Chapter 3 I Am Pregnant

• "Liora,are you okay?” Saskia,her friend who also works as a nurse in the hospital also came in to use the restroom when she noticed her friend looking at a particular spot.
• "Saskia,how long have you been standing here?”
• "Not quite long,I know you are worried about him but trust me,he is going to get better.”
• "I am trying but he is giving up,how do you expect me to be fine? He wants death,I have tried a lot of means to encourage him not to give up but none is working.“
• "Then try again,Liora I know you as someone that never gives up,not now,your husband truly needs you and I understand he is so worried about you that's why he thinks dying as the best option to set you free.“
• "He made a vow to me Saskia,how can he just forget so quickly and choose to leave me alone?”
• "Then persuade him to choose life,give him a reason to live.” She said to Liora.
• Liora couldn't sleep throughout the night,she remained awake thinking about the only solution she has now to keep her husband alive,she needs to deceive him,she has no choice.
• They have been married for two years and have been trying to conceive for six months, but there has been no news of pregnancy. Liora knows that Leander has been looking forward to her being pregnant, and he even picked out names for a boy and a girl.
• Unfortunately, she has not been able to conceive.
• She sits in the bathroom, looking at the pregnancy test in her hand. Fifteen minutes have passed, but the test still shows a single red line.
• It seems like God hasn’t heard her prayers.
• She stares blankly at the pregnancy test. It has been seventeen days since her husband’s accident. She hasn’t slept well, haunted by nightmares every night. Either she dreams of him crying and pleading for death or she dreams of doctors declaring him dead.
• Her heart has become numb.
• But there is a string in her mind pulling her, not allowing her to give up any chance.
• "I guess I am doing this if I want my husband to live.”
• She takes a deep breath and picks up her phone to call her friend at the hospital, Saskia, “Saskia, I need a favor.”
• "Okay,I am all ears.”
• Saskia agreed to help her and she got dressed and headed to the hospital.
• Visiting hours for Leander are only from 4:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon. Only one family member can visit, and Fiammetta is resting on a bench, giving today's visiting opportunity to Liora.
• Liora puts on a sterile suit, mask, and cap. She puts the fake ultrasound slip provided by Saskia into a sterile bag.
• "Thank you so much Saskia,I'm in your debt.”
• "What are friends for? Stop thanking me but are you sure about this? Won't you regret it?”
• "It's the only way.”
• "You are so young and it hurts me seeing you going through all this pain,soon all these will be over.”
• "I hope so too,I miss him so much.” She held herself from crying.
• She was led by a nurse, enters the ICU. Leander is lying on the bed, still unconscious. A small hole has been made at the back of his neck, and a plastic tube has been inserted, with the other end connected to a ventilator. He has seven stitches on his head, and the wound is healing well. After the nurse checks the equipment and changes his medicine, she leaves, giving Liora the space.
• Liora stands outside the ICU observation window, watching Leander helplessly and despairingly with tears streaming down his face. The nurse hands him a tissue to wipe his tears, but he doesn’t even have the strength to move away.
• She holds his hand, still warm and dry, though he has lost a lot of weight, and his skin has become dry. She leans in and gently rubs her face against his.
• Leander doesn’t respond, still deeply asleep.
• Liora whispers, "Leander, I'm pregnant."
• "Haven't you always wanted our child?" She strokes his hand slowly, "Do you think it will be a boy or a girl? Don't you want to see our child born? Promise me, stay with me and watch our child be born, okay?"
• The golden recovery period for high-level paraplegia is six months.
• She needs to fight for those six months. If she can, there is hope for Leander's treatment, even if the chances of success are low. She will try her best.
• There is hope as long as he is alive.
• "Will you?" She kisses his hand, tears silently falling into her mask. She's about to wipe them away when she hears Leander's hoarse voice say, "Okay."
• Liora turns her head to look. Leander has awakened at some point and is staring at her with red eyes.
• "It...will...be...hard." His speech is slow and weak, and Liora needs to get close to hear him clearly.
• After saying these four words, he can't say anything more. He tries to speak but doesn't have the strength, just looking at her with increasing redness in his eyes. Liora understands what he means. Without this child, she could find another man after a divorce, to start a new relationship and find a new love, but she doesn't want to.
• She leans down to kiss his cheek, her voice soft and heavy, "I love you, Leander."
• This is her answer to all the voices from the outside world.
• She took out the ultrasound report to show him, told him the expected due date, advised him to rest well, and was about to say something more when a nurse came in to inform her that her time was up. Liora squeezed his hand once more before getting up to leave.
• As she walked out the door, she looked back and saw Leander crying, tears streaming down his face.
• Fiammetta was almost in tears upon learning of Liora's pregnancy.
• "Is it true? You are carrying Leander child?”
• "Yes mom.”
• "Thank you heavenly father,I feel so happy hearing this news,so finally I will become a grandma!!” She opened her arms for Liora to dive in.
• This child came just in time.
• She clasped her hands in gratitude to the heavens, then thanked Liora and sent a driver to take her home. She also called the housekeeper to hire a family nutritionist to specially prepared Liora's meals.
• Once back home, Liora locked herself in the bathroom. For the first time, she told a massive lie, feeling extremely uneasy, fearing that her mother-in-law might find out, worried that Leander might discover, and even more fearful of the unknown. But she had no way out now.
• If Leander doesn't recover, he would never get a chance to be a father.
• She had to get pregnant now to fulfill Leander's wish to become a father.
• The success rate of artificial insemination is only between thirty to fifty percent. Time-wise, Liora couldn’t afford to wait. There's screening to be done, and the embryo needs to develop before implantation. If the child has any chromosomal abnormalities, the baby could be born deformed.
• She couldn't take any risks.
• The only option left, which she was reluctant but had to accept, was to find a man to have sex with and let him ejaculate inside her.
• If she's lucky, it might happen in one go.
• She stepped out from the bathroom and rested on the bed with her husband's picture,"I am so sorry I went that far but trust me,I did this for you,I want you to live so please forgive me.”
• Liora needs to get pregnant by all means to back up her lies,she didn't want to just meet any male and have sex but ever since this idea came to her mind, she had someone in mind – and that person was none other than Leander's older brother, Dashiell.
• The two of them share some resemblance in appearance, especially their eyes. Dashiell's eyes are colder, while Leander's always appear gentle and warm.
• If it's Dashiell, the child would surely bear some resemblance to Leander.
• She was so restless and walked back to the bathroom, immediately she finished washing her face, she stared at herself in the mirror for a while. After taking a deep breath, she took out her phone and messaged Dashiell: [Brother, do you have some time? I need your help with something.] "I can't believe I will be doing this,there is no going back now.“
• The Abernathy family started their business with jewelry in Spain and later moved to Italy, establishing a chain of jewelry stores. When Dashiell took over, the first thing he did was to create a unique brand 'marry me'. They even got a popular actor to endorse it, making it instantly recognizable nationwide.
• Currently, 'marry me' has over two hundred stores in major cities. Every time Liora passes through the city center, she sees the advertisement on the scrolling screen: [Love one person, be loyal to one person.]
• Would the person who created such a loyal brand agree to such an absurd request?
• Liora was uncertain.
• She had almost no bargaining chips.
• She could only gamble – gamble on Dashiell's brotherly love for Leander and hope he wouldn’t turn a blind eye.
• Just before six in the evening, Dashiell finally called. His voice was indifferent, "What's the matter?"
• "I... want to talk to you in person,it's really important." Hearing his voice, Liora immediately thought of his usual cold demeanor at home, with eyes that often looked indifferent. If you accidentally made eye contact, you'd feel an unprecedented sense of oppression.
• "I'll wait for you in your office. After you're done with your work, it won't take too much of your time."
• Dashiell responded with a simple "okay" and hung up. Liora was dazed for a while before snapping back to reality.
• "I hope he doesn't decline,if he loves his brother,he will agree to have sex with me to get me pregnant,gosh what kind of a woman am I becoming?”
• TBC