Chapter 2Me or this kid, who's it gonna be?

Back home, Julian tried to explain.

I sat on the bed, motionless, for a long time.

He, meanwhile, stood on my room's balcony, smoking cigarette after cigarette all night.

I knew he was trying to make me feel sorry for him, torturing himself.

He always knew my weaknesses.

As dawn broke, Julian turned and came inside, walking over to me.

"Hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll make it."

I stopped him with a hoarse voice.

"Julian, we need to talk."

Julian's steps faltered. He didn't turn around for a long time.

I knew he understood my personality. I cared about this kind of thing.

A lot.

Even if he was drunk that night, even if his encounter with that girl was unintentional,

I couldn't forgive him.

So, Julian kept it a secret.

But no one expected that the stranger he'd met just once would get pregnant.

Due to a unique medical condition, she couldn't terminate the pregnancy.

Which led to this situation.

Julian eventually left. He was afraid to face what I was about to say.

I knew he loved me.

If he didn't, we wouldn't have been together for so many years.

If he didn't, he wouldn't have spoiled me into someone who easily got emotional and cried at the drop of a hat.

For the next week, Julian didn't come home.

But he still meticulously asked Maria, our housekeeper, every day how I was doing.

Maria tried to persuade me:

"Madam, you and Mr. Sterling are the most loving couple I've ever seen. Just talk things out.

"Mr. Sterling, he's lost so much weight recently."

Maria had been with us for years, and she had never seen Julian and me have a single argument.

Even Julian's mother, who had been displeased with me in the early years, gradually accepted me as her daughter-in-law because Julian and I were so happy together.

My phone rang. It was Julian calling.

"Nora, Julian's completely wasted. Could you come pick him up?"

"Don't bother with him!"

After hanging up, my inner frustration only grew.

Julian's retreating figure, seemingly hunched, kept replaying in my mind.

I still couldn't bring myself to leave him there alone.

After a struggle, I grabbed my car keys.

And walked out purposefully.