More than a month earlier.

“Lorena!” Natsha called her name in a voice steeped in alcohol. “S..stand still! If you don’t, I.. I’ll make you sleep on the stairs!”

Lorena frowned at the volume, which was far louder than necessary.

Though her body was already unsteady, she still tried to cover Natsha’s mouth. Natsha, meanwhile, struggled to haul her own heavy body along while also supporting another person, her face flushing red from the effort.

Even with her mouth covered, that didn’t stop Natsha from continuing to grumble.

The two of them fell onto the bed. Lorena immediately curled herself into the blanket, but only a moment later, her shield was pulled away. She knitted her brows in irritation, mumbling a few meaningless sounds under her breath.

“Go take a shower! I... if you don’t, don’t e... even think about sleeping on the bed!!!” Natsha said as she tugged Lorena upright.

Lorena, of course, resisted but Natsha was just as stubborn.

After a bout of back and forth, Lorena finally decided to give in. She bluntly stripped off her figure-hugging dress, tossed it at Natsha’s face, and staggered away.

Natsha swayed where she stood, her vision suddenly darkening. She reached up and pulled the “piece of cloth” off her face.

Watching Lorena’s unsteady gait, she let out a short, mocking laugh.

“If I let you go to the b... bathroom alone, you’d probably just f... fall asleep in there!” So, with great gallantry, she helped Lorena move toward the bathroom more quickly.

The bathroom door closed. Natsha had completed her mission.

But somehow… something felt off.

Why… was she still in the bathroom?

============================

After so many years together, this might have been one of the rare moments when the scene both of them were facing happened to align so perfectly.

After running through a full “battle drill” in her mind, Natsha simply grabbed Lorena’s handbag from the table and said.

“Let’s go.”

Lorena lifted her head, lowering her hands from her face, and looked at her.

“Go where?”

“Home, obviously. Where else? At this point, who would even let you get a divorce?” Natsha said, that air of nonchalance, barely worn down by the years, still clinging to her.

Out of the thousands of possible ways to solve the problem, there was one option that never once appeared in either of their minds, erasing the existence of a new member altogether.

to be continued.

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Author's note: The gestational age of a pregnancy is not calculated from the day of intercourse, but from the first day of the last menstrual period.

Under my country law, a husband is not allowed to divorce his wife if she is pregnant, giving birth, or raising a child under 12 months old! :)))