When I was eight months pregnant, my husband forced me to take care of his childhood sweetheart, who had just a miscarriage. She then spilled chicken soup on her thigh and accused me of deliberately scalding her.
Enraged, my husband had me tied up and thrown into an oversized steamer in the employee cafeteria. He determined to make me experience the pain of being burned.
"You dared to harm my child and mistreat my precious Sofia? If I don’t teach you a lesson, you’ll never learn!" he scolded.
Amidst the suffocating heat, I pleaded with him and begged for mercy for the sake of our unborn child. I swore I would never fight for him against Sofia Gonzales again.
He just smirked as he said, "Don’t use the child to gain sympathy. I had done my research, it said that pregnant women experiencing some stress before labor actually leads to healthier mothers."
His tone was ice-cold. "Rest assured, I won’t divorce you. However, for the pain you caused Sofia, I’ll make sure you'll suffer a thousand times worse."
To make me scared, he deliberately cranked up the temperature to its maximum setting.
I was so scared it sent me into premature labor and I could hear the baby's faint cry under me. My baby was born.
Desperately, I begged them to take my child to safety. However, my husband thought I was faking and ordered his men to lock the steamer with heavy iron chains then ordered, "No one opens this without my permission."
That night, while he served food to Sofia, my husband frowned in displeasure. "Did Chiara still not want to admit that she’s wrong? If she keeps being stubborn, who will take care of you, Sofia?"
"You tell her that I give her a chance and that as long as she knells, begs Sofia, admits her mistakes and promises to cook food for Sofia for a week, I'll let her go to the hospital to get birth."
His subordinates were all afraid to say anything.
——
Finally, one of them stepped forward and said with a pale face, " Mr. Johnson … it seems, Madam … has lost her consciousness. She hasn’t made a sound for an hour and when we called her, she didn’t respond."
My husband scoffed. "Don't be afraid, I know her too well better than you. She is very good at pretending. She must have realized that using the baby to trick me is useless and now she is acting as if she died. If she doesn’t suffer enough, she’ll keep bullying my Sofia."
His subordinate wiped the cold sweat. His face had gone pale. "Sir … we really heard the sound of a baby crying inside, but it only cried for a few seconds, then it stopped."
"She must be faking it," my husband said with certainty. Although his subordinate wanted to say more, Sebastian Johnson waved his hand impatiently to cut his words. "Enough. Nowadays, the home appliances are smart. They will automatically shut off the power if it detects people inside. Just let her stew there for a while. She’s not that fragile."
His subordinate was afraid to say anything anymore and with his face drained with color, he left the room.
Meanwhile, Sebastian brought dinner into the master bedroom. In Sebastian's master bedroom, Sofia lay on the bed. She was wearing my pajamas and leaning on the bed while playing with her cell phone. Occasionally, she even let out sweet smiles.
"Sofia, what are you watching? What's making you so happy?" he asked.
Seeing that she had stopped crying, Sebastian’s mood improved. He stepped forward, leaned in, cradled the back of her head and fed her a spoonful of chicken soup. "You need to nurture your body properly so I as your brother, can feel at ease."
Sofia gave him a guilty smile before she suddenly threw herself into his arms as her tears welled up. "My best friend is worried about me. She keeps telling me to leave you. However, whenever I think about how nice you treat me, I just can’t bring myself to let go. That’s why I was smiling stupidly."
"This is all my fault," she said sadly, "I couldn’t control my feelings for you. That night when you were drugged with the herbal medicine, I was determined to give myself to you then leave silently with our baby and never disturb your happiness again and yet …. "
Her voice broke. "I lost the baby. If I lose you too, I won’t be able to go on."
"I know I’m selfish," she cried. "So no matter how Chiara punishes me, I accept it. It was just a little burn, nothing serious and it only hurt a bit. Even if she stabbed me, I’d endure it, as long as you don’t make me leave you!"
