My name is Stefan Jenkins. On the day I returned home, Maeve Stewart sent me a photo of a baby. She asked me to name the baby, bring my ID, and said she had a big surprise waiting for me at City Hall. When I arrived with baby supplies, she and her friends were mocking me. “I told you, he’s been abroad for a year, but he’s still my sidekick. As long as I beckon, he’s willing to help me raise a child!” After speaking, she still looked at me with an amused expression. “Stefan, how are you still so naive? A joke can make you rush over like this!” They laughed at me without restraint. But when I walked past them, registered my child’s birth certificate, and took a commemorative photo with my wife in my arms, Maeve’s eyes turned red from crying. ***** After a year apart, Maeve still seems to dislike me. Watching them clutch their stomachs and laugh until they squatted on the ground, I couldn’t help but clench my fists, my nails digging deep into my palms. “Stefan, you’re really stupid. Chasing Maeve for so many years, haven’t you improved at all?” “Every time we think you’ve finally decided to leave, you turn around and cling back again!” “Wake up, even if you’re willing to help Maeve raise her child, she still looks down on you!” Sharp taunts pierced my ears, and I trembled all over with anger. Maeve saw me staying silent and pretended to be concerned, pinching her voice as she said, “Stefan, do you not like the gift I prepared for you? What should I do? I spent so much time on it.” She spoke while pretending to be angry toward her friends. “You guys are a bit too much. Stefan just got off the plane and rushed over, how can you bully him like this!” After she finished, there was another burst of laughter, with Maeve’s voice particularly grating. Just as I turned to leave and end this farce, she suddenly called out to me, pulling out a big dog from behind and handing me the leash. She said, “Stefan, I can’t take advantage of you for nothing. This is a stray dog Robert picked up, and he just got the dog license. He doesn’t have time to take care of it, and since you want to be a dad, let this dog be your son.” After she finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter again. “Maeve, let me remind you, be careful of someone using dog care as an excuse to pester you every day!” Looking at the dog leash in Maeve’s hand with Robert Griffin’s name and phone number written on it, I froze in place, motionless. If it were the old me, I would have taken the dog leash with a big smile and repeatedly promised to take good care of the dog. But now, I directly shook off her hand and took a few steps back. “Sorry, I have a baby at home, not suitable for keeping a dog!” The whole room fell silent for a moment, then erupted into even sharper laughter. “Stefan, are you still dreaming? Do you really want to be a dad to someone else’s kid?” “We are all well-educated people, how can your mind be so slow?” “I never thought you were so despicable!” She glanced at me with the same familiar disdain and contempt, speaking while patting her skirt, as if afraid I might dirty her white dress. Even though I had imagined countless times what it would be like to reunite with Maeve before returning home, I never thought it would be like today.
Before the plane took off, I posted the flight information on Instagram. Then, I got a call from Maeve. She said something had happened and asked me to go straight to City Hall as soon as I landed. I still remember my trembling hands when her call appeared on my phone, and I can’t forget my racing heartbeat when her anxious voice reached my ears. I thought she had finally realized that when she needed help the most, I was the one always by her side. But what I didn’t expect was that after hanging up, she posted the entire setup of this farce on Instagram. However, she seemed to forget to block me, someone she hadn’t contacted for a year, so I ended up knowing their entire script. When the flight attendant reminded me to turn off my phone, tears were already streaming down my face. She took advantage of my ten years of unwavering obedience to her, which is why she hurt me so recklessly time and again. She once said that if one day she got tired, she would marry me and have a child. Now she’s not tired, but I am. I came to City Hall indeed to apply for a birth certificate for a child, but it’s for my own child. I rubbed the bottle in my hand, tucked it into my arms, and walked past Maeve to handle the paperwork. She immediately blocked my way. “Stefan, that’s enough, don’t get too carried away!” “If you could really move on from me and have a child with another woman, would I have given you a dog? Who are you pretending to be so devoted for?” I couldn’t be bothered to explain and felt disgusted even looking at her. Perhaps my sudden coldness caught her off guard, as she grabbed my arm and refused to let go. Just as I was about to pull my arm away and leave, Robert rushed over. “Maeve!” Hearing this, Maeve immediately let go of me and threw herself into Robert’s arms, instantly putting away her sharpness and showing a warm smile. “Didn’t you say you’d come with me to get the dog license when I had time? There are so many viruses out there, what if the dog gets sick?” He took the leash and looked at me while speaking. Then, as if just noticing me, he quickly said, “Stefan, when did you get back? Are you holding formula and diapers? Do you have a child?” Maeve quickly covered her mouth and laughed, “Who could he have a child with? I tricked him by saying I needed to get documents for a baby, and he actually believed I had a baby and even bought so many baby supplies.” “Isn’t he silly?” Seeing her openly mocking me, Robert immediately interrupted her, “Maeve! Stefan rushed over because he was worried about you. You shouldn’t make fun of him like that.” As always, he played the considerate and magnanimous good guy, while I ended up being the one who couldn’t let go. I didn’t want to get entangled with them any longer, so I patiently explained, “Sorry, I have something to do. Please let me through.” After saying that, I prepared to leave again. Just as I turned around, Robert grabbed me, and the bottle in my arms fell to the ground, spilling milk everywhere. The people around all looked over with expressions of disdain. “Stefan, why are you still carrying a bottle?” Robert seemed startled, looking at me in shock. Maeve wanted to say something else, but I interrupted her directly, “Yes, I said from the beginning that I came to get a birth certificate for my child. But you refused to believe me. Now look, the bottle’s broken, and my wife will be mad later.” Hearing this, the smile on Maeve’s face froze instantly. At that moment, my wife Andrea Nelson made a video call, and I put it on speaker. I said, “I’m already here, but there was a bit of an accident. You might need to find a nursing room to feed the baby yourself later!” The woman’s voice and the baby’s cries from the call reached everyone’s ears without missing a word.
I looked at Maeve, whose face was gloomy, and said calmly, “I came here today not because of your call asking me to come, but because my child really needs to get the birth certificate done today.” “Because my wife left in a hurry and didn’t bring baby supplies, I bought them right after getting off the plane.” Maeve sneered and said, “Stefan, what’s the point of lying? Can you just claim to have a child out of nowhere? You’ve really gone to great lengths to get my attention.” She rolled her eyes at me, full of disdain. Seeing that she still didn’t believe me, I had no choice but to take out the birth certificate application form. Her friend snatched it first, opened it, and read aloud, “Father: Stefan Jenkins, Mother: Andrea Nelson…” Hearing Andrea’s name, Maeve’s tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed a bit. She looked at me with disdain, full of mockery. “Stefan, if you’re going to fake it, at least put some effort into it, okay? Andrea Nelson, the heir of The Nelson family, is someone you think you can reach?” “You even claim to have a child with her. Do you think I’m as stupid as you?” After she finished speaking, she shoved the application form back into my arms without even looking. Robert glanced at me meaningfully after seeing that. “Stefan, as a man, I understand the feeling of unrequited love. Maeve can be a bit willful, but you really don’t need to lie just to get back at her.” “I know your ten-year relationship is extraordinary, but…” “Who has a ten-year relationship with him? I have no feelings for him at all, Robert, don’t misunderstand!” Maeve hurriedly distanced herself from me. After speaking, she added, “My Bella and Max have been with me for ten years too, but who says ten years of feelings must mean anything?” Bella was the cat I gave her on her eighteenth birthday, and Max was the dog she adopted to keep Bella company. The more she explained, the more her voice trembled, almost breaking into tears. And my heart grew colder bit by bit with her anxious words. Maeve’s friends said I was shameless, ugly, and still trying to climb up to the Nelson family. Maeve took the lead in jeering, and the others immediately chimed in. For a moment, it felt like I had committed an unforgivable crime. I quietly put away the application form. Reason told me that such people weren’t worth wasting my time explaining to, but seeing their contemptuous looks, I stubbornly wanted to prove that I was telling the truth. Then, I took out my phone and pulled up my wedding photos with Andrea and pictures of our child’s birth. I said, “These are photos of our family of three. If you don’t believe me, see for yourselves.” I held up my phone and swept it past them one by one. When it was Maeve’s turn, she just glanced at it, and the smile on her face vanished completely. She stared at the phone in a daze for a long time, unable to react. The person next to her noticed her reaction, quickly grabbed the phone, and flipped through the photos one by one, still speaking with disdain. “I want to see how long you can keep pretending.” Maeve stood aside pretending not to care, but her eyes kept staring intently at the phone. Until the girl holding the phone spoke softer and with more hesitation, Maeve finally couldn’t hold back and snatched the phone away. When she saw the photo of our family of three on the phone, her hand trembled slightly, and then she glared at me with bloodshot eyes, her tone no longer as confident as before. “Stefan, don’t think that faking a few photos will make me soften and marry you. I want to see how many more fake pictures you’ve prepared just to be with me!” Robert quickly stepped forward to support her and gently comforted, “Maeve, when we get married, I’ll take you to the beach for wedding photos, okay?” But Maeve didn’t respond sweetly as usual; she just kept scrolling through the phone. As the photos flashed by, her face grew paler and paler.
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