The news I've been waiting for

Evelyn's POV

The clattering sound of the cutlery filled the dining room as everyone around the large table ate. My husband, his family, my aunt, and my cousin were the ones surrounding the table and eating peacefully.

However, I couldn't eat because I felt unsafe and their eyes on me made me uncomfortable. I could only stare at my food. Perhaps I couldn't eat because I wasn't happy.

“Why haven't you touched your meal, my child?” That was my mother-in-law. She sounded so nice but everyone at the table knew how much she hated me. I could say everyone around the table didn't like me. How did they expect me to eat peacefully when I was in the midst of people who hated my existence?

Before I could think of what to say, she uttered. “Who knows, perhaps the reason you cannot give my son a child is because you lack nutrition.”

Those words hit me harshly at the right spot. I swallowed hard and when everyone around the table began to laugh at her statement, I felt embarrassed. I should be used to it by now. I mean it isn't the first time they all bullied me, including Nathan, my husband.

I stayed quiet and decided to pick my cutlery to start feeding myself but it only led to more. “My goodness, come on Evelyn, do you think you can get pregnant because you choose to eat now?” that was my mother-in-law again.

I glanced at Nathan who appeared pleased by what she was saying to me. “It took me a week to get pregnant at my husband's house after our marriage. But you, Evelyn, you've taken more than three years. Tell me, how unfortunate can you be?”

What could I give as an answer? I sat there enduring all the insults being thrown at me. I felt worthless, especially when my husband refused to defend me. He had never done that, but still, deep down inside me, I hoped and expected him to.

“Her grades are bad, her facial appearance is poor, she has no luck in getting a job and she's nothing but a burden to everyone around her. Is having a baby a big problem?” My aunt joined. She and her family raised me after I lost my whole family in a fire accident.

I lowered my gaze, crying bitterly inside but while I was looking down, I caught my cousin touching my husband. I raised my gaze a little and saw Nathan smiling at her. They were gazing at each other and it brought pain to my heart. The pain felt like disappointment and betrayal. I was trying hard to hold my tears and I believed I succeeded.

Lately, my husband and my cousin have grown close. First, it was his secretary, and now Rachel, my aunt's daughter.

Their voices slowly became a background voice in my head as I stared into space. I looked at the cutlery in front of me, seeing myself cutting my skin with the sharp one. My breath was unstable. I wanted to scream and tell them that it was enough. I was on the verge of crying out loud because it was too much to endure any longer, but pictures of what would happen if I expressed myself played in my head, so I forced myself to take in that heavy breath that felt like it would scatter my lungs.

I was shaking and biting the inside of my mouth but no one cared about me.

Eventually, it ended. Everyone left for their home, except Rachel. She spent time with my husband while I did the dishes and cleaned the house.

I had been doing that for years because they all felt like it was suitable work for me. My husband told me that he didn't need a maid because I could do the job.

I went to our room after finishing my work but my husband was in the guest room with my cousin.

Why didn't she marry him then when she knew she'd want him this much? I thought to myself as I tried to catch sleep.

Three years ago, my aunt's family instructed me to get married to the bachelor who wanted Rachel but because he wasn't Rachel's taste-a man with wild wealth, I replaced her and realized that Nathan married me because he needed a child.

When I couldn't offer that a few months after our marriage, Nathan and his parents changed their ways and began to mistreat me just like my aunt's family used to do to me. I was wrong about my freedom. I was just moved to an upgraded prison.

Evelyn is my name and I am just so unlucky with everything that involved me.

____

“You are eight weeks pregnant, Mrs O'Brien,” I heard from the doctor after she explained some things to me about my condition. I wished it was a deadly disease after I came for a check-up but I was wrong. I had just received the news I had been waiting for but now it didn't make me happy anymore. “Congratulations,” she smiled brightly at me.

“There's no complications?” I asked because I really wanted to die.

“No, Mrs O'Brien,” she chuckled because she thought I was joking.

I collected the test result and began to stare at it as I left the hospital. Then it struck my mind that Nathan could love me now that I was carrying his baby. This news could actually save our marriage and also help me gain his parent's love and affection.

After three years, I can finally bring a child to the family. I filled my mind with hope and rushed home to wait for my husband to get back from work so I could tell him.

When I entered the house, I felt really happy about the news and went straight to my room to change my clothes. Upon reaching close to the entrance, I overheard the word ‘pregnancy.’

“You are carrying my child?” I heard Nathan and knew instantly that he was with my cousin, Rachel.

“Congratulations, my baby!” He kissed Rachel's belly, causing me to look down at my own.

“This is what Evelyn cannot achieve,” he mocked me.

“Shouldn't you have divorced her by now?” My cousin asked. I wasn't surprised that Rachel could do that to me.

“Now that you are pregnant, it's high time she left my life. She has done nothing but cause trouble in my life. She always needed money. How could I have married a woman like Evelyn? She isn't even pretty or sexy,” I couldn't believe that my husband could say that about me, but there was one thing he achieved: he made me insecure about myself and my appearance just by mentioning those words.