The state of the piano made it clear it had been deliberately destroyed.
Rafael knew how much this piano meant to me. Anyone else touching it would have already enraged me, let alone ruining it.
Seeing the dark expression on my face, he scoffed, “It’s just an old piano. Jenna broke it, but I’ll replace it for you. What's with the attitude?”
I opened the piano lid, revealing the keys, now deeply scratched and dented. On top lay a pink bow-tied pair of underwear.
Rafael quickly snatched the underwear, stammering, “It’s Jenna’s..! she forgot to take it last time. There’s nothing between us! Don't overthink, okay?”
The sight of the underwear on the piano told me all I needed to know. They had even done that on it.
Looking at Rafael, all I felt was disgust.
Perhaps out of guilt, he grabbed my hand and changed the subject. “Lily, let me take you to your prenatal checkup.”
He had forgotten that I’d just returned from the hospital and no longer needed prenatal care.
Rafael never even asked why I had been hospitalized for the past week. And this was the first time he had ever offered to accompany me to a checkup.
In the past, whenever I begged him to come with me, he always used work as an excuse, scolding me for being inconsiderate. “The company is so busy, and you’re still making trouble!” he’d say.
I only wanted what other pregnant women had—the company of their husbands. If Rafael had joined me just once, I would have been overjoyed.
But now, the baby was gone, and I no longer needed him for anything.
Rafael placed a hand on my stomach, frowning. “Why have you lost weight? That’s not good for the baby. I’ll hire a nutritionist in a few days to prepare meals for you.”
I shook my head, looking at him. “Rafael, that won’t be necessary.”
“The baby is already—”
Before I could finish, his phone rang.
He quickly picked it up and walked away.
When he returned, just as I expected, he was ready to leave. “There’s an emergency at the office. You’ll have to go to the checkup on your own this time.”
I knew too well that it was Jenna on the other end. If she called, he would always leave, no matter what. I had tried to stop him in the past, but it only made him resent me more.
A sudden, sharp pain twisted through my stomach. I guessed it was the sequelae of the abortion.
Seeing me clutch my belly in pain, Rafael frowned. “Lily, can you stop using these tricks to fool me?”
“You think just because you’re pregnant, I have to revolve around you every second?”
With that, he slammed the door and left.
I took out the medication prescribed by the doctor, swallowed it, and lay down. Sleep finally eased the pain.
When I woke up and scrolled through my phone, I saw Jenna’s latest social media post.
[My boss is the best~ Got cramps from my period, and he came rushing to take care of me~]
I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. To Rafael, I wasn’t even as important as his assistant.
A moment later, my phone rang.
It was Rafael. For a fleeting moment, I thought he might finally care about me.
But his urgent voice on the other end crushed that hope. “Lily, which brand of sanitary pads do you usually use?”
“Jenna is such a scatterbrain; she forgot to buy hers.”
My heart sank. Rafael was willing to buy sanitary pads for another woman.
I remembered a time when my period came unexpectedly, staining my white pants with blood. I had no pads, and the blood was glaringly obvious.
I asked Rafael to buy me some. However, his response was one of utter disgust. “You want me, a man, to buy sanitary pads? Are you insane? Do you know how embarrassing that would be for me?”
But now, there was no disgust in his tone—only concern for Jenna.
