Our Love Story, Another Woman's Baby

Ethan turned our love story into a movie and released it on twelve thousand screens nationwide.

But he gave the role of the female lead, along with the title of wife, to a young woman who was five months pregnant.

Turns out a man doesn't need any warning signs to change his heart.

Even though just twelve hours ago, he was still reminding me on video call to eat my meals on time.

Now he was already in the spotlight, kissing another woman's pregnant belly with deep affection, declaring to all the cameras in the room:

"This film is dedicated to the love of my life."

But I'm the one who's been his wife for five years.

Serena's POV

The day before my fifth wedding anniversary with Ethan, I flew back from Africa after three connecting flights.

I just wanted to surprise him, but I never expected the surprise would be mine.

When I arrived at the cinema, the red carpet had already been rolled up. Crushed flower petals littered the ground.

I entered through the side door with my invitation and was led by an usher to the last row.

The lights in the theater had already dimmed. The screen lit up.

The moment the title appeared, I saw the female lead's face clearly.

Very young, around twenty-two or twenty-three, with curved eyes and a dimple on her left cheek when she smiled.

Exactly like me when I was twenty-two.

I thought it was a coincidence.

The movie opened with the male lead meeting the female lead in a library. She was carrying a stack of books, and he helped her pick them up.

When that line came out, my fingers clenched tight.

"I've read all of these books you chose."

That was the first thing Ethan ever said to me. Word for word.

The scene cut to the coffee shop where we had our first date.

That place had closed down long ago. For this film, Ethan had recreated it one-to-one in another location.

The wall behind the counter with old photos hanging on it. Even the positions of the nails were exactly the same.

The female lead spun around in the rain, her white dress twirling out. The male lead ran over and held an umbrella over her head.

That was my twenty-third birthday.

I sat in the last row. The entire movie ran for one hundred and eight minutes. I didn't move once.

When the end credits rolled, the whole theater erupted in applause.

A spotlight came down. Ethan stood up from the first row, holding a young woman's hand, and slowly walked onto the stage.

The girl wore a light pink dress, her hand carefully cradling her belly.

Her pregnancy bump was slightly visible.

The host handed the microphone to Ethan. He took it, looked down at the girl with a tenderness I'd never seen in his eyes.

"This film is dedicated to the love of my life."

The theater thundered with applause. Someone started screaming. People raised their phones.

The girl leaned on his shoulder and cried. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead.

I could hear my own heartbeat. Slow. Like it was about to stop.

The last time Ethan personally directed a film was the year he was pursuing me.

That film was only shown once at our college. He said he'd only show it to me for the rest of his life.

Back then, he stood below my dorm building, holding a whole bouquet of white roses, and said, "Serena, I, Ethan, will only love you for the rest of my life. If you don't say yes, I'll stand here all night."

I watched him from the third-floor window. My heart melted completely.

Later, this man started a company and was so busy he spent a hundred days a year flying around. But every anniversary, he always made me feel like he'd never forgotten.

On stage, Ethan took a ring box from his suit pocket.

He knelt down on one knee and opened it.

From the last row, across thirty rows of heads, I could see the ring clearly.

An emerald, surrounded by nine small diamonds.

That was the ring that had been passed down three generations in Ethan's family. His mother Victoria had held it for twenty years, saying she'd wait for the woman her son married to wear it.

I'd been married five years and had never seen it once.

Serena's POV

The girl on stage nodded through her tears. The whole venue cheered.

When the crowd dispersed, I was pushed into the lounge area.

I leaned against the wall, my legs too weak to stand steady.

A young woman in uniform carrying a tray passed by me, glanced at me, and stopped.

"Miss, are you with the media? The media entrance is on the right."

"I'm..." My voice was hoarse. "I'm looking for Ethan."

The girl smiled politely.

"Ethan is with Violet right now. If you need something, please schedule through his assistant first."

"Violet?"

"Violet, Ethan's fiance." The girl lowered her voice with a hint of pride. "She's five months pregnant. She made a special appearance today. Ethan gave strict orders that no one disturb her."

I steadied myself against the wall and slowly smiled.

Before I could say anything, light footsteps approached from behind.

"You don't look well. Are you feeling okay?"

I turned around.

The girl who had just accepted a proposal on stage stood in front of me, one hand protecting her belly, the other reaching toward me. When she smiled, her eyes curved, and a dimple appeared on her left cheek.

"Do you need me to help you sit down? Ethan is really busy today. There were so many elders at the premiere who weren't feeling well. I helped them all."

She leaned closer, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"My name is Violet. I'm Ethan's fiance. Which media outlet are you from? How come I've never seen you before?"

I looked at her.

At this face that resembled mine at twenty-two by about thirty percent.

At the emerald ring on her hand.

At the slight curve of her belly.

"Violet, don't wander off. I've been looking for you forever."

A familiar voice came from behind.

I turned my head. Across the moving crowd, my eyes collided with Ethan's.

The smile on Ethan's face froze inch by inch.

The bouquet of red roses in his hands dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Serena?"

Violet leaned against Ethan's shoulder, peeking out from his embrace like a startled fawn, looking at me timidly.

"Ethan, who is this person..."

"An old employee from the company." Ethan's expression looked uncomfortable. He avoided my gaze. "My assistant is waiting for you in the lobby on the first floor. Go to the car first."

"Ethan, I-"

"Be good." He coaxed her in a low voice.

Violet left with reluctant backward glances. As she passed by me, she slowed down half a step. That fragile, helpless demeanor instantly vanished without a trace. She lowered her voice and laughed softly:

"You don't look well. Ethan can be pretty blunt when he talks. Whatever he says, please don't take it too much to heart."

She smiled smugly, stroking her slightly swollen belly, and walked away triumphantly.

I stood frozen in place, watching her retreating figure, nausea churning in my stomach.

Ethan didn't take me to the VIP lounge.

With a cold face, he clamped down on my wrist with force hard enough to leave red marks. He dragged me all the way out through the cinema's most hidden side door and roughly shoved me into a black van parked by the roadside.

The moment the car door closed, the sounds of several reporters' camera shutters and shouts were completely cut off.

The car drove south. Ten minutes later, it stopped at the far end of the third underground parking level of the cinema. It was pitch black here, without even a single security camera.

He turned off the engine and flicked on the interior light with a "click." The harsh white light hit our faces.

"When did you get back to the country?" His tone was accusatory.

"This afternoon."

"Why didn't you tell me you changed your flight?"

I turned my head, using the overhead light to look at this familiar yet strange face.

I didn't get angry. I just felt sad. I said word by word, "Ethan, let's get divorced."

Serena's POV

Ethan didn't respond. Expressionless, he took a document from his suit pocket and slapped it down on the center console with a "smack," pushing it in front of me.

"Look at this first."

It was a confidentiality agreement.

My hands trembled as I opened the first page.

There weren't many clauses inside, but each one pierced me.

Prohibited from publicly revealing wife status for eighteen months, must not approach Violet, penalty for breach: ten million dollars.

I turned to the last page. Ethan's hastily signed name was already written clearly.

I jerked my head up, eyes red-rimmed, looking at him.

"You had this prepared?"

"This film is my company's biggest project in the past two years." Ethan leaned back in his seat, as calm as if discussing a business deal.

"The investor is Federal Pictures. The theater screening schedule is already set. Twelve thousand screens nationwide. The release date is the eighth of next month. Violet's contract specifies she must be the lead. She's tied to this role. If it comes out now that I'm married..."

"You're finished." I coldly finished his sentence.

"We're finished." He frowned, correcting me. "Serena, you and I. We've gotten to where we are today together. The day this company was registered, you came with me to the business registration office. Have you forgotten?"

I stared hard at his face.

I really had forgotten. That day I wore a gray trench coat. He'd excitedly picked me up and spun me around at the entrance, his eyes red as he said, "Serena, from now on we're the boss and the boss's wife. I'll never let you down for the rest of my life."

But now, he was using this company built on our memories to force me to make way for the other woman.

Looking at his shameless face now, I suddenly wondered. When exactly did he learn to be this cold-blooded and calculating?

Ethan took out a pen and forcibly shoved it into my icy hand. "Sign it and I'll take you home. After eighteen months, when Violet has the baby and the film comes down, we'll talk about what comes next."

"What comes next?" My voice trembled.

"Serena, let me finish." He reached out to hold my hand. I jerked it back like I'd been electrocuted.

Ethan paused, then patiently withdrew his hand. "I have to keep the child in Violet's belly. But you're my wife. I've never thought about changing that. After eighteen months, I'll arrange for Violet and the child to go to Canada. She won't get the title. I already made that clear to her."

"But she accepted your ring today."

"That was just pretend, for the film promotion." Ethan said it without the slightest shame.

I laughed bitterly in anger.

I really found it funny. This man I'd been with for twelve years sat in front of me, telling me without a trace of guilt that even kneeling before another woman and presenting her with the family heirloom was all "acting."

He seemed to think this bullshit could soften my heart.

"Ethan." I grabbed that disgusting agreement and hurled it hard at his chest. "I won't sign it. I'm contacting a lawyer tomorrow."

Ethan's false mask finally couldn't hold. His face turned completely dark.

"Serena, you're angry. Sign this and we'll talk slowly."

"I won't sign."

The car fell deathly silent for two seconds. Ethan's hand suddenly lifted.

I thought he was going to hit me. I instinctively closed my eyes.

However, he didn't slap me. He clamped down hard on the back of my neck and brutally pressed my face toward the agreement on the center console.

Bang.

My forehead slammed hard into the stiff cardboard. The sharp paper edge instantly sliced through the skin above my eyebrow.

"Serena, you're a public figure's wife!" His voice pressed down viciously from above. "Do you think your divorce only affects you? Do you think the film waiting on screens nationwide is trivial? Do you think if you make a scene, you're only affecting me?"

One of my ears was pressed hard against the paper. Humiliation gnawed at my entire body like a poisonous snake.

"Sign it." He commanded.

Serena's POV

I didn't speak. Pressed beneath him, my fingers slowly felt for the edge of the agreement. Then, with all my strength, with a "rip," I tore that agreement in half right in front of him.

Ethan froze in shock.

Taking advantage of his stunned moment when his grip loosened, I shoved him away hard and stumbled out of the car, pushing the door open.

My high heels clicked against the cold concrete floor of the underground garage. I'd only run two steps when my legs went weak.

My knees buckled and I nearly fell. I gripped a cold concrete pillar beside me tightly, barely managing to stay upright.

Blood from above my eyebrow ran down my cheek and into my eye. My vision was a blur of red.

Behind me, the car door made a sound. Ethan started to chase after me.

Just then, his phone rang.

The screen displayed "Violet," glaringly bright in the dark underground garage.

Ethan looked at the screen, then at me bleeding while holding the pillar. Finally, he still answered the call.

"Violet? What's wrong?"

A woman's delicate crying came through the phone.

Ethan's brow furrowed tight. He made an affirming sound, then immediately lowered his voice, walking toward the driver's seat while urgently soothing her.

"I'm coming right now. Don't cry, whatever you do don't hurt the baby..."

I leaned against that rough pillar, watching him coldly.

He walked to the car door and looked back at me with a charitable glance.

"Serena, go home first. I'll come find you after I handle Violet's situation. We'll talk about the agreement later."

With that, he got in the car without hesitation. The engine roared. The black car drove out of the garage without looking back.

The vast underground parking garage instantly held only me.

The dim yellow light overhead buzzed.

My phone vibrated.

It was a text message from an unsaved number.

"These five years, have you been wronged or not? Victoria."

Victoria was Ethan's mother's name. In our five years of marriage, because she didn't like me, I rarely initiated contact with her.

I stood alone by the pillar. Blood from my eyebrow dripped down along my nose, drop by drop hitting the back of my hand, blooming into patches of glaring red.

I stared at that text message for a very long time.

My finger trembling, I typed four words.

"I want a divorce."

After deciding to divorce, I forced myself to sleep.

At five in the morning, before dawn.

The door was kicked with earth-shattering force.

"Serena! Open the door!"

It was Ethan's voice. I'd just turned the lock open a crack when he violently shoved the door open from outside.

The heavy wooden door slammed into my shoulder. I groaned in pain and staggered back two steps.

"There's a press conference at the company at ten. You're coming with me."

"I'm not going." I pressed my numb shoulder, my voice shaking.

"I said you're going."

He didn't give me any chance to resist. He grabbed my arm. The force felt like it would crush my bones. He dragged me directly from the living room toward the door.

I was forcibly pulled out the door barefoot, my feet scraping a red trail across the floor tiles.

"Ethan, let go of me! I can walk by myself!"

"Put on shoes."

Without a word, like dragging a lifeless object, he roughly shoved me into the elevator.

The elevator wall reflected my disheveled image. I looked at Ethan's hard, cold profile, my heart turning ice-cold.

I'd been with this man for twelve years. Only today did I learn for the first time that when he got ruthless, there wasn't a shred of humanity in his eyes.

Company backstage dressing room.

Ethan shoved me inside with one push and locked the door with a "bang."

The woman in front of the mirror immediately stood up from her chair.

Violet wore a light pink dress, her belly slightly swollen.

As soon as she saw me, tears instantly streamed down her face.

Serena's POV

Violet quickly walked over and tightly grabbed my wrist.

"Serena."

I was startled by her sudden action and stepped back half a pace.

"Serena, I'm begging you. Later when the reporters ask, just say you and Ethan divorced a long time ago. Say you and he are just business partners now."

Violet gripped my clothes desperately, crying so hard she couldn't breathe. "I'm six months pregnant. The doctor said if I get upset again I'll lose this baby. Please take pity on the child in my belly!"

My whole body went cold. I looked down at her from above.

She really could act. Last night at the premiere, when she leaned on Ethan's shoulder crying, she had this same fragile, helpless appearance.

"Let go." I forced down my disgust.

"I won't let go unless you agree."

"You got pregnant yourself, Violet. Watch your tone."

As soon as the words left my mouth, Ethan pushed the door open and entered.

His expression changed. He strode forward and pulled Violet up, sheltering her in his arms, then turned and walked over to me.

He reached out to touch my face. I turned my head away in revulsion, dodging him.

His hand froze in midair. After two seconds, it slowly lowered. His tone carried a trace of impatience.

"Serena, it's just one scene. After you perform it you can go home. I'll tear up the agreement. We'll talk slowly about divorce. You've walked with me to this point. This last hurdle. Help me this once."

I looked up at him in disbelief, my eyes instantly reddening.

I've been married to him for five years. I suddenly felt it was utterly ridiculous.

Walked with him to this point?

When I married him five years ago, that was walking with him to this point.

Three years ago when his company's funding dried up, I mortgaged the last house my father left me to lend him money to get through it. That was walking with him to this point.

Last year when I contracted malaria while filming in Tanzania and was hospitalized, he didn't call once. He complained I had poor physical fitness.

"Ethan." I clenched my teeth hard, forcing back tears, saying word by word, "I won't act."

The tenderness in Ethan's eyes instantly dissipated. His face darkened enough to drip water.

"Ethan!"

Violet suddenly grabbed something from the makeup table.

Before I could react, she'd already pressed a sharp makeup scissors against her own arm.

"Violet, what are you doing!" Ethan's face went white, his voice cracking.

"If Serena doesn't agree I won't live anymore!" Violet screamed through her tears. "Ethan, you saw it. She's trying to force me to death! She just can't stand to see me doing well!"

"Violet, put down the scissors."

"I'm not making a scene!"

Violet's wrist trembled. The scissor tip pierced the skin of her arm.

Bright red blood instantly seeped out, dripping onto the light pink dress in shocking drops.

"Violet!"

Ethan lunged over like a madman and snatched away the scissors.

Violet leaned back with the momentum. Her eyes rolled back and she went limp in his arms.

"Violet, wake up! Violet!"

An assistant outside heard the commotion and rushed in. Ethan scooped Violet up and rushed out. At the doorway, he suddenly turned back.

I'll never forget the way he looked at me.

No trace of our twelve years together. No disappointment.

Only bone-deep disgust, like looking at a mortal enemy.

"Serena." He spoke through clenched teeth, his gaze poisonous. "If anything happens to Violet, I, Ethan, will never forgive you for the rest of my life."

The door slammed shut with a "bang."

Serena's POV

I stood frozen in place, cold from head to toe, even my breathing hurt my chest.

Five years married to him, the last sweet thing he said to me was just last month. Smiling on a video call, saying when he finished this project, he'd take me to the Maldives.

Turns out when a man wants to change his heart, he doesn't even need to put on a transitional act.

The dressing room door opened again.

Victoria walked in and locked the door behind her.

"Did you see everything?"

My voice shook. "You knew all along..."

"I knew since last night." Victoria looked at me blandly. "Serena, you've been married five years. Ethan tells you to go somewhere and you go. Tells you not to have kids yet and you don't. Why do you listen to him so much?"

I couldn't answer.

"Because you thought he was worth it." Victoria finished the sentence herself. "Now tell me, is he still worth it?"

My eyes reddened instantly.

"Ten o'clock sharp, the press conference starts. You go on stage and say you and Ethan have an ordinary business relationship. This afternoon I'll have the divorce decree from the court delivered to you. I'll give you what you want."

"Otherwise, I can't be sure what Ethan might do."

Victoria walked to the door and looked back at me.

"Your choice."

I stood there stunned. Of course I knew what kind of person Ethan was. He really was capable of anything.

I already had my answer. For a smooth divorce, I chose to compromise.

Soon, it was ten o'clock.

I stood at the dressing room door, my fingers digging into my palms.

I turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Two security guards at the back door immediately blocked me.

"Serena, Ethan said-"

I lifted my foot and kicked hard at the left guard's knee.

Caught off guard, his knee buckled and he went down.

The one on the right reached out to grab me. I dodged sideways and ran out without looking back.

"Don't run! Stop!"

I didn't look back. I ran out of the office building's back alley and hailed a taxi.

"Where to?"

I froze for three seconds.

He knew my mother's house. He knew the apartment. He could find out about the film crew. He'd been to my friends' houses.

Twelve years. I had nowhere to hide.

I gave the address of the rental apartment from our college days.

Eleven years. I'd never canceled the lease. I paid the rent myself every month.

Ethan didn't know about this place.

I casually opened social media and immediately saw Ethan's new post.

The photo showed him rushing Violet into the emergency room. Violet's face was deathly pale, her arm wrapped in gauze.

"Today I almost lost my child. I don't want to respond to those old stories. Please stop hurting a pregnant mother."

Over ten thousand comments.

"Ethan was crying for real!"

"What's wrong with that woman?"

"I heard she drove Violet to self-harm!"

My fingers trembled.

In less than twelve hours, I'd gone from being his wife to the vicious ex-wife everyone online was condemning.

I watched the street scenes flying past the car window and suddenly laughed.

As I laughed, tears fell.