Chapter 1
"That pig is finally going to give birth. Bianca, do you know how disgusting it is to take care of her every day? The baby isn't even mine. But as long as there's a baby, I can..."
Julia Sherwood vaguely heard what her boyfriend, Ethan Hughes, had just said. She felt like being plunged into an abyss in an instant.
She lay on the stretcher, covered in cold sweat, her eyes blazing with fury.
The operating room doors slowly opened, and the stretcher moved forward gradually.
Grieving and indignant, she stared at Ethan, who was dancing with joy in the corridor, as cold tears slid down the corners of her eyes.
She couldn't believe the baby she was going to give birth to was not his.
But when she was pregnant for ten months, he had taken such meticulous care of her. Now, it seemed that everything was just a lie.
The incandescent lamp above was turned on. Julia's eyes were bloodshot, and her heart felt as if it were being fiercely squeezed by an invisible hand, on the verge of tearing her apart.
"It's okay. Follow my instructions and take deep breaths." The doctor guided her patiently and gently. She gasped for air, veins popping on her neck as she screamed hysterically—yet she still felt utterly powerless.
Tension filled the entire operating room.
A nurse shouted, "The patient is having a massive hemorrhage!"
Julia gasped for breath, staring sorrowfully at the incandescent lamp above, which illuminated her pale face.
She felt numb and cold all over, with blood pooling in one place and gushing out frantically.
Realizing she was close to death, Julia gritted her teeth and didn't want to resign to the reality.
The doctor's hands were covered in blood. The atmosphere in the operating room turned suddenly tense and solemn. "Hurry, prepare for a transfusion."
Watching the anxious doctors around her, Julia felt her vision blur more and more.
"Don't give up, okay?" The doctor's gentle voice echoed in her ears.
A nurse cried out, "The baby's head is stuck. We can't get it out!"
The doctor said urgently, "Prepare for a cesarean section."
*****
Without hearing the baby's bright, clear cries, Julia thought she must have died. At that moment, she finally couldn't hold on from exhaustion and drifted off into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, the night was already far along. She opened her eyes weakly.
"You're finally awake," the nurse beside her leaned over and said, "just a second—I'll go get the doctor for you."
Julia tried to speak, but her throat felt like it was blocked by something. She couldn't get a single word out.
A few minutes later, several doctors stood by her bed and started performing a series of checks on her body. She suddenly felt so powerless.
"Everything looks normal for now," the doctor said calmly after the checkup, "during this time, you must avoid big emotional swings to not affect your recovery."
Julia didn't say anything. The doctors and nurses exchanged a glance and then asked, "Aren't you going to ask if your baby's a boy or a girl?"
Julia's eyelids trembled slightly, and then she asked, "Just tell me, then."
Every woman would love her own child. From the moment she conceived this baby, she'd dreamed deeply of the days ahead with the child by her side.
Yet the second she remembered Ethan saying the baby wasn't his before delivery, Julia clutched the bed sheet tightly under her hands and was desperate to know whose child it really was.
"A boy and a girl," the doctor said, "they're healthy and really handsome too."
Julia didn't feel happy at the news. Her voice trembling, she asked, "What about him?"
The doctors and nurses knew she was referring to Ethan, but didn't respond right away.
The empty hospital room was filled with silence. Tears in her eyes, Julia said in a low voice, "Please contact him for me, please."
"The baby's father should be with the babies right now," a female nurse said out of indignation. "I'll go get him for you," she said before walking out of the ward.