Chapter 3
Then, Priscilla pretended to have just noticed Edwin and said to him in at sobbing tone, “I’m OK, Edwin. Just go check Bertha. She fell down by accident.”
When Edwin saw the red marks on Priscilla’s skin, a trace of guilt flashed across his eyes. He immediately took off his coat and draped it on Priscilla.
“Priscilla, did you get hurt? I’ll take you to the hospital!”
“I’m fine. Just feel a bit hurt in my leg. But Bertha’s injury seems more.
serious…”
Hearing her words, Edwin glanced at me coldly. Then, he scooped Priscilla up and snapped at me, “I’ve heard everything! Priscilla was just being kind and wanted to help you. How could you be so ungrateful?”
I lay on the ground, feeling I was on the verge of fainting. I explained weakly with my lips trembling, “No, I didn’t. She pushed…”
Edwin interrupted me and shouted, “Don’t play the victim here! Do you want to frame Priscilla? Do you think I’ll be fooled by your stupid lie? She’s so weak and can’t even unscrew the lid of a bottle! There’s no way she could push you down! Besides, she’s a kind girl. She has no reason to push you! Bertha, since when did you become such a vicious woman?”
With that, Priscilla strode downstairs with Priscilla in his arms. While walking past me, he kicked me as if kicking a dog.
“Keep lying here if you like! Don’t stand in my way!”
At the same time, Priscilla turned her head and showed me a provoking smile.
Soon, I heard the sound of the car leaving downstairs, and I felt like I was really going to faint at any time.
But I couldn’t, and the pain in my abdomen was becoming intense. I knew Edwin wouldn’t come back to help me, so I could only save myself all on
my own.
After taking a few deep breaths, I finally gathered my strength and grabbed onto the armrest to stand up.
Worrying that something might flow out my private parts halfway, I didn’t dare to hail a taxi. I could only walk to the hospital.
When the nurse on duty at night saw that my lower body was covered in blood and knew that I had abdominal pain, she quickly helped me register.
The doctor looked at my medical records and sighed, “The baby is only three weeks old. How could you do a puncture now? Your uterus got stimulated and contracted, and you even fell down the stairs. The baby probably won’t be able to make it.”
After the checkup, the doctor snapped at me, “You’re really a tough girl. You’ve been bleeding profusely, you know? If you came late, you would’ve died!”
But I heaved a long sigh of relief and chuckled, saying to the doctor, “Please give me an abortion.”
From the moment I learned about the truth, I had been feeling disgusted towards the fetus in my womb.
It was actually a good thing for me that it couldn’t make it.
The coming of this baby was like a nightmare, and it was time for me to wake up from it.
I went back home the next day. As I expected, Edwin and Priscilla still hadn’t come back.
The room was a mess. It was the outcome of their crazy lovemaking.
I avoided those stains and rushed into the bathroom, showering myself dozens of times.
I always felt like I smelt, and as soon as I quieted down, the smell would infinitely amplify in my nose.
It was the smell of men and the dead fetus. I showered but felt like I
couldn’t get rid of that smell.
Feeling hopeless, I smashed everything to the ground and sat in the bathtub, crying with my face in my hands.
Just as I felt suffocated, I suddenly thought of my parents.
Back then, when I knew that I could marry Edwin, I was so thrilled. I chose those dowries all by myself, and my parents paid for them. They only gave me one thing, which was a file bag.
On my wedding day, Mom handed me that file bag and said to me, “Bertha, although this marriage isn’t the outcome of pure love, your dad and I still hope you’ll be happy. If you don’t feel happy one day, just come back to us. Remember, you always have me and your dad.
“But I hope that day will never come.”