“Can you please be a bit more tactful? Or do you not want to be friends with me anymore?” I massaged my waist and retorted weakly. Sure enough, I’ve been allowing Christopher too many liberties in this aspect that Sabrina is looking at me in contempt.
“I was actually planning to ask you out on a shopping spree since you’ve finally returned, but look at you now. You’re just a step away from needing a wheelchair!” Sabrina eyed me with even more disdain in her eyes even as she draped a thin blanket over me. “Cover up for a bit. Did you two consider the feelings of the pregnant woman when putting on a public display of affection?”
Ugh! How utterly embarrassing! I reached out and stroked her stomach, asking in hushed tones, “You’re probably going to give birth soon since your stomach is so big now, huh? Yet, you dared to wander around? Aren’t you afraid that you’ll give birth by the roadside?”
“Good grief! Stop exaggerating! My expected delivery date is the day after tomorrow.” Flipping her hair, Sabrina started counting with her fingers. “My confinement will be a month, and I’ll also have to recuperate for a month. Oh no, I’ll only get to go break my fast two months later. How saddening! My Zach is so yummy, yet I can only look without gobbling him up. Oh God, how am I going to survive? Why on earth did I get pregnant as soon as I got married? That was simply a miscalculation on my part! I only got to enjoy Zach a few times.”
“Haha.” Other than giving a bark of dry laughter, I had no other way of expressing my thoughts.
In the end, I couldn’t hold out in the face of her request and dragged myself up to go shopping with her. We went to the mall by car, with me driving. Despite my less-than-stellar driving skills, I adamantly refused to allow her to drive. Well, she’s in a delicate condition now, so she really shouldn’t do anything strenuous.
Alas, perhaps my remark jinxed us. I had just parked the car at the mall entrance and helped Sabrina out of the car with her bulging stomach leading the way when she abruptly clutched her stomach and cried out in pain before we had even entered the mall. All at once, fear struck me, and my face drained of color.
“Quick, I’ll drive you to the hospital!”
“Yes, yes, let’s go to the hospital!” Half of Sabrina’s weight was on me, and she arduously made her way down the stairs outside the mall. No sooner had she taken a few steps than she suddenly collapsed onto the ground with a cry. In the next second, liquid gushed out from under her dress.
Even if I were ignorant, I still knew that her water broke. “Oh God, this is bad! Your water broke! Quick, don’t sit here anymore. We’ve got to rush to the hospital right away! Don’t tell me you really want to give birth at such a public place where people come and go?”
“But I can’t walk anymore! What should I do? Quick, Eve, call an ambulance for me! You really jinxed me! And why do I feel the baby slipping down now?”
Whipping out my phone, I rang the doctor even as my heart leaped into my throat. When the doctors and nurses arrived after a flurry of panic, a nurse shrieked upon seeing Sabrina’s condition, “I can see the baby’s head! The expectant mother must deliver the baby right now, or the baby will suffocate!”
I stood beyond the group of medical personnel and watched as they held up a tarp to cordon off the area. When I saw that they were going to have Sabrina deliver the baby by the roadside, my entire being was numb. Oh my God, she’s really giving birth by the roadside now!
When Zachary received my urgent call, he was still dressed in fatigues, carrying real guns and live ammunition. A few men followed behind him with rifles on their shoulders and various high-end instruments hanging from their waistbelts. That procession frightened all the onlookers away.
As soon as he entered the space enclosed by the tarp, I heard Sabrina’s previously agonized cries turning into a roar. “Zachary Scott, you b*stard! I’m dying of pain here! I’m not going to give birth to any more children for you in the future!”
“All right, all right, we won’t give birth anymore. Your word is law, okay?”
“Nonsense! The baby’s head is already out, yet you’re saying not to give birth anymore? You don’t even love your own child? Is that it? I want to divorce you, Zachary Scott!”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. Just bear with it for a while, okay? It’ll be over soon.”
“Next time, you give birth, you b*stard! Then, you’ll know how the pain feels like! You can talk if you give birth to a dozen or so babies! Of course, it’s easy for you to talk! Why don’t you bear with it instead?”
“I’m sorry for having said the wrong thing. Look, there are women during the ancient times who even gave birth on the battlefield! My Sabby is definitely stronger than them all! Just push a little harder. In the future, I’ll give birth to our babies. I’ll give birth instead, okay?”
Pfft! Zachary’s colleagues who came with him guffawed softly when they heard that exchange. I couldn’t help but laugh as well while I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. I swear that I’ll never wander around like this if I get pregnant! This is just too scary! And she’s the only one with such a forceful style!
