To the Love of My Life

This child…

Steve Burton couldn’t think any further as this thought crossed his mind. He clenched his cell phone tightly.

At the other end of the phone, Russell Henris had been waiting for a while, but did not hear a response from Steve. Unable to hold back, he called out, “Bro.”

Still, there was only silence in response. Though Russell couldn’t see Steve now, he could feel Steve’s unusual behavior through the wireless phone. He asked with some concern, “Bro… Are you okay?”

As soon as Russell finished speaking, he heard a honking sound over the phone. He continued to ask, “Where are you? I’ll come to pick you up…”

Before Russell could finish, Steve hung up the phone, put it away, and with trembling fingers, opened the car door. The whole time, Steve seemed utterly lost, and as he went to start the car, his hand clutched the key, unable to muster any strength. Finally, after a long while, he reluctantly turned the ignition key and started the engine. Steve clung to the steering wheel like a controlled machine and mechanically pressed the accelerator.

Steve stepped on the gas pedal relentlessly, driving faster and faster as the car sped through the quiet nighttime streets.

The city was silent, but in his ears, the words of Ruby Gregory and Russell Henris echoed repeatedly.

-I’m pregnant.

-I’m getting married.

-Ruby is indeed pregnant, and the pregnancy timeline shown at the hospital is exactly what she said—fifty days.

She’s pregnant, she’s pregnant, she’s pregnant. What was he going to do?

Yeah, what was he going to do? What to do?

Steve’s eyes became somewhat misty as he thought about it. He hit the brakes hard, stopping the car by the side of the road, and then leaned over the steering wheel, his shoulders shaking.

Though he had thought about letting her go to pursue her own happiness and decided that not disturbing her would be his final act of tenderness, how could she suddenly become pregnant without any warning, leaving him utterly unprepared?

She was the girl he loved, the girl he loved from a young age, the girl he swore to love well. How could he have lost her while loving her?

It took a long while for Steve’s trembling shoulders to finally quiet down, and still, he lay over the steering wheel.

The world was unusually quiet, and he could faintly hear the sound of his own heartbeat.

He suddenly recalled a recent variety show that Wenny Burton had watched at the Burtons’ Mansion. At the time, he didn’t want to go upstairs because being alone would always remind him of her, so he simply accompanied Wenny in watching the show.

On the show, a celebrity named Adrian Swift cried his eyes out, saying, “When the one you love has another half and can’t be with you, there are only two outcomes: wait or give up.”

At that time, Adrian could hardly speak through his tears, and after a long while, he continued, “As for me, I’ll wait for a while before giving up.”

When Wenny witnessed that scene, she was wiping her tears with tissues, praising Adrian as an unparalleled good man.

At that time, he scoffed at Wenny’s reaction and mocked her for her cheap tears.

But now, when all this was happening to him, he realized that deep down inside, he shared the same thoughts. Like Adrian, he wanted to wait a while before giving up.