I remained silent the entire time and Eric didn’t seem to care about my reaction.
After speaking, he kept staring at his phone.
I didn’t know what he was looking at, but the smile on his face suddenly vanished into a frown.
The next second, he grabbed his suit jacket in a rush and turned to leave.
Seeing this, I quickly reached out to stop him.
“Sign this.”
I handed him the divorce agreement.
Without even glancing at it, he signed his name and then turned away, saying casually, “Tessa was traumatized by that pregnant woman who got into the accident yesterday. I need to take her to the hospital right away. I won’t be coming home today. Take good care of yourself—and the baby.”
As he spoke, he leaned in to kiss my cheek.
It was a habit formed over ten years of marriage.
But now...
I saw the indifference in his eyes. I tilted my face slightly to avoid his kiss and replied calmly,
“If you’re in such a hurry, go ahead. Tessa is waiting for you.”
Eric frowned, as if he wanted to say something else.
Just then, his phone rang again.
Tessa was growing impatient.
He instinctively tilted the screen away, but I had already seen it.
Her contact name on his phone read: Tessa Little Darling, who needs careful care.
The corner of my mouth curled bitterly.
Even at the best moments of our relationship, he only ever called me Melanie—never once gave me a pet name.
Eric glanced at me nervously. I calmly looked away.
Soon, he no longer had time to worry about it and left in a hurry.
I stood there, holding the signed divorce agreement in my hands, not sure what I was feeling.
Then I turned and followed him.
At the hospital, Eric hovered attentively around Tessa.
The smile on his face—gentle, affectionate—was one I hadn’t seen in a long, long time.
From a distance, I stood quietly and listened to the whispers surrounding us.
“Mr. Trevor is so good to his wife. She only had a nightmare, but he still brought her to the hospital and even called all the doctors in,” someone said.
“Yeah, makes sense. I heard his wife is already three months pregnant.”
My heart skipped a beat.
I looked up involuntarily.
“Did she conceive naturally?” someone asked.
I stared intently at the nurse nearby.
She noticed my gaze and gave me a strange look before answering,
“Of course she did. Mr. Trevor loves his wife too much to put her through IVF. That would be so painful.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
My knees gave out and I collapsed to the floor, clutching my chest as waves of pain tore through me.
The nurse backed away, startled.
Tears streamed down my face.
It turned out...
All these years of marriage had been a lie.
Eric didn’t have fertility issues at all!
I clenched my fists until blood dripped from my palms.
After ten years of marriage, we had never had a child.
Because of that, the mother-in-law who once welcomed me with warmth had turned cold and harsh.
Every year when we returned to the old house, she would mock me, calling me a hen that couldn’t lay eggs.
At those moments, Eric always stood by my side.
He would tell her it was his fault, not mine—that he had the fertility problem.
Still, his mother never let up.
But I endured it all.
For love.
I even endured three agonizing years of IVF.
I pumped myself full of medication.
I endured endless injections and the pain of egg retrieval, time and time again.
Eric had seen it all.
Each time, he’d hold me and cry with me, saying we didn’t have to go through with it. That we were enough.
That our love was enough.
But I didn’t give up.
Because I wanted a child with him.
Because I loved him.
And now?
Now I knew the truth—and it was unbearable.
I broke into a hysterical laugh through my tears.
He let me go through all that pain.
All those procedures.
All those tears.
While he refused to conceive naturally with me.
But with Tessa?
He wouldn’t let her suffer one bit.
I didn’t even care anymore whether he had fertility problems or not.
It didn’t matter.
It was just another cruel truth.
Maybe... maybe he never loved me.
Maybe everything had been a fantasy—my fantasy.
I stood up slowly, my legs trembling beneath me.
I had seen enough.
I had heard enough.
And then I heard Tessa’s voice behind me.
“What’s wrong, Melanie? Can’t handle hearing a little truth?”
I turned around.
Her eyes were full of smug contempt.
“No matter what the truth is, you’re just the mistress,” I said coldly. “For now, I’m still Eric’s wife. Can you make him divorce me?”
Even though he had signed the agreement, I hadn't filed it yet.
To the world, I was still Mrs. Trevor.
She was still the other woman.
Sure enough, her expression darkened.
She narrowed her eyes at me in fury and spat,
“Eric doesn’t love you anymore. Why are you still clinging to him like some pathetic woman?”
“He loves me now! Even your bed—your room—I’ve slept in it. You didn’t know that, did you?”
She stepped closer, venom in her voice.
“Do you know what he said about you? That he’s not infertile. He just doesn’t want to touch you. You disgust him.”
The words hit me like a punch to the chest.
I staggered back, barely holding on to my composure.
Seeing my silence, Tessa only grew bolder.
Then suddenly, her eyes gleamed with cruelty as she gave a cold, low laugh.
“You really dare show your face here again? Isn’t one dead child enough? What now—hoping for another IVF miracle?”
She leaned in, her voice a venomous whisper.
“If I could kill one of your children, I can kill two. Keep clinging to Eric and you’ll end up under the wheels again.”
Her eyes dropped to my abdomen.
In that instant, the memory of the crash—the pain, the fear—rushed back to me.
Before I even realized it, my hands were around her neck.
She didn’t even try to fight back.
She just smirked.
I was about to tighten my grip—when a violent force slammed into me from behind, hurling me to the ground.
