Then he pulled me into his arms. He continued speaking, “Butler, please show Miss Emily out.” Emily’s face turned ugly. She glared at me with wide eyes, as if she wanted to swallow me whole. Leo still didn’t understand what was happening. He only knew that the nice big sister who played with his toys was being sent away. He became unhappy, sat down on the floor, and started crying loudly. “Daddy, I want Emily to stay and play with me.” James ignored his crying and after instructing the butler to send Emily away, he picked me up and walked upstairs. I didn’t struggle. But now when he was close to me, I only felt uncomfortable all over. When we reached the bedroom, he put me on the bed. James looked at me, his eyes full of tenderness and love. “Darling, don’t take it to heart, that girl just now was just a lunatic.” “Who is she?” I asked. “She’s Sophia’s younger sister. When I was with Sophia back then, she was just a little kid who didn’t understand anything.” “She just thinks I’m a scumbag because I broke up with her sister.” As he spoke, he laughed. Maybe he didn’t even realize it himself, but his words were all about making excuses for Emily. I remember before, when one of his pursuers said I wasn’t good enough for James in front of me. He immediately kicked that person out of the party without a second thought. And declared that anyone who disrespected me in the future would be going against the Wilson family. Sure enough, not long after, that girl’s family went bankrupt, and the whole family emigrated abroad, with no news since. But now, when Emily called me a homewrecker to his face, he only gave her a light scolding. Just because Emily was Sophia’s sister, he was being lenient. At this moment, Leo came running in crying. Amidst the noise, I saw a jade green bracelet on Leo’s wrist. It was the one I had gotten for my own child. I suddenly lost all reason. My child died so tragically, while his illegitimate son was standing here perfectly fine. I went crazy trying to tear off the bracelet. Leo was scared and cried even louder. When James reacted, he forcefully pushed me away. My body hadn’t fully recovered, and with this push, I was thrown against the wall. At that moment, it felt like all my internal organs had shifted. The wounds on my body also opened up, seeping blood. But James didn’t notice any of this. He picked up Leo to comfort him, not forgetting to turn back and look at me reproachfully. He had never looked at me with such cold eyes before. Leo also pointed at me, “Bad woman, bad woman…” James didn’t refute his words, only leaving me with one sentence. “You need to calm down and think clearly.” I was utterly despaired. The pain in my body was far less than the pain in my heart. I don’t know how long passed before a housekeeper walked in. Seeing my pale face, she ran over anxiously. “Ma’am, Ma’am, are you alright?” Covering my burst wound, I managed to squeeze out a few words, “Take… take me… to the hospital…” After saying this, I passed out.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious. The doctor stitched up my wound again, gave me some instructions, and then let me be discharged. The doctor also said, “The surgeon who performed your hysterectomy was very skilled, there are no complications.” I froze, feeling absurd. “However, you still need to take good care of yourself, otherwise it could still be dangerous,” the doctor continued, looking at my examination report. I nodded and left the hospital. As soon as I left the hospital, I received a call from James. “Where did you go?” “Out.” I answered perfunctorily. James was taken aback. His tone was still harsh, after all, I had almost hurt his precious son. “Leo’s birthday is in a couple of days, you better prepare well. Whether Leo forgives you depends on your performance.” I laughed out loud. I had treated my husband’s illegitimate son as my own, caring for him meticulously, and I was the joke. I desperately held back my tears, “James, do you remember what I said? I can’t tolerate deception and betrayal.” James sensed something was off. But he didn’t think too much about it, only feeling that I had been gloomy ever since the car accident. He thought, surely losing my uterus had hit me hard. Thinking of this, James suddenly felt guilty. His tone softened considerably. “Don’t overthink it, come home quickly, Leo and I are waiting for you.” After hanging up the phone, I sat alone on a bench by the roadside. I had figured it out. We had to separate. James and I were already impossible from the moment I discovered that portrait of his. I cried out loud. Because of my lack of calm and rationality, I had caused the death of my own child. I didn’t go back directly, instead I contacted a lawyer to discuss the details of the divorce. By the time I finished all this, it was already dark. During this time, James hadn’t called me once. But Emily had added me on social media. Her first message was: “Hmph, homewreckers never end up well.” I was about to block her, thinking out of sight, out of mind. But she seemed to predict my thoughts. “Don’t block me, don’t you want to know about my sister’s story with James?” My hand hovering over the block button paused. Messages came one after another. “Did James tell you that my sister married a gambler out of spite after breaking up with him?” “That’s not true. Back then, it was my sister who initiated the breakup because she was an independent woman who wanted to pursue her dreams.” “My sister broke up with him to study abroad. You don’t know how James cried and begged my sister not to leave.” Then, there was a surveillance video from an airport. In the frame was a very young and naive James. The young man in a school uniform ran frantically, sweating profusely. He humbly pulled the girl in front of him, “Don’t go, Sophia, don’t leave.” But Sophia didn’t even look at him, coldly shaking off his hand and leaving directly. After Sophia left, James seemed to lose his soul, and even coughed up blood. The video ended abruptly. Just watching it, you could tell James loved Sophia desperately. I always thought James was a person who would remain calm and rational even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him. After all, in the years I’ve known him, he’s always been composed no matter what happened. But I never imagined he had this side to him. It was as if Sophia leaving would take half his life with her. These past few days, I hadn’t gone back. I made up some excuse and stayed at a hotel. Surprisingly, James didn’t ask much. When he heard I wasn’t coming back, he seemed relieved. On Leo’s birthday. I took a taxi to the Wilson family estate early. Just as I reached the main gate of the estate, someone bumped my shoulder. Before I could turn to look, I heard a gentle female voice. “James, I’m back.”
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