I lay on the floor of my room, both hands clutching my bulging stomach. The pain came suddenly, gripping me mercilessly like a wave hitting a rock. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, and my breathing was labored. I tried to get up, but my body was too weak.
"Ray... please..." my voice was hoarse, almost a whisper. My hands fumbled with the cell phone beside the bed, hoping Ray would answer this time.
The dial tone sounded several times before the male voice finally appeared on the other side.
"What's wrong, Lea?" his voice sounded lazy, mixed with the party music in the background.
I bit my lip, holding back the scream that wanted to escape my throat. "Ray... I'm in pain... I need you now..." my voice trembled, tears welling up in my eyes. "Please come home..."
For a moment, there was no answer. Just the sound of laughter from the party on the other side, then the soft voice of a woman I knew well followed.
"Ray, who is it?" Sabrina.
My heart felt like it was being squeezed.
Ray chuckles. "Nobody," he says, and the words hit me harder than the pain in my stomach.
"I need you, Ray. I'm... I'm afraid something happened to our baby," I pleaded with all the hope I had left.
Ray snorted sarcastically. "Lea, I'm at the party. Can't you be a little more independent? Why do you always have to trouble me?"
I closed my eyes tightly, the tears flowing without me being able to stop them. "Ray, please..."
"Enough, Lea! I'm busy. No drama." The beeping sound on the cell phone told me that he had hung up.
I stared at the phone screen with trembling hands. "Please..." I whispered, but no one could hear me anymore.
I bit my lip to hold back a scream as another wave of pain hit. Tears continued to flow, soaking into the pillow that had been wet for hours.
Slowly, I tried to crawl to the door, hoping there was someone out there who could help me. However, the world around me felt so quiet, just as my heart was now empty.
At the party, Ray was probably dancing with Sabrina, laughing in his perfect sister's arms, while I struggled alone in the place that was supposed to be our home.
I whispered, almost like a broken prayer. "My child... just hold on... we'll be fine..."
But even I wasn't sure of those words.
The door to the room opened roughly, sending me stumbling and falling to the floor. In the doorway, Ray stood with an annoyed expression, while behind him, Sabrina stepped in elegantly, the scent of her expensive perfume filling the room. I stared at them with a gasp, still trying to endure the pain that hit my stomach mercilessly.
"Lea, what the hell? I'm tired, can't you wait?" Ray grunted in annoyance, walking past me like I was nothing. He immediately sat down on the sofa and opened the bottle of drink he had brought with him from nowhere.
I tried to get up, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Ray... I need you. Our baby..."
Ray gave me a cold look as if I was a burden he wanted to get rid of. "This baby is just an excuse for you to keep bothering me, Lea. I've had enough of your patience."
Sabrina stood in the corner of the room, her eyes looking me up and down like she was looking at something disgusting. "Ray, I don't understand... Are you married to her?"
I turned to Sabrina, feeling a wave of bitterness rising in my chest. Sabrina, my step-sister. Blood relatives, but our worlds were so different.
She was our father's favorite child, living in luxury and love, while I was thrown into an orphanage like unwanted trash. My father preferred to live with Sabrina's mother and himself, leaving me in agonizing loneliness.
Ray chuckled, sipping his drink casually. "Yeah, I'm married to Lea." He glanced at me, an expression full of annoyance. "But that's not important, Sabrina. I'm with Lea only because I have to be. You know, my family told me to marry her."
I'm stunned. "Ray..." my voice was barely audible.
Sabrina looked at me with a mixture of disgust and pity. "Half-brother, huh?" She smiled sarcastically. "I didn't even know you were still in this life, Lea."
I swallowed, trying to stop myself from crying in front of her. "Sabrina... I-"
Ray interrupted with a sharp tone. "Sabrina, I choose you. Lea is nothing." He stood up and walked over to Sabrina, his arm wrapped around my step-sister's waist effortlessly, as if I had never been in her life. "She's just an unimportant past."
I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. "Ray... I'm your wife..."
Ray snorted, looking at me coldly. "Wives are only on paper, Lea. You know I never loved you."
My body was weakening, and the pain in my stomach was getting worse. I wanted to scream, get angry, or even beg, but I knew it wouldn't change anything. Ray had already made his choice, and I could only accept this harsh reality.
Sabrina smiled contentedly, her hand grasping Ray's triumphantly. "Honey, let's go. I can't stand it here."
Ray nodded without hesitation, leaving me still lying on the floor in increasing pain. "I'm not coming home tonight, so don't bother me anymore," he said before closing the door, leaving me alone in the dark.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I fingered my bulging stomach, whispering the same prayer over and over again.
