Chapter 2 Emily Saw Her Child

Helena was shocked and confused.

After a long pause, she finally spoke, her voice low and serious: "Ms. Johnson, what on earth happened? Having an abortion now could be life-threatening for you!"

Emily didn't answer.

She just sat there, one hand covering her belly, tears streaming down her face.

Helena sat down beside her. Instead of pressing for answers, she simply took out a pack of tissues from her pocket and gently placed them next to Emily's hand.

After a long while, Emily's crying gradually subsided, and Helena slowly spoke: "I don't know what you've been through, but have you really thought this through?"

Emily lowered her head, her gaze falling on her slightly rounded belly.

She remembered the words she'd heard in the hallway earlier.

"I've thought it through." Emily's voice was hoarse. "This child was never meant to be mine."

Dr. Helena frowned: "What do you mean?"

Emily opened her mouth, wanting to tell the truth, but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back.

Not because she didn't trust Helena, but because she knew that if this got out, Joe would definitely know she'd discovered the truth.

What would he do then?

Lock her up? Force her to have the baby? Or use even more terrifying means to silence her?

She didn't dare think about it.

"Nothing." Emily shook her head, forcing a smile. "Just some personal reasons."

Dr. Helena sighed and pulled out a business card from her pocket, handing it to her: "This is my private number, available twenty-four hours. You can call me anytime if you change your mind."

Emily took the card, clutching it in her palm, and nodded.

After leaving the hospital, she found herself at Happy World Preschool without realizing it.

This wasn't her first time here.

Three months ago, when she passed by, she saw Olivia picking up a little boy from inside.

The boy was about three years old, with blonde hair, and looked somewhat similar to Joe.

She thought it was strange at the time and asked Joe who Olivia's husband was and why the child looked like him.

Joe had simply said casually: "You're overthinking it. The child's father is abroad all year round, not even here."

She didn't think much of it, assuming it was just a coincidence.

Now, looking back, it wasn't a coincidence at all.

That was her child.

The child she thought had died, the one she'd cried over for six whole months.

Emily's hand unconsciously tightened around the iron gate's railing, her knuckles turning white.

Through the gate, she looked at the Happy World Preschool playground.

Children were playing on the playground, and her eyes searched among them.

Then, she saw him.

That little boy.

He sat alone on a swing in the corner, not playing with the other children.

His head was down, his toes touching the ground, gently swaying back and forth, looking somewhat lonely.

Emily's heart suddenly clenched.

That was her child.

The child she'd carried for ten months and given birth to.

She remembered every movement he made in her belly, remembered his first cry when he was born, remembered that little face she'd only glimpsed once before the nurse took him away.

Then, they told her the child had died.

She didn't even get to hold him, didn't even have time to give him a name before he was taken away.

And now, he was right there, so close.

She pushed open the gate of Happy World Preschool and walked in.

A teacher on the playground saw her and looked puzzled: "Ma'am, who are you looking for?"

"I..." Emily pointed at the boy's figure, her voice trembling, "I'm looking for him."

The teacher followed her pointing finger and frowned: "You mean Nicholas? You are..."

"I'm his..." Emily paused.

Who was she?

Legally, she wasn't this child's mother.

On this child's birth certificate, the mother's name was Olivia, not her.

She was his biological mother, but not his mother.

How ironic.

"I'm a friend of his father's." Emily could only answer this way.

The teacher hesitated, then called out to the boy in the corner: "Nicholas, someone's here to see you."

Nicholas Watson looked up, his blue eyes looking this way.

When he saw Emily, he seemed startled, jumped down from the swing, instinctively took two steps back, his small body shrinking.

Emily walked forward, and despite her rounded belly, managed to crouch down, her voice gentle, "Hello, my name is Emily, I'm your..."

She got halfway through the sentence and forced herself to swallow back the word "mommy."

She didn't know how to explain his background to a three-year-old child who looked so innocent.

"I know who you are, you're a bad woman!" Nicholas dodged her, his big eyes filled with hatred.

Emily froze in place, her hand still suspended in mid-air.

They'd barely met a few times, never even talked, how could he have such hostility toward her?

"Why do you say I'm a bad woman?" Emily asked him in a trembling voice.

Nicholas pouted, his expression disgusted: "My mommy said so! You stole daddy away! And you want to steal me too! She told me to stay away from you when I see you!"

Emily's body stiffened, her eyes couldn't help but moisten.

She thought the child she gave birth to had died and cried her heart out.

And Olivia, the woman who stole her child, had been instilling hatred toward her in her child's ears day after day.

"Nicholas, I'm not a bad person, I'm..."

Just as Emily was about to explain something, Nicholas grabbed a small stone from the ground and threw it at Emily.

"Go away! I don't want to see you!" Nicholas shouted excitedly.

Emily stood there frozen, blood flowing from her head, but it didn't hurt one ten-thousandth as much as her heartache.

Just then, a gentle female voice came: "Nicholas! Mommy's here to pick you up!"

Emily whipped her head around and saw two familiar figures.

Olivia wore a cream-colored wool coat, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders, a gentle smile on her face as she opened her arms toward Nicholas.

And behind her, following, was Joe.

Nicholas saw her and immediately ran over happily: "Mommy!"

Then he buried himself in Olivia and Joe's embrace, the three of them looking harmonious like a family.

Emily stood in place, watching this scene, feeling a tearing pain in her chest.

Nicholas hugged Olivia's legs, lifting his little face with an aggrieved expression: "Mommy, you're finally here! That bad woman was bullying me..."

Olivia's smile froze for a moment. She looked up and only then noticed Emily.

Joe also saw Emily. His expression changed instantly—first surprise, then quickly returning to that cold, calm look.

"Why are you here?" Joe walked forward, his tone carrying a hint of displeasure. "You're pregnant, how can you run around alone?"