CEO Ex-Husband, Don't Bother Me-Chapter 44: Pregnancy and Marriage (4)

"What? You don’t want this child now?"

She bit her lip habitually, her silence serving as her answer. Julian Donovan’s smile was sinister and horrifying.

"Heh, how could I possibly let you get your way? The more you don’t want it, the more I’m going to make you have it for me!"

Her slender frame swayed, her eyes filled with nothing but pain as she looked at him. Julian Donovan ignored her, turning instead to give orders to Arnold and Ken, who were waiting outside the door.

"Someone, take her back!"

Arnold came in and carefully supported Naomi Shaw.

"Miss Naomi, let me take you back, okay?"

Dazed and weak, Naomi Shaw let Arnold lead her out. She felt as if she had just survived a terrible ordeal, both on the operating table and in her confrontation with him. ’I don’t understand what he’s thinking at all. He’s actually letting me have the baby? Even if it’s just to spite me, he shouldn’t be doing this, should he? If he has a child with another woman, how will he ever face Juliet Jennings?’

The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, so she decided to stop thinking altogether. In any case, she had never really understood him. As for the child, since he had ordered it, she could only obediently give birth. Truthfully, she didn’t have the heart to lose the baby anyway; she couldn’t bear it.

Ian Shaw and Mrs. Sommers had also heard about her plan to get rid of the baby. Ignoring his own pain, Ian Shaw had Mrs. Sommers wheel him over. Seeing Arnold helping her out, he said to her, his heart aching.

"Naomi, how could you be so foolish? How could you joke around with your own health like that!"

Naomi Shaw knelt down and softly comforted Ian Shaw, who had been thoroughly frightened by her actions.

"I’m sorry, Dad. It won’t happen again."

For some reason, she could understand the heartache Ian Shaw felt for her. They say your body is a gift from your parents. Perhaps only after becoming a parent oneself can one truly grasp the deep concern parents have for their children, just as she was starting to now. The mere thought of the little life in her belly one day failing to cherish itself as she had done sent a pang of anguish through her heart.

She decided that no matter what happened from now on, she would live well.

Ian Shaw patted her hand and said earnestly,

"As long as you understand how I feel. Now hurry back and get some proper rest!"

Naomi Shaw nodded, stood up, and followed Arnold out.

Julian Donovan had been watching her interaction with Ian Shaw with cold eyes. As he watched her leave with Arnold, his chest was still heaving, his anger yet to subside. The thought that she would have already gotten rid of the child if Ken hadn’t noticed something was wrong made him want to strangle her.

Ian Shaw glanced at Julian Donovan, who stood there with an icy expression, before simply shaking his head with a sigh and having Mrs. Sommers wheel him back. Analyzing the situation from a man’s perspective, Ian believed that if a man had no feelings for a woman whatsoever, he would never allow her to bear his child.

He had suspected before that Julian had some feelings for Naomi, which was why he had used the debt of gratitude from all these years to pressure Julian into marrying her. This new development only served to confirm his suspicion. Perhaps Julian himself just hadn’t realized it yet. Ian could only hope that after they were married, their feelings would gradually deepen through their time together.

Arnold took Naomi Shaw home. He encouraged her with a bright smile unique to a boy his age.

"Miss Naomi, you have to be strong! When your baby is born, I’ll take him out to play everywhere!"

She forced a smile for Arnold. He was only fifteen or sixteen, and she herself was only twenty. ’Why does my heart feel as weary as an old woman who has seen too much of the world?’

After returning home, she took a shower and lay down in bed. She had been through too much in the last two days and felt exhausted. She had thought he would neither marry her nor let her have the baby, but he had agreed to both. She knew he hated her and was using this loveless marriage as a way to torture her.

Recalling his words about going to Meridia right after the wedding, she buried her face in her blanket and cried silently in sorrow.

’From now on, the only thing I can do is to stop my heart from hoping. Don’t hope he’ll be good to me, don’t hope he’ll return my love, and especially don’t hope he’ll ever fall in love with me. If I don’t hope, I won’t feel the pain of disappointment.’ She comforted herself with these thoughts and fell into a deep sleep.

They say love can make you grow up overnight. Perhaps that was what was happening to her now.

The sky was already dark when Naomi Shaw woke up. After a good sleep, she finally felt her energy restored. Thinking of the little life inside her, a small smile graced her lips in the darkness. ’From now on, he will be my everything. I will live a good life for him.’

She got up, turned on the light, and went downstairs. Julian Donovan hadn’t returned. She checked next door, but Lara Nash and Ronan Joyce weren’t back either. According to Lara, she was going to Syan with Ronan, apparently to visit his parents. She was genuinely happy for Lara, because the man she loved accepted her so completely, even taking her to meet his parents.

It wasn’t like that for her. For two years, she’d had no official status, and now that she finally did, it was only because of her father and the child in her belly. She gave a self-deprecating smile as she turned on the TV and walked to the kitchen to make something to eat. Even though she had no appetite, she had to think about the baby.

The news on TV was reporting on their marriage. He had issued a statement announcing he was going to marry her. She truly hadn’t expected him to make their marriage public. She had assumed that even if he agreed to marry her, there would be no wedding. ’If Juliet Jennings found out he was married, how could she ever come back to him?’

But listening to the news report, she couldn’t help but feel a faint sense of anticipation for their wedding. Then, she gave a bitter smile. ’Look at you, always forgetting your lesson. Didn’t you promise yourself you’d stop hoping? Why are you letting yourself fall into this state of sorrow again?’

She forced herself to eat. By the time she finished, Julian Donovan still hadn’t come back. ’Perhaps he won’t be coming back here anymore,’ she thought. Over the past two years, as The Shaw Dominion grew, his own wealth had accumulated rapidly. She’d heard he had bought several luxurious villas, but she had never asked about them, so she didn’t know if he was hiding a mistress in one of them.

Besides, she was pregnant now. The doctor had instructed them to abstain from sex for the first three months. As a doctor himself, he would certainly know that. ’So my presence here has even less value now, doesn’t it?’

After eating, she went to the hospital to visit Ian Shaw. After everything she had been through that day, she felt that family was the only thing in the world she could truly rely on.

As expected, Julian Donovan never returned after that day. Their wedding was set for a week later. Ken was extremely diligent, arranging every detail of the wedding in perfect order. He even sent people to take her measurements for a custom-made wedding gown and dresses, and consulted her on many matters. However, between her low spirits and the early symptoms of pregnancy, she just told Ken to take care of everything.

The preparations on her side were handled entirely by Mrs. Sommers. Since she and Julian Donovan were both from Syan, everything was being prepared according to Syanese customs. Ian Shaw gave Mrs. Sommers instructions bit by bit, and Mrs. Sommers carried them out accordingly.

The moment Lara Nash returned, she heard the news about Naomi’s pregnancy and upcoming marriage to Julian Donovan. Shocked, she stormed next door to confront her.

"Naomi, why are you marrying him? Why are you having his baby? He doesn’t even love you! And you’re so young. Is it worth it to throw away your youth and your education for him?"

Because of the pregnancy, Naomi Shaw had to temporarily withdraw from her studies. After the baby was born, she would have to raise it. She had no idea when she would be able to finish her degree. By the time her classmates graduated, she would still be at home with a child.

Naomi Shaw fell into a helpless silence. What could she say? That things between her and Julian Donovan were getting more and more complicated? That the situation was now completely out of her control? She had wanted to get rid of the baby and sever ties with him, but he had dragged her off the operating table, hadn’t he?