Chapter 6
Dominik stared at me for a while and then finally gave in. “I know I’ve neglected you. I promised to make it up to you. I’ll go with you to your prenatal checkup today, and then we can take a vacation…”
I refused. “Don’t bother. You’ve got work to do. No need to waste your time on me. Besides, I’m not interested in spending a vacation with you!”
Dominik’s face clouded over. He had never been turned down by me.
Feeling a bit of humiliation, he finally lost his cool. “Elsa, what do you. mean by this? The doctor said you haven’t been to any check–ups lately. Aren’t you concerned about our baby? I’m telling you. You must go for a checkup today! I’ll go with you right now!”
I glanced up at him. “Alright, whatever you say.”
I could no longer hide my abortion. I was actually curious to see how Dominik would react when he found out the baby was gone.
He offered to go to the checkup with me, and I didn’t say no.
After breakfast, Dominik and I headed out and he drove in person.
At the sight of the long strands of hair on the passenger seat, I turned and opened the back door.
Dominik threw me a questioning look. “Why are you sitting in the back?”
I said, “The backseat is safer!”
He gave me a cold stare and then started the car. “Elsa, I never thought
Chapter 6
you would be so heartless. Aliana just sat in the passenger seat. Why are you so petty?”
I kept my eyes shut and remained silent.
He sneered, “I’ll be seeing Aliana more often. You’re not going to cut me off over this, are you?”
He was convinced I was totally into him and wouldn’t let go.
I answered with a shrug, “It doesn’t depend on me. It depends on the arranged marriage between the Foster and Schwartz families.
“If you just dropped the marriage with the Foster family, you and Aliana would be happy together. It was your call to give it up for power. It has nothing to do with me.”
My words hit a nerve. Dominik floored the gas and didn’t say another word until we got to the hospital.
At the hospital, Dominik and I headed to the maternity ward, one after the other.
I thought Dominik would find out the baby had gone right away.
But as we reached the checkup area, we bumped into Aliana.
Her eyes were puffy and red. She held her belly and sobbed.
Spotting Dominik, she looked over sadly. “Dominik, the doctor says the baby isn’t doing great.”
The doctor also nodded. “She’s in poor health, and her uterus isn’t in great shape. This pregnancy won’t be easy.”
Tears streamed down Aliana’s face. Dominik decided to stay with her,
leaving me alone in the checkup room.
I didn’t need any checkups anyway. I followed them out after Dominik left with Aliana.
Just as I was walking out of the hospital, I got a call from the nursing home, urging me to come immediately.
On my dad’s deathbed, I held his hand and kept him company for the last five hours.
By eight in the evening, the steady beeping of the monitors finally ceased.
The doctor removed his stethoscope and offered his condolences.
I didn’t cry. I prepared the grave for my dad ten years ago.
My mom had been there waiting for him for ten years, and now it was their time to be together.
I dealt with my dad’s funeral in an orderly way. Actually, I had been mentally preparing for this moment for ages.
I calmly called the funeral home and reached out to the cemetery.
Since my dad had become a vegetable, he had fallen off the radar.
Only I, his only child, knew he was still here, and nobody else gave a damn about him.
My grandparents had passed away during these years, and the Foster family was led by Aliana’s dad.
Aliana’s dad always hated my dad.
If I hadn’t married Dominik and had the Schwartz family’s backing, he
would have pulled the plug on my dad long ago.
So. I was the only one in this world who truly missed my dad.
No one else came to his funeral.
I didn’t post an obituary, and I didn’t tell Dominik that my dad had passed away either.
I spent a few hours at the funeral home in silence, bidding my dad. farewell before they took him to be cremated.
