Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
“There’s bleeding, and the pregnancy isn’t entirely stable. Rest in bed for the next few days. We’ll keep you under observation.”
I asked, “Can I terminate it?”
**5**
The ward stayed silent for a long time.
Zhou Xu recovered first.
“You’re upset. We’ll discuss it in a few days.”
The doctor looked at me.
“We need to carry out an assessment before a termination. You’re bleeding, and your condition isn’t stable. We can observe you here for two days, then decide the next step.”
“All right.”
I asked about the procedure, then lowered my head to sign.
Zhou Xu snatched away the pen.
“Su Wan, do you have to do this?”
“Give me the pen.”
“It’s my child.”
“I’m the one who’s pregnant.”
He stared at me, his expression ugly.
“Because I changed a door code? Because of a few words at a restaurant? You want an abortion over that?”
I didn’t explain.
From the changed code to my losing my job in the rain, nothing had counted as serious to him.
But the moment a child was involved, the problem became my inability to forgive.
My parents arrived half an hour later.
When Mom learned I intended to end the pregnancy, her face changed.
“How old are you? How can you still be so willful?”
“Zhou Xu and I broke up.”
“Then get married now there’s a baby. What couple doesn’t argue?”
She lowered her voice.
“He isn’t even holding that blind date against you. Yet you keep making a fuss over a little thing.”
Dad frowned too.
“Keep the baby first. We can discuss everything else later.”
I looked at them.
“He posted the video today and cost me my job. What happens next?”
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Mom immediately said.
I no longer wanted to talk.
He must have explained on their way over.
In his version, he’d only been angry and sent the video to friends. It had reached the internet by accident. My dismissal was an accident too.
Everything was an accident.
Only my refusal to forgive was deliberate troublemaking.
Mom kept persuading me until a nurse asked them to leave.
Before going, she took my identity card.
“Think calmly for a few days.”
I didn’t stop her.
The next morning, Dad brought food alone.
He set the insulated lunch carrier on the table and sat for a long time.
“Your mother didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Where’s my ID?”
He avoided my eyes.
“She’s only afraid you’ll act impulsively.”
“Dad, I’m twenty-nine.”
“All the more reason not to think only of yourself.”
I laughed once.
“Who should I think of, then?”
He had no answer.
That afternoon, a nurse took me for a second examination.
On the way back, I stopped at the service counter and obtained temporary identification.
The procedure was scheduled for two days later.
I signed every document myself and lay down on the operating table.
When I woke, it was dark outside.
My abdomen cramped. The chair beside my bed was empty.
The woman in the next bed asked, “Where’s your family?”
I stared at the IV bag above me.
“They don’t know.”
My phone was full of messages.
Mom wanted to know when I was coming home.
Zhou Xu said my boss refused to see him, but I shouldn’t worry. He’d find another way.
The last message had arrived ten minutes earlier.
*Once you’re feeling better, let’s register our marriage.*
I deleted it and turned off my phone.
The following morning, I checked out.
Zhou Xu stood outside the hospital. He must have got the news from a nurse. His hair was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot.
“You did it?”
I kept walking.
He caught up, his voice shaking.
“Su Wan, did you have the abortion?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed my arm.
“What gave you the right to do it without telling me?”
I frowned at the pain.
“Let go.”
“It was my child too!”
Passersby looked over.
I pulled free.
“When you changed the code and locked me out, you should have considered this day might come.”
“It was only a joke!”
“Then keep laughing.”
**6**
At home, Mom stared at my discharge papers, speechless.
Then she slapped me.
“How could you be so cruel?”
My face turned to one side.
Dad came out of the bedroom, saw the medicine scattered across the floor, and understood.
“You did it?”
“Yes.”
His face darkened.
“Why didn’t you discuss it with us?”
“I told you many times.”
“That wasn’t a discussion. That was an announcement.”
Mom sat on the sofa and sobbed.
She called me immature. She told me how much she and Dad had worried over me these past few days.
Zhou Xu was such a good prospect. He was willing to admit his mistakes. Willing to marry me.
I’d struggle to find another man like him.
She cried for a long time.