Chapter 3

Panic washed over Julian's face.

"I..."

Before he could finish, his phone rang frantically.

"Julian! Get to the hospital right now! Sienna's stomach hurts!" Mom's panicked voice came through the speaker.

The panic on Julian's face was instantly replaced by raw worry.

"Chloe, I have to go. Wait for me to come back and explain everything!"

With that, he sprinted out the door.

I didn't follow him. I simply went back to my room.

Exhausted, I lay on my bed, my hand instinctively resting against my lower abdomen.

Julian and I had conceived a baby once.

One night, I woke up in unbearable abdominal pain, thinking my appendix was bursting.

Barely conscious, I called Mom, begging her to take me to the hospital.

Before I could even explain, Sienna's giggles came through the line, followed by Mom's irritated scolding:

"Didn't I tell you that everything needs an appointment first?! Breaking the rules like this—do you think that's fair to Sienna?!"

The pain choked the words in my throat, and I passed out.

When I woke up in a hospital bed, the baby was already gone.

Julian had held me with bloodshot eyes, soothing me: "We'll have another baby in the future."

Mom had even softened her tone for once:

"Mom was in the wrong this time."

"Next time something like this happens, speak up right away! Don't be an idiot and follow the booking rules blindly!"

The sudden ring of my phone broke my reverie.

It was an overseas call from the academy.

"Your fellowship has been approved. Please upload your design portfolio from the past three years for final verification."

I let out a long breath and agreed.

But when I booted up my laptop, the desktop was completely wiped clean.

My head exploded with a loud buzz.

Those design files represented countless sleepless nights of hard work.

The floating text popped up right on cue:

[You don't even have to guess—Sienna deleted them all!]

I didn't have time to process it.

Grabbing my laptop, I rushed straight to the hospital.

Outside the VIP room door, I heard Sienna sobbing softly.

"Julian, I'm so sorry... I never thought Chloe would find out."

"If you regret it... I can take the baby and leave. I swear I won't ruin your relationship with her!"

Julian remained awkwardly silent.

Mom sighed beside them. "Chloe is just so immature. In any relationship, people look the other way sometimes. Why does she have to make such a big deal out of it?!"

I wasn't the one who did anything wrong.

Yet Mom still dumped all the blame onto me.

My eyes burned, and I took two steps back.

The sound alerted the three people inside.

Seeing me, Sienna stumbled out of bed and dropped to her knees right in front of me.

"It was my fault! I took advantage of Julian when he was drunk! Please don't blame him, don't be mad at him!"

"As long as you let me keep the baby, I'll do anything you want!"

Mom's heart broke for her, and she hurriedly helped Sienna up.

"Sienna, you did nothing wrong!"

"Chloe stole your life for so many years. She owes you this! You don't need to apologize!"

My breath caught in my throat; my ears rang violently.

Julian checked on Sienna with concern.

Once he was sure she was fine, he let out a relieved breath and turned to me.

"What happened between Sienna and me was an accident."

"If you're angry, you can hit me however you want. But you were almost a mother once. You know the child is innocent."

When the heart hurts for too long, it goes numb.

I stared at Julian with hollow eyes.

"I don't care about your drama. I just want to know—did Sienna delete my design files?!"

Guilt flashed across Sienna's eyes.

Julian instinctively stepped in front of her, shielding her from me.

"I saw your laptop was running out of storage, so I cleared some old files for you. Don't blame Sienna."

My fingers twitched.

Julian knew that I knew he was lying for her.

Yet he didn't take it back. He just sighed helplessly.

"Sienna is pregnant. Can you stop sweating the small stuff?"

Staring at the familiar stranger before me, my heart turned to pure ice.

"Fine," I said softly.

Without a single trace of hesitation left, I turned and walked away.