A huge shadowless surgery light hung above my head in the operating room. The white light made my eyes ache.
“Ms. Watson, the embryo stem cell extraction will begin in ten minutes. We will administer anesthesia now,” the nurse said in a cold voice, like an emotionless machine.
“No…” I cried out softly.
A twisting pain came from my lower belly, as if someone was scraping inside me with a cold, dull knife.
My baby…
My arms were strapped down and I could only struggle weakly. Soon, I felt something warm and sticky spreading beneath me.
“Doctor, please save my child,” I begged in panic. The doctor frowned at me, then turned to the nurse.
“Stop the procedure. The patient shows signs of miscarriage.”
I grabbed his sleeve desperately. “Please, save my baby. I can’t lose this child too.”
The doctor looked at me coldly and pushed my hand away. “Some people aren’t meant to have children. Sometimes, the fetus chooses to leave on its own.”
Those words pushed me straight into despair.
Did I really not deserve a child?
My heart collapsed in an instant. I clutched my hair, crying and laughing at the same time. The doctor sighed and exchanged a look with the nurse.
The next moment, darkness swallowed me.
When I woke up, it was already late at night. I immediately reached for my belly. It was still flat, but the warmth I once felt was gone.
My eyes fell on the hospital wristband.
[Faye Watson.
10 weeks pregnant.
Miscarriage.]
My child was gone.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I cried in silence. Then my phone began to vibrate again and again, breaking the heavy stillness.
In the company group chat, Dustin kept tagging me.
[From now on, all business matters will be handled by Giselle.]
[Giselle is appointed Vice President of the company. She does not need to report to Faye and has the same authority as me.]
I closed the group chat, only to see his private message.
[Faye, the doctor said the stem cell extraction was a minor procedure. After you’re discharged tomorrow, come to the office and help Giselle.]
[Come now. Giselle needs you urgently.]
I took a deep breath.
Perhaps, the one who did not deserve children was him. Not me.
***
When I stepped into Arnell Group, this building where I had spent countless days and sleepless nights, I felt strangely detached.
Perhaps because soon, I would personally destroy everything here.
The receptionist froze when she saw me.
“Ms. Watson… why are you here?”
I said nothing. She quickly gestured to others, then raised her voice on purpose.
“Mr. Arnell is not in the office right now. Would you like to wait until he returns to schedule a meeting?”
I walked straight toward my office. But everything inside was gone.
I pushed the door open.
The business plan I had stayed up eight nights to finish was being used to support a table leg. The simple white walls were now covered with Giselle’s personal photos.
The small ceramic figure Noah had made with his own hands lay broken in the trash can.
In the quiet room, I heard sobbing sounds. I rushed to my lounge room and saw Giselle playing a video on the computer. It was a video of me crying when I missed Noah.
“Giselle, how dare you secretly record me?” I shouted angrily and pointed at her.
She calmly tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I wouldn’t dare. These videos were given to me by Dustin to cheer me up. Didn’t you record them yourself?”
She casually turned the screen toward me. Only then did I realize… Every clip was something I had once sent to Dustin in my weakest moments.
He had turned my most painful and weakest moments into entertainment.
“Oh, right. This isn’t your office anymore. You already know that, don’t you?”
She walked over in her high heels and waved her red-painted fingers. “The storage room next to the restroom. That’s where you belong now.”
Then she called in two tall men dressed in black.
“Dustin arranged them to protect me. They’ll escort you to your new workspace. Everything here belongs to me now, especially the business partnerships you secured.”
I looked at her proud face and said nothing.
Because I knew…
Very soon, she would learn where she truly belonged.
