Chapter 3

The car keys Valerie threw at me hit my forehead, giving me my answer.

“What else? You think it’s yours?”

Maybe it was my imagination, but as the heavy keys struck my head, I distinctly saw a flicker of something in Valerie’s eyes.

But her voice remained icy. “What are you waiting for? Get in the car! Take me to the hospital!”

Stunned, I unconsciously obeyed, starting the car and speeding towards the hospital.

It wasn't until I went to pick up Valerie’s lab results that a passing nurse gasped, looking at my head. “Your head is bleeding!”

I reached up and touched it, realizing the blood from the gash on my forehead had already coagulated.

After cleaning the wound, I returned to Valerie’s exam room with the results. Just outside the door, I overheard the doctor’s caution:

“Ms. Thorne, it’s a miracle your baby is alright this time. Please be extremely careful from now on.”

“This pregnancy was conceived through IVF, and with unstable implantation, the risk of miscarriage is very high.”

IVF? Why IVF?

I was a bit confused. Valerie and Dylan’s relationship was almost public. Was IVF really necessary?

As I was pondering, Valerie walked out of the room and bumped into me.

I looked steadily into her eyes and asked, “What’s this about IVF?”

She froze for a second, her gaze darting away. Even her words were stuttering.

“Wh-what IVF? There’s no such thing!”

Her reaction was exactly like someone caught in a lie. My brows furrowed.

Could it be… this child…

A sudden pang in my chest.

I stared at her, my voice rising unconsciously.

“Valerie! What’s going on with the IVF?!”

Under my direct gaze, Valerie’s shoulders began to tremble.

Her breathing grew rapid, as if she was about to break and tell me the truth…

“Valerie, is the baby okay?”

Dylan’s concerned voice suddenly broke through, making her jump. She immediately shoved me away and yelled,

“Mind your own business! Caleb Reed, don’t you dare try to hurt Dylan and my baby!”

Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

All my desperate hopes crumbled.

Indeed, this was her and Dylan’s child. How they conceived it was their business.

I scoffed, a self-deprecating smile on my face, and handed the car keys back to Valerie. “I guess I was meddling.”

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave. I won’t disturb you resting up for the baby.”

I turned to leave, but Dylan clapped his hands. “Caleb, I still have to learn from your acting skills!”

“I knew you took a long time getting the lab results. Turns out you were staging a scene.”

“It’s just a small cut, why wrap it up like that? All to make Valerie feel sorry for you, right?”

Valerie finally noticed the gauze on my forehead. A fleeting look of concern crossed her eyes.

She reached out, as if to check my injury, but then grabbed my arm instead.

“I can’t drive. Dylan can’t drive. You’re taking us home.”

“And make dinner. Then bake a cake. It’s Dylan’s birthday tonight.”

It hit me then. Today was Dylan’s birthday, but it was also mine.

Even though I was five years older than Dylan, our birthdays were on the same day, same month.

In my last life, when I was with Serena Vance, she never celebrated my birthday. Only Valerie Thorne did.

But the Valerie Thorne in this life had completely forgotten about me.

I looked into her eyes, my voice firm. “No.”

This was the first time I had ever refused Valerie.

In my last life, she avenged me after my death, and insisted on being buried with me. From the moment I was reborn, I had decided to love her with everything I had.

But now, I was truly exhausted.

Dylan gently tugged Valerie’s sleeve. “Caleb doesn’t want to, forget it. No cake, no big deal. It’ll just be an incomplete birthday.”

“Enough! You don’t have the right to refuse!”

Without giving me a chance to argue, Valerie dragged Dylan and me into the car.

Back at the mansion, seeing me methodically start on the cake, Valerie finally looked satisfied and left the kitchen.

I remembered the first time I made her a cake. Her eyes were full of stars as she watched my every move.

Sure enough, anything, given enough time, becomes tiresome.

I sighed softly and opened the oven, ready to take out the baked cake base.

“Not ready yet? I’m starving, man.” Dylan’s voice came from behind me.

I ignored him, but the next second, a strong push came from behind, and I stumbled forward uncontrollably.

In my panic, my hand landed squarely on the scorching hot oven rack.

“Ah!”

A burning pain shot through my palm. I struggled to pull my hand away, tearing off a piece of skin that sizzled in the oven.

Dylan immediately tapped the oven with his finger, then clutched his hand and sank to the floor.

“Caleb! I’m sorry!”

“What happened?!” Valerie rushed into the kitchen, asking anxiously.

I clutched my wrist, my palm trembling slightly. I expected Valerie to go to Dylan first.

But a familiar scent filled the air, and she actually ran straight to me, grabbing my wrist.

Seeing my horribly mangled hand, her eyes filled with concern.

“How did this happen…”

She urgently looked up at me, meeting my confused gaze, and her eyes instantly filled with panic.

“Caleb, I know you’re upset about making my cake, but I was just trying to help you get the cake base. You didn’t have to try and ruin my hand…”

Dylan’s tearful voice drifted over. Valerie immediately dropped my hand, turned to help Dylan up, and glared at me, her voice unnatural:

“Caleb Reed! Do you really have to be so vicious? You’d hurt yourself just to frame him? You don’t need to go this far…”