Chapter 8
Daniel had looked down on Sarah, that angelic bitch, three years ago. Just thinking about William wanting to divorce his wife for that woman made him furious.
"You scumbag, you don't deserve my wine. Ava is such a sweet girl; anyone can see she's easy to push around. How did she end up with a piece of shit like you?"
William sneered,
"Easy to push around? Do you know how much money she's asking for?
Ten million dollars. She wants ten million dollars for the divorce, and she can't wait to get the papers done."
"Oh? That's too little."
The two of them drank through most of their stash. By the end, their tongues were too thick to speak clearly, but William kept mumbling,
"Ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Whoever doesn't show up is a dog."
William disappeared for the whole night. Everyone at the Morgan Mansion thought he hadn't come home, but only Ava knew he'd left in anger at midnight. He probably went back to JadeDragon Bay Residences.
At breakfast, Howard was cursing again,
"That bastard, just wait till he gets back and see how I deal with him."
The whole breakfast was tense; nobody dared to speak.
Emily kept sneaking glances at Ava, curious about how she'd gotten out.
Ava had important things to do today and didn't want trouble, so she ignored her.
After breakfast, Ava said goodbye to Howard and left alone, not even using the driver.
She first bought a few pregnancy test strips at a roadside pharmacy, then found a public restroom.
She opened the test strip and followed the instructions. In less than five minutes, she saw two bright red lines. She opened the other two and tested again - still two lines.
Ava sat on the toilet and broke down crying. She used to look forward so much to having a baby with William, but what should she do now that they were getting divorced?
Every time William was intimate with her, no matter how urgent, he would stop and carefully use protection. This baby was really hard to conceive.
But his attitude made it clear he didn't want to have children with her; otherwise, why would he use protection every single time?
After crying for a long time, she heard someone coming outside, so she collected herself and came out.
Her ID was in the suitcase that she'd left in Lucas's car yesterday. She needed to go to Lucas's place to get it.
Not sure if he was home, Ava called first. After two rings, someone answered.
"Lucas, are you home?"
"Don't even ask. My dad had acute appendicitis and underwent a minor surgery. I came back in the middle of the night to stay with him. I might not be back in Emerald City for a few days. William didn't do anything to you yesterday, did he?"
"I'm fine. I just want to get my suitcase. My ID is in it. William and I agreed to get divorced today."
"Oh, then I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few days. Your suitcase is in my car trunk - I forgot to take it out yesterday. But the door code hasn't changed. You can go stay there anytime. The guest room on the second floor is always yours."
Ava was touched for a while. After hanging up, she walked aimlessly on the street. Passing by a bank, she tried to check her bank card and was surprised to find it was working again. At least William had some conscience.
The card had tens of thousands of dollars in it, enough for her to spend for a while.
She planned to rent a place first and pick up the skills she'd put down three years ago.
The stolen ruby pendant design was a piece she'd drawn for a luxury jewelry company called Swan in Lumaria. Her contract required one design every six months.
Now that it had been plagiarized, she needed to create a new design to make up for it.
Time flew by, and it was ten o'clock. Ava felt anxious, not knowing how to shamelessly explain to William that her ID wasn't with her.
She thought it over for a long time, found a quiet place, and called William.
At the penthouse suite of ImperialLux Club, the phone rang several times with no answer.
William woke up to punches and kicks. Before he even opened his eyes, he heard Daniel cursing at him,
"You bastard, hugging me is one thing, but what's with all the groping on my chest?"
William sobered up completely. After seeing who was on the other side of the bed, he kicked in disgust, almost kicking Daniel to the floor.
He only remembered getting drunk yesterday. How did they end up in the same bed?
Daniel was about to lose it, yelling that he wasn't clean anymore, that he was dirty.
"Scumbag, you're such a scumbag! You've got a wife at home, a mistress outside, and you won't even spare your buddy. Are two kidneys enough for you? Did you just mistake me for Sarah?"
Thinking that he'd been groped all night while being mistaken for that bitch Sarah, Daniel got goosebumps all over.
William found it annoying,
"Stop talking nonsense. I never touched Sarah."
Daniel looked at him suspiciously. "You think I'll believe that?"
"Believe it or not, I don't need to explain anything to you. I have my moral boundaries. I won't touch her before the divorce. Besides, Sarah is such a pure girl; she wouldn't be that casual."
Daniel saw his serious expression and believed him for now, but felt a bit disgusted hearing him call Sarah pure.
"Haven't you heard that most women think men who cheat emotionally are harder to forgive?"
A name suddenly popped into William's head. He sneered and said nothing more.
Who was the one emotionally cheating, calling out someone else's name even in their dreams?
Just then, the phone rang again.
William raised his hand to check his watch. It was already quarter past ten.
He wondered if Ava was getting impatient waiting. When he answered the phone, he felt somewhat nervous.
"Mr. Morgan, are you there yet?"
That "Mr. Morgan" almost killed him. She used to call him William, her voice soft and gentle, especially nice to hear in the dark.
William maintained his composure on the surface and lied casually, "Not yet, almost there."
After a few seconds of silence on the other end,
"My ID is in Lucas's car. He won't be in Emerald City for a few days, so I'm afraid we'll have to wait a few days to do the paperwork."
William raised an eyebrow,
"If you don't want to divorce, just say so. It's not embarrassing."
Then he heard a busy tone on the phone.
Daniel almost laughed out loud nearby. How shameless!
After Ava explained this to him, she felt slightly relieved.
She didn't know if it was because of yesterday's cold, but her lower abdomen had a vague dragging pain, and her head was a bit dizzy.
She hailed a taxi on the street and went to the hospital to register for gynecology.
Gynecology and obstetrics were on the same floor. Most people coming for prenatal checkups were couples - the men waited in the hall while the women went in for examinations.
Watching pregnant women being carefully supported and protected one by one, she felt envious for quite a while.
After completing a bunch of tests, Ava took the ultrasound report to see the doctor.
"The baby's implantation position is very low. In your situation, you should rest in bed, avoid exercise, and come for regular prenatal checkups."
Ava looked panicked. "Doctor, what are the consequences of low implantation?"
The doctor reassured her,
"Easy to miscarry. Don't worry, just do as I say. Avoid fatigue, avoid stress, and it will move up later. Pay attention during this period, and there won't be problems. Also, you have mild anemia; for now, just improve your diet."
The doctor gave a bunch of other instructions, like no intercourse for the first few months, no emotional excitement, eat more seasonal vegetables and fruits, etc.
She came out of the consultation room with a pile of test results and sat in the waiting area to organize the lab reports.
A warm-hearted woman next to her, seeing she was alone, helped her organize them too.
"Did you come for the prenatal checkup alone? Where's your husband?"
Ava's heart clenched sharply,
"My husband is busy with work."
The woman looked at her with pity and advised,
"Men should be put to use when needed. If he doesn't help when you're pregnant, what's the point of having him? He must come with you for prenatal checkups; otherwise, he won't understand how hard it is for women to be pregnant.
When you're throwing up your guts, he doesn't see it. After the baby is born, he'll say, 'It's just having a baby, every woman has babies, why are you being so dramatic?'"
At this point, the woman suddenly patted Ava. "Hey, hey, look. That's the kind of man you should find - handsome and caring to his wife. Look how careful he is; you can tell he really dotes on his wife."
Ava looked up and followed where the woman was pointing. When she saw clearly who it was, her carefully managed emotions collapsed like a falling building, her heart twisting in pain.