Charlotte said, "I'm sorry for coming between you and your wife, Jonathan. Don't worry about me and Amanda anymore. We shouldn't have bothered you with our troubles in the first place."

At that moment, Jonathan emerged from the hospital room. I thought he would give me a talking-to, but he simply hugged me from behind and caressed my belly. "Tess, can't you be a little more understanding about this?

"Ms. Sanders has helped me a lot, and she's a widow struggling to raise a child on her own. Once this is over, it'll be just the three of us—you, me, and our baby."

"Oh, so you do remember we have a kid on the way," I drawled sarcastically as I broke free of his embrace.

"You knew I was pregnant, yet you woke me up in the middle of the night to gather clothes for Ms. Sanders and her daughter. You had me slave away in the kitchen on a hot summer day to make soup for Amanda.

"You were never around when I needed you, but you happily tended to their needs. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was the widow, not Ms. Sanders!"

"You—" Jonathan frowned, but he was interrupted when the nurse from earlier approached to remind him to pay Amanda's hospital bill. He heaved a sigh and fished out his bank card.

Rage descended on me as I tugged his shirt sleeve. "Have you gone mad, Jonathan? You're paying their bills with the money you saved for our baby?"

"You're as selfish as ever, Tessa," Jonathan said coldly as he gave me a look of disappointment.

"She's your mentor, not mine! You realize you're not getting paid to pursue a PhD, right? Did you forget that half of the hundred thousand dollars in your savings came from my mom?" I argued.

"This is a matter of life and death, Tessa! Why are you so hung up about the money?" Jonathan swatted me away impatiently.

I lost my balance and fell. A sharp pain bolted through me from the waist down, and I wanted to call for help. The last thing I saw before I passed out was Jonathan leaving me.

He didn't so much as spare me a backward glance.

…

It was late at night when I finally came to. I was alone in the dark hospital room, and I didn't have to be a psychic to know Jonathan was keeping Charlotte and Amanda company.

The young nurse who came in to switch out the IV bags couldn't help reminding me, "Miss, you can't afford to get injured anymore. You've just had an abortion, and another fall like this could hurt you more than you think."

I nodded and thanked her as I wiped the tears from my face.

My heart tightened painfully before turning numb. I would no longer hold out hope that Jonathan might turn around. I was so used to justifying his decisions and actions in the past, but now, I decided to accept reality in stride.

I turned on my phone and scrolled through Instagram, only to stumble across Charlotte's post. It read, "It's hard to be a single mother, but thankfully, I'm not alone on this journey."

She had posted a selfie. Only half of her face was on camera, but she was smiling gently as the camera focused on Jonathan holding Amanda in his arms in the background. He was looking at the little girl tenderly. They looked like a real family.

Sorrow and disappointment filled me. It took all my effort, but I suppressed the bitter rage that swirled within me and checked the joint account I shared with Jonathan. When I saw that we had less than 50 thousand in savings, I transferred the balance to my personal account and called my work supervisor.

"Mr. Jones, is there still an available slot for the outstation work that was mentioned during the meeting the other day?" I asked.

My supervisor, Bailey Jones, had asked me last week if I was interested in working abroad. The standard of living was supposedly higher there, and the job came with better pay and benefits. More importantly, I could return home after two years and be guaranteed a promotion as well as a raise.

However, I had turned down the opportunity because of my pregnancy.

"Yes, but aren't you pregnant? There will be plenty of chances in the future. You don't have to make such a hard call now," Bailey said mildly.

My nose prickled, and a sob threatened to escape me.

I said, "I lost the baby. I'd like to go abroad as soon as possible."

There was a brief moment of silence on the other line, followed by Bailey's response. "All right. I'll put your name down on the list of employees we're dispatching abroad and make the flight arrangements. You leave in a week, so get some rest before then."

"Thank you, Mr. Jones," I replied gratefully. I heaved a breath of relief after sorting out my work plans.

Throughout my week-long stay at the hospital, Jonathan didn't contact me once. He couldn't care less that I'd suffered a bad fall while I was supposedly pregnant with our child.

I might have thrown a hysterical fit in the past and demanded he make it up to me, but now that I'd come to terms with the cold, hard truth, I saw no point in arguing with him.

During my stay, I overheard the nurses talking among themselves. "The kid in Room 19, Amanda Grossman, sure is lucky to have such loving parents. Her dad got her a whole bunch of toys and health supplements. The other day, he even got his wife a necklace."

I pulled up Charlotte's Instagram post and saw that the new necklace she wore was the exact one I had told Jonathan I wanted. But things like this didn't surprise or wound me anymore.

After I was discharged from the hospital, I hailed a cab and went home to pack my suitcase. The house was exactly as I had left it. It seemed Jonathan hadn't come home or realized I had been in hospital for the past week.

I found his collection of limited-edition stamps and commemorative coins in his study and put them up for sale online. It didn't take long for me to recoup the hundred grand he had blown through on Amanda's medical bills.

Having done so, I threw out our pictures and destroyed the handwritten wedding vows he had given me. I even took off my plain wedding band and set it on the coffee table to make a point.

I cleared any and all traces of me in the house. When I was done, I signed my name on the divorce papers.

…

I couldn't get through to Jonathan, so I sought him out at the hospital. When I peered through the glass window and saw him fussing over Amanda and Charlotte, a bitterness surged through me.

Jonathan wouldn't even lift a finger at home. He didn't fuss over me when I was sick and couldn't be bothered to so much as pour me a glass of water. Yet now, he was taking care of someone else tirelessly.

He didn't realize I was there until I knocked on the door.

Sighing, he left the room and frowned at me. "Where have you been the last couple of days? The summer heat has Amanda changing clothes more frequently than usual. Go get her some new clothes, will you?"

Perhaps Jonathan noticed I was sweating, for he headed back into the room and returned with an apple. He shoved it into my hand forcefully as if to compensate me for my troubles.

I lowered my gaze to hide the emotions flickering through my eyes. Jonathan and I had been married for three years, yet he couldn't seem to remember how I would break out in hives if I so much as took a bite of an apple.

I produced the divorce papers and held them out to him. "Let's get a divorce."

Jonathan looked at me as if I were joking. He snorted and waved the papers away impatiently. "Now's not the time for your nonsense, Tessa. We're busy here."

"This isn't nonsense." I smiled and handed him the pen. "I'm serious about the divorce."

"All right, fine," he said as if humoring a petulant child. I knew he didn't think I would actually divorce him, so he stonily signed the papers and repeated his demands from earlier. "Go to the shop across the hospital and get Amanda some new clothes now!"

I turned and grabbed my suitcase, then set my abortion slip and the divorce papers on the coffee table to mark the end of us.