The nurse told him, "It's a boy."
Sean's face flickered with shock. He quickly recovered and said, "Please arrange a paternity test as soon as possible."
His words struck like a slap in the air.
My mother-in-law, who had just returned from a phone call, heard it clearly. Her face darkened with fury.
"Sean! Your wife just gave birth to your child, and this is how you treat her? Are you even human?"
Afraid of truly angering his mother, he backtracked awkwardly. "I was just joking."
I heard everything.
But I didn’t get angry.
Why would I? I’d known all along that he doubted the child was his.
Even though I’d explained several times that I used his sperm for IVF, he never believed me.
Eventually, I stopped bothering to convince him.
My mother-in-law ushered him into the room before leaving us alone.
He stood at a distance, not bothering to approach me as though I were a stranger. I also did not care.
The silence in the room was thick and oppressive.
After a long pause, he finally opened his mouth, and the words he said were still not favorable. "You wanted this child. Don’t expect me to help raise it."
As he said this, he watched my expression, trying to see something on my face.
I smiled faintly. "Mom’s already hired a top-tier nanny. The child will be well taken care of."
His brows furrowed, clearly displeased. "Don’t think you can use this baby to tie me down. I won’t—"
"It’s fine," I interrupted calmly. "Do whatever you want. Mom will handle the child. You won't be bothered."
My response seemed to catch him off guard. He pressed his lips into a thin line, momentarily silent.
I knew why he was surprised.
When we first got married, I had told him that if we ever had a child, I wanted to give them a complete, loving family — something I never had growing up.
But now?
I no longer had any expectations of him.
He opened his mouth to say something else, but his phone buzzed.
Glancing at the screen, he hesitated briefly before stepping out to answer it.
Even inside the room, I could hear the sugary voice on the other end.
"The baby isn’t even yours. Why bother visiting her? I want to go to see the idol's concert. I want you to accompany me ..."
He went out to answer the phone and never came back.
As I stared at the door he left through, a mom-to-be walked past my door, supported by her husband.
"Do you think the baby will look like you or me?" she asked playfully.
"Like you, of course — beautiful like you," he teased, making her laugh.
The woman was coaxed by her husband to laugh, and her husband laughed with her. His eyes stared at the woman beside him for an instant, and his movements were careful for fear of falling on her.
Look at their body overflowing with happiness.
I was envious.
If there is someone who can love me, how good would it be?
Lost in thought, I was jolted back to reality by my phone buzzing on the bedside table.
[You've received 50,000 dollars on your card.]
I checked the transfer message.
It read: [From Mom.]
I steadied my thoughts, deciding not to return the money. After all, I deserved it.
After a few days in the hospital, my mother-in-law brought me back home to recover.
She promised me that the day my confinement period ended would be the day she helped finalize my divorce from Sean.
With her promise, the restless ache in my heart finally began to settle.
That night, the director of the orphanage suddenly called me.
She said she had found my birth parents, but they had died a long time ago.
But they left me a letter and a key.
