This morning, my husband invited me to go hiking. It wasn't until we arrived that I realized his dream girl was coming too.
Furious, I turned to leave, but a flash flood hit just as I reached the parking lot.
Layla and I struggled to climb onto a boulder, shivering as we waited for rescue.
I hugged my knees and watched Layla nearly fall into the water in her panic. I couldn't help but advise her.
"Don't move around. Sit still and wait. Fabian will come to rescue us soon. Don't fall in before help arrives. "
I was confident Fabian would come quickly.
Despite our ongoing cold war, I believed he wouldn't ignore our five–month–old child.
After all, it's his child too. He couldn't be that heartless.
But I underestimated his coldness and ruthlessness.
When the lifeboat, meant to carry three people, started to tilt due to my pregnancy, almost capsizing, he coldly ordered me.
"Jump down!"
"What?"
I thought I misheard him and looked at him in confusion. His voice grew even colder.
"I said, get down. It's because of you that we're overloaded. We can't all die here, can we?"
He gestured to a nearby boulder with his eyes.
"Swim over there and wait. My colleagues will rescue you soon. "
I bit my lip, trying hard not to cry.
"I can't, Fabian. I have a child in my belly. Let Layla…"
"No. "
Before I could finish, he interrupted me.
"Layla can't swim. She'll die if she goes down!"
Seeing that I was still hesitating, he seemed impatient and directly picked me up threw me into the water.
The strong will to survive made me cling to the edge of the boat. Proud as I was, I couldn't help but cry and beg him at that moment.
"Fabian, you can ignore me, but you can't abandon our child.
"He hasn't been born yet. He hasn't seen this world. You can't be so cruel. "
He leaned down, staring at me without expression.
"Lucy, you can swim. I know you can.
"I saw you leave my brother behind and swim back to shore alone. "
The coldness in his eyes made me shiver all over.
"No, back then…"
I didn't get to finish before he broke my fingers one by one and pushed me into the
water.
The icy floodwater instantly engulfed me. I struggled in the water, but could only watch helplessly as Fabian took Layla away.
He didn't even look back to see if I had climbed onto the boulder.
In his heart, my life and our child's life were less important than Layla's little toe.
I had loved him for so many years. Even if his heart was made of stone, it should have warmed by now.
But no, he found even looking at me disgusting.
Before sinking to the bottom, I took one last look in the direction he left.
A bitter smile appeared on my lips.
He probably still didn't know that I couldn't swim at all.