Heat rolled over her like molten lava.
She felt like a tiny boat tossed in a blazing sea of fire.
Drifting, sinking, struggling—yet unable to break free—
"Hey, wake up already... the AC is blasting in here. If you keep sleeping, you’re gonna catch a cold—"
The hand pressing on her shoulder jolted Astrid Winters awake. Her dazed eyes met the nurse’s concerned gaze, and in an instant her face turned bright red. Embarrassment slammed into her so hard she almost couldn’t breathe, and she hurriedly looked away.
Damn it. So much time had passed, but scenes from that day with Ian Sullivan still kept sneaking into her dreams.
Good thing she’d been dead drunk back then. Otherwise, she really had no idea how she’d even face Ian.
Seeing she was fully awake now, the nurse handed over the form in her hand. "You forgot your prenatal checkup report. Dr. Zhang said you need to come back again next week."
Astrid took the report and gave her a soft, sweet smile, then carefully tucked the papers into her bag like they were something precious.
Ian had been overseas on an inspection trip, and he was coming back today.
The thought of seeing him tonight made her nerves instantly kick in.
The place Ian had gone to was way too remote, basically off the grid, so she hadn’t been able to get in touch with him until the baby was already over seven months along.
The memory of Ian’s stunned reaction when he found out she was pregnant made Astrid’s fingers tighten around her bag strap.
Was she just being extra sensitive because of the pregnancy?
Still, no matter how she tried to talk herself out of it, she kept feeling that Ian didn’t seem nearly as happy as she was.
The doctor had comforted her, saying that when men were about to have their first child, it was normal for them to take time to process it. Pretty standard stuff.
But...
There was no way she was supposed to be the one to bring up marriage too, right?
When she walked out of the hospital, the sun was hanging high overhead, harsh and white-hot.
Astrid held her lower back with difficulty. Just as she was about to raise a hand and hail a cab, a flashy little red sports car suddenly shot straight at her.
Her heart dropped. She stumbled backward several steps in panic.
A sharp engine roar sliced through the air. The red car skimmed right past the edge of her clothes before screeching to a dead stop.
Astrid was so frightened her heart nearly gave out. She had only just steadied herself when she saw Stella Winters step out of the car—
long wavy hair swinging, a tight red dress hugging every curve, all swagger and menace wrapped into one.
"Stella Winters, have you lost your mind?"
Stella looked at her and smiled in a way that clearly meant trouble. Arms folded, she sauntered over in slow, smug little steps, hips swaying like she owned the whole street. She only stopped when she was right in front of Astrid Winters, then used the height of her heels to look down at her, all pride and venom. "What? Scared I might run over the bastard in your belly?"
Astrid instinctively covered her stomach and took a step back, staring at her with guarded eyes. "Stella Winters, don't push it too far!"
She had always known Stella was against her, always waiting to trip her up, but even so, Astrid had never expected her to spit out something this vicious.
"Too far? Please. You're the one who's gone too far!" Stella let out a cold laugh. "You got pregnant by some other guy and dumped it all on Ian Sullivan. Wow, Astrid Winters... do you seriously have no shame?"
Astrid froze. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Oh wow, don't tell me you actually believe the man who was with you that night was Ian Sullivan?" Stella laughed so hard she nearly doubled over. "You keep saying you and Ian grew up together, childhood sweethearts and all that. And yet you don't even know what his body feels like? That's just embarrassing."
The more Astrid listened, the paler she got. She was standing under the blazing sun, but a chill still crept through her whole body, cold enough to make her fingertips numb.
Only now, after Stella's cruel little reminder, did it hit her all at once—aside from the build, the man from that night really had seemed different from Ian in far too many ways...