Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes again, the room smelled strongly of disinfectant.

I was lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip in my hand.

Seeing me awake, the nurse walked over with a clipboard and sighed. "Your stomach ulcers are extremely severe due to your terrible eating habits. Combined with the emotional shock, your body just gave out. Oh, by the way..."

The nurse pulled a slip of paper from her folder and handed it to me.

"Your fiancée left this pregnancy report in our department last week. She was in such a rush she forgot to take it. Since you're awake, you can take it home."

I froze and took the paper.

It read clearly: *Early intrauterine pregnancy, 7 weeks.*

Looking at those words, I suddenly found it incredibly hilarious. I burst into laughter, and as I laughed, my tears fell right onto the paper, smudging the ink.

She was pregnant.

But for the past month, she had spent almost every single night at the hospital with her "brother." We had barely even seen each other.

This child really chose the worst time to come.

At 11 PM, Victoria, who had been missing for a whole day, finally appeared at the door of my ward.

She hadn't even changed out of her wedding dress. The hem was covered in dust, and her eyes were bloodshot.

Seeing me awake, she quickly walked over and tried to hold my hand.

"Logan, how are you feeling? I'm so sorry. Julian's mental state was too unstable, I really couldn't leave him..."

I coldly pulled my hand away, avoiding her touch.

"He didn't jump?" My voice was terrifyingly calm.

Victoria paused, clearly not expecting me to be this cold. Her eyebrows knitted together. "Logan, what is with your attitude? He's a sick patient! Do you really have to force him to death to be satisfied?"

"Am I forcing him, or is he forcing me?" I looked at this woman I had loved for ten years. She felt like a complete stranger.

"Victoria, let's call off the wedding."

Victoria snapped her head up, panic flashing in her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it with her usual commanding tone.

"Logan, I know you feel hurt. We can postpone the wedding. In three months, once Julian's condition stabilizes, we'll fly to Bali and have an even bigger ceremony. But he just got saved from the edge. I have to stay by his side for now."

She wasn't negotiating with me. She was giving me an order.

Just like she did with every business project in our company over the last ten years.

I looked at her, my chest aching.

"Victoria, when I first met you, you couldn't even make a simple pitch deck. I stayed up for nights to fix it for you. When you got alcohol poisoning from drinking with clients, I carried you on my back for three blocks to the hospital."

"I took so many bullets for you over the last ten years. I never complained once because I thought we were in this together."

I pointed at the IV in my hand and let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"But today, I finally realized... it's not that you don't know how to care about someone. You just don't care about me."

Victoria choked up, a flash of pain crossing her eyes.

She softened her voice. "Logan, don't be like this. You're different from him. You're strong. You can take care of yourself. But Julian... he'll literally die without me."

Those words felt like a sledgehammer, completely shattering the very last piece of hope I had for her.

It turned out that in love, being strong was a crime.

"Fine," I nodded and closed my eyes. "Go take care of him then. And don't ever come back."

Victoria thought I was just throwing a tantrum. She sighed and tucked the blanket around me.

"Calm down first. I'll come see you tomorrow."

Then, she turned and left the room.

She walked out so easily, never once noticing the crumpled pregnancy report sitting on my nightstand.