Ethan and Vivian said nothing, tacitly confirming it.

Ethan cleared his throat, steering the conversation back. He asked Vivian, "What competition?"

Vivian stuck out her tongue. "A night cycling race around the lake. I signed you up. You're not mad, are you?"

Ethan fell silent again, his gaze shifting to Pearl.

Pearl shrugged. "You two go ahead. I need to get back to school to work on my thesis anyway."

Joy, unable to read the dynamics between them, extended a friendly invitation to Pearl. "You should come along too!"

"Pearl probably wouldn't enjoy something as tomboyish as cycling." Before Pearl could respond, Vivian had already declined for her.

Ethan chimed in, "Right. Pearl's kind of timid and not really athletic."

Pearl did not argue. She thought about how she had been captain of the kickboxing club for three years and was unbeatable in her entire department. If her junior club members heard what Ethan just said, they would probably be furious enough to clock him on the spot.

She did not want to waste more time arguing. She pulled out the bracelet she had removed earlier and handed it to Ethan. "This..."

She wanted to remind Ethan to keep it safe, but Joy saw the bracelet and immediately snatched it up with gleaming eyes. "Oh my God! What a flawless piece of emerald!"

She looked at Vivian enviously. "You mentioned a few days ago that you wanted to find a quality bracelet, and your Mr. Sterling got you this! Why don't I have such thoughtful old classmates..."

Vivian lowered her head somewhat shyly.

Joy continued to egg them on, saying, "Vivian, put it on and let's see! I've never seen an emerald of this quality before! It must be worth at least several hundred thousand dollars..."

Under Vivian's expectant gaze, Ethan hesitantly took the bracelet and handed it to Vivian. However, he kept watching Pearl's expression the entire time.

When Pearl saw Vivian slip on the bracelet, she breathed a long sigh of relief. This Sterling family heirloom had been a hot potato in her hands.

It would end up with Vivian sooner or later anyway. It was better to hand it over now and be done with it.

"You guys have fun. I'm getting a cab." Pearl walked into the elevator without looking back.

Behind her, Ethan, who had always been the one she watched, found himself watching her retreating figure for the first time. Ethan stared as the elevator doors slowly closed. Seeing Pearl leave so decisively stirred an indescribable feeling in his chest.

Afterward, Pearl went to see the musical alone. The tragic story made her cry through most of it.

On the cab ride back to school, she saw Vivian's latest social media post.

The bracelet was on Vivian's wrist, and her caption read, "Wearing emerald while cycling around the lake. Living my best life!"

In the photo, Ethan's shadow clung closely to hers. Pearl then quietly opened Vivian's profile, unfollowed her, and muted her posts.

When Vivian first burst into her life, Pearl had combed through every post on her feed. Now, however, she no longer cared.

For the past few years, she had merely been a spectator in Ethan's life. She had laughed and cried, but now, the show was over. It was time to extract herself from this tragedy.

As the departure date for the Arcanum project drew closer, several of Pearl's close classmates took leave to go home, saying they wanted to spend a few more days with their families.

Pearl, who stayed at school, took on all the team's logistics work. She ran around preparing supplies and stayed busy for several more days.

Ten days before departure, she needed to stock up on medicine from the pharmacy. When she saw pregnancy tests on the shelf, she grabbed one on impulse. She had been nauseous and vomiting every day lately, and her period was late.

What she feared most came true. When she saw the two lines on the pregnancy test, Pearl nearly cursed out loud.

She forced herself to calm down. Pregnancy tests could give false positives. She immediately made an appointment online and went straight to the obstetrics department for a blood test first thing the next morning.

An hour later, she was clutching a report that read 'two months pregnant'. She stood in the hospital lobby, feeling her head buzz.

Two months. That would be right before Vivian returned to the country, the last time she and Ethan had slept together.

What terrible timing!

In just a few days, she would have her divorce certificate and be on her way to Arcanum. Pearl could not help but pull up Ethan's number.

No matter how strong she was, she was still just a 24-year-old graduate student. After hesitating for a moment, she tapped the dial button.

The next second, a phone rang not far from where she stood.

Pearl followed the sound. Ethan, in his trench coat, stood with Vivian, who had perfect, smooth skin and red lips. They looked like the perfect match.

Hearing the ringtone, Ethan frowned and pulled out his phone. Pearl quickly ended the call before it was answered and ducked into the shadows.

"...The fetus isn't very stable right now, so the mother-to-be can't engage in any strenuous activities. Also, regarding intimacy, you should avoid it for these two months..."

Seeing Ethan and Vivian walk into the examination room she had just exited, Pearl held back her tears and tried to leave. As she passed the doorway, she overheard the doctor's instructions to them.

"Okay. Thank you, doctor. I'll make sure she's careful," Ethan responded in a gentle voice.

Even without looking, Pearl could easily imagine him protectively hovering over Vivian.

Pearl quickened her pace but collided with someone in the corridor. Ethan, who was coming out of the examination room, spotted her anyway.

"Pearl?" Ethan frowned and called out to her. "What are you doing at the hospital?"

"I... My stomach was hurting, so I came for a checkup." Pearl clutched the pregnancy test results in her hand.

"Stomach pain?" Vivian emerged from behind Ethan and spoke in a rather intimate tone. "I heard from Ethan that you skip meals all the time. That's probably why you have this problem now."

Pearl only nodded without responding.

When she noticed Pearl's gaze fall on the ultrasound report in Vivian's hand, Ethan's expression grew flustered. He quickly spoke up, "Pearl, don't misunderstand. I'm not..."

"Ethan!" Vivian tugged on Ethan's sleeve in a coquettish manner. Ethan stopped talking, though his expression remained conflicted.

Not wanting to continue this awkward situation, Pearl made up an excuse and left.

Behind her, Ethan wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but Vivian pulled at him with a pleading look on her face. "Ethan, you promised you'd keep this secret for me for now!"

He immediately stopped himself from chasing after Pearl.

…

Pearl walked out of the hospital alone. She did not have a single relative in this world. After wandering the streets for a long while, she eventually found herself at the entrance to the care facility.

Oliver was delighted to see her and kept trying to get her to eat. His mind was already a bit muddled, yet he still remembered to ask about Pearl's job search after graduation, saying he would make arrangements for her.

Pearl declined. In the end, she still did not tell him about the pregnancy.

Even so, being there gave her a reason to keep the child. She desperately needed a relative, someone who shared her blood… Someone who would be on her side.

However, if she was going to have this baby, she most likely could not go to Arcanum.

Pearl looked at the team leader's number on her phone. As she debated whether to call, a message from Ethan popped up.

[Pearl, are you free tomorrow evening? I made a reservation at Cloud Restaurant. There's something I need to tell you.]

That restaurant was the one Pearl had booked for their anniversary, the day he had left her waiting. Recalling that painful memory, Pearl felt like it was a lifetime ago.

She typed in the chat box: [Okay. I'll be there on time.]

Perfect. She needed to confess to Ethan about the divorce anyway.

She had already consulted a lawyer. If she wanted to have the baby without telling Ethan, she could not hide the divorce from him. Otherwise, Ethan might use it as grounds to fight her for custody later.

…

"Didn't you want to come to this restaurant before? Today, we're making up for it."

After parking across from the restaurant, Ethan spoke with a hint of guilt. As he finished speaking, he reached out and clasped Pearl's hand in his.

Pearl stiffened. This was the first time in four years that Ethan had voluntarily held her hand. She was not used to it and instinctively tried to pull away.

Just then, Ethan's phone chimed. He let go of her hand to check his phone.

Whatever he saw made his handsome brows furrow immediately. Right there in the middle of the street, he stopped and frantically opened a livestreaming app.

Pearl looked over. On the screen, Vivian was livestreaming herself about to slit her wrists.

"Watch out!"

A car came speeding around the corner. Ethan, whose attention was on his phone, stood frozen in place.

Pearl forcefully yanked him backward. Her own body got clipped by the speeding vehicle, and she fell to the ground.

"Pearl!"

Ethan finally snapped back to reality. He glanced at Pearl on the ground, then at the live stream on his phone...

After only a moment's hesitation, he brushed off his sleeves. "Pearl, Vivian's situation is urgent. I need to go to her first!"

At that moment, Pearl lay on the roadside. Amid the bustling cars and crowds, she watched Ethan leave in a panic.

She tried hard to get up, but a sharp pain shot through her lower body. She looked down. Bright red blood had already soaked through her pants.

"The patient is miscarrying with severe hemorrhaging. She needs a blood transfusion immediately."

"There's no type A blood left in the blood bank!"

"If we don't do a transfusion soon, the patient will be in critical condition!"

Pearl had lost too much blood. Her consciousness was already fading. She could only feel her body being moved around, with fragments of emergency care instructions reaching her ears.

"Take mine! I'm type A."

A clear, bright voice broke through to Pearl's ears. She used all her strength to open her eyes and saw the owner of the voice. The face looked familiar, but she could not recall the name at that moment.

She remembered now...

Pearl wanted to thank the person, but she lost all her strength and passed out.

When she woke again, it was already the next day. Pearl stared at the IV drip for a long while before gradually regaining awareness of her body temperature. She could clearly feel that something inside her had been hollowed out.

Two nurses came in to swap out her IV bag. They had not noticed Pearl was awake and were chatting cheerfully.

"Did you know? All the VIP wards upstairs have been booked by Mr. Sterling."

"I heard about that ages ago. The woman's a travel blogger. She's pretty, but I heard she's divorced."

"So what? Mr. Sterling is clearly crazy about her. She threw a fit and livestreamed a suicide attempt. The broadcast hadn't even run for ten minutes, and she had only made a tiny cut on her wrist when Mr. Sterling came rushing over."

"So, that viral video going around online is of Mr. Sterling?"

"Exactly... He burst into the scene and swept her right into his arms. They're both gorgeous. It was like something out of a TV show."

The nurse lowered her voice. "Here's some inside information—the woman's already pregnant."

The other nurse gasped. "No wonder I saw Mr. Sterling this morning carrying up more than a dozen different breakfast options for her to choose from..."

Pearl's hand moved to her own abdomen. The heartbeat there was gone.

The baby must have known, just like her, that their biological father did not want them. That was why the baby left.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

The nurse finally noticed that Pearl was awake. She wiped the tears from Pearl's eyes and consoled her, saying, "Don't be sad. You're still young. The most important thing right now is to rest and recover. Should I contact your family for you?"

Pearl slowly shook her head and asked, "What about the person who donated blood for me yesterday?"

"Him? He's an intern at our hospital. Yesterday, he insisted on donating 800 milliliters of blood to save you. He'll probably be resting at home the next few days."

The other nurse chimed in, "I've never seen anyone so determined to save a life. What a reckless kid! When you're discharged, you should definitely send him a thank-you card."

Pearl was not discharged until nine days later. During those days, she kept hearing about the legendary love story between Ethan and Vivian from various people.

She tried her best not to leave her ward during her hospital stay to avoid running into Ethan. However, she still had to handle the discharge paperwork herself.

"Pearl Whitmore!"

"Coming..."

As soon as she heard her name called, Pearl hurried to the front desk to pay.

In the corridor, Ethan, who was waiting for the elevator with Vivian, seemed momentarily dazed.

"I think I just heard Pearl's name."

"How could that be..." Vivian patted his shoulder.

"This is a hospital. Pearl's in school. Why would she be admitted here?"

"That's true," Ethan said, stepping into the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors closed, Pearl finished paying and came out carrying a bag of medicine. Seeing that the elevator had just gone up, she did not want to wait and turned toward the stairwell instead.

The lawyer was waiting for her downstairs with her newly issued divorce certificate.

Pearl only took the copy that was hers. She transferred a small amount for courier fees to the lawyer via mobile payment. "Please courier the other copy to him for me."

Her and Ethan's child was gone. Now that they were officially divorced, they no longer had anything to do with each other.

Pearl only felt relieved.

The team leader of the Arcanum aid project had approved letting Pearl stay in the country to recover before joining them, but Pearl refused. "I'm young. My health is great. I can't hold the team back."

However, on the day of their departure, her teammates still took care of her thoughtfully, carrying all her luggage and even paying extra to get her priority boarding.

"These are the local SIM cards. We'll use these numbers to contact each other once the plane lands."

The team leader handed Pearl a SIM card and was about to remind her that she could keep both cards, but Pearl had already thrown her old SIM card in the trash. "Aren't you going to stay in touch with your friends and family back home?"

Pearl shook her head and looked back at the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the capital city. She and Ethan would never see each other again in this lifetime.