His Homecoming Was My Nightmare

My husband's first love gets engaged. To make her regret it, he abandons me, his newlywed wife, and joins a research project down at the southern tip of the earth.

I've made 999 attempts across several years to visit him, with each one ending in failure. After five years, I stopped going.

During a lively birthday party, he suddenly shows up.

When he sees my slightly bulging belly, he howls in anger. "I spent five years at the research base, and not once did you care about how I was doing! Who's the father of the bastard child you're pregnant with?"

"It's none of your business," I calmly reply.

In a fit of rage, Walter Gray kicked over the birthday cake and snarled, "Alice Carter! I've only been working abroad for five years, and you've gone and got yourself knocked up? You're such a shameless woman! Tell me who the father of this bastard child is. I'm going to make sure he'll never survive in Salton!"

Seeing the meticulously prepared birthday party ruined by Walter, my own temper flared. "Walter, this is not the time and place for you to go on a rampage. Stop acting crazy. If there's something wrong with you, go to a hospital."

The mention of the word "hospital" sent Walter into a frenzy at once. He came straight at me, grabbing my arm and dragging me toward the door.

"Go and get an abortion at the hospital right this instant!"

He was too strong. I could barely even attempt to struggle.

Just then, Ethel, Walter's grandmother, heard the commotion and hobbled over with her cane. When she saw Walter's violent actions, her heart jumped into her throat. "Walter! Let go of Alice at once! She's pregnant with—"

Walter's emotions had eased a little when he saw Ethel, but after hearing what she said, his rage shot through the roof again. He immediately cut her off, saying, "My, my. You really are something, Alice. You've even got Grandma wrapped around your finger!"

Then, he slapped me across the face. My face swelled up at once, and blood appeared at the corner of my mouth.

Ethel was horrified by what she saw. She reached out to try to rescue me from Walter, but his bodyguards kept her away.

He instructed his bodyguards to call up a doctor at a private hospital to prepare for the abortion. While making the arrangements, he continued hauling me out to the car.

Ethel insisted on tagging along with the bodyguards in the other car.

Meanwhile, none of my friends who attended the party dared to step forward and lend a hand. On the contrary, they were gleefully relishing the spectacle. Walter's family, the Grays, were rich and powerful. None of them wanted to offend him. Instead, they were more than happy to do him a favor.

Soon, the car pulled up outside the private hospital. Hugo Atkinson, the hospital director, came out in person to greet Walter.

Ignoring Hugo's attempts to