Chapter 208: Will You Want It?
Shock filled his eyes.
Lily was pregnant.
And she had an abortion.
So, she had just rejected him because she secretly got rid of their baby.
Lily didn't stay unconscious for long. As her mind cleared, she slowly opened her eyes.
For a moment, she didn't know where she was.
Until she felt an intense gaze on her face. She turned her head and met Benjamin's eyes.
In that instant, the scenes before she passed out came flooding back.
At that moment, she had panicked. Not being good at lying, she forgot to react in time.
She had chosen not to tell Benjamin and asked Mia to go to the hospital with her because she didn't want him to know.
She didn't want to burden him with any worries.
In her panic, Lily instinctively tried to cover it up.
She wanted him to leave quickly.
Before he found out.
She tried hard to stay calm, forcing a strained smile at the corner of her lips.
"Mr. White, um—it's my fault. I didn't know my period would come early and got blood on your hand."
"I've been so busy with school lately that I forgot about my period and wore myself out, that's why I fainted."
Benjamin looked at Lily, who was already becoming incoherent.
She was clearly upset but forcing herself to smile.
He watched as the unfamiliar emotion in her eyes grew stronger.
"Mr. White, I'm really sorry. I'm fine now—"
"Lily."
Benjamin interrupted her.
Meeting her panicked eyes, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Lily felt very nervous inside.
But she clung to a sliver of hope, unwilling to admit it. "Mr. White, what are you talking about?"
She was still playing dumb.
"The baby."
With those light words, the smile Lily had been forcing froze on her pale face.
She bit down hard on her lip.
Trying to hide her emotions, she needed to remember her place.
But when the baby was mentioned, Lily felt terrible.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
She quickly lowered her eyelids, and tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes, dropping one by one onto the white pillowcase.
Spreading out, soaking in.
Her voice trembled as she murmured in a barely audible voice, "If I had told you, would you have wanted it?"
The humiliation she'd suffered at the entrance not long ago.
Now, as Lily asked this question, her hands hidden under the blanket couldn't help but clench tightly.
Benjamin was instantly at a loss for words.
His silence was like another knife, stabbing hard into her heart.
When she made the decision not to keep the baby, she already knew the answer.
She knew it all along.
But under his questioning, she still couldn't help but hold onto a thread of hope.
Silence was a sharp blade.
It hurt her so much.
"Lily—"
After a long silence, Benjamin called her name softly.
Lily didn't look up. She didn't want him to see how badly she was crying.
"Mr. White, this baby was an accident to begin with. If you hadn't found out, I never planned to tell you."
"Don't worry, I know my place."
She knew—she wasn't worthy of having his child.
Benjamin looked at Lily, who was being too understanding and knew her place too well. At this moment, his heart felt blocked by something, a bit stuffy.
Just then, his phone rang.
It was Saskia.
He stared at it quietly for a few seconds, then looked up again, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.
He took out his checkbook from his pocket, signed a check, tore it off, and handed it over.
His voice became cold and emotionless again. "Take this check."
Besides money, he had nothing else to compensate her with.
"I..."
When Lily heard "check," her first reaction was to refuse.
Money was never what she wanted.
But as soon as she opened her mouth and met Benjamin's extremely cold gaze.
The words she hadn't finished saying were silently swallowed back.
With difficulty, she reached out and took the check, forcing back tears to give him a broken smile and thank him. "Thank you, Mr. White."
After speaking, she immediately lowered her eyelids.
Her hand under the blanket, nails digging deep into the root of her thigh, trying to use physical pain to suppress the waves of agony in her heart.
Benjamin looked at the broken, forced smile at the corner of Lily's lips, his eyes clearly darkening.
The moment his emotions fluctuated, he looked away and said flatly before leaving, "Take care of yourself soon."
"Yes, Mr. White."
Lily's voice trembled, her emotions on the verge of collapse.
For the first time, Lily took the initiative to ask him to leave. "Mr. White, I'd like to rest now."
"Okay."
Benjamin responded and turned to walk out.
The call that had just automatically disconnected rang again.
He didn't avoid Lily and answered the phone in front of her. "Saskia."
His voice was gentle.
The tears Lily had been holding back burst out. She bit down hard on her lip, not daring to make a sound.
The tears streaming down disappeared into the white pillow, instantly soaking a large area.
Only after the hospital room door closed and the familiar footsteps faded away did she sob out loud.
...
James didn't pester her anymore that night. He knew Mia was angry and wanted to wait until she calmed down to explain.
Early the next morning, James drove to her apartment building, carrying breakfast and went upstairs to knock on the door.
Without much effort, the door was successfully opened.
James was delighted, smiling warmly as he held up the sandwich from her favorite shop. "Mia—"
Full of enthusiasm, he was met with Mia's cold face.
Mia walked out from inside, completely ignoring him.
She closed the door, got in the elevator, left the apartment complex, and took a cab to find Lily.
...
She took a cab to the supermarket herself, bought some nutritional supplements, and went to find Lily.
While chatting with Lily, her phone rang.
She thought it was James and didn't immediately reach for it.
She just glanced at it casually, not expecting it to be Louis.
She walked to the side to answer the call. "Louis."
He invited her to lunch.
After reminding Lily to take care of herself, Mia left her rental apartment and took a cab to the restaurant Louis had chosen.
As soon as she arrived, she saw him waving at her.
"Louis."
Mia was a bit surprised to see only him there.
When she received Louis's call, she thought James had asked him to be a mediator.
Louis noticed and teased, "Disappointed not to see James?"
"I thought you suddenly inviting me to eat meant you wanted to speak on his behalf."
Mia was also straightforward.
She knew her expression just now couldn't fool Louis.
"Since you want to see him so badly..."
A mysterious smile suddenly appeared at the corner of Louis's lips, and at the same time, his gaze swept behind her.
Mia frowned slightly and turned around, following his gaze.
At the restaurant entrance, a handsome man and beautiful woman happened to walk in.
Mia's face instantly turned cold as ice.
It was James and that girl in the red dress.