Dark red blood quickly spread across my wife’s white dress. The doctor rushed out, saw her, and hurried to help her back inside.
After the examination, he looked at me with clear dissatisfaction. “Your wife is older, and it wasn’t easy for her to get pregnant. From now on, stop letting your mind wander. What matters most is taking good care of her.”
He pointed at the ultrasound. “Look at that little bean sprout in her belly. Isn’t it cute?”
His words made cold sweat run down my back.
In my previous life, it was this so-called “little bean sprout” that had torn our home apart with just one sentence. The memory sent a chill straight through me.
I looked at my wife’s joyful face, guilt eating away at me, and slapped myself hard twice.
Yes. She had stood by me for more than ten years, giving without complaint. How could I still doubt her?
The guilt kept me awake all night. By morning, I had already decided to explain everything to her clearly and stay by her side through her pregnancy.
Early the next morning, my wife was already gone. Just last night, she had murmured that, to protect the pregnancy, she wouldn’t go anywhere from now on.
I was about to call her when that familiar voice rang in my ears again.
“Daddy, Mommy went to have a secret meeting with my real dad. She’s at the yoga studio she often goes to, hurry!”
Panic surged through me as I saw that her phone had already dialed. I opened my mouth to speak, but after two rings, the call was suddenly disconnected.
My wife never hangs up on me.
An unfamiliar dread slammed into my chest. I didn’t even have time to change clothes. I jumped into the car and sped toward the yoga studio, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I didn’t even turn off the engine. Clenching my fists so tightly that my knuckles ached, and my whole body trembling, I burst into the yoga studio.
But as soon as I pushed open the door, relief and confusion collided. My wife was there calmly chatting with the lady boss in the lobby.
At that moment, the mischievous voice sounded in my head again. “[Daddy, you drove too slowly! Mommy already had her secret meeting with him long ago!”
The lady boss looked at me, still in pajamas and out of breath, and let out a light laugh.
“Portia Rios, people always say President Leonard spoils you, but today I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Rushing over like this, afraid I’d run off with your wife?”
I quickly glanced around the studio. There wasn’t a single man in sight.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I forced a smile. “Portia, yesterday you promised you wouldn’t sneak out again. Seeing you here so early, I couldn’t help but worry.”
“Didn’t the yoga doctor tell you to stop practicing? Why are you here so early then?”
My wife’s eyes flickered with something I couldn’t read. “I can’t practice right now, that’s why I came to extend the sessions. Since you’re here, you handle it, I’ll wait in the car.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, watching her figure disappear down the hall.
Suddenly, an impulse hit me. I grabbed the lady boss’s wrist. “Quick, show me the yoga studio’s surveillance, just this morning’s!”
The lady boss awkwardly pulled her hand free. “Sorry, Lucius, the surveillance just happened to break this morning.”
That familiar voice slithered into my ears again, sharp as ice. “Daddy, why won’t you believe me! If you keep this up, I’m really going to be angry! I’ll just kill myself then!”
My heart trembled as I bolted out of the yoga studio.
At a glance, I saw my wife crouched beside the car, clutching her belly, crying out in pain.
The memory of the child’s suicidal voice flashed through my mind, and a cold shiver ran down my spine.
I stepped forward, knelt beside her, and gently grasped her trembling hand, my voice tentative.
