In the third year of my marriage, I endure a full day of painful labor to give birth to my first child. However, my husband steals the baby to give to his true love.

I try my damnedest to stop him, but all I get is a barrage of insults. "It's just a baby! I'm the one who planted the seed, so I get to decide who gets the fruit!"

I'm overwhelmed by grief as I watch my husband leave. However, he shares a happy post on his social media. "Mother and daughter are safe."

His true love comments, "Thank you for giving me a child, Jaspie. I'll be the happiest woman in the world with you two by my side."

Clueless friends bless them and wish them well. I silently comment, "Give me back my child."

All I get is another round of insults. Then, I'm blocked.

I don't want to endure this anymore. I hire a lawyer to draft divorce papers before making a police report. "Officer, I want to report my husband for child trafficking."

"Aria Carlton, why did you call the police?" Jasper Smith pushed the door open, looking enraged. I had just lit candles for Dad, and there were still unburnt candles placed on the floor.

He barged in angrily, looking arrogant. He was probably here to pick a bone with me about Nicole Simmons.

However, his expression softened when he saw the candles and the smoke that drifted up to the ceiling.

"Today is the seventh day since Nicole's child passed away. Although you made a mistake, I can see that you're being thoughtful now.

"Sign this memorandum of understanding and the adoption agreement. Let Nicole have the child, and I won't hold it against you."

As he said that, Jasper handed me two documents, looking self-righteous. There was a look of impatience in his eyes.

The flames of the candles seemed to burn brighter as if my father's spirit had suddenly arrived.

"Stop trying to put on an act. You're even willing to burn candles to remember Nicole's child, after all. Hurry up and sign it." He flung the documents at me, and they drifted gently down before me.

I suddenly felt like laughing. My husband remembered that it had been seven days since the death of his first love's child, but he did not remember the death anniversary of his own father-in-law, who had gone to jail in his stead and had passed away there from an illness.

After tossing the agreement at me, Jasper began walking back and forth in the smoke-filled room. He was packing up everything I had prepared for the baby.

"I'll take these. Nicole needs them. When you have another baby, we'll just buy some more."

As I watched Jasper bustling around, I suddenly thought of how I had been unable to get through to him on his phone on the day I gave birth. Tears spilled out of my eyes and fell into the dancing flames.

Obstructed labor required the signature of a family member. Since I had been unable to find Jasper, I had had to sign the notice of critical condition myself, my hand trembling.

What had he been doing at that moment? He had been keeping his first love company because she had given birth to a stillborn child.

He had felt so sorry for her that the only thing he wanted to do was to stay glued by her side.

I had been just about to give birth and had only called him a couple of times to beg him to take me to the hospital.

He thought I was annoying and accused me of not being understanding or compassionate. I was disrupting him in taking care of Nicole, so he blocked me.

I risked my life to give birth to my baby, and I was in the intensive care unit for several hours before I woke up. The child who should have been by my side was in Nicole's arms instead.

Jasper had his arm around Nicole, who was carrying the baby. They had been smiling so sweetly, like a happy family of three.

What did that make me?

When I thought about that, I silently put down the candle I was holding. I looked at the man whom I had loved for three years, and who had once sworn grand oaths of love to me. He had become a completely different man because that woman came back.

I said calmly, "Jasper, let's get divorced."

"Divorce? What are you playing at now?" Jasper was startled when I mentioned divorce.

He flung down the baby's things he had just packed up and began hurling abuse at me. "All you do is make a fuss! Haven't you had enough? Will you only regret this if I agree to divorce you?

"Didn't I already explain things to you? Nicole's baby is gone, and she doesn't want anything. All she wants is a baby. She's already in such a pitiful state. Why can't you just give her the baby?"

The wound on my abdomen was hurting again. I forced myself to endure the pain and looked up at him. "She can have whatever she wants. Give me my baby back."

Jasper immediately threw the things he was holding down in front of me angrily. "Aria, have you had enough? I've explained this to you countless times. She and I are innocent! Nothing is going on between us!

"Normally, I don't care if you get jealous, but why must you make things difficult for me at a time like this? Nicole is right. You're just too jealous, and you're so cold-blooded! You have no compassion at all!"

I was in so much pain that I could not speak. I had broken out in a cold sweat.

Just then, the doorbell suddenly started ringing incessantly. Seeing that I was sitting on the sofa without moving, Jasper went to open the door.

"Hello. Is Ms. Carlton at home? I'm the nurse who's come to take care of her—"

But before the nurse could finish, Jasper said harshly, "She doesn't need you! Get lost!" Then, he closed the door with a loud bang.

He turned and saw that I was leaning against the sofa, tears streaming down my face from the pain.

Jasper's expression changed, and he walked straight over to me. "What's the matter with you? You've been training as a dancer since you were young. Haven't you always been healthy?

"Nicole's always had a weak constitution, and she's always sick with something or other. She even had a stillbirth, but even so, she wasn't as in much discomfort as you are now.

"You're not faking it, are you? I think you are faking it. Don't you normally get up to all kinds of things because your health allows you to? I've never seen you get hurt.

"You only gave birth to a baby. Why did you have to be so pretentious and get a nurse? Nicole's so much stronger than you are. I sent her to a sanatorium, and she was actually worried about wasting money."

So I wasn't even worthy of having a nurse after giving birth? Nicole only had to whimper for her to take my place at the sanatorium and take everything that had originally been mine!

I clenched my teeth and forced myself to hold on as I stuffed the painkiller on the table into my mouth. I lay back on the sofa and caught my breath.

Jasper brought me a bowl of soup that was already cold. It had a film of oil floating on its surface.

"Drink this. Nicole asked the people at the sanatorium to pack this up for you. She said that you just had a baby as well, and you'll need nourishment to get your strength back.

"However, you can't be as unwell as Nicole is. She was at death's door when she gave birth, and she even lost her child. Despite that, she's still showing concern for you. You should apologize to her for what you said at the time."

I looked at the layer of oil on the soup, and the limp garnish floating on it. It was in a transparent plastic container, and I could even see a half-gnawed chicken drumstick sunk at the bottom. Plus, the smell of onions made me move my face aside in discomfort.

"I won't drink it."

I don't know if it was because of the pain or the disappointment, but tears were gathering at the corners of my eyes. In the end, they leaked out.

Jasper had once treated me very well. He used to remember that I hated onions, and whenever we went out to eat, he would pick out any onions in the food.

However, he had changed ever since Nicole came back pregnant from overseas.

When Jasper saw that I was not moved by the gesture, he slammed the soup heavily down on the coffee table. It splashed everywhere.

"Aria, don't be so stubborn! If you keep causing a fuss, you'll never see the baby or me again!"

I was so stunned that I momentarily forgot the pain. I had never imagined that the man I had loved for so many years would threaten me with my own child.

"I want to see the baby." I thought about the birth and how difficult it had been, and I hadn't even gotten to see the baby before it was taken away.

It made my heart hurt so much that I felt like I was suffocating.

Jasper seized the chance as if he had found my fatal weakness. He became smug at once and pulled out his phone, getting ready to dial Nicole's number.

"Apologize to Nicole first! If you apologize to her and sign the agreement, I'll let Nicole allow you to see the child, which already belongs to her."

"Apologize? The child that belongs to her?" My disbelief was growing. "You snatched my baby away to give to her, and you want me to apologize to her? What gives you the right to do that?"

Jasper looked displeased at once. He grabbed me by the collar and said menacingly, "That baby is born with my genes. Without me, where would you have gotten a child from? Since it's mine, I'll decide who gets to raise it.

"Keep giving me attitude if you dare. You're not willing to call and apologize to Nicole? Then go straight to her and apologize to her face!"

He yanked me up by the collar and dragged me away.

"Jasper! Let go! It hurts!" The wound on my collarbone was covered with gauze, and as it chafed against my clothes, blood and pus oozed out. The gauze had slipped off.

I'd gotten the wound a month after he went to get Nicole from the airport. He hadn't returned home for ages, but he must have remembered that he had a pregnant wife at home, because he suddenly came home after being gone for a month.

He had cooked me a pot of soup, which he had never done before, and bought me several gifts. He'd apologized to me in a soft voice and told me that things had been very busy at work and that he hadn't had time to send me a message.

Could anyone be so busy with work that they didn't even have a few seconds' time to send a message?

Despite this, I still believed his clumsy excuse, like an idiot. I even felt sorry that he was working so hard whenever he came back smelling like perfume. It was just that, at the time, I had never imagined such a thing.

From the time I got pregnant, he never attended even a single doctor's appointment with me. I was understanding because he worked hard, and I never let him see any discomfort I was suffering from pregnancy.

Now I knew that on all those days when he didn't come home or didn't reply to my messages, he had been meticulously taking care of another pregnant woman.

He had served up the soup he made and said that he wanted to feed me, but then he was interrupted by a call from Nicole. When he heard her crying, he panicked at once and spilled the scalding hot soup all over me.

However, he didn't have any time for me. He'd grabbed his keys and rushed out.

Jasper finally noticed the wounds on my face and the blood and pus that was oozing out relentlessly. He stopped pulling at me and stared at the wounds. The look in his eyes grew less ferocious.

"Why hasn't your wound healed yet?" He crouched down and brushed his fingers over my wound. He swallowed with difficulty. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know."

I swatted his hand away, feeling only disgust. It seemed that he really had forgotten. He had forgotten that my injuries always healed slowly.

When we were dating, he had announced that he would protect me thoroughly and never let me get hurt. He had even laughed and said that I was like a porcelain statue that had to be handled with care.

However, now he had forgotten it completely.

"I'll take you to the hospital."

My breathing quickened, and I could not even refuse before he pushed me into the car.