Love is a thorn, piercing the heart causes pain, and removing it causes bleeding. But even the oldest scars will gradually heal as time passes.
"Slap!" A loud slap struck my face, and He Cong's mother stood in the doorway, with my suitcase in hand.
She pushed my suitcase down the steps, nearly hitting me.
"You still have the face to come back! You've almost lost all face for our He family!" She pointed at my nose and scolded loudly, "Get lost, as far as you can!"
I knew He Cong's mother never liked me.
Since He Cong and I registered our marriage, we had not yet held a wedding banquet, so she never acknowledged me as He Cong's wife.
I clenched my teeth, thought for a moment, and still decided to speak, "Mom..."
"Don't you shameless thing, who's your mom?" She snorted coldly, "Get out now!"
"I want to see He Cong." I bit my lip, "We're registered, we're husband and wife."
"Our He family doesn't want you anymore!" He Cong's mother, with her slightly stout body, blocked the doorway tightly, I couldn't even see through the crack of the door whether He Cong was inside or not.
I couldn't attempt to reason with her, I clenched my fists tightly, and common sense told me it was unwise to argue with a vulgar old woman.
"Is He Cong away on a business trip?"
"Yeah, he's on a business trip, so you just mess around, huh? You've put such a big green hat on him!" He Cong's mother gestured, her imagined green hat enclosing me tightly like a net.
"Auntie." I changed my address, since she didn't recognize me, I didn't want to degrade myself further, "You can't slander me like this."
"I'm slandering you? Weren't you at the hospital today? Weren't you at the OB-GYN?"
I paused. I did go to the hospital today, but how did He Cong's mother know?
"Not talking now, huh? If it weren't for Xiao Feng telling me, I would have never known. You shameless thing, my son never touched you, yet you're pregnant. Whose wild seed is it in your belly? Whose is it!"
Just then, a bolt of lightning exploded in the sky, and He Cong's mother shrieked in fright before pointing to the sky and saying to me, "Even the heavens heard and sent Lord Thunder to strike you! You shameless woman! Pah!"
She shoved me again and then slammed the door shut with force.
Rain was about to fall, and I stood on the steps of this building, looking up at the pitch-black sky.
Pink lightning streaked past, drawing a heart-pounding symbol in the sky.
I was powerless to refute what He Cong's mother had just scolded me with.
In fact, she was not wrong.
I was indeed pregnant.
I dragged my suitcase aimlessly down the street.
He Cong and I had been in a relationship for a year before registering our marriage, indeed, we had never been intimate.
I had always been pure, and when my period was late this month, I hadn't paid attention, but today's hospital check-up revealed that I was somehow pregnant.
I had no idea how this baby came to be.
I'm not a hermaphrodite capable of getting myself pregnant.
No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn't figure it out.
Another bolt of lightning flashed, and the downpour started.
I didn't run, dragging the heavy suitcase forward or backward, left or right; all I could see was pervasive misty rain.
I had no destination anyway; running anywhere would just get me soaked.
I walked slowly down the road like a lunatic, letting the heavy rain infiltrate my heart.
My family is from out of town, my parents aren't in this city, unless I debase myself by boarding a bus back to the neighboring city, I literally have nowhere to go.
A car stopped beside me, and a man in a suit stepped out, holding a yellow checkered umbrella.
He walked over to me, held the umbrella over my head, and looked at me smiling, "Xia Zhi, Miss Xia?"
I nodded numbly. I didn't recognize him.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Please get in the car." He pointed politely to the vehicle, "The rain is too heavy outside."
"I don't know you," I told him plainly.
"I know you don't know me, don't worry, I'm not a bad person," he said.
"Do bad people ever admit they're bad?"
He laughed, looking me up and down, drenched as I was, "You're already like this, what do you think I could possibly want from you?"
I didn't care what he was after; in any case, I was not getting in the car.
I continued walking, dragging my suitcase, while he followed me leisurely with the umbrella, and the luxury car slowly kept pace behind us.
"Miss Xia, you're pregnant, aren't you?" His words made me stop in my tracks, staring at him in surprise.
What, is my pregnancy common knowledge now?
He smiled slightly, "Do you want to know who the father of the child is?"
Hearing the way he spoke, he seemed to know who the father was?
But my cautious nature persisted, "Even I don't know, how could you?"
His smile was enigmatic, "Just come with me, besides, you don't have anywhere else to go right now, do you?"
I didn't know who he was, but his latter words piqued my curiosity.
Nothing could lift my spirits more right now than finding out who the father of the baby in my belly was.
I wanted to understand how this bizarre situation came about.
I hesitated for a moment, and seeing me stop, he signaled the driver to get out and put my suitcase in the trunk, then he opened the door and politely invited me into the car.
The car was warm inside, and my clothes were all wet, turning the luxurious cabin soggy, but the man didn't seem to mind, cheerily handing me a cup of hot water, "You're pregnant; you should keep warm."
I held the cup of water in my hands but didn't dare to drink.
Even though I don't have much to offer him now, in these times, there are too many perverts.
I was already unlucky enough and didn't want to push my luck any further.
The car drove for about fifteen minutes and reached a garden villa complex in the city center, a place where the land is worth its weight in gold. I remembered passing by here with He Cong a while ago; he looked at it enviously and told me, "If I could afford to live here in this lifetime, it truly wouldn't be a life lived in vain."
The car stopped in front of a three-story villa with a sizeable garden outside.
The man got out and opened the car door for me, pointing to the front door, "You'll live here from now on, until you give birth to the child."
I was utterly baffled, "What are you talking about?"
He smiled slowly, "Inside, there's a lady and a slightly younger domestic helper; they'll take care of your daily life."