I quietly followed them.
Inside the examination room, Daniel’s voice trembled as he spoke to the doctor.
He had always been calm and composed—I’d never seen him so panicked before.
The woman clutched his hand tightly, her words spilling out in a frantic mess. “Danny, my stomach hurts so much… I’m scared…”
Daniel patiently comforted her. His voice was so gentle it could have melted into water. “It’s okay. Our baby is safe inside you, remember? The doctor said this morning that in just one more month, we’ll finally get to meet him.”
She calmed a little under his soothing words but still refused to let go of him. “Danny, do you prefer a boy or a girl? What if the baby isn’t cute? Will you stop loving them?”
Daniel let out a helpless chuckle, and his voice was filled with indulgence. “I’ll love them no matter what. And with a mother as beautiful as you, our baby will definitely be adorable. Don’t overthink it…”
Tears streamed down my face. I just could not watch any longer—I turned and walked out of the hospital.
I forced myself to make it home, but the pain in my heart made it hard to breathe.
Daniel and I had dated for three years and been married for seven. A third of my life had been spent with him.
When we were together, he had always been gentle and thoughtful, his eyes filled with nothing but love for me.
I came from a broken home, so I grew up sensitive and insecure. He had spoiled me, little by little, turning me into a willful princess.
His parents had never approved of me, and after our marriage, their dissatisfaction only grew as I failed to conceive.
Daniel had argued with them for my sake, insisting that our fertility issues were his fault, not mine.
He had treated me so well that I had never even considered the possibility of us parting ways. However, today, at the hospital, seeing the way he treated that woman…
I finally realized that Daniel’s gentleness and attentiveness had never belonged to me alone.
He could be this way with anyone, as long as he wanted to.
I had been such a fool to believe otherwise.
That night, Daniel came home. It had only been a few hours, but he already looked visibly exhausted, his eyes were clouded with fatigue.
He walked straight to me, knelt down, and buried his head against my knees.
It was a vulnerable posture—one that would have tugged at my heart in the past.
My nose tingled as tears threatened to fall again, but I reminded myself not to soften.
