“Boris, just let it go. I'm fine, really.”
“I know Kate must be upset about us getting married. If she needs to vent, she can yell at me all she wants.”
Then she suddenly doubled over, hand clamped over her mouth, dry-heaving.
“I feel so sick, Boris……I think I'm going to throw up.”
The room erupted again.
“Wait, is Tania pregnant? Married and pregnant already? That's a lot to unpack. Our boy Boris sure moves fast.”
“Don't just make stuff up. Maybe Boris and Kate broke up ages ago and he's been with Tania this whole time. They just hadn't gone public. What, people aren't allowed to be with the person they love?”
Whispers flew in every direction. Boris pulled Tania into his arms, face tight with worry.
I didn't bother watching their little performance. I just said it flat out：
“Boris, be a man and pay me back.”
“We're done, so let's settle up. The down payment was forty thousand. Monthly mortgage payments add up to another thirty. Plus the seventy thousand in our joint account. That's a hundred and forty thousand dollars. Transfer it and we're finished. After that, I don't care who you're with.”
Boris panicked.
“Kate, do you have to be so petty about everything? We were practically family. Do we really need to split yours and mine?”
“Yes. I'm going to split every last cent. And after this, I never want anything to do with you again.”
“If you won't pay up, don't blame me for taking it to court. I've got every receipt, every record. All of it.”
Tania, still wrapped in his arms, glanced at me and cried harder.
The circus was over. I turned and walked to the break room to make coffee.
At some point, Tania followed me in.
She held out a piece of paper, hands trembling.
“Kate, don't listen to what those people were saying. I'm not actually pregnant.”
I glanced at the ultrasound printout in her hand. The result line read：Not pregnant.
I didn't take it.
I just kept stirring my coffee, letting her talk.
She sniffled, small and pitiful.
“Kate, I didn't mean to steal Boris from you.”
“We're from the same hometown. We grew up next door to each other. That night at the bar, he mistook me for you and took me straight back to your place.”
“I'd just been through a breakup and wanted to forget, so I didn't stop him. You were working late that night. He slept with me, and I couldn't push him away because I realized I'd been in love with him for a long time. And……it was my first time.”
“He treasured me, felt sorry for me. He told me I was kind, sweet, innocent, just like you were when you were younger. He said he'd take responsibility. Give me a real family.”
“My parents died when I was little. Boris is the only person who's ever been truly good to me. So you'll let me stay with him, right?”
I stared at her coldly and said nothing.
Only now could I see I'd trusted the wrong person.
But none of that mattered anymore.
All I wanted was my money back so I could pay for my father's treatment.
Then Tania screamed.
She crumpled to the floor, clutching her stomach, wailing.
Blood was running down her legs, and it wouldn't stop.
“Help me! Kate, why would you do this to me!”
Boris was the first one through the door, a pack of coworkers crowding in behind him.
Before I could even process what was happening, he swung his hand at my face. I jerked back just in time.
His teeth were clenched, shaking with rage. “Kate, how can you be this vicious! She's pregnant and you pushed her!”
The break room exploded into chaos.
Someone shouted to call an ambulance.
Someone else grabbed my arm, dragging me along to the hospital to make me explain myself to Tania.
