Jonathan stood at the door, his eyes fixed on my gentle features. This was the first time in the past two years that he had seen me smile without a bitter and resentful expression.
His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Wendy's morning sickness is pretty bad."
He offered the explanation out of nowhere, but his gaze lingered on my phone by the bed. “I have to go back and take care of her.”
I knew he wanted to ask who had called me, but he eventually held it back.
Because asking would mean he still cared about me, which would bruise his ego.
He grabbed his suit off the couch and tossed it out. "Something urgent came up at work. I'll come to see you tomorrow."
After the door closed, I counted the drops of medicine falling from the IV drip. One drop, two drops.
Just like counting the lies he'd told me over the past seven years.
In Jonathan's world, "tomorrow" was a day that would never come.
Three days passed and Jonathan never appeared. Instead, a constant stream of videos came from our mutual friends.
He was at a charity gala with his arm around Wendy's waist, feeding her dessert at a Michelin-starred restaurant and kissing her growing baby bump on a yacht.
On the day I was discharged, a new post popped up on my feed.
Jonathan had posted a grid of nine photos.
He was kneeling in the middle of a lavender field with his ear pressed to Wendy's belly. The caption read, "Waiting for our little princess."
The sunlight was perfect and the tenderness in his eyes as he looked at Wendy could melt ice.
The comments section was filled with cheerful remarks calling Wendy beautiful.
He hadn't blocked me, so I clicked "like."
My phone vibrated instantly, Jonathan's name flashing on the screen.
I didn't answer. I slipped my phone into my bag and handled the discharge procedures alone.
I heard a familiar laugh as I walked towards the obstetrics and gynecology department entrance.
"Mrs. Wendy, your husband is so considerate."
A young nurse at the reception desk said, her face full of admiration.
"He's been coming with you to every prenatal checkup! Even a heat pack for the ultrasound was brought so you wouldn't get cold."
I froze. My fingers instinctively brushed over my flat stomach.
There was a time when Jonathan had been just as anxious about me, just as meticulously caring.
In fact, I got pregnant once after that time.