Slightly startled, Christian pulled me back onto the bed, kissing me intensely for a long while as his large hand stroked my lower abdomen. "I want you to bear a child for me." His tone sounded remarkably serious, causing me to burst into laughter. "I almost believed you."

Christian fell silent, interlocking his fingers tightly with mine. "Chloe, do you truly think I am jesting?" He stared dead into my eyes, demanding, "Is it that out of the question?"

I pushed him away. "Stop fooling around, go to sleep already!"

The matter could only be treated as an insignificant interlude, completely unworthy of being kept in one's heart. Yet during the weekend shopping trip with Sera, passing by the maternal and infant section filled with soft pinks and baby blues, I still couldn't resist casting a few extra glances.

A sales assistant eagerly launched into a presentation for me, and seeing that I remained silent, she trailed behind me to inquire, "Ma'am, is it a girl or a boy..."

Chapter 39: The Surveillance Footage

Sera was entirely consumed with picking out skirts, paying me no mind. A dozen minutes later, likely discovering I had vanished, she sprinted back to drag me out of the infant boutique, pinching my hand with a face full of intense worry. "Sister, did your brain completely fill with water today?!"

She scolded, "Five minutes! You stared blankly at a row of baby bottles for a full five minutes!"

"Heavens, my dear ancestor, you couldn't possibly be thinking..." She stared at me in absolute disbelief. "You absolutely must not!"

Looking at the massive array of bags clutched inside her hands, I countered, "You can stare blankly at a row of high heels for a full five hours."

Sera leveled a look reserved for a problematic child at me. "Is that even comparable! Disaster, absolute disaster, I see you truly have encountered a problem."

I let out a laugh. True enough, my brain had filled with water, and quite heavily at that.

Believing whatever is spoken. Believing the words muttered by a man on a bed means you lose the game entirely. Truly, the longer one lives, the stupider one becomes, growing increasingly unable to read situations until one winds up trapping oneself.

I assumed Sera was about to launch into another lengthy lecture.

Instead, she suddenly blurted out another line: "Actually, bearing a child is fine too, since I'm absolutely going to be the godmother anyway." Sera claimed that one of her single greatest regrets since childhood was lacking a godmother, missing out on an extra layer of affection. That weight of regret was even heavier than the sorrow of breaking up with her first love.

Offering a smiling gaze at her, I murmured, "Fine, what's the use of having two mothers when there's still zero legitimate father in the picture?"

Recalling being branded a homewrecker and a vile woman by that young nurse at the hospital, the corners of my mouth curled into a self-deprecating smirk. Heh, a homewrecker possessed zero qualifications to bring a child into this world. Leading a wretched enough life myself, what would bringing an illegitimate child into existence accomplish? Accompanying me in this wretched state?

Returning home that day, I purchased another bottle of birth control pills.

Over this recent stretch of time, Christian frequented my place regularly, never bringing up Julian's name in my presence again. I assumed he would let the matter rest here.

One evening, Christian had barely stepped into the bathroom to shower when his phone began to ring with an incoming call. An intense wave of uneasiness washed over me unbiddenly. Casting a glance back at the firmly shut bathroom door, I pressed the answer key, and a young man's voice echoed: "Sir, the surveillance footage you requested from The Dusk has been secured, I have already forwarded it to your device..."

Surveillance footage? Christian had actually gone to retrieve the surveillance recordings.

A cold dread spread across my entire body, and the hand clutching the phone began to tremble slightly. The voice on the other end turned somewhat confused: "Sir?"

Just as I was about to cut the call, the bathroom door slowly swung open. Turning my head in a frantic rush, I saw Christian step out wearing a bath towel around his waist.

"Forgot to take off my watch." His torso was bare, revealing a solid chest, droplets of water clinging to his bronzed skin as he unfastened his watch and set it on the table, entirely failing to notice my flickering, unstable gaze. "A call?"

Forcing myself to maintain absolute composure, the corners of my lips turned up into a smile as I handed it over to him. Christian's gaze locked onto me for a moment, his face devoid of any ripple as he offered no reply.

Answering the call, he marched straight into the study. Although separated by a door and despite his intentional lowering of his volume, I could still faintly catch his voice, even hearing him mention the phrase "blind spot."

When he emerged, Christian's expression looked rather dark, stepping back into the bathroom without uttering a single word. My high-strung heart finally returned to its place, silently rejoicing that Julian had fortunately hidden inside the women's restroom. Yet no matter what, the tension in my chest refused to ease; he had already begun to suspect me.

From that day onward, I remained hyper-vigilant around Christian at every single moment, though fortunately, he made no overt moves.

When the weekend arrived, having nothing better to do at home, I was coaxed by Sera into enrolling in a floral arrangement course. The instructor was a professor of horticulture from Sera's university, holding quite a reputation domestically. In Sera's words, since I had at least half a foot stepping into high society, I needed to focus on elevating myself.

Chapter 40: Like Attracts Like

I laughed until I was shaking on the phone: "Spending all day with you, I'm afraid 'like attracts like' will make it hard for me to improve."

The floral arrangement class was held every Saturday and Sunday morning for two hours. To my surprise, I ran into someone unexpected on my very first day.

Traffic was backed up that morning, and by the time Logan dropped me off at the classroom, the session had already been underway for five minutes. The room wasn't large, and since many students had arrived, there were hardly any seats left. The teacher was in the middle of a demonstration with fresh flowers; I clutched my bag at the doorway, hesitant, with half a mind to just walk away.

A woman beckoned to me, gesturing that there was an open seat beside her. I looked over and froze, silently greeting all of Sera's ancestors in my mind. Talk about a stroke of bad luck—it was none other than Christian's wife, Crystal.

Although Crystal was over thirty, she was meticulously maintained. With fair, firm skin, a dash of red lipstick, and a beige dress that cinched her slender waist, she was, in all honesty, truly beautiful. She stood up to make room, pulling her chair in and offering a smile with her red lips: "Sit, don't be a stranger."

I sat down, bracing myself. Crystal asked in a friendly tone: "Are you here for the class too?" She explained the steps I had missed. I hadn't had much exposure to this art form before, with my only impressions being from when I was very young, watching my mother and her friends arrange flowers at home. Since I was seated further back, I couldn't quite keep up with the teacher's pace.

Crystal’s technique was skillful, and she turned back to teach me step-by-step with patience. Even though I intentionally maintained a sense of distance, half a class later, we had exchanged quite a few words. Crystal mentioned she had studied floral arrangement with this teacher before but had been too busy with work, and her skills had clearly grown rusty. Hearing the teacher had started a new course, she came by to pick it back up.

She held a carnation, looking more vibrant than the flowers themselves. Placing it gently on the table, she studied me closely for a moment before remarking: "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." The smile on my lips stiffened, and I nearly snapped the stem of the daffodil I was holding.

Crystal quickly took the daffodil from me, carefully placing it in the vase, and chided me gently to be more careful.

The two of us had never actually met face-to-face; could it be that she had already sensed my existence? No, that shouldn't be possible. I quickly dismissed the thought in my mind—I had been by Christian's side for eight years; if she could have sensed it, she would have long ago. Perhaps it was all just a coincidence.

Crystal soon finished arranging her vase. Propping her chin on her hand, she guided my movements, laughing: "Perhaps I just remembered incorrectly." She paused, then took hold of my wrist. Her eyes landed on my bracelet, her phoenix-like eyes narrowing with amusement: "Must say, it's quite a coincidence."