“You were eight,” he corrected me, deadpan. “I was ten.”
I pulled my hand from his grasp. “How did you know Max and I would break up? And how were you so sure that I would get with you after?”
A slow, knowing smile spread across his lips. “I was confident.”
“After all, I put in a lot of hard work to make sure I could give you… pure bliss. Body and soul.”
He stressed those last few words, standing up and shamelessly flexing his abs and chest like a peacock displaying its feathers.
My eyes burned, and my thoughts turned to mush. My mind involuntarily replayed scenes from that wild night.
“Teddy, you should go,” I said, opening the door. “I need some time alone.”
The information overload was too much. I couldn’t process it all at once.
Teddy’s flexing hand froze mid–air. His handsome, deep–set eyes turned heavy, his pouty expression unexpectedly heart–stopping.
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“If you’re not asking me to stay the night, it must mean I haven’t been working out hard enough,” he said, looking genuinely wounded. “I’ll go home and lift some more weights.”
He stepped outside, then turned back. The playful look was gone, his gaze serious as it fell on my stomach. He opened his mouth to say som ething, but I cut him off.
“Give me three days to think.”
“And don’t contact me during those three days.”
Teddy was a man of his word. He didn’t contact me.
But he was everywhere.
He’d post shirtless pictures on Instagram, flexing his abs. He’d appear in the grocery store downstairs, dressed in a sharp suit, pushing a shop- ping cart and strolling slowly past me.
I finally understood. All those times in college when I’d walk past the basketball court and he’d sink a perfect three–pointer right as I passed–it was all for me.
I never knew that being loved could feel so vibrant, so alive.
I even started to think… Teddy would be a really fun dad.
13
On the third day, I went back to the hospital.
The moment I heard the baby’s heartbeat, I found my answer.
I came back to my apartment, my arms laden with bags of prenatal vitamins and healthy food, and saw Ava from a distance.
Her hair was a mess, and she was still wearing slippers. She looked lost and desperate as she stumbled in front of my car to block my path.
“Where’s Max?!” she demanded, her voice raw. “Where are you hiding him?!”
I rolled down my window. “Why would I hide someone else’s trash?”
Ava froze, then pointed a shaking finger at me, screaming without any regard for her image. “He’s been gone ever since we saw you at the hos- pital! He turned off his phone! He would never, ever ignore me like this! You’re pathetic, using a baby to trap him, and now you’re trying to act all innocent? You think he actually loves you? You’re nothing but an incubator to him!”
Her hysterical shrieking was a far cry from her usual sweet and innocent persona.
I found it almost funny. Was this karma?
For the past seven years, whenever Ava was in the country, Max would disappear for a while. Every time I went to find him, she would mock me with a smile. “Looking for your boyfriend at your rival’s hotel? You’re really something else, Cara.”
The triumph she must have felt then was probably equal to the humiliation she was feeling now. She had a whole arsenal of tricks to get Max to come running–slitting her wrists, threatening to jump off a building, and now, the depression diagnosis. She must have exhausted all her options for him to still be missing. That’s why she was falling apart.
I just sat in my car, calmly watching her meltdown.
When she finally paused to catch her breath, I spoke.
“Max isn’t here. And the baby isn’t his,” I said coolly. “Unlike you, Ms. Shen, I have no interest in other people’s relationships. And I certainly don‘ t go digging through the trash.”
Ava’s face went white. She stood there, stunned, muttering to herself. “Impossible… Impossible…”
“He loves me! You must have lied to him, told him you were pregnant with his child! That’s why he left me!”
I ignored her and started the car. Her little drama didn’t faze me in the slightest.
Back in my apartment, I eagerly started looking up prenatal education videos. My dull, lifeless world was suddenly vibrant with anticipation.
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That night, I had a strange but wonderful dream.
I was holding our baby, marrying Teddy. After the wedding, we were a happy, loving couple, and our child was sweet and well–behaved. The dream was shattered by a rhythmic knocking at the door.
Still half–asleep, I opened it.
It was Teddy, leaning against the doorframe, striking a pose. He was shirtless, a towel slung low on his hips, perfectly showcasing has impress ive abs. In my dream, he had also been very keen on showing off his abs, even performing tricks like cracking walnuts and opening beer bottles with them.
In my drowsy state, I murmured, “Honey, you’re home.”
“What did you just call me?!”
Teddy’s suddenly loud voice jolted me fully awake. My eyes met his, which were blazing with an intense heat.
My face instantly flushed, my heart threatening to beat its way out of my chest.
Later that night, after I’d come up with a dozen lame excuses for my Freudian slip, he was still holding me like a koala, refusing to let go.
I finally gave in. If he would perform the beer bottle trick with his abs, I would admit that I had, in fact, called him husband.
After that, it became very difficult to find a capped beer bottle in my apartment.
It’s funny how people connect. I was with Max for seven years, yet there was always this unspoken distance between us. But after just seven days with Teddy, we had a comfortable, easy rapport, as if we’d been together for years. I could be myself around him, wear whatever I wanted,
and never had to worry that a joke might cross the line.
At almost thirty, I was finally experiencing what it felt like to be in love.
14
The morning Max showed up at my apartment, Teddy and I were about to leave for the courthouse to get our marriage license.
It had only been a little over a week, but Max looked like a different person. He’d lost weight, his suit hung loosely on his frame, and there were dark circles under his sunken eyes. His normally immaculate hair was messy, falling across his forehead.
His eyes were red–rimmed as he spoke, his voice hoarse. “Cara… I was wrong.”
“I think I love you more than I ever realized. I haven’t slept these past few nights. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is you.”
“So, please, Cara… let’s just forget about Ava, forget about that other guy. Let’s just forget everything.”
“Come back to me. Let’s start over.”
The raw emotion in his eyes was almost overflowing. He reached out to touch my face, but I stepped back, avoiding his hand.
I was confused. Had I not been clear? Or did he have amnesia?
He knew I was pregnant with another man’s child, and he was here asking me to come back?
“I believe I told you very clearly, Mr. Cole. The baby I’m carrying is not yours.”
Max’s breathing grew heavy, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.
“Even if it’s not mine,” he said, his voice tight with restraint, “I’ll claim it.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
The proud, arrogant Max Cole was offering to raise another man’s child.
“I’m serious, Cara,” he pleaded. “If you want to keep this child, I will love it as if it were my own. If you don’t… I’ll go with you to the…”
He was cut off before he could finish.
“Well, Max,” a lazy voice drawled, “Trying to steal my wife and my kid? You really are ambitious, aren’t you?”
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Teddy sauntered out from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. He casually slipped an arm around my waist, telling me into his side in a gaser gesture of ownership.
“Teddy?” Max stated, his brow knitting in disbelief. “It was you?”
Teddy nodded, a smug smile playing on his lips. “The one and only. A pure love warrior who lay in wait for over a decade and struck gold on the first try.”
Max was speechless for a good ten seconds, a storm of complicated emotions swirling in his eyes. Finally, he composed himself, his gaze turning challenging as he looked at Teddy.
“Cara loved me for seven years! No, more than that! She’s loved me since we were kids! You’re just an opportunist who swooped in when she was vulnerable.”
“Without this baby, she would never have left me. Even if she chooses you today out of spite, she will never truly love you. Teddy, even if you marry her, you’ll always be my runner–up.”
He used to use my love for him as a weapon, letting Ava walk all over me. Now he was using my past feelings as a dagger to wound Teddy, if that seed of doubt took root, it could poison everything between us.
“Max!”
Teddy removed his hand from my waist.
15
The next second, Teddy’s large, warm hand came to rest on my stomach.
“I call this winning the jackpot,” he said, looking at Max. “This isn’t a consolation prize. This is a badge of honor. A medal of victory.”
“Without him,” he gestured to my belly, “I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Teddy’s words were laced with a playful, taunting sweetness. The more he smiled, the darker Max’s face became. His furious gaze darted between me and Teddy.
“You’ll regret this, Cara,” Max bit out, forcing a calm he didn’t feel as he turned to leave.
“Wait,” I called out.
He turned back, a flicker of hope in his eyes.
I started to move towards him, but Teddy’s hand tightened on my arm. He looked at me, his eyes filled with a heartbreakingly vulnerable expr-
ession.
I smiled and patted his hand reassuringly. “I just need to say something to him.”
He reluctantly let me go and went back inside.
I walked up to Max and held out my hand.
“I bought the ring. I’d like it back, please.”
He was still wearing the engagement ring I’d picked out, on his middle finger. I wanted no more ties to him, no mementos left behind for him to
reminisce over.
The light in Max’s eyes slowly faded, replaced by a deep–seated despair, though a sliver of hope remained.
“Cara, I don’t believe you’re really in love with him. It can’t be that easy to fall in love with someone.”
I dropped my gaze, repeating his words softly. “I never thought it could be this easy, either.”
“But these last few days with Teddy… I’ve been so happy.”
I looked up, my gaze steady and unwavering. “Max, I haven’t thought about you once.”
“I really don’t love you anymore.”
“And I’ve really started to fall for Teddy.”
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“Your family was good to mine. I don’t want this to be ugly. Let’s just end things peacefully”
A sheen of tears filmed Max’s eyes. He stared at the silver band for a long moment, a bitter smile twisting his lips.
“So I really did lose you.”
He slowly pulled the ring off his finger and placed it in my palm. It was still warm from his skin.
“It…” his voice was thick with regret. “If I hadn’t canceled the engagement…”
I cut him off. “There are no ‘ifs‘.”
“Everything happened just the way it was supposed to.”
With that, I turned and walked back inside, leaving him with nothing but the sight of my retreating back.
16
When I got back inside, Teddy was trying and failing to hide a massive grin.
“I heard everything,” he said. “So, you’re choosing to marry me not just because of the baby?”
I wasn’t going to hide it anymore. I stood on my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“No.”
“And… the other night, when I called you husband… it was because I dreamed we got married.”
“So, honey, when are we having the wedding? Because I don’t want to be holding our baby at the altar, like in my dream.”
And there it was. The galaxy of stars I’d been searching for, finally glittering in his eyes.
He was so overcome with emotion he couldn’t speak. He just leaned down and kissed me, again and again, his love blooming with every tou- ch.
“This month,” he breathed between kisses, his eyes hazy with passion. “We’ll get married this month.”
Then he mumbled, “God, when is this little freeloader finally going to be born?”
17
The day Teddy and I went to his parents‘ house with our marriage certificate, Chloe officially announced her relationship with a hot young act- or on her social media.
She gave Teddy a shout–out, thanking him for being her protector and business partner, and congratulating him on finally getting the girl. Teddy’s mother was a mix of relieved and annoyed as she read the news–annoyed that he had caused such a public scandal with an actress, but relieved that he wasn’t actually marrying her.
His father, on the other hand, sternly lectured him that if he had put half the effort he spent chasing a wife into the family business, he could have retired and traveled the world with his wife years ago.
Just as Teddy had predicted, his parents were delighted with me.
When they learned about their future grandchild, they immediately started planning their retirement itinerary, which now included a world tour with their grandbaby.
18
Our wedding went off without a hitch.
There was only one minor incident.
In a desperate attempt to force Max to marry her, Ava had climbed onto the roof of the building across from our wedding venue.
Unfortunately for her, the wedding ended, and Max never showed up.
After standing on the roof until her legs gave out, her survival instinct kicked in, and she came down on her own.
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Teddy smirked, his tone impossibly smug. “Not everyone has what it takes to win by playing the baby card.”
Later that night, on our wedding night, I found him in the gym, grimly lifting weights.
“Why aren’t you smiling anymore?” I asked.
He grunted, finishing a rep. “I’m saving it all up for one massive laugh… about a year from now.”
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