The Dinner That Took My Father and My Child

Their eyes locked, sparks flew. At that moment, I watched the man I loved, standing in the sun, become a protector of another woman.

And I, fully armed with my bitterness, hid in a shadowed corner like a cockroach, peering into someone else’s happiness.

It was pathetic to see the father of my child instinctively shielding another woman.

Beside me, Henry instinctively moved forward, but I stopped him firmly.

After a long hesitation, I called Ethan.

From a distance, I saw his phone light up.

He glanced at it.

The phone rang once, then again.

He simply stared, never answering.

Tara pouted as she read the note: “wife.”

“You promised to stay with me. Don’t be distracted, and neither can she. Otherwise, I’ll ignore you.”

Ethan smiled, raised his hand, and dropped the phone into a glass overflowing with water.

He arched an eyebrow and said, “My little princess, satisfied now?”

Seeing Tara finally nod, Ethan lifted her above his head and spun her around.

The sea breeze carried her gleeful screams.

By the time I put down the phone I had been recording with, my tears had soaked through my mask.

Six years of my relationship with Ethan had amounted to nothing.

I steeled myself for hell to come.

Tired from playing, the group sat down to chat.

Tara’s voice drifted on the wind:

“Actually, on the night of Ethan’s wedding, I got drunk and said I just wanted to marry anyone. But he got so angry, he came to me in Nicole’s wedding dress.”

“Funny, right? We just played house like we did as kids, worshipping the moon and heaven and earth.”

My heart twisted. I thought of the custom wedding dress I had been waiting for. Ethan had said it was stained, sent it to the cleaners, and then lost it.

Tara smiled:

“I was joking, saying that after praying to heaven and earth, it was true—I wouldn’t marry again. But I wanted a child, and I was scared of the pain. Guess what this idiot did?”

Ethan smiled, drinking, saying nothing to stop her.

Encouraged by the crowd, Tara added proudly,

“He actually took it seriously! Then he actually took me to get embryo culture!”

She blinked, signaling for Ethan to continue.

“Ethan, what about the child?”

Ethan tilted his head back, finishing his drink, eyes dark.

“What’s in Nicole’s belly right now is Tara and I’s test-tube baby.”

Boom—

My mind exploded, and everything went blank.

I could hear Henry cursing, “Bastard!” and see Ethan’s indifferent gaze.

I clutched my stomach. It seemed to sense my grief and moved violently.

But all I felt was irony.

From the very start of our pregnancy preparations, Ethan had lied, claiming his sperm motility was low and that IVF had a better chance.

For countless days and nights, I took medication until I felt sick, my belly covered in purple pinpricks.

On the day the pregnancy succeeded, he had gently leaned against my belly and said,

“Dear baby, Daddy will make you and Mommy the happiest people in the world.”

Those words had never been meant for me.

Tara’s voice drifted again, laced with contempt:

“Ethan is so clever! Look at Nicole, completely out of shape. Tsk tsk, I don’t want to become a shrew like her.”

I couldn’t listen anymore and turned to leave.

Suddenly, a huge wave hit, and the cruise ship rocked violently.

Tara, standing on the edge, was flung backward.

Without hesitation, Ethan grabbed the lifebuoy and jumped in, swimming toward her.