Chapter 5

So I was just someone to fill the void during his heartbreak.

So that day, he became a father to two children.

So when it came to pregnancy, I was the one who could be abandoned, while she was naturally the one to be protected.

I laughed out loud.

I stood up shakily.

Warm liquid rapidly flowed from my nose.

"Serena!"

Sebastian cried out and rushed over, holding me and pressing against my nose.

He glared furiously at Jennifer.

"Miss, please stop provoking her and leave immediately!"

Jennifer looked frightened by the situation, repeating over and over:

"This has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me."

Then she turned and left, her heels clicking.

The blood wouldn't stop.

It flowed through my fingers, staining Sebastian's sleeve red.

When I left the hospital, I walked home in a daze.

Jennifer's words kept echoing in my mind.

"My father pulled strings and arranged everything for him."

"All he had to do was abandon you."

So by throwing me away, he could live the life he wanted.

Clearly, for these ten years, I was the one who was discarded.

Yet here I was, waiting so desperately.

My life was a joke.

When I reached the entrance to my apartment complex, a familiar figure blocked my path.

It was Ethan Walker.

He looked like he'd been waiting for a long time, with several cigarette butts scattered at his feet.

Seeing me, he immediately stubbed out the cigarette in his hand.

He quickly walked up, his voice sounding guilty.

"Serena, we need to talk."

I looked at this well-dressed university professor before me.

He gradually overlapped with the man in military uniform from my memory, then slowly separated again.

"What is there left for us to talk about?"

"I know you hate me, that you blame me. But Serena, please let me explain."

He took a deep breath.

"Back then, Jennifer really was pregnant. Her father came to me and gave me two choices."

"One was to continue my original life, risking death on any mission, and he had plenty of ways to make us live in fear forever."

"The other was to accept his arrangement and have a stable future."

He stepped forward, trying to grab my hand, pleading:

"Serena, I struggled for a long time."

"I thought I was protecting you. I didn't want you to live in constant fear with me."

"I sent money home every month. I told them to let you find a good man and start a new life."

So his parents had known all along.

I could only say their performance had been all too convincing.

"As for Jennifer, we're only together for the child. All these years, I've only felt responsibility toward her."

His explanation sounded even more laughable.

"Only responsibility?"

"You enjoy the life she's given you while saying it's only for the child, only responsibility?"

"When you were heartbroken, you seamlessly moved on to me, and not long after we got married, you rekindled things with your first love."

Ethan's face turned deathly pale.

"Do you know that the day I called you, I had just found out I was pregnant!"

"I didn't even get the chance to tell you. And you? For the sake of your bright future, you decisively abandoned me."

"Your parents never gave me a single penny. I was kicked out!"