Chapter 3

I asked Zachary to drop me off at my studio.

I was feeling better, and it was time to continue working on the white porcelain bowl I had taken on recently.

No one was allowed in my workspace, so Zachary waited outside.

"I'll come pick you up after work then."

The cicadas buzzed incessantly in the summer heat. I stood by the window watching his car drive away, my fingers sliding across my phone screen to dial Henry Zhang's number.

He was my mother's former student who had joined the company with my father's help, and later became Zachary's assistant.

Personnel changes were strictly regulated in government-invested companies, and there hadn't been any new hires around Zachary recently.

"There's a new project bidding in Africa, and management arranged for him to lead the team."

After hanging up, I opened the summary of medical records sent by my friend at the hospital.

That woman from today was completely ordinary, with no connection to Zachary whatsoever.

In fact, she didn't even seem to be Zachary's type.

I looked down at my belly.

I'd heard that due to hormonal changes, pregnant women tend to become sensitive and suspicious.

Was I overthinking things?

To be fair, Zachary had been beyond reproach towards me.

Last year, I took on a job that required a rare restoration material. He cancelled his work to accompany me on a trek through the mountains to find it.

On the way, there was a landslide with mud and rocks pouring down. His first reaction was to hold me in his arms, using his body as a shield to protect me.

Zachary was an only child from an average family who had lost his father early on. His mother really hoped he could have a child to carry on the family line.

After we got married, when he brought it up to me, I casually replied, "Have you seen how difficult childbirth is?"

He actually went and researched all kinds of information, learning about the risks of childbirth, and even specially experienced simulated labor pain.

After that, he never mentioned children again.

I don't know how he persuaded his mother, but when I accompanied him home, no one brought up the subject to me either.

Until that accident.

That day, when he woke up in the hospital, I stroked the scars on his back and suddenly made up my mind to have a child with him.

Zachary was silent for a long time, then held me tightly in his arms.

He hugged me very close, but I couldn't see the expression on his face.