Chapter 1

The night before my engagement, my girlfriend Chloe's mother, Eleanor, and her cousin, Sophia, demanded that I undergo a simulated labor experience. They claimed it was a mandatory step for any man marrying into the Jenkins family.

To marry Chloe, I readily agreed.

I endured a three-hour labor simulation.

From level eight agony to level ten nausea and vomiting, all the way to level twelve shortness of breath.

I pleaded with Chloe to stop, but she coldly refused, saying if I couldn't even handle this, I didn't truly love her.

It wasn't until I developed lasting side effects from the excessive electric stimulation that Chloe reluctantly conceded, agreeing to proceed with the engagement.

I was overjoyed to the point of tears.

If she hadn't agreed, how could I possibly continue with my plan?

When I was wheeled out of the emergency room, Chloe, tears streaming down her face, rushed forward and clutched my hand.

"Ethan, so you really love me this much! I'm so touched. Let's get engaged tomorrow, okay?"

In her expectant gaze, I nodded solemnly.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Chloe completely ignored me, fresh out of surgery, and happily hummed a tune as she left.

She left me alone to be wheeled back to my room by the nurse.

In her words, the engagement party was just a dress rehearsal for the wedding.

She couldn't let her guard down.

As I lay pale, my wound throbbing.

Chloe's voice messages bombarded my phone, each one more demanding than the last, like she was hounding me to death.

My hands trembling from the pain, I struggled to pick up my phone.

Before I could reply, Chloe's FaceTime call came through.

The moment I answered, a barrage of questions hit me.

"Ethan, why aren't you replying to my messages? Don't you love me anymore?"

"I…"

The moment I opened my mouth, large beads of sweat ran down my forehead.

But Chloe, on the phone, seemed oblivious.

"Ethan!"

Her sharp accusation sent a chill through me.

"Why aren't you speaking? Are you guilty about something?"

"Ethan, talk! Say something!"

"Chloe, please calm down."

"I can't calm down! I've been stressing myself sick over our engagement, and not only are you not helping, you're discouraging me!"

"Ethan, do you even have a heart?"

At that, a pang hit my chest.

For Chloe, I'd not only bared my soul but almost lost my life.

And now she was saying I had no heart.

"Chloe, look where I am right now."

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"Ethan, it's just a surgery, do you have to be so dramatic?"

"You're a grown man, why are you so whiny and petty?"

But Chloe forgot, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have needed this surgery in the first place.

Yesterday, I accompanied Chloe to visit her cousin, Sophia, at the maternity clinic after she'd just given birth.

As Sophia was complaining bitterly about the difficulties of childbirth, Chloe's mother, my future mother-in-law Eleanor, had an idea.

After whispering a few words to Sophia, she spoke to me solemnly.

As a man marrying into the Jenkins family, I needed to experience labor pain before the engagement.

The reason? To understand the hardships his future wife would endure for him.

No matter how high-minded their justifications, I knew.

This rule was only for me.

But I loved Chloe, and I understood the pain childbirth brought to a woman.

So, I readily agreed.

I got onto the operating table out of respect for women, but I never expected.

The next three hours would be the most excruciating of my life.

When the pain reached level eight, I instinctively began to struggle.

Chloe brutally held my hand down, telling me to endure.

When the pain hit level ten, my stomach churned, and I couldn't stop throwing up.

Chloe shrieked and jumped away from me, cleaning off the mess on her clothes, her eyes full of disgust.

At level twelve, I distinctly felt my breathing constrict.

I reached out to Chloe for help, begging her to stop.

But she looked at me, teetering on the edge of collapse, and snorted coldly.

"Ethan, if you truly love me, you'll endure."

After saying that, she even added another half-hour to the experience.

When the experience ended, I collapsed off the bed.