As Andreas stepped inside, Belinda staggered back dramatically. “Ahh!”
Instinctively, I reached out to stop her, but to anyone watching, it looked like I had pushed her.
“What did I do wrong for you to push me, Selena?” she wailed, clutching her belly dramatically.
Andreas rushed to her side, placing himself between us protectively. “Selena! What the hell are you doing?! Belinda’s pregnant right now!”
Oh, already intending to reveal everything? Fine, I would follow the drama.
Innocently, I asked, “Pregnant? With whom?”
Andreas froze for a moment, uncertainty flickering in his eyes, but Belinda stayed calm.
“Andre, I’m fine. Hopefully, the baby’s fine too. So, there’s no need to panic. You just need to tell the truth.”
Andreas exhaled slowly and nodded. “Okay. Let me explain to her.”
He helped Belinda sit up, then looked at me like I was a problem to solve.
“Selena,” he began, his tone almost pitying, “Belinda is pregnant with our child.”
I pretended to be shocked, “What?!”
“Listen, remember I told you I was looking for a surrogate because you couldn’t carry after the miscarriages? Belinda offered because she loves you.”
So, this was the plan he had thought about. No wonder, after my third miscarriage, Andreas came with his “solution.”
Surrogacy.
But I was already exhausted that time, told him I needed time.
That was when everything began to change.
He stopped talking to me, started coming home late, saying that he felt tired at the filming location.
Desperate not to lose him, I finally agreed to the surrogacy program. And just like that, his affection returned.
He gave me gifts every month after each retrieval — jewelry, designer dresses, anything to make me believe I still mattered.
Until today, I opened Belinda’s social media.
There they were — photos of her with the same jewelry, the same dresses… even the same bouquet he gave me.
It felt like the gifts he gave me were nothing more than leftovers from what he had already given her.
And he did it all just to keep me agreeing to whatever he wanted.
I bit my lips, did not know what to respond, until he added, “So, starting today, we should repay her kindness. She’ll live with us.”
Belinda reached for my tightly clenched hand.
“Selena,” she cooed sweetly. “Let’s raise this baby together. I promise to deliver it for you.”
Behind her gentle tone, I saw it — that mockery hidden under her compassion.
I smiled, slow and sharp.
“No need,” I said coldly. “You better drop this baby now, or I’ll do it myself.”
Andreas’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What? What do you mean? Don’t you really want children?”
Belinda wiped her fake tears, her voice trembling perfectly. “I knew it. Selena wouldn’t like me coming…”
Andreas crouched in front of her, his hand caressing her arm tenderly. “No, no, don’t cry. You don’t have to—after all you’ve done for us.”
Then his expression hardened as he faced me. “We’ve been married for five years, and you’ve had several miscarriages. This child in her womb came from your egg too! How could you even think of aborting it?”
My egg?
I almost laughed.
The truth was, all my retrievals had failed — all but one. And that one was already in my womb.
So, I smirked. “It’s precisely because it’s my child that I want to abort it now. I’m not ready to have children.”
Andreas’s face darkened, anger rising in his voice. “You! After all Belinda’s been through, you dare say that? You’re so ungrateful.”
Belinda sobbed harder, clutching her stomach dramatically. “I love this baby, Andre… I could never bear to harm it…”
Andreas turned on me again, his voice breaking into rage. “Look! Even Belinda loves this child — but you, its own mother, plan to abandon it!”
“I never knew you were this heartless, Selena.”
Heartless?
My lips curled into a bitter smile. ‘You’re mocking yourself, Andreas.’
Andreas continued coldly, “I don’t care whether you agree or not. This baby is mine, not just yours. I’ll handle it however I please.”
Seeing him so defensive of that bitch, I clutched my belly, trembling. “Fine. Take care of the baby. I just do hope it doesn’t miscarry.”
“You’re cursing the baby?!” His voice exploded with anger.
While Belinda forced out those sickening fake tears. “You’ve gone too far, Selena.”
Those tears successfully added fuel to the fire, so Andreas ordered the driver to stop and told me to get out, saying I should “reflect on myself” and walk home.
The van drove away, leaving me alone in the street as the drizzle slowly turned into rain.
I took shelter at the nearest bus stop, deciding I wouldn’t go home. But then thunder rolled, and Belinda sent a new message.
It was a photo of my dog, soaked in the rain outside our house.
[Look what I found. This annoying mutt should be thrown outside with its owner, right?]
Shit! She did know how to attack my weakest side.
My second miscarriage happened while filming a short drama. The doctor said I was overworked, so I stopped acting to recover.
Seeing me unable to eat from grief, Andreas had bought me a puppy.
“How about we raise this puppy first?” he said softly. “Consider it our first child.”
I hugged him and the little puppy, pouring all my love into that tiny life.
At the same time, Andreas founded Lenz Agency, and I devoted myself to helping it grow. With my support, the agency rose quickly, and we even named the puppy, Lenz, just like his company.
Andreas knew exactly how much that dog meant to me. Yet she still let that woman touch him.
I ran home through the storm, wishing I still had time to save Lenz.
But as if fate itself wanted to crush me, the moment I reached the house, I saw my dog lying at the intersection—someone had run him over.
I dropped to my knees, scooped him into my arms, and rushed to the pet hospital. But even after arriving, he couldn’t be saved.
I came home in the early morning after arranging Lenz’s funeral, exhausted and furious, only to find Andreas and Belinda asleep in the master bedroom, wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Not only did you steal my husband, you killed my dog—and now take my bedroom?!” I shouted, yanking the blanket off them.
They woke up with a start. Belinda quickly hid behind Andreas, who tried to calm me.
“Selena, relax. I just stayed with her last night. You know she’s afraid of thunder.”
I let out a cold laugh. “Really? Then explain the dog.”
“Belinda’s allergic to fur. Didn’t you know? And Lenz only stayed outside for a while.”
“Fine. Then explain this room,” I pressed, tired of every excuse.
“You know Belinda is pregnant,” he said, as if reasoning with a child. “I couldn’t let her sleep in the tiny guest room, so—”
I cut him off. “So, for Belinda, you’ll do anything. Even kill me?”
“What are you talking about? You still haven’t reflected on your mistakes, have you?”
I laughed. "Tell me, what kind of reflection do you want from me, huh?"
Then he sighed. “Whatever, I don't want to argue with you anymore at this early hour. Just take this room, I’ll let Belinda stay in another room.”
He lifted her in his arms and carried her out as if my feelings meant nothing.
Belinda smirked over his shoulder, mouthing, “You can’t win.”
I stood alone, staring at the door until the silence swallowed me.
I stumbled into the bathroom, letting the scalding water pour over me, trying to wash away the ache in my chest. But the more the water ran, the harder I cried.
Five years of sacrifice—wasted.
I had left my parents and refused an arranged marriage for Andreas.
In our five years together, I trusted him completely—every co-star, every late shoot. I even helped him build Lenz Agency and never complained, believing love was enough.
But now, because I couldn’t give him a child, he replaced me.
By afternoon, I heard drilling inside the house. I thought they were renovating a room for Belinda—but it was worse.
They were tearing apart the nursery we had designed for our first child.
The decorations we had chosen together were thrown away like nothing.
In agony, I yelled.
