Fiancée's Secret Child

Cassidy looked genuinely surprised to see me at home.

Stanley glanced at me, false remorse in his eyes.

"Nate, I'm truly sorry for stopping your car this morning," he said. "Cassidy came with me to take the baby to the doctor. I rushed back because I wanted to apologize for ruining your engagement party. I hope… you're not too upset."

My hand tightened around the handle of my suitcase. "Well, you really went out of your way. Sick child in your arms, and still made the time to come back and apologize to me."

Stanley just stood there, clearly unsure of how to respond. His eyes flicked nervously toward her.

Cassidy's expression shifted at once, her voice thin and high. "Nate, quit the sarcasm. If you're angry, take it out on me. I'm the one who didn't show up at the engagement. I'm the one who betrayed you. This has nothing to do with Stanley. He's been taking care of the baby on his own. He's already dealing with enough. So please, mind what you say."

So she could care for someone. The thought hit me like a blade to the chest, sharp and cold, carving a hollow space inside me.

She had no hesitation throwing me out of the car while she rushed Stanley and their child to the hospital in the middle of rush hour.

No rides would take me. My phone had died. Worried our guests were still waiting, I walked five kilometers to the venue to clean up the mess.

But she never once stopped to consider if I was exhausted or how humiliating it might be for me to face our guests alone and explain that my fiancée wouldn't be coming.

"Did it ever occur to you to ask how I got to the engagement venue? Or how I handled everything after?"

Cassidy didn't even blink. "You're not some fresh grad. You're experienced. I knew you'd manage just fine."

"Cassidy, don't be like this," Stanley said gently, stepping forward. His gaze turned back to me, soft with regret. "I'm sorry. You know Cassidy's always been gentle. It's only when it comes to me that she gets flustered and starts acting irrational."

But Cassidy had never been gentle with me. Not once.

Back in college, the only time she ever showed softness was the day someone tried to drag me away near the train station.

She shouted, "The police are coming!"

Hearing this, the kidnappers immediately let go of me and ran away.

That one moment was enough to set my heart in motion, completely and irreversibly. I chased her for years like a fool with no pride, thinking I could melt the coldest ice with sincerity alone.

Then one business trip changed everything. The branch's performance had exceeded all expectations. Our company was on the verge of going public.

She proposed to me. Said she'd never let me down after the six years we'd been through together.

Said she wanted to give me what I'd always dreamed of.

And I believed her. I thought the clouds had finally cleared, and I could see the sunshine.

But she was never ice. She'd just never been mine to begin with. She had always belonged to someone else.

I let out a bitter laugh. Six years of persistence… for what?

That's when Stanley stepped forward. He looked me in the eye.

"Cassidy and I have a child now. Love… love doesn't care who came first. It only lasts when it's real. So I'm asking you now—step aside. Let her go. Please. My baby needs his mother."

In that moment, I realized I had become the one standing in the way. The villain in their story.

Cassidy clutched the baby tighter to her chest. "You don't have to apologize," she said to Stanley. "This is all on me."

Then she turned to me. There was guilt in her eyes. But more than that, there was finality.

"Nate, proposing to you was a mistake. I was being impulsive. I owed you too much, and I thought marriage would be a way to make up for it. I thought I could compromise. I told myself: the child goes to Stanley, the marriage goes to you—that would be fair. But the moment Stanley showed up again, I knew. Aside from Stanley, there's no one else I'd rather spend my life with."