TWO PINK LINES ONE QUESTION
Five years.
I traced the steering wheel lightly with my fingers, smiling to myself.
Five years of marriage.
Five years of trying.
Five years of negative pregnancy tests hidden at the bottom of bathroom trash cans so Kelvin wouldn’t see how much they hurt me.
But last week…
Last week, I saw two pink lines.
I’m pregnant.
Even now, the word feels fragile in my chest.
Pregnant.
After the hospital visits.
After I started believing my body was broken.
Tomorrow is our anniversary dinner. I booked the restaurant a month ago. I planned everything carefully.
I was going to hand him a small velvet box.
Inside it? The test.
Our miracle.
I couldn’t wait anymore.
I just wanted to see him. To see his face when I told him. To watch five years of disappointment turn into joy.
I parked outside his office building and stepped out, pressing a protective hand over my stomach.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Rye,” the receptionist greeted warmly.
I smiled. “I’m here to see Kelvin.”
She nodded. “He’s inside.”
I didn’t knock.
I never do.
But as I approached his office door, I heard Bella’s voice.
Soft.
Concerned.
Bella was Kelvin's secretary
When are you planning to divorce your wife?”
Very soon,” Kelvin replied casually, as if it were no big deal.
Bella stepped closer, frustration in her tone. “Very soon? You’ve been saying this for days. When exactly is ‘very soon’? You see, when she gets pregnant, you’ll find some excuse that you cannot leave the mother of a child alone.”
Kelvin chuckled softly, leaning back in his chair. “No… why do you think she hasn’t gotten pregnant all this time?”
Marlene froze. Her heart skipped a beat.
“It’s because I’ve been giving her pills,” Kelvin said, his voice calm and deliberate. “That’s why she hasn’t been able to conceive all these days. And even if she eventually did, she would have a miscarriage.”
Marlene’s knees went weak. She pressed herself against the wall by the door, barely daring to breathe. She couldn’t believe her ears. The man she had loved, trusted, given everything to… had been planning this all along.
Every memory, every tender word, every smile—they were lies. Her chest tightened as a wave of disbelief and heartbreak washed over her. How could someone she loved so deeply betray her to this extent? How could he stand by and manipulate her body, her future, as if she were nothing more than a pawn?
She slid down slowly to the floor, her back against the wall, staring at the door. The sound of their voices continued, but it was muffled now—her world had gone silent, leaving only the cold, raw ache of betrayal.
Marlene’s hands trembled as she turned the knob. Her mind couldn’t process the words she had just overheard. Pills… miscarriage… all these years…
She pushed the door open and stepped in, her voice trembling but loud.
“Kelvin! What did you just say? What… what did you just say?”
Kelvin looked up slowly, his face calm, almost unreadable.
“Have I been a pawn to you all this time?” Marlene continued, tears threatening to spill. “Why… why… why did you betray me? How could you plan… plan something like this? Pills… to stop me from getting pregnant?”
Kelvin’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t reach out, didn’t flinch. He simply stared at her, a hollow, cold calm in his eyes.
“Marlene…” he began, but his voice was flat, detached.
“Don’t ‘Marlene’ me!” she snapped, her voice breaking. “All these years, I gave you everything! My heart… my trust… my life… and you… you were giving me pills? Planning for me not to have a child? How could you even think of something like this?”
Kelvin leaned back slightly, his hands resting on the desk, composed, almost clinical. “I told you before… I have my reasons.”
“Reasons? Reasons!” Marlene’s voice shook with disbelief. “Do you even hear yourself? Do you even care what you’ve done to me? Or was I just… just a step for you to get what you wanted?”
Kelvin didn’t answer. He simply watched her, silent, cold, as if her pain meant nothing.
Marlene’s chest heaved. She felt the full weight of betrayal pressing down on her, crushing her from the inside. She could hardly believe that the man she had loved, trusted, and planned her future with could be capable of such calculated cruelty.
And yet… she had heard it with her own ears.
She opened her mouth to scream, to demand more, but suddenly Kelvin’s phone buzzed on the desk. He picked it up casually, glanced at the screen, and his face tightened ever so slightly.
Marlene’s eyes followed the phone, and froze.
The message preview on the screen made her heart stop:
“Everything is ready. When do I make the final move?”
Her hand shot to her mouth. Her mind raced. Final move? What… what does he mean by that?
Kelvin looked up at her, still calm, almost eerily so, as if nothing could touch him.
And in that frozen moment, Marlene realized… she was standing at the very edge of a truth far worse than she could imagine.,
