My Childhood Sweetheart's Betrayal and the Child He Had with Another

"Emily, I'm pregnant. The child is Daniel's."

When Jennifer found me, I was sitting in the library, editing my thesis.

She awkwardly sat down across from me, wearing a sleeveless white dress. Her voice was soft and gentle, her eyes filled with innocence and pity.

I glanced at her briefly before turning my attention back to the screen.

My fingers flew across the keyboard. I was about to graduate with a PhD, and I needed to finish my thesis by June. Plus, the library wasn’t exactly the best place for a conversation.

By the time I finished editing most of my work, I checked the clock—it was already 11:30.

Jennifer was still sitting across from me, holding a book in her hands.

Her skin was fair, and though her eyes weren’t large, her pupils were unusually dark, giving her a naïve, almost untouched quality. She looked just like the campus beauty we all used to talk about back in school.

I closed my laptop and stood up, preparing to grab lunch. Hearing the movement, Jennifer quickly placed the book back on the shelf and followed me out.

"Emily, I really like Daniel…" she said, her voice trembling, as if she were about to cry.

"Let’s eat first," I cut her off, my tone dismissive.

I walked briskly out of the campus gate. In the past, I always walked fast to make the most of every moment to study, and that habit had stuck with me. At 5.64 feet tall, she had to jog to keep up.

She panted beside me, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. It was May in Massachusetts, and the weather was already warming up.

We sat in a corner of a small restaurant off-campus. The atmosphere was nice, and the prices weren’t bad.

"Are there any foods you can't eat?" I slid the menu across the table to her. She bit her lip and shook her head, her clear eyes blinking up at me.

I took the menu back, checked off a few of my favorite dishes, and handed it to the waiter.

"When did this happen?" I leaned one hand on the table and asked quietly.

She lowered her head, speaking softly, "A month ago."

That timing lined up perfectly with the last time Daniel and I had fought. That night, he didn’t come home.

"Does Daniel know you're pregnant?" I picked up the warm water the waiter had brought and took a small sip.

She shook her head slightly and said nothing.

"Jennifer, you're my junior, and you know Daniel is my boyfriend. Why would you do this?"

I could never understand what could possibly make someone justify crossing a moral line to interfere in another person’s relationship.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide, tears brimming, like a frightened rabbit.

"I'm sorry, Emily. I know what I did was wrong, but I can’t control my feelings for Daniel. You know I come from a single-parent family. I grew up without a father's love, and I don’t want my child to be like me." Crystal-clear tears rolled down her face.

"Jennifer, Daniel will never marry you. This isn't the U.S.; abortion is illegal here. You can terminate the pregnancy."

I wasn’t sure if she genuinely wanted the child or if it was some fantasy of starting a family. But I knew Daniel—he would never want this child. If Jennifer insisted on keeping it, she would regret it.

She didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Suddenly, she stood up and walked over to my side, kneeling with a loud thud on the ground.

"Emily, I can see you don’t love Daniel. Please, leave him and make room for me. Please," she pleaded, bowing deeply.

I immediately used my foot to block her head from touching the ground. She hit the floor pretty hard, and the shock made my foot tingle.