My Love Has Run Off

My pregnancy had never been an accident. I turned and tossed through the night, not getting any sleep.

By daybreak, I saw a message in the family group chat.

Yesterday, Shane had asked his mother some questions when making chicken stew. Today, she tagged him in the group chat and said, "I cooked up a batch. I'll send some over later."

I got up and went to the living room, but there was no one in sight. He had not returned. My heart sank instantaneously.

I splashed some cold water on my face, then called a cab and went straight to the hospital.

I got a number for a consultation, then while waiting for my turn for the surgery, I added my own family members to that group chat as well.

My brother was on his way to work, and he sent a question mark to the group chat out of confusion.

The nurse called my name. Before I was wheeled into the operation room, I sent all the screenshots I had taken into the group chat.

When I lay down, the operating lights were a little too bright, so I closed my eyes.

I felt a peace inside me. I instinctually ran my hands over my not-yet-showing belly.

It was still so early in the pregnancy. Would the tiny life in me know that that was my way of saying goodbye to it?

Tears streamed down my cheeks and onto the pillow.

Shane had said this was a gift from the heavens, but he was only trying to brainwash himself. We had agreed that for the rest of our lives, it'd be just us against the world, and we'd be each other's support.

We once saw an elderly gentleman pushing an elderly lady in a wheelchair down the street. We were so envious and said that we needed to do the same when we got older too.

When one of us could no longer walk, the other person would then be in charge of wheeling them around wherever we went.

After I found out I was pregnant, I had hesitated. But seeing how joyful he was, I gradually became excited for the birth of this child too.

My brother had bought all sorts of cute clothes for the baby, and this warmed my heart greatly. He even appeared to be more excited than Shane.

"I'm going to be the best uncle in the whole world!"

Closing my eyes, I could not help but feel sorrow on my brother's behalf.

I could not even imagine how crazed he would be when he saw those disgusting text messages during his commute through the morning rush hour.

After the surgery, I was still in a bit of a daze when I opened my eyes. I walked out of the building and saw how the sunlight was shining over the paths, but there was only emptiness in my heart.

When I took out my phone, I saw that there were numerous missed calls. Shane was still calling, so I answered.

"Where are you?" he asked in a trembling voice.

When he did not hear my response, he yelled angrily, "Miley Hephman! Where in the world are you!"

"At the hospital. Tell your mother the baby's gone."

I hung up the call right after that, not wanting to hear his voice for even one second longer.

I continued walking as I scrolled through the thousands of messages that had piled up in the family group chat.

The first person to finish going through the screenshots had probably been my brother.

His first message was directed at Shane. "You bastard! Where are you?"

No one responded to him. It was only much later that my mother-in-law, Susanna, made an appearance.

"Miley, are you at home? I'm heading over there now. Don't make any impulsive decisions regarding the baby."

She continuously tagged Shane, but no one responded to her. My mother was initially merely enjoying the piping-hot tea and had only just realized what was actually happening.

"Who is this girl?"

At this point, my brother had completely lost it and was now sending long voice messages into the group chat.

"Shane, you son of a bitch! You went and introduced a slut to me? How can you even look me and my sister in the eye?"

Shane did not make a peep throughout it all and just had his elderly mother continuously try to explain and appease everyone.

I continued to scroll to the bottom. It was as if I was watching a shit show that had nothing to do with me at all.

There were notifications of new messages down my list of chats. Everyone was trying to get a hold of me.

When I got to the hospital's main gate, I saw Shane stumbling through in a rush.