When I saw the test result, I sat quietly on the edge of the bed, remembering the night I believed I had been bought.
Ethan entered the room.
“What’s wrong?”
Without speaking, I handed him the test.
His hands began to tremble.
Then he knelt in front of me, resting his forehead gently against my stomach.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Not because I was giving him an heir.
But because I had stayed.
My mother later received the best medical care possible and even came to live with us for a while. I returned to school, finishing the education I had once been forced to abandon.
But the most important thing I learned had nothing to do with wealth or status.
I was never bought.
And Ethan was never broken.
We were simply two people wounded by the expectations of others.
And together, we rebuilt our lives.
Sometimes, on quiet nights beside the lake, I watch the moon reflect on the water and smile.
Because what once felt like the cruelest truth of my life…
became the beginning of the greatest love I never expected.
