Chapter 2

Last night, Chloe sent me a couple of voice notes.

In all our previous chats, her tone was always cold, bossy, or mocking.

Yet last night, her voice was dripping with unnatural sweetness.

"Julian, I think I'm pregnant with your baby. Meet me outside Central Hospital at nine tomorrow morning."

"Oh, and please dress up nice. See you there!"

If she hadn't messaged me, I would have completely forgotten she was still on my contacts list. We hadn't exchanged a single word in six months.

I already had a loving partner, and Serena was already three months pregnant with our baby.

My first instinct last night was to block and delete Chloe immediately.

The only reason I came to Central Hospital today was because Serena had an appointment for her routine ultrasound.

After blocking Chloe last night, I casually scrolled through Ins.

That was when I stumbled upon a video posted by one of Chloe's guy friends.

The video was taken at a hot spring resort. Chloe was lounging in the pool with a drink.

A guy behind the camera teased, "Chloe, that simp Julian hasn't hit you up in six months. Did he finally find a new girl?"

Chloe lifted her chin with arrogant pride.

"Impossible. That loser chased me for ten years. He'll never get over me."

The guys scoffed in disbelief.

Chloe waved her hand dismissively.

"Tell you what, let's make a bet. I'll tell Julian I'm pregnant and tell him to meet me at the hospital. Deal?"

Someone laughed. "No way! Even a brain-dead moron knows you haven't seen each other in half a year. He hasn't even touched you! Why would he believe you're having his baby?"

Chloe raised her head high like a spoiled swan.

"Julian has always been my personal dog. He hasn't seen me in months."

"No matter how insane the lie is, he’ll come running like a good boy."

The guys cheered loudly in the video.

"If that fool actually shows up, we'll pool together and buy you that Hermes bag!"

The Ins clip ended there. Watching it, my grip on my phone tightened.

That guy only posted the video because he wanted to scare me off so he wouldn't have to pay for the designer bag.

Looking at Chloe’s smug face on screen, my knuckles turned white.

Once upon a time, I loved Chloe unconditionally for ten whole years.

Anyone who knew us back then knew how devoted I was.

When she craved fresh pastries from New York, I booked a red-eye flight just to buy them straight from the oven for her.

Whenever she felt down, I played the fool just to put a smile on her face.

A dull ache pulsed through my chest. I locked my phone screen.

After taking a deep, steadying breath, I let out a long sigh of utter disappointment.

That was the girl I had wasted ten years loving.

Whenever Chloe felt bored, she summoned me like a court jester to amuse her.

Now, humoring herself wasn't enough. She needed an audience to laugh at me with her.

What she didn't know was that during our six months of silence, I had found real love.

We were already starting our own family.

Now that true happiness was in my hands, why would I ever look back at Chloe?

Facing the men blocking my way, I tried to step aside and take another door.

There wasn't just one entrance to the hospital.

Before I could move, Chloe grabbed my arm.

"Julian, playing hard to get now?"

"You think I don't know what you're doing? You're putting on a show to make me regret treating you like this!"

"Grow up. I invented that game."