On the large screen in the hospital waiting hall, a lavish engagement party played out. The young girl sitting next to me was captivated, sighing about what a perfect couple they made. I lowered my gaze, my hand instinctively coming to rest on the gentle swell of my abdomen. A bitter irony twisted in my chest. There he was, the father of my child, basking in a chorus of congratulations as he held his smiling fiancée, while I was here, waiting to have his baby aborted. Suddenly, the phone in my purse buzzed to life. The screen lit up with his name: Gu Zhizhou. I froze. Glancing up at the monitor, I saw the image of the bride and groom had been replaced by a commercial. I answered. "All done?" "Where are you?" he asked, ignoring my question. My pulse hammered. I couldn't bring myself to say the word ‘hospital.’ "Just out shopping," I managed. "We'll meet tonight," he said, his voice flat, edged with a familiar coldness. He'd hung up before I could reply. It wasn't a request; it was a summons. "Tang Li, age 26, eight weeks pregnant." The doctor read from the report, her eyes on me. "The fetus has a heartbeat and is developing normally. Are you sure you want to go through with the termination?" "We're sure," a middle-aged woman cut in before I could speak. "The procedure was scheduled, wasn't it? Why do you doctors ask so many pointless questions?" The doctor paused, taken aback, then turned her gaze to me. "Ms. Tang, while a termination isn't a major operation, we still require the father's signature on the consent form." "The father is busy getting engaged today. Can't I sign for him?" the woman demanded, snatching the pen from the doctor's hand. She scribbled a messy signature on the consent form: Fang Hui. Then she hurried the doctor along. As Fang Hui pushed me toward the operating room, my chest felt tight. I looked back at her. "Ms. Fang, this is still Zhizhou's child. Shouldn't we at least ask him?" "Why are you making such a fuss? Did you forget he's getting engaged today?" Fang Hui snapped, her brow furrowed. "Did you really think the Gu family would let a woman like you carry their bloodline?" Her every word was a dagger to the heart. Inside the operating room. "Pants off, and hop up here," the surgeon said after a brief introduction. I hesitated, looking at the surgical table. "My underwear, too?" She gave me a single glance and nodded, then asked, "Are you wearing a pad?" I nodded, my fingers twisting the hem of my shirt. Nerves. She grunted in acknowledgment and motioned for me to get on the table. I did as she asked, leaning back against the chair. She explained some of the procedural details, and as the anesthesia began to work its way through me, a heavy drowsiness set in. Clinging to my last shred of awareness, I managed to ask the doctor, "Will it hurt?" She offered a gentle smile. "No, it won't hurt. It'll be over in fifteen minutes." I pressed my lips together, a lump forming in my throat. My voice caught as I asked, "Will the baby feel it?" She froze. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Then, silence. The anesthetic was too strong. I drifted into darkness. I'd braced myself for excruciating pain, but it was nothing like that. It felt as if I’d simply fallen asleep. When I woke, I was in a recovery bed, the dull ache in my belly the only reminder that the child had ever been real. Gu Zhizhou's call came through. I didn't say a word as his deep, resonant voice filled the silence. "Which street are you on? I'll come pick you up." "Don't bother," I said, my hand instinctively finding the hollowness of my abdomen. He was growing impatient. "Send me your location!" "The baby's taken care of, Tang Li." Fang Hui's voice cut through the air before I could reply. She strode in on high heels, a fruit basket in hand and a look of smug satisfaction on her face. "If you don't want a repeat of this, you'll stay far away from Zhizhou." On the other end of the line, his breath hitched. His voice turned dangerously low. "Whose baby is gone?" He didn't wait for my answer, his own voice cracking with a restrained fury. "Tang Li, where the hell are you?" His voice was so commanding, so piercing, that I panicked and blurted it out: "The women's hospital!"