Chapter 3

As I walked out of the fertility center, Hadrian arrived.

"All done? Are you feeling okay?"

He reached out as if to steady me. I shifted half a step away so he couldn't touch me.

Hadrian paused, as if he wasn't used to that reaction from me.

Then he reached into the back seat and pulled out a paper bag.

"You must be hungry after fasting for the tests. Eat something first."

The bag had the logo of a chain restaurant printed on it.

The irony wasn't lost on me.

He could cook for his student with his own hands, but as his wife, all I got was takeout.

After we had been driving for a while, he suddenly said, "Do you have anything else going on today?"

"No."

He loosened his grip on the steering wheel, his tone lightening.

"Then let's go to the mall. We can pick up some baby stuff."

"I don't want to."

"Betty."

There was restrained impatience in his voice.

"Getting this emotional isn't good for the treatment."

I turned to look out the window and didn't say another word.

Ten minutes later, the car stopped outside a baby store.

Hadrian glanced at his phone and said, "Wendy's coming too. Her sister just had a baby, and she wants to pick up a gift while she's here."

I turned and looked at him.

"You're telling me now?"

"It's on the way."

To him, it wasn't even worth mentioning earlier.

A few minutes later, Wendy pushed open the door.

When she saw me, she gave me a perfectly measured smile.

"Betty, I hope I'm not interrupting."

I looked at her and said nothing.

But as if she couldn't sense the awkwardness at all, she went straight to Hadrian's side and started looking at strollers with him.

"Hadrian, isn't this the one you said last week had the higher safety rating?"

She rested a hand on the handle and smiled at him.

"You really are better at this than I am."

A sales associate walked over, looked at the two of them, and asked with a smile,

"Shopping for your first stroller?"

Before Hadrian could answer, Wendy shook her head with a laugh.

"No, we're picking out a gift for family."

She paused, then added lightly, almost teasingly,

"Though he has definitely become a bit of an expert on baby gear lately."

The associate laughed knowingly.

"Got it. You two clearly came prepared."

Hadrian didn't correct her.

While the associate went to get a brochure, Wendy flipped through a baby monitor display beside her and said with a smile,

"Isn't this a little early?"

She looked at me, her voice light, as if she were making casual conversation.

"I mean, the IVF still has to work first, right?"

The air went still.

Hadrian's expression shifted, just slightly.

I fixed my eyes on Wendy. "You have no right to discuss my private medical information in public."

The smile on Wendy's face froze. A second later, her eyes reddened.

"I'm sorry."

She bit her lip, her voice going soft.

"Hadrian talks about it so much. I forgot what parts were private."

That apology was crueler than no apology at all.

She was telling me, right there in front of everyone that Hadrian had told her everything. My IVF. My body. My failures.

Before I could speak, Hadrian was already frowning at me.

"She misspoke."

I stared at him, my chest tight.

"She just exposed my private medical information in public, and you think she just misspoke?"

Wendy's tears were already falling. She reached lightly for Hadrian's sleeve, as if trying to hold back how hurt she was.

"If it bothers you, I can leave."

"You don't need to leave."

When he looked at me, his eyes had gone cold.

"Enough, Betty."

"Do you really have to make a scene in public?"

Just then, Hadrian's former classmate Mark walked over with a shopping cart.

He saw me, then looked at Wendy standing beside Hadrian, and his expression changed.

"Betty, are you and Hadrian...?"

Hadrian didn't look at me first.

The first thing he did was hand Wendy a tissue.

"You two take your time."

I turned and walked out.

Hadrian chased after me and grabbed my wrist.

His voice was low, but there was clear anger in it.

"She already apologized. How long are you going to drag this out?"

I looked at him, and suddenly I laughed.

"Hadrian, do you still not get it? Wendy was never the real problem."

He frowned.

"You were."

"You made her think she had the right to arrange things for me, speak for me, even stand next to you in my place."

I turned and raised a hand for a taxi.

"Betty."

I looked down at his hand.

"Let go."

His grip loosened slightly.

"I didn't choose her."

"Then if she called you right now and said she didn't feel well, would you leave with her?"

Hadrian said nothing.

I pulled my hand free, got into the taxi that had just pulled up, and didn't look back.