"Give me time to investigate, instead of slandering me like this," Jin Ye said coldly. He found Su Ding's behavior too abnormal, her temper completely unreasonable.
"Investigate, investigate, how long do you plan to deceive me?"
Su Ding laughed in exasperation, "I want to believe you didn't do those things, but you don't know, do you? There were women's hairs in your suit this noon. I initially wanted to pretend I didn't see them, but the evidence has already come to my doorstep!"
"Jin Ye, last night I was attacked and knocked unconscious in an alley, and you ignored me, claiming you were drunk and fooling around with another woman. If anything had happened to me, it would have been a double tragedy. Do you have any heart at all!"
"Weren't the incidents before, like lipstick on your collar, and your evasiveness when you were unreachable on a business trip, already evidence?"
"I've convinced myself to forgive you time and again, to not overthink things, but now what? You just keep saying investigate. What have you investigated? The person you should investigate most is yourself. Jin Ye, do you even have a heart?"
"Ask yourself, since you returned from your business trip, how many times have you worked overtime? And recall how many times you picked me up and contacted me when we weren't together. I don't want to settle scores with you, but you have no idea what's going on in your own heart!"
"Su Ding!"
Jin Ye was directly enraged. He didn't understand where she got these specious reasons from, nor how he had become the cheater.
His face was so cold it looked like it could drip water, "Don't accuse me before things are investigated! The lipstick incident is in the past. I don't know who is framing me. The business trip was for work; the overseas project is very important!
I've done my best to take care of your emotions outside of my overtime hours, but do all my efforts mean nothing in your eyes?"
"Do you really take me for a fool? Trying to gloss over everything so casually?" Su Ding sneered, her voice carrying a chilling coldness.
"Su Ding, can you stop being unreasonable?" Jin Ye roared.
"Fine!"
Su Ding retorted angrily, then rushed to push the door open, intending to leave.
Jin Ye grabbed her arm in time, his face dark as he asked furiously, "Where are you going? Don't you know your current condition?"
"My body has nothing to do with you. You say I'm being unreasonable, so I'll show you unreasonable!" Su Ding shoved Jin Ye away fiercely, her force almost making the unsuspecting Jin Ye lose his balance.
Immediately after, she burst out the door!
She walked away quickly, leaving the hospital, hailed a taxi, and got in. She tried desperately to take deep breaths to calm herself, her hand carefully caressing her lower abdomen.
"Miss, where to?" the driver asked.
Su Ding remained silent, instead staring at the hospital entrance through the rearview mirror. She waited for about five minutes but didn't see Jin Ye follow her out. Her heart felt as if it was riddled with leaks, cold and desolate.
"To... drive around the East District," Su Ding closed her eyes.
The driver didn't say anything further and stepped on the accelerator, driving the car away.
Su Ding leaned quietly against the car window, watching the scenery flash by. Her heart was filled with melancholy, her mind replaying her hysteria from earlier.
She had lost her composure.
Jin Ye had also lost his.
She couldn't understand why, when things were going well between them, Jin Ye would do something to Jiang Jiayi. Why wouldn't he admit it? She, Su Ding, wasn't a clingy woman.
Hearing Jin Ye's denial brought a flicker of happiness deep in her heart, but also a strong feeling of dislike for her partner's dishonesty.
She had noted Jin Ye's previous neglect and coldness towards her.
It seemed she had always been a spiteful person, remembering the pain even after the wound had healed. She would even tear open old wounds to torment herself and others.
Regret?
If she could do it again, she would still act this way, but the disappointment was deeply rooted.
Su Ding had never imagined Jin Ye would call her unreasonable. She hadn't expected that she and Jin Ye would ever yell at each other with red faces. And most of all, she hadn't imagined that on the same day they learned about their new baby, they would completely fall out.
The sky gradually darkened, and the neon lights outside were stunning.
Men and women outside the car window held each other on the overpass, whispering sweet nothings. At this moment, she should have been embracing her lover sweetly, but now they were apart, reflecting separately.
"Miss, shall we continue?" the driver asked cautiously.
"Take me to the nearest hotel," Su Ding said indifferently.
After saying that, she took out her phone. It showed one missed call from Jin Ye.
One.
She had been gone for an entire afternoon, and only one call.
Su Ding smiled, a bitter smile that looked uglier than crying. Her heart ached almost to suffocation. Her fingers trembled slightly as she hovered over the screen, deleting that call record.
Out of sight, out of mind.
The car stopped at the entrance of a hotel. As Su Ding paid the taxi fare and was about to walk up the steps to book a room to rest, her phone buzzed with an incoming call.
It was Xin Jia'er calling.
When she answered, she heard Xin Jia'er's sweet voice, "Ding Ding, turn around."
Su Ding was a bit surprised. She turned her head and saw Xin Jia'er standing by the entrance of a nearby milk tea shop, waving at her.
When she saw Xin Jia'er's bright and warm smile, her cold, broken heart seemed to be infused with a warm current. When someone radiated kindness, she felt her energy surge.
She turned and walked towards Xin Jia'er.
Xin Jia'er ran over and linked arms with her, "Ding Ding, why are you here?"
"I, uh," Su Ding lowered her head, not knowing how to explain.
"Did you and Mr. Jin have a fight?" Xin Jia'er saw it immediately. Otherwise, why wouldn't she be going home?
Su Ding remained silent, tacitly admitting it.
Xin Jia'er smiled, "It's okay, couples quarrel sometimes. Don't be too sad. Are you planning to spend the night here?"
"Yes," Su Ding replied faintly.
"Ah, my home is nearby. You can stay with me," Xin Jia'er looked at her with concern. "Are you feeling unwell? Your face looks so pale. Have you eaten dinner?"
"Not yet," Su Ding didn't know whether to mention her pregnancy.
"Then come back with me, okay? I'll cook for you. I'm a really good cook. It's just me at home," Xin Jia'er invited warmly.
Xin Jia'er was a sincere girl. She always remembered Su Ding saving her abroad years ago. Seeing Su Ding looking so pathetic, she couldn't help but worry about her.
"Then, I'll trouble you." Su Ding hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
She was inconveniently pregnant now, and having a friend by her side made her feel somewhat at ease.
Xin Jia'er was delighted, "Then let's go home. I just dropped something off for a friend nearby and saw you. You looked like yourself, so I called and it was indeed you."
With that, the two took a taxi back to Xin Jia'er's home.
Her apartment was a studio, not large, but very cozy. For a single girl, it was a very nice place to live.
"I'll cook you some porridge, and also a cold dish, braised pork, and shredded potatoes. How about that? It's quite home-style," Xin Jia'er said, telling Su Ding to sit down as she prepared to cook.
"No need to go to so much trouble," Su Ding felt a bit embarrassed.
"It's not trouble at all. I cook often at home. It just depends on what you'd like to eat?" Xin Jia'er raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"I probably can't eat cold dishes," Su Ding remembered that pregnant women should avoid raw, cold, and stimulating foods, and she had to be particularly careful now.
"Did your period start?" Xin Jia'er asked.
"Um, I... I'm pregnant," Su Ding said somewhat awkwardly.
Xin Jia'er's eyes widened in shock, "Pregnant? And Mr. Jin could still make you run away from home? What kind of man is he? How many months are you?"
"A little over a month, just found out," Su Ding smiled.
"Then hurry up and go lie down in bed. Quickly, quickly, you need to be careful at just over a month," Xin Jia'er helped and ushered Su Ding onto the bed. "Wait for me to make something suitable for you to eat. You lie down and rest."
After saying that, she closed the door and went out, giving Su Ding no chance to refuse.
Su Ding chuckled and didn't refuse any further.
She lay down on the soft and comfortable bed. Perhaps she had thought too much during the day and expended her energy being angry. Soon after lying down, she fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, she could smell the fragrant aroma wafting from outside.
The hunger pangs in her stomach seemed to be completely stirred. Su Ding touched her belly. The slight ache in her lower abdomen from the afternoon was gone, only a feeling of hunger in her stomach remained.
She lifted the covers and got out of bed, just as Xin Jia'er called her for dinner.
The two sat down for dinner. Xin Jia'er had comforted her a few times earlier, telling her to stay with her for now and only return when Jin Ye came to apologize.
What kind of man gets angry at his pregnant wife!
Xin Jia'er felt indignant on Su Ding's behalf. Fearing Su Ding would be upset, she quickly changed the subject. As they were talking, Xin Jia'er's phone pinged.
Soon, Xin Jia'er's expression changed.
She directly dialed a number and shouted into the phone, "Where did you take this picture? Impossible, he said he was going on a business trip today."
After hearing something from the other end of the line, Xin Jia'er said somewhat unwillingly, "Fine, I'll go. He wouldn't do anything to betray me."
With that, she hung up the phone.
Su Ding looked at her worriedly, "Jia'er?"