Chapter 2
1075 Words
Early on... Although I had long grown accustomed to his coldness, a sharp pang still pierced my heart.
He felt such deep sympathy and distress for Noelle because she had once miscarried his child.
Yet, he had completely forgotten that I had also conceived and carried two children for him in the past.
A sour, burning sensation rose in my nasal passages and stung my eyes. I tilted my head upward, forcing the tears back before they could fall.
I let out a scoff. "Fine then. What exactly do you want me to do?"
Noah gently stroked Noelle’s pale, colorless face, and his voice softened into a tender murmur. "If it hadn't been for that pendant you gave me, which upset and agitated her so much, she never would have insisted on being intimate with me inside the car in the first place...
"... she lost so much blood... and it is all your fault. Since you are responsible, then you will make up for it. I remember... you two share the same blood type, don't you?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Noah’s sycophants and followers seized me and dragged me straight to the blood collection room, without a single word of explanation.
I struggled violently, refusing to cooperate.
"Noah, have you lost your mind? I am carrying a baby! Do you want to kill my child?!"
Noelle rubbed her reddened eyes and said pitifully, her voice trembling with grievance. "Let it go, Noah. It doesn't matter if I lose a little blood. After all, she is carrying your child right now. I know how much you have always wanted a child of your own. At the end of the day, I suppose I just wasn't lucky enough to give you one..."
Noah, who had actually begun to waver and hesitate a moment ago, instantly frowned with determination upon hearing her speak.
His tone was final and yielded no reversal. "When Noelle lost her child because of you, she didn't make such a fuss or act so delicate. It’s just eight hundred cubic centimeters of blood. Draw it. Besides, this isn't the first time you've been pregnant, is it?"
It felt as if every ounce of strength in my body had been drained away along with those cruel words.
I stared blankly at the man standing in front of me.
Every last shred of affection, every lingering trace of hope I had held in the deepest part of my heart... vanished completely.
Our first child was conceived six months after we were married.
I was overjoyed and rushed to share the wonderful news with him.
But instead of a happy reunion, I walked in on him holding Noelle in his arms, both of them completely naked, tangled together on our wedding bed.
The shock was so severe that I started bleeding right then.
But Noah simply took the opportunity to lay all his cards on the table. He cornered me and forced me to accept an open marriage.
"Can't you learn how to be a qualified wife? Look at yourself... is there any other wife who behaves the way you do? We can each do whatever we want on our own terms, without interfering with each other. Wouldn't that be better?"
I was hysterical. I screamed and slapped him hard across the face, and once more.
"How could you do this to me? You clearly said... you said you married me because you loved me!"
Noah looked utterly annoyed and impatient. He shoved me away roughly.
"Have you finished your tantrum yet? I did marry you because I liked you, that much is true. But I also like Lina, and Noelle, and Amy. The world is so vast and full of possibilities. If you only liked one person your whole life... wouldn't that be incredibly boring?
"... Ruby, can't you just act like a mature adult?"
I miscarried that very night. Yet he acted as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
He even had the nerve to say, "It’s actually for the best. The timing was wrong anyway. It wasn't supposed to happen yet."
I felt as though my heart had been ripped right out of my chest and shredded to pieces.
That was when I began to act out, to go mad, to become completely unhinged. I spent every waking moment trying to catch him in the act or find evidence of his affairs with other women.
But every time I tried to fight back, it only resulted in heavier, more devastating blows to my family’s business and reputation.
My parents cried and begged me to stop, to hold back, to endure.
I looked at their aging faces and the streaks of white hair appearing at their temples.
And finally... I became afraid.
I surrendered to Noah. I compromised and accepted his terms.
Soon after, I became pregnant for the second time.
By some cruel twist of fate, during that same period, both Noelle and I found out we were expecting at the same time.
Yet Noah reacted with wild, unprecedented excitement.
He lifted Noelle into his arms and spun her around in circles, laughing and looking happier than I had ever seen him, like a child who had finally gotten what he wanted most.
It was the very first time I had ever seen such a genuine expression on his face.
My heart ached so badly, I thought I might die from the pain.
I asked him, "What about me?"
"Noah... what about me?"
What was it that he had said back then?
Noah furrowed his brow deeply.
He glanced at me, then turned his gaze back to Noelle.
He waved his hand dismissively, his face full of irritation and disgust.
"That time... I was drunk. I mistook you for Noelle. This child... cannot be born. I promised Noelle a long time ago that my first child belongs to her. So go and get rid of it."
I was treated no better than a pig or an animal stripped of all dignity.
I was forcibly pinned down onto the operating table.
Cold, metallic instruments were inserted deep inside my body. The excruciating pain split my mind and body completely apart, tearing me in two.
That was how I lost my second child.
And now, here he stood, speaking with absolute justification and righteousness, saying that "this isn't the first time you've been pregnant."
How utterly ridiculous.
- Writer
