A Parting Regret

Chelsea Stone stared at the ultrasound report in my hand. Her smile slowly froze on her face.

“Are you married?” A look of disbelief flickered in her eyes.

“Yep.” I put the report away and kept a calm expression.

She moved her throat as if she wanted to speak. A male voice behind her interrupted her.

“Chelsea, Operating Room Three is ready. Hurry.”

The sickening smell of blood from three years earlier seemed to rise in my throat again.

Three years earlier, he was the man who had been lying naked next to Chelsea.

“Got it,” Chelsea replied in a calm voice, although her gaze stayed on me.

“Chelsea?” Adam followed her gaze and froze for a moment.

Chelsea looked at me one last time before she turned and walked toward the operating room.

As soon as she left, Adam began to examine me. He noticed the ultrasound report in my hand and gave a mocking smile. “It’s you, Jensen Scott. Your wife is pregnant? Congratulations. I wonder why you were the only one lining up in the corridor to fill out the paperwork. Where did your wife go after her medical examination? I still feel guilty about what happened back then. I was young, and Chelsea and I were fellow students under the same mentor. We worked late every night on our research projects, so it was hard not to develop feelings. That is all in the past now. Seeing that you settled down and started a family puts my mind at ease.”

A chill ran through me as I looked at his hypocritical face.

The day I broke up with Chelsea was our fourth anniversary. I had taken a day off in secret and bought her favorite handmade cake because I wanted to surprise her. However, I walked in on her infidelity the moment I opened the door.

Before that day, I had never noticed anything wrong with her.

She had been gentle and considerate, and she had planned our future. However, behind all that affection was a disgusting decay.

I ignored Adam and walked past him toward the elevator.

My wife, Noelle Beckett, had an urgent meeting at work after her medical examination, and the driver had already picked her up.

My mother was still at the hospital, so I stayed to print the reports. I did not have time to waste on people like him.

Adam’s expression darkened as he gritted his teeth. “Jensen, stop pretending…”

…

Two hours later, Chelsea walked out of the operating room. She glanced down the corridor out of habit. Her eyes showed slight disappointment when she did not see me. She turned and walked to the nurses’ station, then pulled up the Obstetrician‑Gynecologist records for the day.

[Noelle Beckett, Five Weeks Pregnant, Family Member: Jensen Scott.]

Chelsea stared at the line and felt a sharp pang in her heart.

“Chelsea, what are you looking at?” Adam leaned closer. He glanced at the name on the screen, and his lips twitched. He sighed with fake concern. “Jensen has had it tough. I saw him queuing alone at the self‑service machine to get the report. He was so busy that he could not even get a sip of water. His wife finished her medical examination and disappeared without a trace. She does not respect him at all.”

Chelsea’s hand paused on the mouse. Jensen’s indifference flashed through her mind.

He had always been a stubborn blockhead who could not be affectionate or show weakness.

Chelsea sneered.

He had probably thrown himself at some frigid, unkind woman with a bad temper. He was only putting on a show in the hallway and using marriage as an excuse to provoke her.

Jensen had always been a blockhead who could not lie properly.