The three of them were truly a family. Everything they did lacked moral integrity. I was kept in the dark. I struggled during the IVF treatment. Just when I finally conceived triplets, none of them were mine.

The unbearable pain made reality clear to me. Perhaps sensing my mood was wrong, the three children took turns kicking me. My belly quickly hardened. It felt tight and uncomfortable to me.

Mrs. Moore, who was an expert at skimming my facial expression, called Robbie back from the office.

"Your wife isn’t looking good. Please take care of her. A pregnant woman needs her husband the most. How can your work be more important than your wife?"

"Yes, Mom."

Without further ado, Robbie rolled up his sleeves. He half-knelt before me before carefully applying baby oil to my belly. Meanwhile, Sally, who was nonchalant about my sacrifice, even cut another Yubari King melon plate for me. Mrs. Moore herself even fed me.

The whole family seemingly treated me like a queen. In my last life, I really felt that my life was full of happiness. In this life, I watched them coldly, already having made up my mind.

"Robbie, what gender do you think our three children will be?"

"Two boys and one girl."

Robbie’s instant answer surprised me. It was clear that he already knew the genders. To them, I was nothing more than a transparent figure. I was merely a conveyor belt that carried their wishes.

I couldn’t help but sneer, asking him, "How can you be so sure? What if they’re not?"

Robbie smiled and touched my head.

"It doesn’t matter if my guess is wrong. I will love the children you give birth to, regardless of gender."

Robbie looked at me with affection, kissed my forehead and kept saying my pregnancy had a special charm.

In order to try tricking me into thinking that I was still beautiful, he approached me at night on purpose. He was trying to be intimate with me. After I repeatedly rejected him, he left in disappointment.

In my last life, I was unable to see the reason behind it. I naively believed that Robbie indeed loved me. In this life, I looked in the mirror and saw myself clearly.

During pregnancy, my nose grew larger from hormones, my face was covered with acne, my eyes were red, my hair grew thicker and I lost half my weight. My neck and armpits became especially pigmented, as if they were spray-tanned. No matter how I washed, the pigment wouldn’t go.

So, how did someone who had been handsome since they were young, like Robbie, love someone like me?

On the night I told him to go to the study room, I woke up to use the restroom. Then, I heard Robbie was calling his friend just outside the study room. His tone was full of venom. Every word had pierced me like a needle.

"If it wasn’t for her pregnancy, I could never have kissed her! You’ve got no idea that I almost puked when I kissed her. Her big, round and greasy face is disgusting."

"I’d never thought that pregnancy would change a woman this drastically. Luckily, my Yvonne doesn’t have to be like her. She can focus on her ballet abroad. When she returns as a successful ballerina, she’ll be so excited to meet our baby."

"I just can’t do something. I need to persuade her. Who actually wants her to carry those triplets? I just have to hold on for a little longer. Soon, everything will be over."

Indeed. In no time, everything would end.

After that, I calmly returned to my room. Then, I quietly opened my phone to book an appointment at a private hospital for surgery to remove the triplets. Since I would do the surgery tomorrow, I had no food that night.

When I checked the calendar, I could see that the timing would be perfect. The next fortnight would be the busiest time for Robbie. After all, his company was organizing a commercial tour. The star was obviously none other than his lover, Yvonne.

As a rising ballerina in the ballet world, Yvonne was still little known. It caused Robbie to go all out, paying for her tour tickets and ordering his staff to buy them internally to show his support.

Robbie started to make excuses so that he wouldn’t accompany me to my prenatal checkup the next morning.

"Vera sweetie, I really wish to accompany you and the triplets. But I can’t do it. I must get lots of money to support you all so that you can live comfortably. Mom and Sally will accompany you this time, okay?"

Without a hint of doubt, I nodded and agreed.

"That’s fine. Just go back to your work. I can go by myself."

"Vera, you’re really wonderful. I’m so lucky to have you as my wife. No wonder everyone says I am lucky."

Lucky.

‘Robbie, you’re not lucky.’

‘So is your family.’

With a fake smile, I sent Robbie away before I purposefully called the TV station without revealing who I was. I claimed that there was an incident that needed to be reported. Then, I asked them to send my sister-in-law to report the incident.

Only my mother-in-law and the two maids were left at home. I mixed water with sleeping pills before giving them to the three women. Not long after that, they fell asleep soundly.

Soon, I packed my luggage and rushed to the hospital with my three unborn children. This private hospital charged high fees but kept strict confidentiality. Many celebrities gave birth there.

Once I entered the hospital, I insisted on aborting the triplets. I told them that I had an induced labor, explaining that I had a hereditary condition. Immediately, surgery was arranged.

When I was wheeled into the operating room, my lower body ached until it was almost numb. My mind stayed clear, so I could hear the constant clatter of the cold instruments. It sounded like my heart breaking.

I couldn’t help but cry.

A frightened nurse hurried to comfort me.

"You’ll be alright. This is a critical moment. You need to be strong. Don’t cry or feel too much, okay? Otherwise, you could bleed easily. Think of something happy, okay?"

I searched my mind, but even the happiest memories felt bitter.

Then, I asked the nurse to get my phone to search the livestream of Robbie’s company’s commercial tour. Once I clicked on it, the screen showed Robbie’s face. He looked at Yvonne on stage with a dazed smile, giving her all his favor and affection, lifting her to become a shining star.

The grand stage was like his most precious music box with Yvonne as the ballerina inside, spinning in the most beautiful place in his heart. When the dance ended, a line of words appeared on the screen.

[As long as my heart does not wither, I will love you forever. Yvonne and Robbie.]

Although I let out a smile, tears still came. My stomach then became tighter. Something had slipped between my legs.

The doctor’s voice was then heard.

"The first baby has been born. It is a boy. Since he was premature, he stopped breathing fifteen seconds after birth. Do you want to see him?"

I shook my head. I did not want to see him. This boy was Robbie and Yvonne’s child.

Fifteen minutes later, the second child was born.

"The second child is also a boy. He’s a small one, already stopped breathing in the womb."

This was Sally and Alex’s child, the future heir of their family.

"The third child was born soon after, a girl."

This was John’s child who had passed away with him. He was watching everything through the golden bracelets that I wore. The moment the triplets passed, it felt like I was free of three burdens.

Initially, I really loved them. This time, I truly hated them.

After that, I paid a trusted nurse to send my first son by express delivery. I wrote the address for Yvonne’s performance stage, estimating that it would arrive just in time for the curtain call.

Meanwhile, I immediately sent the second boy to the TV station for Sally to sign for. And lastly, I brought the girl home so that Mrs. Moore could see the ‘surprise’ once she woke up.

After sending the triplets, I eventually felt relieved and fell into bed. Although my belly was empty, my heart also felt empty. It left me with a deep sense of loss.

The doctor explained that I felt down because my progesterone levels hadn’t recovered. He insisted that I had to get some rest to recover, just in case I became depressed during the postpartum period. Depression could slow my recovery.

I absolutely could not let that happen to me. Besides, I realized that I still had a tough battle ahead. That was a new life. It wasn’t the ending I had hoped for.

It was not enough!

I forced myself to get it together, getting wheeled to the ward to recover. Once a few days had passed, I felt much better. However, the scars on my belly stayed. It became a constant reminder.

My phone was bombarded with calls from Robbie and the others. There were countless messages that came in. All of them urgently demanded to know what had happened.

Robbie’s concern vanished, replaced by endless anger and, between the lines, a heartache for Yvonne.

"Do you have any idea how critical that performance was to Yvonne? She’s such a soft-hearted woman. Why did you come up with this to scare her? She could have had a perfect ending, but you ruined it for her."

"Vera, what the hell are you doing? Since you already knew about my company’s partnership with Yvonne, why are you going to her directly? Why did you scare her? I kept it from you for your own good because I was afraid you’d get angry."

For my own good?

I just laughed in fury.

For my well-being, Robbie hid it from me on purpose?

My guess was that he still had no idea who the boy that I sent was or the fact that I underwent an abortion, from what he said. Robbie only thought that I was mad because he was flirting with Yvonne.

So, I refused to pay attention to him while I focused on cutting off from them.

When the Moore Family members learned they had each received a dead baby with two boys and one girl that matched the genders of their babies, they were enraged. In an instant, they felt something was off. All of them started to look for me like crazy.

But I already hid my existence for a while under a false identity when I was staying in the private hospital. My plan was to recover and give them the taste of their own medicine at the same time.

Since they were unable to call the police, they spent all their resources looking for me. The family was desperate to turn the whole city upside down. By the time the private hospital was finally forced to hand me over to the police, I had already recovered.

My figure came back to normal because my hormone levels had steadied in one month. I had already changed my clothes, packed my belongings and come to him with a new appearance the moment Robbie was rushed by the police into the hospital ward.

"Vera, I finally found you. Are you okay … "

With a hoarse voice, Robbie called out to me.

However, he stood stunned when he saw me, as his face went pale.

"Vera?"

I smiled at him and asked teasingly, "Why don’t you call me sweetie anymore?"

"How could this happen? Where have you been this past month? Why didn’t you contact me? Do you know how worried I am about you? Our whole family is frantic. My dad even dropped all his work abroad to come back and deal with this. He finally managed to find you!"

His eyes went red with excitement as he slowly lowered his gaze. When he took a glance at my belly, his pupils turned wide.

"Vera, where … where are the bumps?!"