Tiffany’s voice drifted over on the wind:
“Actually, on Jack’s wedding night, I got totally wasted and said I wanted to just marry anyone. He panicked and came to find me, wearing Emma’s wedding dress.”
“Isn’t that hilarious? The two of us were like kids playing house, bowing to the moon as if we were getting married.”
My heart clenched painfully.
I remembered that custom–made wedding dress I’d searched for so long. Jack said it got dirty and he sent it to be cleaned, but accidentally lost it.
Tiffany laughed and added: “I joked at the time that bowing to the heavens made it real, so I wouldn’t get married in the future. But I said I wanted a child, though I was afraid of the pain of childbirth. Guess how this idiot reacted?”
Jack just smiled and drank, not stopping her.
Tiffany raised her eyebrows proudly when everyone urged her to continue:
“He actually took it seriously! Then he really took me to do IVF!”
She winked, signaling Jack to pick up the story.
06:36 Fri, 22 Aug
<
“Jack, what about that child?”
Jack drained his glass, his eyes dark.
“The baby in Emma’s belly right now is mine and Tiffany’s test tube baby.”
Boom-
Something exploded in my brain, leaving it blank.
In my ears was Ryan’s enraged cursing of “beast“, in my vision was Jack’s nonchalant
expression.
I suddenly clutched my stomach.
As if sensing my grief, it began to move violently.
But I only felt bitter irony.
From the very beginning of trying to conceive, Jack had lied to me, saying his sperm
count was low so IVF would have a higher success rate.
Countless days and nights, I took medicine until I was nauseous, my belly covered in
bruises from injections.
The day it successfully implanted, he pressed his ear to my stomach and said gently:
“Good baby, daddy will definitely make you and mommy the happiest people in the world.”
It turns out that sentence was never meant for me at all.
Tiffany’s voice drifted over again, full of contempt:
“Jack was so clever. Looking at how Emma’s body has gone to shit, tsk tsk, I definitely
wouldn’t want to turn into an old hag like her.”
I couldn’t listen anymore and turned to leave.
Suddenly a huge wave hit. violently rocking the ship.
96%
06:36 Fri, 22 Aug
<
Tiffany was standing at the edge, too absorbed in talking.
Amid screams, she was thrown overboard.
Jack didn’t hesitate for a second. He grabbed a life preserver and jumped in after her, swimming towards her with all his might.
I was completely stunned.
He was terrified of water.
ww
He once said water was his biggest fear!
He really would risk his life for her without a second thought.
I turned away, unwilling to watch that heroic rescue scene any longer, and went straight
to the hospital for an abortion.
As the anesthesia entered my body, in my hazy consciousness I had only one thought:
Jack, you can get lost now.
When I opened my eyes again.
Only Ryan was by my bedside, his eyes red–rimmed.
I instinctively reached for my belly, finding it flat.
An unfamiliar feeling of lightness.
I turned my head, my voice hoarse: “Where’s Jack?”
Ryan looked away and handed me a video clip.
The footage was shaky. On the beach, Tiffany was crying as she performed CPR on Jack.
When Jack woke up coughing, she immediately hugged him tightly, refusing to let go.
“Jack, I can’t go against my heart anymore.”
06:36 Fri, 22 Aug 0
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