Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Ms. Liao, here's your prescription. Go pay the fees and then pick up your medicine at the pharmacy," the doctor said to me, his face serious beneath his mask. But I could swear he was struggling to hold back laughter.

"Okay, okay, thank you, Doctor," I forced a smile, nodded weakly at him, grabbed the prescription, and fled in embarrassment.

Recalling the absurdity of what had just happened as I walked down the corridor, my face burned with shame. I wished I could move to another planet and start over.

Who would have thought that I, the daughter of a listed company's president, would end up in the hospital vomiting and having diarrhea from eating too many papayas?

After picking up my medicine, I dragged my weak, "broken" body to check out and go home.

Unexpectedly, around a corner, I ran into my husband, Ethan Carter, pacing outside the obstetrics and gynecology clinic.

What was a man like him doing in the obstetrics department?

A sinking feeling settled in my chest, and a bad premonition welled up inside me.

Just as I was about to step forward and ask him, a woman with a swollen belly walked out of the clinic, smiling as she approached him. "Honey, we finished the 4D ultrasound! The doctor said our baby is healthy. Look, this is their little face—doesn't it look just like you..."

I froze for a moment. The woman looked familiar, but I couldn't recall where I'd seen her before. And wait—what had she called Ethan Carter?

Honey?! And they had a baby on the way?!

Upon hearing that, I stopped in my tracks, my eyes wide with shock. It felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck me. Soon, an indescribable pain spread throughout my body.