Departed With A Belly {1}

I'm Certain Mr. Cadogan Cares About You

"W-Why?!" Summer asked after her split-second stump.

"Why else?"

"But..." She huffed with indignation.
"You two have been married for two
years. Two whole years! Does he not have a sliver of feelings for you? Besides, he's the father of your child, for goodness' sake! As a husband and a father, does he not feel any pity for you?"

Victoria fell silent. If she still held some kind of fantasy toward Alaric before
sending the text, then it was now dead for good.

What was that popular saying online again?

Oh, right... Your child is yours only when he loves you, and when he doesn't-forget about your child-even you are nothing.

Meanwhile, Summer was still rambling,
"Even without your two-year marriage, you two still grew up together. Does he not share the childhood sentiment either? Are you sure you made it clear to him, Vic? Why don't I-"

"Summer," Victoria interjected calmly.
"Say no more."

Any more words, and she would only feel even more humiliated. One time was enough. What did multiple times count as? Begging? If SO, she would rather leave it.

After ending Summer's call, Victoria washed up and energized herself for
work.

She drove to the company that day, and the first thing she did after
arriving at her desk was to check her work.

After making sure everything was okay, she finally pulled her phone out and booked an appointment.

Since she had decided to drop the child, she would have to get it done soon, As the time slots for this week were all taken up, she could only pick a time next week, but when it came to confirming her booking, Victoria suddenly could not help stopping her fingers.

There seemed to be a voice asking her,
"Do you truly want to lose the baby? Can you bear to do it?"

Then, another voice debated, "So what? Are you going to be their father since the baby doesn't have one?"

"What will be, will be. You've just begun your first trimester. A baby has to
be conceived for about nine months before it can come out. What are you
so worried about?"

"Will the problem be solved just because you avoid it? Even if you don't do
it now, you still have to do it later."

"But he isn't just Alaric's child. He's yours too. Your blood runs in his veins, no?"

"So what? You don't know the pain of growing up with only a single parent."

At that moment, Victoria was practically torn as two voices argued non-stop.

One told her to keep the child, while the other told her to abort it.

Her head was in a total mess right then.

It was then Yasmin came toward her.

"Miss Victoria, this is the draft proposal for IC Corp.'s project. Please see if there's anything to be amended."

Victoria locked her phone right away and placed it on her desk.

Her speedy action stumped Yasmin a little, but since she was a subordinate and should not be asking about her higher-up's private matters, she could only suppress her curiosity and hand the proposal to Victoria.

Seeing that Yasmin remained standing on the spot after she took the file, she asked, "Yes? Anything else?" At that, Yasmin took a gander at her and asked softly, "You're doing okay now, aren't you, Miss Victoria? You scared me to death when you passed out a couple of days ago."

Speaking of that, Victoria wondered.
"Were you the one who called him over that day?"

"Yeah." Yasmin nodded. "I couldn't wake you up no matter how, so I went to Mr. Cadogan."

No wonder I woke up in his car.

"Miss Victoria, you have no idea how worried Mr. Cadogan was when I told
him you might've passed out that day."

Victoria was unsure what Yasmin wanted by telling her that. Is she trying to butter up to me? Thus, she chose her words wisely.

"Is that so? How nervous are we talking about?"

"Well, I've never seen Mr. Cadogan so nervous and worried apart from that day in all my years in the company. Many executives were reporting work to him at the time, but as soon as he heard you'd passed out, he left them aside and ran here to carry you into the car."

With that, she blinked at Victoria. "I'm certain Mr. Cadogan cares about to you"

"You think so?"

She stood awkwardly on the spot for a long while, unsure of what to say to ease the atmosphere. Due to Alaric's attitude, she had forgotten about the woman next to him.

However, Yasmin did not make much of it at the time, but now that Victoria had pointed it out, it was indeed somewhat amiss.

It was because... that woman hung out in the CEO's office, and some hearsay had been spreading in the office because of her.

Seeing that the young woman stood blankly on her spot, Victoria rubbed
her dull, aching temples and dismissed her softly. "Go on, get back to work."

"Oh, okay."

Victoria gazed at her and blurted, "Did you not see another woman by his side?"

That was all it took to drench Yasmin's burning passion for shipping office.

After Yasmin left, Victoria picked her phone back up and confirmed her
booking. There's nothing to hold on to, really, she thought.

At noon, Noel texted her, inviting her to join him for lunch.

As Victoria's mind was still in a mess, she wanted to turn him down, but at the thought that he had sorted out her work for her, she agreed to it.

When it was lunchtime, she went downstairs and waited for him in the
lobby. He said he would drive her there, and she did not oppose it.

While waiting for him, she checked her work schedule for the afternoon on her phone when the people in front began gossiping.

"That's Mr. Cadogan's car, isn't it? Why would he only come in at this hour?"

At that, Victoria reflexively looked up and found the black Cayenne at first
glance.

Her heart skipped a beat as she know only he would drive that car.

The vehicle might not have been slow, but the window was down, and when it passed by, Victoria saw Claudia sitting in the front passenger seat.

She had come to work in a light blue outfit, and her long hair was hung
loosely around her shoulders. When she looked out the window, she happened to meet Victoria's eyes as the young woman stood amongst the employees.

Claudia was taken aback for a second before smiling at her.

Alaric, on the other hand, was focused on the road ahead, so he did not notice it.

It was not until the Cayenne entered the building that the employees in front of Victoria began gossiping.

"Who's that woman? I can't believe she can sit in Mr. Cadogan's front passenger seat.

I heard they stayed in the office until late last night and also left together."

" I also heard this from someone else.
She's the woman Mr. Cadogan fancies and has just returned to the country not long ago."

"The woman Mr. Cadogan fancies? But isn't he and Miss Selwyn already married?"

"What are you, an idiot? You don't genuinely think marriages between the
rich are real, do you? Everyone's saying that Mr. Cadogan and Miss Selwyn's marriage is fake. Or else, why would she still be a secretary now? Besides, there hasn't been news of her pregnancy even until now."
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Published on: October 16, 2023
Word count: 1274 words