The Poolside Decision

My name is Yolanda Sullivan, and I have been married to Carson Deer for two years. In these two years, we only shared intimacy twice. The first time was on our wedding night; I was so nervous that it ultimately did not happen. Since then, Carson Deer seemed to have lost all interest; we were like strangers living under the same roof. It was only a month ago that he returned from a business trip to Country A. We didn't go straight home but stayed at a hotel near the airport. We spent seven days together at the hotel. During those seven days, he seemed to let go of his usual coldness and was somewhat gentle with me. I even thought that perhaps our marriage might have a chance to turn around. After seven days, Carson threw himself back into work and hurriedly left home. A few days after he left, I noticed something was wrong with my body. My period was late, and I kept feeling inexplicably nauseous. I had a faint suspicion, so I quickly went to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test. When I saw the two clear red lines on the test, my hands trembled with excitement. I'm pregnant. Carson Deer and I are going to have a child. Holding the test stick, I sat in the living room for a long time, my mind racing with how to share this good news with Carson. I thought about waiting until he came home to tell him face to face, and I also considered calling him right away. In the end, I decided to prepare a gift first and wait until he was free to surprise him. But before I could prepare the surprise, the unexpected happened. That day, I was browsing online for baby products when a trending topic popped up on my phone. The headline was glaring—"Carson Deer, CEO of Deer Group, caught kissing a mysterious woman at the airport." My heart skipped a beat, and my fingers uncontrollably clicked on it. The photo was crystal clear; Carson wore the dark gray coat I had bought him, holding a woman in his arms. I recognized that woman—Gillian Quentin, Carson's cherished unattainable lover. In the photo, they were locked in a tight embrace, kissing passionately; Carson Deer's gaze held a tenderness I had never seen before. I stared at the photo, feeling as if all the blood in my body had frozen. It turned out that when he returned from Country A, it wasn't because he didn't have time to come home, but because he had gone to see Gillian Quentin first. It turned out that those seven days with him at the hotel might have been nothing more than a passing amusement for him. I turned off my phone, sat down on the sofa, and silently let my tears fall. The child in my womb seemed to sense my sorrow and moved gently. I touched my lower abdomen, and suddenly made a decision in my heart. I no longer want a marriage like this. I cannot let my child grow up in a loveless family, nor can I allow him to have a father whose heart belongs to someone else.