Kaspa Astor got a girl pregnant after a night of drunken recklessness. By the time I found out, she was already six months along. He told me, “If we keep the child, we can go back to how things were. We can be happy again.” I just shook my head, my voice unwavering as I asked the question that had been haunting me. “Her and the baby, or me? Choose.” That day, he was silent for a long, long time. He couldn't give me an answer. But after I disappeared, he was consumed by regret. 1 We had been married for five years. Five years with Kaspa, and I never once imagined it would end like this. I was standing outside the hospital when I saw him, carefully guiding a young, beautiful woman down the steps. I was just far enough away that when he looked up, his face a mask of tender concern, our eyes met. He flinched, his gaze immediately darting away, a portrait of guilt. The pregnant woman beside him looked over at me too, her eyes instantly welling with tears. After settling her safely in the car and whispering a few careful instructions, Kaspa finally walked towards me. His steps were calm, measured, all traces of the panic he’d felt upon being discovered now erased. He reached for my hand, his fingers wrapping around mine, which were cold as ice. "Why are you at the hospital? Are you not feeling well?" he asked, his voice laced with feigned concern as he reached up to touch my forehead. I recoiled from his touch. "Who is she?" He didn't answer, pulling me into an embrace instead, trying to soothe me with his presence. "She's no one important. We can talk about this at home, okay? I'll explain everything." His soft, gentle words were the final crack in my composure. A tear slid down my cheek. I defiantly tilted my head up, demanding the truth. As long as he told me, I would believe him. Anything. Kaspa sighed, a soft, resigned sound, and gently wiped the tear from the corner of my eye. "The baby is mine." The words froze the tears on my face. It felt like I’d forgotten how to breathe. I bit my lip until I tasted blood, wrenching myself from his arms and stumbling backwards. For the first time, a flicker of anger crossed his face. He closed the distance between us again, pulling me close, his expression shifting to one of pained concern. "Nora, you can blame me. You can hate me. But you can't torture yourself like this." I didn't understand. How could he do something so monstrous and still stand here, pretending to love me? As we stood locked in our silent standoff, the girl got out of the car. "Get back in the car!" Kaspa snapped, his voice sharp and devoid of any warmth. She looked at him timidly but didn't move, a new firmness in her eyes. "Ms. Vance," she said, her voice soft but clear, "It's not what you think between Mr. Astor and me. The baby… it was an accident." She gave a bitter smile. "If I had a choice, I would want this baby less than anyone." My vision blurred. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I knew him. I could feel the coldness in his demeanor thawing at her words. "That's enough! Stop talking!" I shrieked, the jealousy and resentment boiling over inside me. The girl flinched, staggering as if she was about to fall. In a flash, Kaspa lunged forward and caught her, pulling her securely into his arms. I stared at the scene, frozen. A single, wild thought sparked in my mind. I lunged towards them. Just as my hand was about to connect with her swollen belly, a powerful force shoved me away. I landed hard on the pavement. I looked down at my scraped palm, a desolate, humorless laugh escaping my lips. Kaspa stared at his outstretched hand, the one that had just pushed me, completely stunned. That day, Kaspa Astor left the woman who was six months pregnant with his child and took me home. But I knew. For him and me, there was no future left. 2 Back home, Kaspa gave me his explanation. I sat on our bed, silent and still for a long time. He stood on the balcony of our bedroom and smoked for the entire night, one cigarette after another. I knew what he was doing. It was a performance of self-punishment, a ritual designed to make my heart ache for him. When it came to me, he always knew how to find my weaknesses. As the first light of dawn broke the darkness, Kaspa finally came back inside, walking over to me. "You must be hungry. What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you." My voice was a raw whisper when I stopped him. "Kaspa. We need to talk." He froze, his back to me. He stood there for a long moment before turning around. He knew my character; this was something I couldn't just let go. I could never, ever forgive this. Even if he was drunk. Even if it was an unintentional moment of contact with a stranger. It didn't matter. That's why he had hidden it from me. But neither of us could have predicted that the girl, a complete stranger to him, would get pregnant. And due to a rare medical condition, she couldn't terminate the pregnancy. Which led us to this. Kaspa left the room. He couldn't face what he knew I was about to say. I know 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 to the point where I was a woman who could throw a tantrum or burst into tears at the slightest provocation, always knowing he’d be there to comfort me. For the next week, Kaspa didn't come home. But he still called the housekeeper every day, asking after every little detail of my life. Our housekeeper, Mrs. Gable, tried to reason with me. "Ma'am, you and Mr. Astor are the most devoted couple I've ever seen. Whatever it is, you should just talk it out. He's… he’s lost so much weight recently." She’d been with us for years. She had never seen Kaspa and me argue, not even once. Even his mother, who had disapproved of me in the early years, had gradually come to accept me as her daughter-in-law after seeing how happy we were together. My phone rang. It was one of Kaspa’s friends. "Nora, Kaspa's really drunk. Can you come pick him up?" "Let him rot there," I snapped, hanging up. But the anger didn't fade; it just curdled into a tight knot in my chest. The image of Kaspa's retreating back, his shoulders slumped in defeat, flashed in my mind. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to leave him there alone. After a moment of internal struggle, I grabbed my car keys and walked out the door. 3 The door to the private room was ajar. I stood outside, hidden in the shadows of the hallway. Kaspa was indeed drunk, sprawled gracelessly across the sofa. And standing before him was the pregnant girl. Kaspa’s friend looked embarrassed. "Sarah, I'm sorry. Nora won't come, and Kaspa refuses to leave, so I had no choice but to call you." The girl, Sarah, smiled faintly and tried to help Kaspa up by his arm. He shoved her away without warning. A few gasps of surprise seemed to shock Kaspa out of his drunken stupor. He looked at the woman in front of him, his face twisting into a smile that was more painful than a grimace. "Sarah Vance… it's all because of you. Nora's leaving me…" he repeated, his voice slurring as he started looking for another drink. No one could stop him. He grabbed a bottle and began chugging it down as if he were trying to drown himself. Suddenly, Sarah snatched the bottle from his hand and smashed it on the floor. The room fell silent. Even Kaspa, who had been in a drunken rage moments before, just stared at her, stunned. "Kaspa Astor, your drunken shouting is going to scare our child," she said, her voice firm. "Get up. I'm tired. Take me home." Kaspa Astor, a man who commanded respect and fear throughout the city, had never been ordered around like that by anyone except me. Everyone held their breath, expecting an explosion. But in the tense silence, Kaspa said nothing. He slowly got to his feet, picked up his jacket, and silently followed Sarah out of the room. I shrank back into the corner, watching the two of them walk away together. A laugh escaped my lips. A bitter, broken sound. I followed their taxi to a high-end apartment complex, watching as Kaspa got out and went upstairs with her. A light flicked on in a window high above. I sat in my car all night, watching that window. Kaspa never came out. At seven in the morning, he reappeared, walked to a nearby café, and went back inside the building carrying a bag of breakfast. I watched that painfully familiar back. Then, alone, I quietly drove away. 4 I called Kaspa and told him to come home, but I didn't mention a divorce. I looked at him, noting how much thinner he'd become in just a week, then quickly averted my eyes. "I didn't pick you up last night. Where did you stay?" Kaspa's fingers twitched. After a moment, he said, "I stayed at the office." I couldn't quite name the feeling in my chest. There was a dull ache, but more than that, there was disappointment. When had Kaspa Astor learned to lie to me? The man who once promised a lifetime of honesty had changed. I didn't expose his lie. It didn't matter anymore. "How far along… is she?" His voice faltered for a second, as if he couldn't bear to hurt me further. "Almost seven months." Then, he dropped to one knee before me, burying his face in my lap. His tears soaked through the fabric of my skirt. "Nora, I was wrong. Please… please don't leave me." In all the years I'd known him, I had never seen Kaspa cry. Now, he was sobbing uncontrollably. Seeing him like this, my own heart ached. But I knew, in this moment, I couldn't afford to be weak. "Arrange a meeting for me. With her." We met at Sarah's apartment. Kaspa waited for me outside the door. Sarah gently cradled her belly, her eyes filled with a radiant expectation for her child. "That night," she began, her voice soft, "the room was dark. I was so, so scared. But the next morning, when I saw Mr. Astor lying next to me… for a second, I actually felt… lucky." She smiled as she spoke, looking up at me with that same gentle, beautiful expression. "Ms. Vance, my baby with Kaspa is almost here. Why don't you just… let us be happy together?" Without Kaspa present, she was like a completely different person. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. The night I went to find Kaspa at the bar, I’d caught her glancing towards the door, right where I was standing. She knew I was there. She slowly stood up and pushed open a closed door, revealing a warm, perfectly decorated nursery. "Kaspa picked out everything in here himself. He set up the whole room. He's not without his hopes for this child." I wanted to maintain my last shred of composure in front of this woman who was flaunting Kaspa's paternal affection, but her words ignited a firestorm of rage within me. So, he was looking forward to this child. He wasn't indifferent after all. My strength seemed to drain from my body. I braced myself with one hand on the dining table, knocking over a glass of water. It shattered on the floor with a sharp crack that echoed the fractures splintering through my heart. Kaspa heard the noise and burst in. The first thing he saw was me, swaying on my feet, and Sarah, lying on the floor, crying out in pain.
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