Chapter 2

My heart sank for no apparent reason:

"I didn't get a new car!"

"Oh, I must have seen wrong then. Never mind."

My mom hung up before I could say anything else.

After tidying up the house and bringing Cassandra a nice lunch at the hospital, I finally couldn't hold out any longer and collapsed into bed.

I forced myself not to overthink.

But in my restless half-sleep, I kept feeling like someone was staring at me.

The sleep was fitful because my mind was troubled.

I even seemed to hear Cassandra calling me, but no matter how I struggled, I couldn't wake up.

In my semi-conscious state, I thought I heard familiar sounds of heavy breathing.

I don't know how much time passed before I finally woke up.

Cassandra handed me some strawberries:

"Try these, they're so sweet!"

Now that she mentioned it, my throat did feel dry.

"You're supposed to be resting. Why'd you go out to buy strawberries yourself?"

"I didn't go out. Delivery's so easy these days."

I ate the strawberries, but my mind was weighed down with worry.

Once suspicion takes root, you can't control where your thoughts go.

Unfortunately, even up until discharge, I couldn't find any more evidence.

But when I went to handle the discharge paperwork, the attending physician pointed at the ultrasound and said:

"Your wife needs to watch her diet. She's only in her second trimester, but the baby is already measuring large."

I blurted out:

"How is that possible? She had severe morning sickness the first three months and couldn't keep anything down. Her appetite only improved these past two months. How could the baby be measuring large?"

"It's related to metabolism. Maybe the baby just absorbs nutrients well, or maybe your wife's last period date wasn't accurate. Some variance is normal!"

"At this rate, the baby is about a month ahead of other fetuses the same gestational age!"

Hearing this, my vision went black!

A month?

How could there be so many coincidences?

Dammit!

Was the baby in Cassandra's belly even mine?

I'd dated Cassandra for three years, and her mother flat-out refused to let her marry me.

But Cassandra proposed to me herself.

A month later, she started having morning sickness.

I'd never imagined Cassandra would betray me.

Now my mind was completely blank.

To catch the son of a bitch she was sleeping with, I secretly installed surveillance cameras at home.

But even when the baby was almost due, I hadn't found a single trace!

After all, this was someone I'd loved for years. I still took meticulous care of Cassandra.

But no matter how I controlled her diet, her belly kept growing like a balloon, way bigger than other women at the same stage.

At 35 weeks, Cassandra went into premature labor.

My heart dropped.

When the doctor urged me to sign the surgery consent form, I signed with shaking hands.

A premature baby weighing nine pounds? Who would believe that?

My mom was grinning from ear to ear as she held the baby:

"This little guy looks just like you did as a baby!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I also hoped this chubby boy was my biological son.

I took some of the baby's hair for a paternity test.

The waiting process was torture.

When I got the results, the hope I'd been clinging to finally died...