Ethan’s eyes were glued to Howard’s phone screen. Light from the display kept flashing across his face. He looked like a cat that had spotted a fish; his Adam’s apple bobbed with eager hunger.
After loving him for eight years, I had never seen him like this. If the woman on that screen were standing right there, he wouldn’t hesitate and immediately pounce on her.
As Howard swiped through the photos, Ethan’s mouth curved higher and higher. He clearly liked what he saw.
After a long, deliberate scroll, he stopped on one picture and said, casual and satisfied, “This one. That’ll do. She looks good.”
“You’ve got an eye, Ethan!” Howard crowed. “This one’s a tough prize. She's hard to get. I’ll call her over right now.”
The men’s leering laughter cut into me, and Ethan’s laugh was the loudest of all.
My heart fell completely into a dark pit.
Humiliated and trembling, I ran to the bathroom and vomited until I retched. I clutched my abdomen and thought of the twins growing inside me, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to do. These were the children I’d waited eight years for. Because of my PCOS, getting pregnant was harder for me than for most women. But Ethan’s mother had made it clear over and over that if I couldn’t have a child, I didn’t belong in their family.
So, for his sake, I had seen specialist after specialist and taken bitter medicines. Finally, my perseverance paid off, and I was pregnant. When the doctor told me it was twins, I was over the moon. But that joy lasted only an hour before Ethan crushed it.
I fixed my face, wiped my swollen eyes, and waited outside the bar for a ride. Then I saw him come out, walking fast, eyes already locked on someone.
Seeing that, I canceled my ride with my heart racing, thinking maybe the conversation I’d overheard had been a cruel joke. Maybe he still loved me and would come running to me now.
I took the pregnancy test from my bag and hurried toward him. “Honey!” I called.
But he didn’t hear. His attention was on a small-waisted, high-hipped girl who had just appeared.
I raised my hand to wave, but it immediately froze mid-air. Then a gust of wind sent the pregnancy paper fluttering right in front of Ethan.
Yet he didn’t even glance at it. He just brushed it aside with his foot, letting it fall to the pavement.