It was deep into the night.
A man picked his suit up from the ground and made his way straight out the door. Without a moment of tarry, he went back to the master bedroom where he usually slept.
In their two years of marriage, Georgina Bradley and Miguel Huffman had always slept in separate rooms.
By the time Georgina opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning. A customized recording could be heard coming from her cellphone.
"Dear Expecting Mother, you are 27 weeks and 2 days into your pregnancy. Your expected date of delivery is in 89 days. In this period, you will need to..."
Inexplicably, Georgina had no control over the scene which appeared in her mind. It was a memory of the day when she returned home from the hospital. She had passed her medical report to the man before her, whose face immediately fell the moment his gaze zeroed in on the results. It was a glaring ‘Positive’.
His only reaction was a dispassionate “Get rid of it.”
At that moment, Georgina really seemed to regret her decision to marry a man who had absolutely no love for her.
She was detached from her complex emotions by their housekeeper’s calls from outside the door.
"Mrs. Huffman, it's time for breakfast!"
Miguel was already seated at the dining table when Georgina made her way downstairs. He was formally suited up, complete with leather shoes and all. The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up as he read the newspapers. Laid out in front of him were some string cheese and a lava tart.
Those were his usual choice of breakfast.
Her gaze swiftly swept over the man as she walked over and sat to his side. The housekeeper served her some freshly-made buns and said, “Mrs. Huffman, you have your prenatal checkup scheduled today. I’ll accompany you there! It’ll be really inconvenient for you to go alone, otherwise."
Georgina nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Miguel’s furrowed brows. She lowered her gaze.
Suddenly, failing to notice the housekeeper approaching with a piping hot bowl of porridge in her hands, Georgina bumped into her. The boiling hot contents of the bowl splattered onto Georgina’s hand.
"Ahhhh!"
An unpleasant voice that sounded like the screech of nails scraping a chalkboard was produced.
She instinctively fell silent upon noticing Miguel’s increasingly tightly knitted brows. The burning pain she felt prompted her to rush to the kitchen to run her fingers under cold water.
She was a mute person and could not speak.
There was only one single sound that she could vocalize.
And it was like the horrid, piercing sound she made just now.
After breakfast, Miguel left with his briefcase. While cleaning up the table, the housekeeper reminded Georgina, "Mrs. Huffman, you should go upstairs and get ready. We will go to the hospital now!"
Georgina nodded and headed upstairs.
At about 8:30 a.m., Georgina arrived at the most prestigious maternity hospital in the city, accompanied by the housekeeper.
She caressed her bulging baby bump. She was very well aware that she had fought with all she had to hold on to her child, and Miguel would never approve of it.
Back then, she had taken out a will that Miguel’s grandmother had left before her death. It was written in black and white that the child produced through a marriage between the Huffmans and the Bradleys would be the future heir of Huffman’s Group.
In compliance with that, Miguel was left with no choice but to marry her and give up on the idea of making her undergo an abortion.
Seeing her tiny child moving about in real-time on the ultrasound monitor, Georgina felt a tiny leap of joy at how perfect her baby was.
"The baby is very healthy! It is two months from your expected delivery date. You must make it a point to rest more in this period!"
After the checkup, the doctor handed the medical report to Georgina.
She nodded with a smile as the doctor instructed, "You will need to abstain from sexual life as much as possible during this period. For the sake of the baby's health, the expecting father will need to practice self-control!"
Georgina’s cheeks flushed red. At the thought of what happened the night before, she could not help but nod her head quickly. Her eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly.
She turned around to leave. Just as she was about to step out the door, the doctor made a phone call and spoke in a hushed voice, “Yes, Madam, I’ve run a thorough examination. The baby is healthy, with no disabilities in the speaking… I understand. Rest assured. The baby will not be a mute like Georgina Bradley..."
Every word of it lingered on Georgina's mind. It turned out that the Huffmans had contacted the hospital to do a DNA test on the baby without her knowledge!
That was why the routine checkup just now had been so tedious!
A dull ache throbbed in her chest, so much so that she had to reach her hand out to steady herself on the corridor wall. The pain felt as though it stabbed right into her heart!
When they came out of the hospital, the sky was gloomy and the wind howled. They foretold an impending storm.
Georgina stood alone by the roadside as the wind billowed her skirt around. The housekeeper had said that she was going to get the car, but she never came back.
She waited to no avail until the heavy drops of rain fell on her. It was very chilly.
But what chilled her much more was the black Rolls-Royce that drove past her slowly. Georgina caught sight of the brooding and impassive silhouette of Miguel Huffman in the car.
In that split second, she felt as though her heart had been plunged into icy-cold water. Her face became as pale as a sheet, and her expression was almost that of utter despair.