Gradually, the skeletal structure would deform, bringing agonizing pain day and night, until eventually, even drawing a single breath required external machinery...

Staring at my deathly pale face, Julian found it unbearable, but he still handed over a secondary ultrasound sheet. "Early-stage ALS still holds a glimmer of hope for treatment, but right now, this is the most critical issue—"

I took the paper in a daze.

In the very next second, Julian's sorrowful, pitying sigh echoed beside my ear. "You're pregnant. But given your current physical condition, there is no way you can keep this child."

Chapter 4

By the time I left the hospital, darkness had completely fallen.

Trudging through the accumulating snow, I walked toward home in a complete daze.

Staring at the dim, yellow glow of the streetlamps, Julian's words echoed in my mind once more.

"Clara, your illness could worsen at any moment. You need to start treatment as soon as possible. But the medication will cause severe harm to the fetus. I know you can't bear to let go, but as a doctor, my advice is to choose treatment."

The shattering blow of a sudden, fatal disease clashed violently with the fragile joy of becoming a mother, tearing at my nerves and making every step I took feel heavier than the last.

What was I supposed to do? Should I tell Ethan about this?

But after every time we were together, I had taken the pill. How could I possibly explain to him that the morning-after medication had failed?

Slowly pulling to a stop, I stared blankly at Ethan's number on my phone screen.

After hesitating for what felt like an eternity, I finally pressed the call button.

Ethan was the father of the child, after all. He had a right to know.

The dial tone beat against my anxious heart like a heavy drum, and my breathing grew shallow with every ring.

Finally, Ethan's deep baritone echoed through the line, but his very first words were—

"Have you figured out your terms for the divorce?"

My heart seized violently. The words I had prepared choked instantly in my throat, and I could only venture a cautious, trembling question, "Can you come home tonight? I have something I need to talk to you about."

"If it isn't anything important, say it now. I'm busy."

Sensing his growing impatience, I instinctively quickened my pace. "I went to the hospital today..."

Before I could finish, I was abruptly cut off by Melanie's voice coming through the speaker on his end: "I've finished changing, Ethan. Let's go."

Immediately following her voice, the call disconnected.

I stared down at the darkened screen of my phone, heavy tears spilling over and crashing down.

Just like the falling snow outside, they were completely isolated, silent, and unnoticed.

...

The next day.

I went to the school with a face pale from exhaustion. Yet the moment I stepped through the front gates, I felt the weight of countless strange, piercing looks. As I approached the faculty office, a wave of harsh mockery drifted into my ears—

"Did you hear? The photos of Miss Clara failing to land herself a wealthy sugar daddy and getting dumped instead are spreading like wildfire through the school group chats!"

"An entire night has passed and she hasn't issued a single explanation. It looks like the rumors of her being a gold digger are absolutely true. Clara always looked so pure and wholesome, who would have thought she was actually such an unprincipled, money-grubbing woman!"

The more I listened, the worse my dread became. Since hanging up with Ethan last night, I hadn't looked at my phone even once.

Frantically, I pulled out my phone and opened the school group chat. Among hundreds of unread messages, the vast majority were filled with harsh skepticism from students and severe criticism from fellow teachers.

When I scrolled all the way to the top, my heart plummeted. There it was—a photograph of me collapsed on the ground beside Ethan's car last night. The photographer had intentionally avoided capturing Ethan's face; it was an undeniable, malicious snapshot.

Right then, the Principal walked in, his face absolutely livid. He began screaming at me without giving me a moment to breathe, "Clara! I always thought you were a sensible woman. How could you do something so utterly foolish? You have completely humiliated this academy!"

I shook my head frantically, trying to explain, "This is all a misunderstanding..."

The Principal dismissed me with an impatient wave of his hand. "Enough, save your excuses. You are officially suspended. Go home and reflect on your actions!"

In reality, stopping the rumors would have been incredibly simple. All it required was for Ethan to step forward and speak.

Staring fixedly at that photograph, a desperate struggle flashed across my face, and I dialed his number once more.

"Ring—"

The call rang exactly once before being abruptly disconnected. Forcing down the rising tide of sorrow, I dialed again.

But when I tried a second time, a mechanical voice informed me that his phone had been turned off.

Whatever shred of patience Ethan had left for me had likely been completely exhausted during our conversation last night.

Was I truly going to give in to his demands and sign the divorce papers?

It felt as though I didn't even possess the right to make a choice...

I walked back home in a complete fog, only to find the front door wide open.

Before my mind could even process the sight, my body instinctively sprinted across the threshold.

Sitting on the sofa was not only Ethan, who was supposed to be at the office, but directly across from him... sat my mother, whom I hadn't seen in four long years!

Staring at that familiar face, which had aged significantly and carried far more wrinkles than I remembered, my eyes instantly flooded with tears.

"Mom..."

I stepped forward with trembling legs, but before I could voice a single word of how deeply I missed her, my mother abruptly stood up, lunged forward, and struck me across the face with a violent slap!

"Smack!"

The sheer force of the blow snapped my head to the side. Her furious voice shrieked in my ears, "You disgraceful creature! You are an educator, a married woman! How could you do something as shameless as throwing yourself at a wealthy man and getting cast aside!"

The sharp, piercing condemnation stabbed directly into my chest. Clutching my burning, throbbing cheek, I cried out, "Mom, it's not what you think!"

Desperate, I turned my tear-filled, pleading eyes toward Ethan. "Ethan, someone took a picture of us at the school gates last night and started a malicious rumor. Please, quickly help me explain the truth to Mom!"

Yet, Ethan remained absolutely motionless, completely indifferent.

"Ethan?"

My heart turned entirely cold. Before I could even recover from the sheer humiliation of his silence, my mother grabbed me with a violent tug, forcing me down until I hit the floor on my knees with a heavy thud.

Immediately after, her absolute, uncompromising voice shattered the silence of the living room.

"Clara has brought nothing but shame to the family name. I ask that you throw her out of this house immediately, Mr. Ethan!"

Chapter 5

I stared at my mother in absolute disbelief, tears pooling in my eyes but refusing to fall.

How had everything dissolved into such a nightmare?

When I was a little girl... whenever I fell down while walking, grew terrified of the dark, or was picked on by other children, my mother would always pull me into her arms and soothe me with the gentlest whispers.

But I had never realized it as clearly as I did at this exact moment—

My mother didn't want me anymore.

With a violently trembling hand, I reached out and clutched the hem of her coat, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat. "Mom, I..."

Before the words could leave my lips, Ethan spoke up abruptly. "Clara, come with me to the study. Let's talk."

With that, the man stood up, every movement radiating his innate, aristocratic elegance, though the glance he threw my way was laced with a chilling detachment that kept me at a distance.

Lowering my eyes, I forced my stiffening body to stand up.

My mother continued to completely ignore my existence. Left with no choice, I turned to follow Ethan upstairs. But the exact moment my foot hit the first step, a voice thick with complex emotions echoed from behind me—

"Clara, stop ruining your own life over a mistake!"

Hearing those words, the hands hanging by my sides slowly clenched into tight fists.

Taking a deep, ragged breath, I forced myself to keep moving forward.

The study.

Ethan pulled a neatly prepared document and a pen from the bookshelf, spreading them out directly in front of me. "Sign it. Let's make this an amicable parting."

I looked down, and the bold words "Divorce Agreement" pierced into my retinas, utterly shattering the last remaining threads of my sanity.