Madeline sneered inwardly. Nathaniel, you lied to me, you betrayed me, so don't expect anything I said to mean anything to you.
When Madeline woke up, the rich aroma of rice filled the air, and she blinked, slightly disoriented. After quickly changing her clothes, she stepped out and saw Nathaniel in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, frying eggs.
"I'm taking a break today. You mentioned there’s a new movie coming out—I'll go with you to watch it," he said, his voice soft, his gaze tender as he looked at her.
Madeline didn’t feel moved by his words. She wondered if he had said the same thing to Zoe. But now, she didn’t care. She pursed her lips, offering a brief response before sitting down to eat.
Noticing her cold attitude, Nathaniel assumed it was just because she had just woken up and didn’t think much of it.
After breakfast, Nathaniel changed into his clothes and turned to Madeline, surprised to see her still in her sportswear. "Aren’t you going to change?" he asked, confusion creasing his brow.
Madeline shook her head. "No, let's go. The movie is about to start." She stood up and walked out without another word.
Nathaniel frowned. Normally, when they went out, Madeline would always dress up. He wondered if she was still concerned about the pregnancy. He wanted to comfort her but, thinking of the child about to be born, he bit back his words. Instead, he simply caught up with her and gently took her hand in his.
Madeline looked down at their joined hands, her expression neutral, showing neither joy nor sadness.
The movie they watched was a tragic love story. To protect the heroine, the hero had done many things that hurt her, and the heroine struggled with love and betrayal. Many girls in the cinema were softly crying over the tumultuous love between the two characters.
Nathaniel seemed moved. He recalled the times when Madeline had cried her heart out while watching melodramatic love stories. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a tissue and extended it toward her.
Madeline, lost in the movie, turned her head at the interruption. Her clear eyes met his, calm and indifferent. "What’s wrong?" she asked coldly.
Nathaniel felt a flicker of unease. There was something different about her, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. "Why aren’t you crying today?"
Madeline didn’t take the tissue. She let him hold it and then spoke, her voice cold and laced with mockery. "What’s there to cry about? It’s just disgusting things done in the name of love. It makes me sick. If I had known it was this ugly, I wouldn’t have come."
The unease inside him deepened. Nathaniel couldn't shake the feeling that Madeline was speaking about him. But when she turned back to the movie, her actions seemed normal, and he couldn’t find any real flaws in her behavior.
As his phone vibrated persistently in his pocket, Nathaniel pulled it out irritably. Seeing the caller ID, he briefly considered ignoring it. But after a moment, he reluctantly answered it, his tone impatient.
"Nathan, I'm in the hospital, waiting to deliver. The doctor needs family members to sign. Can you come over?" Zoe's voice came through the phone, clear and urgent. Madeline, however, seemed not to hear it.
Nathaniel hesitated, his face a mixture of concern and uncertainty. After a brief moment of thought, he turned to Madeline, speaking quickly. "Madeline, I have to leave early. Wait here for me to come back."
"Will you come back?" Madeline asked, her gaze steady, unwavering as she watched him.
Nathaniel, too preoccupied to notice her strange tone, hurriedly nodded. "I'll be back soon." And without waiting for a response, he left in a rush.
Madeline didn't try to stop him, her gaze fixed on the screen as the movie’s ending unfolded. The hero sacrificed himself to save the heroine, and she, overcome with regret, died alone. Amid the sobs echoing from the theater, Madeline’s lips curled into a bitter, silent sneer.
Her phone buzzed with an update from Zoe’s social media. "The baby will be born tomorrow, and his father is really nervous." Two photos accompanied the post—one showing Nathaniel talking to a doctor, his back turned, and the other a close-up of Zoe's hospital wristband.
Madeline's eyes narrowed as she recognized the hospital in the photo—the same one where she was scheduled to have an abortion tomorrow.
