Chapter 5

Ethan messaged me and asked me to help Susie choose a postpartum care center.

The agreed time was nine in the morning.

For this meeting, I woke up at six in the morning.

Zoey washed my hair for me, carefully helped me put on my wig, and picked out the loosest cream-colored hoodie to cover my swollen belly.

She looked at my bloodless, pale face, and her nose stung.

“Lily, why don’t you just not go?”

“Your body right now...”

I smiled and interrupted her.

“I will go.”

“Did we not agree that I would go with them to look at postpartum care centers?”

“I looked up a lot of information. I can help at least a little.”

Zoey lowered her head, and her eyes slowly reddened.

At eight thirty, she pushed my wheelchair and brought me downstairs to the hospital entrance.

But I waited until one in the afternoon.

Ethan never appeared.

I called him three times.

Every time, he hung up without mercy.

Zoey was so angry her eyes turned red.

“What does he mean? He is clearly the one who asked you to meet!”

“Lily, let’s go back. Do not wait anymore.”

But I gently shook my head.

“No.”

I looked at the people coming and going at the hospital entrance and said softly,

“Going out this time has already used up so much of my strength.”

“After this is over, I might... never be able to leave again.”

Zoey abruptly turned her head and secretly wiped away her tears.

At two in the afternoon.

My phone finally vibrated.

On the other end of the call was Ethan’s cold voice.

“Come down. We are here.”

Zoey clenched her fists, furious enough to curse.

But I gently held her hand.

“Zoey.”

“This is the last time.”

She looked at me, and in the end, she still forced all her anger down.

The car door opened.

As soon as I sat in the back seat, Susie turned around and smiled at me.

“Sorry, Ms. Bennett.”

“Ethan kept me up too late last night.”

She blushed and laughed softly.

“I could not get out of bed this morning, so I made you wait so long.”

My fingers curled slightly.

Before I could say anything.

Ethan, who was putting the wheelchair away from the driver’s seat, glanced at me lightly through the rearview mirror.

“Why explain that to her?”

“If she is willing to wait, let her wait.”

The car suddenly fell silent.

Zoey’s face turned ashen, and just as she was about to speak, I gently pulled her back.

I only waved at her through the car window as she stood by the road.

“Go back.”

Zoey gritted her teeth as tears kept falling.

“Call me when it is over.”

I nodded.

The car slowly drove away from the hospital.

Along the way, Ethan drove very fast.

He pressed hard on the gas, and he did not slow down when turning.

My body was thrown against the car door again and again, and my large belly filled with ascites throbbed dully with pain while my stomach churned violently.

I gripped the seat belt tightly, and a layer of cold sweat soon formed on my forehead.

But suddenly, many years ago appeared before my eyes.

Back then, Ethan had just gotten his driver’s license.

He was so excited that for an entire week, he insisted on taking me out for drives.

Knowing I got carsick, he would prepare orange candy and motion sickness patches in advance.

Every time he started or braked, he did it so gently that I could barely feel it.

He said,

“My Lily is delicate. It hurts me even if she bumps into something.”

For many years after that.

I would get carsick on buses, and I would get carsick in taxis.

Only when I sat in his car did I never feel uncomfortable.

“Screech—”

A sharp braking sound suddenly rang out.

My body slammed hard against the seatback.

A violent cramping pain shot through my abdomen.

I covered my mouth and could not help letting out a suppressed groan.

Ethan looked at me through the rearview mirror and suddenly scoffed.

“What?”

“You do not still think I will take care of you like before, do you?”

“Try not to drive fast, not brake suddenly, and not make you carsick?”

I slowly closed my eyes and swallowed the bloody sweetness in my throat bit by bit.

After a long while, I finally spoke softly.

“No.”

“The person you should take care of now is Susie.”

“She is pregnant with your baby. She cannot be frightened.”

A cold curve lifted at the corner of Ethan’s lips.

“At least you know your place.”

After he said that, he once again pressed heavily on the gas.

The car suddenly shot forward.

My body slammed back against the seat again.

My back hurt as if it were splitting open.

But I slowly smiled.

This was good.

He was still willing to hate me.

Hate was better than forgetting.

At least while I was still alive.

In Ethan’s heart, I was not a complete stranger yet.