More Than a Stray

It was always me whom Marcus shielded behind him, wasn't it?

Shouldn't I be the one carrying Marcus's child?

While I stood there in a daze, Isabella raised her arm, complaining to Marcus.

"Marcus, look! It's all because she was so harsh with me just now. My arm got splashed by the spray."

After speaking, she even cast a disdainful glance at the cat gasping for breath on the floor.

"This wretched cat! It acts like it's dying from a mere touch. How was I to know Garcia would put poisonous spray in the first-aid kit? She clearly did it on purpose! Marcus, you wouldn't blame me, would you?"

Hearing Isabella's words, my heart felt like it was being sliced by a knife.

For a moment, I couldn't tell if I was more heartbroken for the cat or devastated by the news of Isabella's pregnancy.

"Marcus," I asked, "did you say she's carrying your child?"

Marcus also realized he had let it slip and could only try to explain.

"Garcia, there are reasons for all of this."

Marcus's expression softened a little as he looked at me.

"Isabella was injured when she saved me. I didn't want to be indebted to her. Her greatest wish in life has always been to have a child, so..."

"So, you just let her get pregnant with your child?"

My face was etched with shock and pain.

"Sleeping with your savior, letting your savior get pregnant with your child—is this how you repay a debt of gratitude?"

I couldn't hold back any longer. My hand flew out, slapping Marcus hard across the face.

Marcus's expression turned instantly frigid. He touched the corner of his mouth.

The force of my slap had been considerable, a trickle of blood was already seeping from his lip.

He sneered:

"Garcia, you have the audacity to bring this up? If you hadn't abandoned me back then to save that damned cat, Isabella wouldn't have had to save me, and she wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"Back then, I was desperately hoping you would come for me, that you would be the one to save me! But you? What did you do?"

Marcus spat, his voice seething with anger.

"Now Isabella is pregnant, and it's simply to give her some hope. Can't you stop being so ridiculously irrational?"

Listening to Marcus's words, I found them utterly absurd.

"Then what about me? What am I in all of this?"

"After all these years, have you ever once thought about making it up to me? How did I never realize before what a truly magnanimous saint you are, Marcus?"

Hearing my words, Marcus's face alternated between ashen and livid.

"Garcia, do you even understand reason at all?"

"Isabella is just a little girl. Do you really have to be so hard on her?"

Marcus finally snapped.

"And this damn cat! Whether it lives or dies, what business is it of ours? Do you have any idea how utterly exhausting it is for me, always running around with you for a cat?"

Hearing Marcus’s words, my heart seemed to stop.

He knew how to defend Isabella and her child; how could he not know to treasure ours?