Chapter 1

I covered my mouth and stumbled away. Only when I was out of Ethan’s sight did I burst into uncontrollable sobs. The extreme emotional upheaval made me suddenly feel dizzy and lightheaded, and I fainted to the ground. When I opened my eyes again, Ethan was sitting by the bed, his eyes red and swollen, staring at me. “Honey, you’re finally awake,” he said. “You scared me so much.” He clutched my hand tightly and even burst into tears of joy. The nurses who came to check on me all praised him as a rare good husband. He never missed a single prenatal checkup, and he was more anxious than anyone else whenever I felt even the slightest discomfort. “In the obstetrics and gynecology department, we’ve seen so many people, but it’s rare to find a husband who takes care of his wife like yours does,” one nurse said. Ethan adjusted the pillow behind me to make me more comfortable. “My wife has suffered so much during this pregnancy; she’s a hero to our family,” he said. “What I’ve done is so trivial compared to what she’s gone through.” If I hadn’t heard the content of his call earlier, I would have truly mistaken him for such a good man. My condition was not good, so the doctor asked me to stay in the hospital for observation for a day. Ethan helped me lie down and said softly, “Rest well. I’ll go home and make some soup to bring over for you.” Ordinarily, he would have asked his assistant to do things like this—he never needed to do it himself. I didn’t ask any more questions, just nodded silently and pretended to close my eyes to sleep. Ethan thought I was sound asleep, so he quietly slipped out of the ward. I immediately got out of bed and followed him all the way to the VIP ward of the hospital. Through the half-open door, I could see Ethan embracing Chloe. Chloe sobbed softly, speaking in a wronged tone, “If your wife weren’t in the hospital, you wouldn’t have time to come see me and Leo.” “Leo and I will always be second to her.” Ethan held her tightly with immense tenderness. “Every time I’m with Luna, all I can think about is you and Leo,” he said. “All the care I’ve given Luna is just to make sure she can give birth safely.” “Her body has changed so much since she got pregnant—she’s nothing like you, with your perfect figure. Chloe, you smell so good today; let me smell you properly.” Ethan’s words became more and more intimate, and they even started to embrace passionately right there in the ward. There was even a little boy lying on the hospital bed next to them, with an oxygen tube in his nose. A wave of nausea hit my stomach—I couldn’t stay there for even one more second without feeling like I would vomit. I stumbled back to my own ward. During pregnancy, one's emotions are already sensitive, and with this kind of shock on top of that, I finally broke down into loud sobs. Doctors and nurses all gathered around me. But the more gently they took care of me, the more I thought about how my husband was embracing another woman at that very moment. Ethan received a call from the doctor and rushed over in less than five minutes. “Luna, what happened?” he asked. He tried to move closer to me, but I pushed him away sharply. Instead of getting angry with me, Ethan glared angrily at the medical staff nearby. “I just left for a little while, and Luna had an incident—how do you people do your jobs?!” he snapped. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a red mark on his neck, and my emotions collapsed even more. As I struggled to push him away, I accidentally knocked over the kettle on the bedside table. The boiling water splashed onto Ethan’s body. Even through his clothes, he couldn’t help but cry out in pain. But in the next moment, he immediately grabbed my hand in concern and asked, “Luna, did you get burned?”