Chapter 8
I pretended not to know his intentions and asked, “So has he seen someone else sit in this passenger seat? Kinsley?”
Vicente awkwardly averted his gaze. “Patricia, I made a mistake, but you can’t deny me a chance. I’ve reflected a lot in the past two years, and Jamie isn’t so willful anymore. So…”
I interrupted him, “So, two years later, Kinsley still showed up with a cake, chasing Jamie from Prodale to Casterview for his birthday, just because of her wishful thinking?”
Vicente stumbled over his words. “After that night, she got pregnant with my child. But I asked her to have an abortion.”
My eyes widened in disbelief, and a wave of nausea overcame me. For the first time, I felt it wasn’t worth it to have loved Vicente for nine years. “And why are you telling me this? To remind me of how I was hurt that day? Or to make me feel better with another woman’s misfortune?”
“No.” Vicente shook his head, a bit confused. “I just want to tell you that no one can replace you.”
I couldn’t help but sneer, “So, only I have the honor of giving birth to your child?”
Vicente thought for a moment and said in a daze, “I shouldn’t have let you give birth to Jamie. I was too soft–hearted.”
Suddenly, I remembered when I was pregnant with Jamie, I almost had a miscarriage.
At the hospital, the doctor asked if I had taken abortion pills, and I argued with him, saying I would never want to kill my baby.
After Jamie was born, I asked Vicente what we should name him. He looked at Jamie coldly and blurted out, “Jamie.”
I smiled, “It’s a cute name.”
Back home, he changed Jamie’s diaper and fed him milk and meals without a single complaint. I had never imagined he wouldn’t love his own child.
“Why?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Vicente’s gaze drifted out the window. He seemed as if talking to both me and himself. “Having a child ties you down. I saved Kinsley, but I couldn’t save you.”
I slapped Vicente’s face hard. He froze.
“Stop living in your own delusional world as if you’re a savior,” I said. “Aren’t you still stuck in the shadow of your mother’s suicide? You think you burdened her to death, but who gave you the right to make decisions for your child’s mother? To me, you cheated on me during our marriage. To Kinsley, you took advantage of her without commitment. You’re just as rotten as your father!”
Since Vicente said “The scar on her belly disgusts me“, I had been bewildered.
It dawned on me today after he said I shouldn’t have given birth to Jamie. Vicente had never truly moved
on from his mother’s suicide. Yet, he wanted others to pay for his sadness.
1/2
Chapter &
“You keep saying you hate Jamie, but all you do now is manipulate him to arouse the maternal instinct in me and make me go back to you,” I said, “You said you loved me and then slept with Kinsley You even boasted about forcing her to have an abortion. If I had known how disgusting you were before, I would never have been with you.”
His calm mask shattered, and his shoulders trembled uncontrollably, just as helpless as that rainy night.” I’m sorry, Patricia. What should I do now? How can 1 make it up to you?”
But it was too late. I no longer felt any pity for him.
I opened the car door. The chirping of cicadas outside persisted.
Slamming the door shut, I said, “Get lost, and don’t let me see you again.”
Vicente left, taking Jamie with him.
