Chapter 2-Pain

Stella is lying weakly in the hospital bed. The doctor did not agree that she could not be confined because her condition was dangerous. 

“Sweetheart, aren’t you going to call your husband so that someone will watch over you?” the doctor said to Stella. 

Stella tried to smile at the doctor. “I already texted him.” 

The doctor smiled and nodded at the girl. And felt sorry for the new patient because her body was obviously not taken care of. 

Stella sighed when the doctor was gone. She stroked her deflated stomach again and, somehow, she smiled. Finally, they will have a child with their husband. Now, there’s a reason for her husband to love her and start their family.

Her pregnancy was good and timely. She didn’t know that she was five weeks pregnant. What she needs now is extra care so that the child in her womb does not fall. 

“Shall I let him know?” 

Stella quickly looked at the man she had been with earlier and shook her head. “You can go now, I’ll call you when I need your help.”

The man bowed his head. Even though he was old, he was still elegant. He immediately obeyed the girl’s order and quietly left the room. 

Stella smiled again when she was alone in the room. She took the cellphone that was on the small table and checked to see if her husband had a reply. But instead of a message from her husband, it was Sophie who messaged her. The smile on her lips quickly faded when she read the message.

“Don’t disturb my brother because his beloved girlfriend has arrived. Elizabeth is more important than your life.” 

She tightened her grip on the cellphone after reading Sophie’s message. She was really masochist in her own feelings and even opened the video clip attached to her sister-in-law’s message. 

Tears flowed spontaneously from her eyes while watching the video. She smiled bitterly when she saw Charles smile at his woman. If she was just in front of the woman, she would have pulled her hair. She was crying when she kissed Charles on the lips and her husband didn’t even flinch. The pain was not only in her heart but also in her stomach. Her child seemed to feel the pain in her heart.

The video is cut to the scene where Elizabeth kisses her husband. She knew the girl, she was the one whom Charles left behind when he married her. She even begged her not to follow the orders of Charles’ grandfather. But she loved the young man, so the marriage went ahead. She thought she had won Charles’s heart in the three years they had been together. She endured and humbled herself just so that he would love her. When he was able to possess her, she was very happy even though he was drunk. It was repeated several times, but she was given medicine to prevent pregnancy. 

“Is that why he often doesn’t come home anymore?” she asked herself, crying.

It had been a month since she heard that Elizabeth had returned to the country. She thought that the Don had managed to prevent the woman from returning to the country. But she came back and with the help of Charles. Fearing that her husband will be cold towards her in recent months, she has been secretly throwing away the pills. 

“Baby, forgive Mommy. You were born because of my deception. Sorry and it looks like I won’t be able to give you a whole family anymore.” She stroked her own stomach and let abundant tears flow down her smooth cheeks. She took another sigh and tried to calm herself down. She doesn’t even want her baby to be lost to her. She smiled at her baby. She shouldn’t be stressed, so she needs to calm down. She promised herself that this would be her last tear for her husband. Now that she has a life to take care of, she needs to use her brain now and not her heart.

“Babe, it’s obvious that Stella is cheating on you. Maybe she heard that I was back, so she immediately looked for a man to help her out of poverty!” 

Charles’ face was dark as he stared at the picture taken by the maid from outside their house. His wife was in the side view of the picture and was being supported by a man getting into a fancy car. 

“I told you, brother, that woman looks like money. She immediately found an old man but with money.” Sophie folded her arms in annoyance in front of her brother.

Charles stood up with a blank face and turned his back on the three. “It’s getting late, get some rest.” 

Magda quickly grabbed Sophie by the arm to stop her from following her brother. “That’s enough, darling. Let’s let your brother think first.”

Frowning, Sophie stomped a foot in annoyance. She is not satisfied with her brother’s reaction to the picture. 

Elizabeth also stood up and faced her friend. “Do you know who the man in the picture is?”

Magda was stunned for a moment and just now thought of Elizabeth’s question. She stared at the picture. The price of the car to pick up Stella is no joke. She watched the man’s face. He was wearing a tuxedo and looked respectable, but his face was unfamiliar to her. 

“Mom, is he one of the ones you ordered to destroy that woman in my brother’s eyes?” Sophie asked her stepmother.

“I don’t know him. I didn’t know that he also had a rich relative, so I don’t know who that man is.”

“Never mind, let’s not waste time thinking about who helped her. The important thing is that we convinced Charles that Stella was seeing someone else without his knowledge.” Elizabeth smiled at the two. 

“That’s right! What we need to do now is make sure that my brother doesn’t feel any pity for that woman anymore!” Sophie put her arm around her friend and led her to the room that was meant for her. 

At the hospital, Stella just stared dumbfounded at the ceiling. Reflecting on what to do in life. Just thinking about living away from her husband makes her cry. She felt that her heart was also crying.

“When he finds out I’m pregnant, he’ll definitely choose me,” she talked to herself again. She remembered that her baby was important to Charles’ family. 

“That’s right, he won’t let a bastard child, so he would be forced to stay by my side!” she answered to herself and smiled. 

Her eyes slowly closed with a smile on her lips. Stella had already forgotten the first promise to herself earlier. She wants her baby to be happy when he, or maybe she, grows up, and their family is complete. 

Stella didn’t know how many hours she slept. She just woke up to the surrounding light. When she looked at her cellphone, it was off. Her battery was empty last night, and she didn’t have a charger with her.

“Good morning, how are you feeling?” greeted the doctor upon entering the room. 

Stella smiled at the young doctor. The doctor is kind to her, but she does not give her full information. “It’s fine, doc, can I go out now?” 

The doctor first checked the girl’s pulse and the dextrose. It’s almost empty and the heartbeat of the patient and the child in her womb is normal. 

“I’ll prescribe you some medicine to help the child and vitamins as well. Follow my instructions, and you have to come back here next week.” 

“Yes, thank you very much!” 

“Your husband is still not there?” The doctor looked around.

Stella tried to smile at the doctor. “He is coming, and he will pick me up. Thank you very much again.” 

The doctor stared at the girl for a moment before smiling. “Remember, you are not allowed to stress. If you need someone to talk to, you can come to me.” 

Stella held back tears and nodded to the doctor with a smile. She knows that the doctor’s concern about her is real, even though they are not close and only met yesterday. 

“Avoid being emotional, especially feeling sad because your child feels that.” 

The doctor said a lot more and advised her that she should remember. She was also taught to be a good mother. It seems that the doctor feels that her relationship with her husband is not good.

Every step she took out of the hospital building was slow. She inhaled the air and released a sigh from her mouth before she pulled up a taxi. She was delivered to her husband’s house and hoped that her relationship with Charles would be fine. When she entered the house, Magda greeted her. It looked like they slept there, and she didn’t like the way she looked at her. 

“Where have you been? Your face is thick, and you still managed to show up here after sleeping outside with your new man!” 

“Please speak slowly, and I don’t have another man.” She tries to calm down and thinks about her baby. 

“You still deny it even if there is evidence?” Sophie said mockingly.

Stella turned to the living room where her sister-in-law was standing. Only then did she notice her husband sitting on the sofa. Pain immediately appeared in her face when she saw the woman next to him. Then the woman slept there too. She seemed suddenly weak and unable to step on her feet. She couldn’t even open her mouth.

The lawyer who was there cleared his throat when he noticed the aura on Stella’s face. He suddenly felt sorry for her, but he couldn’t do anything. Charles’s grandfather is away and is in another country for treatment. Everyone knows that the two got married at the request of Charles’ grandfather, who was ill. They thought the old man was going to die. But somehow his life was connected, and he agreed to receive medical treatment in another country when the two got married.

Charles’ face had a dark aura as he stared at Stella’s face. “If you really needed money, you should have said so. You didn’t even wait to sign the divorce papers before looking for another wealthy man.”

Stella was as if she had been stabbed in her heart because of Charles’ allegations. She knew that he looked at her like a gold digger, but she was still hurt now because that was how he looked at her. 

“Alright, because you’re just in a hurry to find another man with money, so let’s end our relationship today.” 

Sophie and Magda smiled together as they waited for Charles to finish speaking. Elizabeth suppressed a smile and was in a cheerful mood. 

Stella feels like her heart is breaking. No matter how stubborn her heart was, she knew that sadness was still lurking in her eyes.

“Elizabeth is back, so we have to get a divorce.” Charles avoided looking into Stella’s eyes, and it was as if his own eyes were deceiving him again. He stood up and motioned to the lawyer. 

Daniel stood up and approached Stella, who seemed to be frozen in place. “Ms. Stella, this is what you have to sign. Don’t worry and, in exchange for this divorce paper, there is the obvious two million and this house, so you won’t be struggling.”

Stella stared dumbfounded at the paper the lawyer was handing to her. That’s two and one is for the money and house she can get. Instead of crying, she smiled. She wants to laugh at the fate of her life now. Perhaps, those looking at her now would think that she was happy with what she could get. But it’s just lame, she’s really hurt, and she just laughs it off. When she raised her face, she and Charles’ eyes met. She smiled again, he was still handsome even though he looked at her coldly. She wanted to show him in their final confrontation that she was happy for him. She is happy because Charles can finally be happy with the woman he truly loves.