I needed treatment, I needed money, I needed
time.
Г
I bowed deeply, tears hitting the ground.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
John lifted my chin, a smug look on his face.
“That’s right, you were only after my money
from the start, weren’t you? Pretending to
care about the baby!”
“That was our baby!”
I sobbed, broken.
“He wasn’t!”
John smirked, his eyes icy. “He was a
bastard.”
Lily pulled John away, a triumphant look on
Rage and grief consumed me.
I lost consciousness.
I woke up with John standing over me.
He held a hospital form, looking at me
hesitantly.
This time, his eyes didn’t hold the same
hatred.
I’d gotten some tests done last month and
found out I had a terminal illness.
I had a few years left, but Lily’s push had
accelerated things.
John stared at me, making me feel even more
pathetic
I got a call. The paternity test results were
back.
I put it on speakerphone.
“Emily, the results are in…the baby was
John’s.”
Sarah’s voice was shaky.
She sounded regretful. “I’m sorry, your sister
sent me that video, I didn’t think… The baby
was yours and John’s.”
“What?! What do you mean?!”
John froze, snatching the phone.
“Are you saying the baby was mine? Are you
<
sure?!”
;
>
រ
“Dr. Stone? Yes, it’s true. It was your and
Emily’s child…”
John couldn’t believe it.
He asked repeatedly, getting the same
answer every time.
I looked at him weakly, tears soaking my
pillow.
The hatred in my heart deepened.
There was one thing he didn’t know.
One thing no one knew.
Lemiled cruelly “You don’t know do you? I
く
had an abortion.”
“What?”
John stared at me, shocked.
I started to reminisce, the pain bittersweet. “I
was so busy, so focused on your career, I
couldn’t have a baby. So, the baby Lily
killed…that was ours.”
The one I aborted was someone else’s.
He’d killed his own child.
If he’d come to the hospital just a few
minutes earlier, I could have saved him.
But he chose to spend that time with Lily.
John’s hands trembled, dropping the phone.
He collapsed to his knees, staring at me
blankly, his mouth agape.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Lily
had told him he was infertile.
She was afraid we’d have our own child,
ruining her chances.
I laughed.
John, you were played.
Serves you right.
But my baby, he couldn’t have died in vain.
Lily arrived still trying to lie. “John. I really
didn’t know! We didn’t have a baby when we
were overseas, the doctor said so.”
Her acting was terrible.
John was a good doctor, but he had one
weakness: he wasn’t great with English.
They had gotten tested overseas.
He’d believed everything Lily said.
It wasn’t him who was infertile.
“Lily, you’re the one who can’t have children,
aren’t you?”
My eyes stung as I glared at her.
“You’re lying!” Lily yelled, but her guilty
く
You’re lying! Lily yelled, but ner gulity
expression betrayed her.
“John, the baby is gone, I really didn’t mean
to! I can get treatment, we can have our own
children!”
John looked at Lily, a mixture of regret and
confusion in his eyes.
Could he still forgive her?
She was Lily, the woman he desired most.
He’d once told me, drunk, that Lily was the
reason he became a doctor.
She’d saved him once, and that cemented his
decision.
decreet truest love and be
Lily was his deepest, truest love, and he
would give up anything for her.
My teacher came to visit, bringing a fruit
basket.
She was the one who called the ambulance.
The hospital contacted John.
He hadn’t believed it at first and almost didn’t
come.
My teacher saw me trembling and started to
call a nurse.
I stopped her. It was just emotional distress.
No need to bother a nurse, especially when
there was a doctor right here.
John looked at the teacher, hesitant. “Are you
really her teacher?”
The teacher’s face turned serious, her voice
surprised. “I don’t interfere in young people’s
affairs, but I’ve never seen anyone treat their
wife like this. She’s lying in a hospital bed!
I’ve heard some of what’s going on, and
frankly, you don’t deserve to be anywhere
near Emily.”
“Even if it was my child…” John paused. “Lily
didn’t mean to, she wouldn’t do something
like this.”
“What about the SATS?!” I cried, my eyes red.
“Your father didn’t die because of me! Ask
the doctors who were there that day, was Lily
really sick?!”
<
Lily panicked. “How can anyone know what
happened back then? John, I was just
nervous, it’s normal to have a stomach ache! I
didn’t know about Emily, I swear!”
The teacher scoffed. “You’re Emily’s sister?
This was a big deal back then, it was in the
news. I urged her parents to press charges,
but they refused. So, you’re the one who gave
her that milk.”
“Everyone in class knew Emily was allergic.
Your family is really something else.”
John looked at Lily, then said, “I believe her.”
Lily looked stunned, not happy, just hateful
towards me.
