Chapter 34 Who Is the Baby’s Father?
“I’ll take it.” Stella admitted that she relented, as she never was a saintly person who had high moral standards. On the contrary, she was just a normal woman who had had two unforgettable intimate moments with the man before her. Who could possibly not have a soft spot for someone who bought an incredibly thoughtful gift for them?
Later on, Miles sent her to the hospital before driving off. He even reminded her to take care of her health, to which she nodded. After she spent a full twenty days taking care of Zane in the hospital, he was finally discharged. He had the advantage of having a young and healthy body, so he was well and kicking again once he was discharged.
Meanwhile, the twenty days he spent with Stella altered his perception of her. She never complained when she took care of him, and she was even more diligent than most caretakers. Therefore, Zane figured that he should settle down with her since they were a married couple. Although he wasn’t her first man, he did also have a lot of other women, so he considered them even.
That night, Zane entered Stella’s bedroom, which was unprecedented. When he pressed his elbow on her pillow, she stared at him, blushing profusely. She thought they were finally going to have sex for the first time. However, a wave of nausea hit her, quickly reaching her throat with an unstoppable force.
Her face blanching, she shoved him off her out of instinct. As soon as she entered the washroom, she vomited so hard into the toilet bowl that she tasted bile, her mind blank. When she was finally done, she rinsed her mouth before wiping it with some tissue. By the end of it, she felt awful.
Just as she turned around, she saw Zane standing by the door of the washroom, glaring at her menacingly. “The last pregnancy was fake, but I suppose this time is for real, right?”
The sudden change in his attitude gravely disappointed Stella. However, she thought she might actually be pregnant, as she didn’t take contraceptive pills after having sex with Miles because of the fever. She didn’t think it was possible for her to get pregnant after just one time. Besides, she had double checked that they had had sex on her safe day, which was why she thought she might get away with it. How is this possible? Stella was taken aback by the discovery. She never thought that she might get pregnant after just one time.
Meanwhile, Zane’s voice was as loud as could be. He wanted to push her down on the bed, but he decided against it when he recalled her attentiveness when she had cared for him during his stay in the hospital.
“Who’s the child’s father? Is it Miles Grant?” Although he didn’t move, he was still speaking loudly.
Stella stood in silence as her feelings were all muddled up. After all, Zane could use her infidelity as leverage against her, so she couldn’t possibly wiggle her way out of it.
“If you abort the child, we can go back to how we used to be.” Zane wore a livid expression on his face. Although he used to doubt that Stella had had a relationship with Miles, he didn’t have substantial proof. Due to his self-proclaimed love for Stella, he was holding onto illusions of a possible reconciliation.
Wavering, Stella couldn’t come to a decision. She never expected to have a baby, let alone consider keeping one. Her mind was all blank when she said hastily, “I need time to consider this! I’m sorry!” She was indeed in the wrong for getting pregnant with another man’s child when she was still married to Zane.
Dashing into her room, she closed the door to shut Zane out as she was afraid that he might drag things out between them. She had some pregnancy test sticks which she bought early on but never used. After a quick test, she was certain that she was pregnant. Should I keep the baby? Her mind was a mess.
In her dreams, she revisited the night when she had sex with Miles in the alleyway, during which he was angry and uncaring. When she was still in the seemingly never-ending dream, she felt a slight prick on her wrist before she lost consciousness. When she came to, she found herself in a dark and tiny hospital. Due to her pitch-black surroundings, she wouldn’t have known she was in a hospital if it wasn’t for the IV drip that she was on, as well as the patient gown she wore.
All of a sudden, Zane was beside her, saying, “I’m sorry, Stella. I’m afraid that you might hesitate, so I anesthetized you when you were sleeping to bring you to the hospital for an abortion.”
Stella gawked at him. What does he mean by that? Why in the hell would he bring me to such a shoddy hospital? Utterly baffled, she yelled, “How dare you rob me of my choices?” Overcome with a heart-wrenching sorrow, she burst into tears while pounding Zane’s chest. She was pained by the fact that her first child was aborted just like that.
“Don’t I have the right to decide as your husband?” Zane cried out.
His question struck her like lightning as she was reminded of her first ever baby. “I want a divorce!” she roared.
“A divorce? Since you’re the one who had an affair, I’m sure the judge will be partial to me.” Zane didn’t back down.
Assuming that she had no other options, Stella bawled. She wondered if the baby was Miles’ first child, and whether he would be unaffected or suffer a heartache upon hearing the news. The only thing she knew for a fact was that she never experienced such heartbreak. She even decided that she would file for a divorce if she had to choose between Zane and her baby, as she knew Zane would never tolerate the baby’s presence.
However, he robbed her of her choice by forcefully aborting her child. While leaning on the pillow, Stella wailed. She used to think that Zane was childish despite the fact that he was a few years older than her, but by that point, she saw him as the embodiment of evil that she couldn’t possibly share a life with.
Stella went back to work three days after her abortion. She returned to work around New Year, so the higher ups in the company were coming up with plans to celebrate the occasion. She had wanted to quit her job back when Zane was hospitalized, but Kevin told her he would be withholding her position as there weren’t a lot of important projects around that time, so they weren’t in a hurry to hire someone to take over her position.
Besides, despite the fact that she was new to the position, he found her to be an intelligent and creative person who was talented in her job, so instead of allowing her to quit her job, he decided to withhold her position.
Therefore, she gave up on the idea altogether, since she only thought of quitting her job because she was worried that the company might not allow her to take such a long time off. Thus, she took three days of personal leave after her abortion.
After work, Kevin invited her to come along to a forum for company presidents that he would be attending in a hotel. Although her first reaction was to turn down the invitation, Kevin asked, “Can’t you at least do it for my sake?”
For lack of a better course of action, she attended the forum with Kevin. When they arrived at the room, they laid eyes on thirty or so people sitting around a huge table, who were all engaged in pleasant conversation. Seated at the main seat, Miles observed the crowd with narrowed eyes. He said nothing when he noticed both Kevin and Stella’s presence.
Soon, Kevin joined a discussion with a group of people. However, Stella was in no position to join any of the groups, as she was merely a general staff member who had yet to even reach a mid-tier position. Moreover, she only came along with Kevin, thus could only spend her time eating at the side. She sat on the furthermost seat from Miles, but they sat directly in front of each other, so she could see him as soon as she lifted her head. In order to avoid any awkward encounters, she hung her head low while eating.
She had tasted on other occasions most of the dishes on the table, with the exception of one, which turned out to be quite tasty. However, the turntable never stopped long enough, so she had waited for a long while before finally managing to get a portion for herself. Just when she wanted to get a second portion, the dish was already out of reach. She was a picky eater, so she wouldn’t take anything that she didn’t like, but not that she saw a lot of food that she liked to begin with.
With a frown on her face, she waited for the dish to come before her for a second time, all the while noticing that the turntable picked up speed. However, she didn’t notice who was turning it. After getting a portion for herself, she was surprised that the dish didn’t get moved away as expected.
Curious, she lifted her head to see Miles, who was sitting across from her, holding the turntable down with one hand. Without even looking at her, he was still chatting with the other managers, and neither did they seem to notice him doing that. After getting another portion, she didn’t bother to even touch it again. After all, she was but a general staff, so she couldn’t possibly have the president of her company to keep on holding down the turntable for her.
Meanwhile, she didn’t pick up on any of the exchanges that happened at the table. After the discussions ended, Stella left the hotel to hail a cab despite the fact that she wasn’t full. Just when she managed to book a cab on Uber, Miles drove over in his car before telling her to get in. A breeze blew past her long hair, so she pressed her hair down before getting into the car.
As soon as Miles started the car engine, her phone beeped with a message from Whatsapp. While she wasn’t in a hurry to check on it, she felt awkward doing nothing in Miles’ car, so she needed to occupy herself with something. However, she didn’t expect it to be a voice message from Zane. As soon as she tapped to load it, Zane’s voice replayed itself through the loudspeaker. ‘Darling, you just had an abortion—’
In a flurry of panic, she managed to stop the message from replaying itself. Her heart was pounding when she thought, My worst fears always come true. She was afraid that Miles might know about the abortion. After that, she could only hope that either he didn’t hear the voice message when his attention was on the road while he waited for the traffic light to turn green, or he didn’t mind the abortion.
However, she wasn’t that lucky, as Miles quickly wore a frown while questioning, “An abortion?” When the traffic light turned green, Miles’ car sped off to the front before pulling over by the road.
Stella was sitting on pins and needles, worrying about how he might treat her. According to her understanding of him, she knew he would never let those who’d offended him off the hook. Although she didn’t know if he cared, she was certain that he knew the baby had to be his, as he knew that Zane had not had sex with her due to Zane’s own prejudices.
Therefore, she figured that there was no point in lying to him—not that she could even if she tried. Leaning her body close to the door, she observed Miles on full alert, biting down on her bottom lips as her heart palpitated.
“Whose baby was it?” Upon stopping the car, Miles asked.
