The Baby Name I Chose for His Mistress's Son

Three years ago, Hayden was the one who pushed me to join Doctors Without Borders. He thought I was too emotional, that I cried over everything and got upset whenever I saw him with other women. He once told me, "It's not that I don't have feelings for you, Nora. It's just that you're too unstable to be my wife."

"So here's the plan," he continued. "Spend three years with Doctors Without Borders. It'll help you grow and become more composed. When you've matured, you can come back, and we can be together."

I believed him. I worked hard, studied diligently, and finally applied to join the organization. The day I got my acceptance letter was one of the happiest days of my life. I thought, "Just get through these three years, and then I'll be Hayden's wife."

But now that I'm back, he's become a father.

As I come back to the present, I realize my face is wet with tears, which keep falling despite my attempts to wipe them away.

“I hope she never comes back,” Hayden said nonchalantly, intertwining his fingers with the woman beside him.

“All I want now is a life with Laila," he continued, "growing old together, hand in hand.”

“Oh, that's amazing! I wish my girlfriend would have a baby with me too!” someone around him cheered.

“But Hayden, have you thought about how to explain this to Nora Stewart?” another person asked.

At the mention of my name, his expression instantly turned cold. “I never wanted her to come back,” he said, lowering his head to comfort the woman beside him. “The butler will handle everything. Don’t worry; it will always be just you and me.”

Snow started to fall, landing on the tip of my nose and sending a chill straight to my heart.

Three years ago, on the day I left, I clung to Hayden’s arm and asked, “Will you really marry me when I return?”

He ruffled my hair and spoke in a voice as soothing as a lullaby, “Of course, by then you’ll be much more composed. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you. It will always be just you.”

But now that I've become more composed, he's with someone else. Why? Why did he have to deceive me?

My chest tightened with a painful ache as tears unwillingly streamed down my face.

In Africa, in war-torn Afghanistan, I treated the wounded amidst gunfire, always thinking, “I have to survive, survive so I can marry Hayden.”

I even applied to come back home a year early to surprise him. And today, I finally returned, only for him to surprise me first.