The day my wife was told she was pregnant, I heard a voice from the child in her belly.
“Dad, I’m the child Mom conceived with another man. After I’m born, they’ll make me inherit everything you own and throw you out of the house!”
I confronted my wife on the spot, but to prove her innocence, she jumped from the top floor of the hospital.
After her death, I secretly asked the hospital for a DNA test. The child was mine.
Because of my own mistake, I lived in regret day and night until depression consumed me. Three months later, I cut my wrists and ended my life.
Even as I died, I never understood why my own child had tried to deceive me.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the pregnancy was first discovered.
——
“Congratulations, you’re going to be parents!”
The doctor’s cheerful words snapped me back to reality. I turned to see my wife crying tears of joy beside me, and in that moment, I knew I had truly been reborn.
Just as I was coming back to myself, a childish voice whispered in my ear. “Dad, I’m the child Mom conceived with another man.”
“After I’m born, they’ll make me inherit everything you own and throw you out of the house! I don’t want to be a bastard, hurry and get rid of me, then divorce her!”
That familiar voice sent a cold shiver through me. The image of my wife jumping from the hospital’s top floor in my past life flashed before my eyes, and I trembled.
I knew that now, living again, I should believe her. But the child’s words that, after he was born, I would hand over all the property to her had indeed come from me before.
Thinking of how hard I had worked to build my business, I asked my wife to step out of the doctor’s office, then turned to the doctor.
“Doctor, can you tell me how many months my wife has been along?”
“You men really don’t pay attention. Didn’t I just say during the exam? Two months.”
As soon as the doctor finished speaking, that same childish voice echoed in my head. “Dad, don’t believe the doctor. They’re all lying to you!”
This time, I ignored it and forced a calm smile as I turned to the doctor. “Then… can you tell me exactly how many days into the two months?”
The doctor’s eyes narrowed. He set the medical records he had been tidying onto the table and glanced at me.
“Nine weeks and three days, give or take three to five days.”
I quickly counted back in my mind. Nine weeks ago, the company had been chasing a major client that could decide our future, and I had been with my wife almost every day.
Relief washed over me. I stood and smiled at the doctor. “Thank you. I didn’t mean anything by it; the elders at home told me to ask. I really had no choice.”
Just as I finished speaking, that same childish voice came again in my ear, “Dad, I’m doing this for you. Why won’t you believe me? Fine! Since you don’t trust me, I’ll handle it myself!”
The next moment, my wife’s cry came from outside the door.
I rushed out. She was already sitting on the floor, her body weak, one hand clutching her stomach, her face pale and wet with sweat.
When I tried to help her up, she pushed my hands away, tears filling her eyes.
“Lucius Leonard, I heard everything you said to the doctor. I never thought that after standing by you through everything until now, you’d still doubt me over this.”
“A husband who’s shared my bed for more than ten years doesn’t believe me. I might as well be dead!”
Dark red blood quickly spread across my wife’s white dress. The doctor rushed out, saw her, and hurried to help her back inside.
After the examination, he looked at me with clear dissatisfaction. “Your wife is older, and it wasn’t easy for her to get pregnant. From now on, stop letting your mind wander. What matters most is taking good care of her.”
He pointed at the ultrasound. “Look at that little bean sprout in her belly. Isn’t it cute?”
His words made cold sweat run down my back.
In my previous life, it was this so-called “little bean sprout” that had torn our home apart with just one sentence. The memory sent a chill straight through me.
I looked at my wife’s joyful face, guilt eating away at me, and slapped myself hard twice.
Yes. She had stood by me for more than ten years, giving without complaint. How could I still doubt her?
The guilt kept me awake all night. By morning, I had already decided to explain everything to her clearly and stay by her side through her pregnancy.
Early the next morning, my wife was already gone. Just last night, she had murmured that, to protect the pregnancy, she wouldn’t go anywhere from now on.
I was about to call her when that familiar voice rang in my ears again.
“Daddy, Mommy went to have a secret meeting with my real dad. She’s at the yoga studio she often goes to, hurry!”
Panic surged through me as I saw that her phone had already dialed. I opened my mouth to speak, but after two rings, the call was suddenly disconnected.
My wife never hangs up on me.
An unfamiliar dread slammed into my chest. I didn’t even have time to change clothes. I jumped into the car and sped toward the yoga studio, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I didn’t even turn off the engine. Clenching my fists so tightly that my knuckles ached, and my whole body trembling, I burst into the yoga studio.
But as soon as I pushed open the door, relief and confusion collided. My wife was there calmly chatting with the lady boss in the lobby.
At that moment, the mischievous voice sounded in my head again. “[Daddy, you drove too slowly! Mommy already had her secret meeting with him long ago!”
The lady boss looked at me, still in pajamas and out of breath, and let out a light laugh.
“Portia Rios, people always say President Leonard spoils you, but today I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Rushing over like this, afraid I’d run off with your wife?”
I quickly glanced around the studio. There wasn’t a single man in sight.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I forced a smile. “Portia, yesterday you promised you wouldn’t sneak out again. Seeing you here so early, I couldn’t help but worry.”
“Didn’t the yoga doctor tell you to stop practicing? Why are you here so early then?”
My wife’s eyes flickered with something I couldn’t read. “I can’t practice right now, that’s why I came to extend the sessions. Since you’re here, you handle it, I’ll wait in the car.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, watching her figure disappear down the hall.
Suddenly, an impulse hit me. I grabbed the lady boss’s wrist. “Quick, show me the yoga studio’s surveillance, just this morning’s!”
The lady boss awkwardly pulled her hand free. “Sorry, Lucius, the surveillance just happened to break this morning.”
That familiar voice slithered into my ears again, sharp as ice. “Daddy, why won’t you believe me! If you keep this up, I’m really going to be angry! I’ll just kill myself then!”
My heart trembled as I bolted out of the yoga studio.
At a glance, I saw my wife crouched beside the car, clutching her belly, crying out in pain.
The memory of the child’s suicidal voice flashed through my mind, and a cold shiver ran down my spine.
I stepped forward, knelt beside her, and gently grasped her trembling hand, my voice tentative.
“Wife, this pregnancy is making you suffer so much. Even if the child is born, what if it isn’t well-behaved? I don’t want to see you go through all this pain for nothing. Maybe… we shouldn’t keep this child, alright?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, that childish voice echoed again. “Yes, Dad, I’ll try harder. Let’s hang in there together!”
“Ah! It hurts… it hurts so much…”
In an instant, my wife’s face turned pale. She curled up on the ground, her body writhing in pain. Her eyes, red and filled with tears, locked on mine with fierce desperation.
“Lucius, there’s no father like you in this world! If you don’t want me and the baby, then let’s get a divorce right now! I’d rather walk away with nothing than give up this child! Otherwise, just let me die here!”
“Dad, don’t believe her! She’s lying to you!”
But guilt had already consumed me. I gathered my wife into my arms, holding her tightly.
“Young man, you’re really lucky. Your wife is carrying twins!”
As I helped my wife into the car, an elderly woman’s voice came from behind me. I turned and saw the badge on her chest that read “Postpartum Recovery Specialist, Director Rosalind Turner.”
Noticing the surprise on my face, she quickly explained, “I’m the director here at the yoga studio, in charge of postpartum recovery. Young man, you haven’t done a proper prenatal checkup yet, right? I’ve seen tens of thousands of pregnant women, and I won’t mistake it; your wife is definitely carrying twins.”
I stared at her, stunned. “But we just had a prenatal checkup yesterday. Nine weeks and three days… the doctor said only one fetus.”
“Impossible! Your wife’s belly is already too big. If it’s not twins, then the months must have been miscalculated.”
My wife had already sat down in the car, not hearing a word of this. She looked at me with a joyful smile, but at that moment, her smile felt like a dark hole ready to swallow me whole.
Seeing the panic on my face, the elderly woman tapped her badge. “Search my name online. You’ll see I have authority in this field.”
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone to search. When the results came up, my face went pale.
The woman in front of me was the retired director of the most famous maternity hospital in Auburn, an authority among authorities.
“Young man, don’t be so tense. Go to another hospital and check again. Everything’s electronic now, mistakes can happen…”
That childish voice rang by my ear again.
“Didn’t I tell you, Dad? This time, you believe me, right? Hurry and think of a way, I don’t have much patience left!”
I numbly got into the car and forced myself to look at my wife sitting beside me.
“You didn’t look well earlier, and I can’t feel at ease. Let’s go to another hospital and check again.”
Maybe because she remembered the pain she had gone through, my wife didn’t hesitate and agreed.
The examination finished quickly. When my wife went into the bathroom, I grabbed the doctor’s wrist, my voice trembling.
“Doctor… the one in my wife’s belly… is it… is it human?”
The doctor pulled his hand free and looked at me in disbelief. “If you’re sick, go see the psychiatric department!”
“No, no, that’s not what I mean. I’m asking if it’s one baby or two?”
The doctor’s face showed clear impatience. “I already told you, one fetus, nine weeks and three days!”
“But then why is my wife’s belly so big? Someone said she might be carrying twins; if not, then the months must be wrong…”
The doctor lifted his head and stared at me for a long time without speaking. Then, all of a sudden, his expression turned angry.
“Am I the expert here, or not? Someone said, someone said, then why don’t you have that person do the checkup instead? Your family members are really something!”
“There are plenty of reasons for a big belly! The baby could just be growing faster, or the mother might be overnourished…”
I caught sight of myself in the mirror, looking miserable, and let out a bitter laugh. The hospital didn’t believe me. My wife didn’t believe me. Yet I kept clinging to a voice I couldn’t even be sure was real.
I sank down in the corridor, feeling defeated. Just then, my wife walked toward me, and that voice came again.
“Did you go to that hospital on Turner Street for the checkup? Of course, the result was normal. That hospital’s records were already tampered with by them!”
I shot up from the chair, my eyes falling on the address on the medical record, Turner Street.
My whole body collapsed inside, my heart pounding wildly. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to tell my wife everything that had happened these past days.
But just as I pushed myself up from the chair, that voice came again.
“Dad, don’t go!”
“Mom just met with that man. In three days, she’ll take me and run far away. Before that, she’s going to make you transfer all the property. You’d better think of a way!”
As the voice faded, my wife suddenly grabbed my hand. “Lucius, you said once I got pregnant, you’d transfer the family property into my name. Hurry and do it, let me be happy sooner…”
My vision went dark, and I slid down against the wall, powerless.
In those few seconds as I fell, my mind spun.
If what this child said was true, then why hadn’t the DNA report in my previous life matched?
If the child was lying, why did every clue fit perfectly?
I had been given a second life, yet even now I was still being dragged along by this voice, as if I had understood nothing at all. Fear rose and wrapped around me, swallowing me whole.
I began to wonder, could it be that the thing in her belly was controlling how everything unfolded? It seemed to sense any movement that made a sound. With that thought, an idea suddenly came to me.
Ignoring my wife’s faint look of displeasure, I rushed into the doctor’s office. I grabbed his pen and quickly wrote, [I want a DNA test done through your overseas branch! I’ll pay whatever it takes!]
This was a private hospital. The doctor didn’t like me, but the chance to earn a commission made him nod right away. He scribbled back, [Results in 72 hours.]
“Husband, why do you always look so troubled whenever I bring up the property? Do you regret it?”
On the way back, those were the first words my usually quiet wife spoke. My heart jumped, but I forced a smile.
“How could I? The auditors are still working these days. We’ll handle the transfer once the audit finishes in three days.”
My wife didn’t reply. All the way, the voice that spanned two lives kept circling in my mind. As I was on the verge of believing it again, my wife pressed two sheets of paper into my hand.
“This is the property waiver agreement. These past days, your absentmindedness has been obvious. You saying you don’t want this child is probably because of this. But I truly just want to live a good life with you.”
I slammed the brakes, pulling the car to the roadside.
That voice came again, perfectly timed, “Dad, don’t believe her words! This is a trap to capture you by letting go! Your time isn’t long, only three days! They’re about to act!”
Days of nonstop torment had pushed me to the edge. I left my wife in the care of the housekeeper, using work at the company as an excuse, and didn’t go home for three days and nights.
I locked myself in the office, staying awake for seventy-two hours straight. Was she cheating or not? Was the child mine or not? My head was filled with nothing else.
I set an alarm, and when it rang at the fifty-ninth minute, I jumped up from the floor to the desk, brushing off the ash that had gathered on me.
In my inbox sat a single email from overseas. With bloodshot eyes and trembling hands, I clicked it open. It was a freshly issued DNA report.
The mouse wheel turned slowly as I scrolled, my eyes widening as I stared at the result. The moment I saw it, everything hit me.
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