Chapter 3

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see either of them for another second.

Ethan's brows furrowed tight.

"That's enough, Chloe.

I stayed by your bedside all night. I haven't even checked on the office. What more do you want from me?"

It was always like this. The moment I refused to play along, he would start listing his sacrifices.

He completely forgot about the early days of his startup.

He had blown off a crucial meeting with a top investor just to bicker with Rachel over some nonsense.

I was the one who swallowed my pride, begging an old friend of my father to secure that contract back for him.

He forgot that when my biological family finally tracked me down, they arranged a strategic marriage with an elite heir.

I had defied immense family pressure and turned it down flat for him.

Back then, I took Ethan's hand, stood tall in front of my wealthy parents, and made a promise.

"Ethan has talent and drive. He doesn't need handouts.

Give him ten years, and he will conquer the tech world. And I will stand right beside him."

Back then, I believed in him with all my heart. And to his credit, he made it.

Yet the price of his fame and applause was an out-of-control ego.

A tear slipped silently down my cheek. My voice came out hoarse.

"I'm exhausted. I want to sleep."

Right then, the doctor pushed the door open and stepped in.

He took one look at the room and turned to Ethan.

"Are you the patient's family? Step outside for a moment.

The test results came back. There's something we need to discuss."

Rachel hesitated for a beat, then hurried out after him.

The hospital room fell dead silent.

Watching Rachel's disappearing back, I remembered when I was still living with my adoptive family.

My adoptive mother had forced me to kneel outside in the freezing snow. Rachel had marched over, hands on her hips, yelling at them on my behalf.

Back then, she told me:

"I'll protect you from now on."

From that day forward, she shared her lunch money with me.

Whenever bullies picked on me, she was always the first to throw a punch.

I held onto that gratitude for years.

That was why, no matter how ridiculously she and Ethan behaved, I chose to tolerate it again and again.

Yet here she was, standing firmly on the other side.

Moments later, Ethan's stunned voice echoed from the hallway outside.

"What? Pregnant? Doctor, are you out of your mind?!"

I froze. My trembling hand slowly drifted down to rest against my flat stomach, and a bitter smile touched my lips.

Fate loved playing cruel jokes on me.

The door clicked open, and Ethan walked back inside.

He stopped beside my bed. His mouth opened, but no words came out for a long time.

Finally, he took a deep, shaky breath.

"Chloe... we're having a baby. Let's get married. Please?"

I stared at his face, feeling only sickening irony.

Ethan, let me play a game with you for once.

I smiled softly at him.

"Okay. Let's get married."

A massive wave of relief washed over Ethan's face. He let out a half-joking chuckle.

"Looks like you finally got what you wanted. Guess I'm stuck with you for the rest of my life."

I turned my head away, saying nothing.

For the next two weeks, Ethan waited on me hand and foot.

His tenderness was almost suffocating, dragging my mind back into the past.

Back when we shared that dingy basement. Every day after work,

if I said my feet hurt, he would carry me on his back without hesitation.

The streetlights would stretch our shadows long on the pavement. He would whisper:

"Chloe, you are my entire world."

Then my mind drifted to later days, when his company took off. He would say with an exhausted scowl:

"Compared to my career, love only takes up ten percent of my life."

Looking back now, Rachel occupied nine of that ten percent.