Chapter 20 That's the Best Ending We Could Hope For

Lucien's hands clenched tightly into fists at his sides. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and the way he looked at her carried a hint of unfamiliarity. "Talia, you're so… rational." "Being rational might seem cruel," Talia said calmly. "But in the long run, it's best for all three of us." "Three of us?" Lucien frowned. "I won't be tied to the Reeses for life. After the divorce, I can still live my own life. The baby won't burden you, and one day, Ms. Griffin will give you a child of your own so that you won't have to constantly argue with her over this. As for her…" Talia gave a faint smile. "She probably won't have to go through the inheritance law every day, nor rack her brain thinking of ways to secure more assets for her child." Lucien didn't argue. He knew Thalia's personality better than anyone—he'd grown up with her. He knew exactly what she was capable of. "And most importantly," Talia said quietly, "I want my child to be born into a family with love—where, at the very least, the father loves the mother. In my heart, love is far more important than wealth or assets." Lucien hadn't said a word since that last question. He kept his head lowered the entire time, not even daring to look into her eyes. At last, it was Talia who brought the conversation to an end. "Let's leave it at that. Go back to your life, and I'll work hard to live mine. We've separated peacefully. That's the best ending we could hope for." Lucien finally looked up, and Talia saw the shimmer of tears in his eyes. Men rarely cried, not unless they'd reached their breaking point. Talia had worked in OB-GYN for years and had seen every kind of love and heartbreak. Wives in labor screaming as if they were dying, all while their husbands sat outside playing on their phones, indifferent. She'd seen it all. At first, she used to feel outraged. She'd speak up for the women, scolding the men, only to hear them reply, "My wife isn't complaining. Why do you care?" After enough of those moments, she'd come to understand something—children were conceived and delivered from the mothers' bodies. None of it required the fathers to go through anything physically. They never felt the dizziness of morning sickness or the soul-crushing agony of labor, so how could they ever truly empathize? Talia remembered a particular case where one patient passed out multiple times from labor pains, but her husband refused a C-section. His reason? A fortune-teller said that the baby's best birth date was the next day, so his wife had to hold on until then. That case was the turning point for Lisa, the one that caused her fear of marriage. Talia still remembered how she reacted back then—how utterly stunned she'd been. She'd asked Talia, "Dr. Ainsworth, do men not feel any emotional connection to an unborn child? Even if they don't care about their wife, aren't they afraid the baby might die before they're even born?" Talia hadn't been able to answer. She wasn't a man, after all. All she'd seen were countless men saying, with cruel indifference even in the face of their wives' desperate pleas, "Just get rid of it." And Talia couldn't help but wonder… If she hadn't made the decision alone, if she'd told Lucien about the pregnancy openly and honestly, what would he have done? Would he have chosen to keep the baby? But then, between him and his first love, there would always be this child born of another woman. Would Thalia be able to accept that? And in a darker scenario, if the child and Thalia fell into the water at the same time, who would he save first? Talia already knew the answer.