Your First Love is Pregnant? I'm Done Being Mrs. Hawthorne!

###Chapter 26: I Am Your Wife

At dinnertime, Zachary Hawthorne ate in a slow, deliberate manner, while Nina Wainwright sat beside him, forced to eat another meal.

After they finished, Silas Sinclair came over with some medicine.

Zachary held the medicine, studying it for a long time before finally speaking to Nina, who was sitting beside him, eager to leave. "Go wash your face. I’ll put the ointment on."

"It’ll be fine by tomorrow," Nina said.

She still had to go to the hospital to bring Mrs. Wainwright dinner. If she was too late, her mother would start nagging again, saying she didn’t care about her... calling her unfilial and so on.

Nina was sick of hearing it.

"Nina," Zachary called out, his voice laced with authority. "If you don’t do as I say, you’re not leaving."

Nina gritted her teeth and had no choice but to get up and go to the bathroom.

Zachary followed her into the bathroom and turned on the hot water until it was steaming. He took a towel, soaked it, and after making sure the temperature was just hot enough to bear, he gently cradled Nina’s head and pressed the towel to her face. "The wound on your abdomen took forever to heal into a scar. This is your face, your image. Don’t you know how to cherish it?"

A pang went through Nina’s heart.

She looked up, gazing at Zachary, and on a sudden, inexplicable impulse, she asked, "Did you ever love me, Zachary?"

With his hand still holding the towel, Zachary’s eyes crinkled with a smile. "What do you think?"

Nina had never liked it when people answered a question with a question.

But Zachary’s response snapped her back to reality. ’What’s the point in asking?’ she thought. ’He can just lie to me.’

"Forget it. I don’t know what I was thinking," Nina said, lowering her gaze.

Zachary leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth.

Nina tried to resist, but his hand held her head firmly in place. Zachary cupped the back of her head, forcing her to face him.

As their lips met, he stole her breath away. Her body went weak, and her eyes began to well with tears.

When Zachary finally pulled away, he cupped her face, his breathing heavy. "Nina..."

Nina knew he was aroused.

Zachary had a strong libido. They had argued, and she hadn’t come home for a few days. He was definitely going to collect his due, with interest.

"I don’t want to," she refused again.

Zachary didn’t get angry. Instead, he asked, "Does your face still hurt?"

He always had a way of finding the cracks in her stone-clad heart, breaching her defenses with his gentle assaults. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

From the beginning, Nina had always been susceptible to this side of him.

His question only made her tears flow faster. ’My parents don’t love me, and my husband has another woman.’ She thought of Diana Aldridge, and then of herself... How was her situation any different from being completely and utterly alone?

She was drowning in debt.

Zachary continued to press the warm towel to her face, soothing the spot where she had been hit.

The warmth spread across Nina’s cheek, and the pain began to fade.

When he was done, Zachary led her by the hand out of the bathroom and sat her down on the living room sofa. He opened the ointment, dabbed a little on his finger, and meticulously applied it to her skin.

Nina watched his face, so close to hers, her heart a whirlwind of conflict.

She wanted to give in to his kindness, just like she used to, but she knew his affection was a deceptive abyss. If she allowed herself to sink into it, she would never be able to climb back out.

While her thoughts were running wild, Zachary captured her lips in a kiss.

He pressed her down onto the sofa, and soon she was dizzy from his kisses.

Her body gradually softened. Zachary knew her body all too well. By the time her clothes were stripped away, she could no longer resist his advances.

Zachary’s breathing was ragged. He kissed her and asked, "Are you still going to fight me?"

Tears blurred Nina’s vision. Unable to take any more, she whispered, begging for mercy, "No more..."

Zachary pressed down on her, his voice a sexy, bewitching rasp. "You say that every time."

Nina didn’t know when it ended. She only knew that when she woke up again, Zachary was sleeping soundly beside her.

Ever since Luna Sterling had returned, he would always get dressed and leave immediately after they were finished... But this time, he had actually stayed.

But Nina didn’t feel happy about it.

She got up out of habit, grabbed one of his shirts to put on, and rummaged through a cabinet for the morning-after pill.

She had always known this kind of pill was bad for her body... but when Zachary got carried away, he wouldn’t use a condom. Like tonight.

She took one, then walked into the bathroom.

After showering, she returned to the bedroom, got dressed, and prepared to leave.

Just as she reached the bedroom door, she heard Zachary’s hoarse voice. "What, you’re just going to leave after having your way with me?"

Nina found him utterly ridiculous. ’Who had their way with whom tonight?’ she fumed silently. ’Who was the one bullying the other for over two hours?’

"I have things to do at the hospital," Nina said calmly, not wanting to argue with him.

Zachary raised an eyebrow. "Running to the hospital so often. Are you pregnant?"

"Do you have no common sense?" Nina was speechless.

’If I were pregnant, tonight would have been a disaster.’

Zachary sat up and yawned sleepily. "Nina, I’ll take you. When you’re done tomorrow, come back. Don’t stay out all night."

Nina frowned. "I can get a ride myself."

"We’re husband and wife. It’s only right that I take you," Zachary said.

Unable to refuse, Nina had no choice but to go downstairs and wait for him.

It was already past ten o’clock. Nina was completely drained from his rough handling, and her stomach was empty, but she didn’t say a word.

As Zachary came downstairs and was about to grab his phone, it started to ring.

Nina heard the special ringtone and her lips curled into a cold smile. "I guess you won’t be able to take me after all."

Zachary didn’t answer her. He just pressed the answer button, his tone unconsciously softening. "What’s wrong?"

"Yeah, I’m home. Okay, I’ll be right over." After a few simple replies, he hung up. He looked toward where Nina had been standing, about to say something, but found she was already gone.

Zachary chased after her. "Something came up. I have to go somewhere else. I’ll have Silas Sinclair come pick you up."

"Don’t bother," Nina said, her voice numb.

This had happened so many times. She didn’t care anymore. It didn’t matter.

Compared to the initial, heart-wrenching pain, she was just numb now.

Zachary grabbed her hand.

In the dark of the night, his slightly messy hair only served to accentuate his handsome features. "I’ll have Silas take you. I’m not trying to break my promise—"

"Zachary, you don’t need to explain anything to me. Your actions have already shown me who’s more important to you. Let’s just get divorced already. I really can’t take this anymore." With that, Nina forcefully shook his hand off.

She took a few steps, then broke into a run.

She ran out of Avelon Residence and onto the roadside, forcefully wiping away the tears that spilled from her eyes.

She stopped at a bus stop and stood there for a long while before finally taking a deep breath. The tightness in her chest was so suffocating she could barely breathe.

When would Zachary finally understand that she was his wife, not Luna Sterling!

She had been by his side for three years, but the moment his precious ’first love’ returned, he tossed her aside. Everything revolved around Luna Sterling.

He would spend tens of millions just to make Luna happy... yet when Nina asked for a mere hundred thousand, she had to suffer his humiliation!*****