When His Nauseous Sweetheart Frowns, the Tycoon's Family Takes Turns Pampering Her-Chapter 1: You’re Pregnant

Valoria, Hospital Emergency Department.

The smell of disinfectant filled her nostrils as Luna Axton slowly regained consciousness. A nurse changing the dressing for a patient in another bed saw that she was awake. "Miss Axton, are you feeling any discomfort?"

"No."

"Don’t overexert yourself for a while. You’re pregnant."

Luna Axton was instantly wide awake. "Pregnant?"

The nurse teased, "You missed your period. You didn’t know?"

"I..." Luna Axton trailed off, hesitant.

I don’t know how to explain the cryptomenorrhea, but it seems there’s no need to, she thought.

The nurse grabbed a stack of papers from a table and tossed them beside her. "Your medical records and bill. You can pay by scanning the code here, then you’re free to go."

Conscious of the eyes on her, Luna Axton didn’t dare to look too closely at the bill and the lab reports. She just opened her phone wallet and scanned the code to pay.

She walked out of the observation room and frantically checked her messages, terrified of being marked for an unexcused absence and losing her perfect attendance bonus.

The manager had indeed sent a message, but...

"Luna Axton, you don’t need to come in for your part-time job anymore. You fainted this time, and last time, you said your mom was in critical condition. Whenever you leave, your coworker is left to work alone, getting overwhelmed and even yelled at by customers. No one is willing to be on the same shift as you now. Here is your final pay for this month."

Luna Axton stared at the 1,080 dollars payment and immediately placed a voice call to the manager. "Manager, please give me one more chance. I really need this job, I’m begging you."

The manager was unmoved. "Luna Axton, everyone has their own problems. If you can’t handle yours, that’s on you. Begging won’t help."

"Manager, my mom needs a liver transplant. I really need this job. I’m so sorry. I can work the shifts alone, let my coworkers take a day off..."

Before she could finish the word "off," the call was disconnected.

Helpless tears instantly welled up, sliding down to her lips—cold against her heart, salty on her tongue.

Her best friend, Joy Coleman, rushed over. The person who called hadn’t been clear, only saying that Luna had fainted at her part-time job and been taken away in an ambulance.

Seeing Luna Axton biting her lip, her face tight with unshed tears, Joy’s heart clenched in panic. "Luna, are you okay?"

Luna Axton kept her head down, not daring to look at Joy Coleman. "Joy, let me treat you to that grape-flavored fruit tea."

Luna Axton forced a smile, but an unshakeable bitterness filled her heart.

Fruit tea!

Alarm bells went off in Joy Coleman’s head. "What are you doing?!"

Panicked, she grabbed Luna Axton’s chin, turning her face from side to side to examine it. Luna’s face was pale, her skin clear, but her eyes were dull and circled with dark rings. Other than looking malnourished and sleep-deprived, she didn’t seem to have any serious illness.

Luna only makes eighteen yuan an hour, and she’d finish that tea in a few sips.

That’s Mrs. Axton’s life-saving money, and Luna is actually offering to buy her fruit tea with it. Something must have happened that she can’t handle on her own.

"Luna Axton, what in the world is wrong?" Joy Coleman’s voice trembled, her own eyes filling with tears. "Whatever it is, don’t try to carry it all by yourself. You still have me and my parents."

"That’s why I said I’d buy you a fruit tea. Let’s find a place to sit, and I’ll tell you."

"I don’t want a fruit tea. Let’s go to the park next to us. Sitting in the park is free."

Having grown up together, Luna Axton knew exactly what Joy was doing. She was protecting Luna’s fragile pride. A twenty-something-dollar fruit tea wasn’t expensive for most people, but for Luna, it was.

Twenty-something dollars could be a day’s nursing fee for her mother, the cost of her bed, or a shot of painkillers. A drink someone else could order without a second thought weighed on her like a mountain.

The late autumn wind had a chill to it. It was cold enough on her face to snap her back to her senses, restoring all reason.

Even sitting in the sun, Luna Axton couldn’t feel a hint of warmth.

"Look." Luna Axton pulled out the lab report and gave it to Joy Coleman. She stared at the bare tree branches and the dry, yellowed lawn, her heart a desolate wasteland.

She’s a medical student, someone who’s supposed to save lives. Was she going to have a life on her conscience before she could even graduate?

Joy Coleman quickly scanned the diagnosis on the report: Early Pregnancy.

"You’re pregnant!" Joy Coleman shot to her feet, furiously rolling up her sleeves as if ready for a fight. "Fuck, who’s the bastard that did this to you? I’ll kill him."

She’ll tear up the law books if she has to, just to send that bastard to prison!

Luna Axton looked at Joy Coleman, touched. "It was consensual."

Joy Coleman’s righteous fury vanished in an instant, like air from a punctured balloon. She silently sat back down beside Luna Axton and wrapped her arms around her friend’s frail body.

It was consensual. Tearing through law books would be pointless now.

"With your cryptomenorrhea, you wouldn’t have noticed." Joy Coleman tried to comfort her. "Look, it’s only been eight weeks. You should still be able to get it taken care of. I’ll find a clinic for you right now. I’ll go with you."

"But..." Luna Axton’s nose tingled, and tears crashed down her cheeks. "At eight weeks, it has a heartbeat and a fetal pole."

Luna Axton rarely cried, but now, even biting her lip until it could bleed, she couldn’t hold back the tears and snot. One life wasn’t allowed to begin, another couldn’t be saved. She felt like her life was a complete disaster.

Joy Coleman held her tighter. It has to be done.

The reality of the situation was clear: Mrs. Axton was sick and needed a fortune, and Luna still had four years of school left. Luna could barely support herself, looking as fragile as if a puff of wind could blow her over. How could she possibly raise a child?

Having the baby just wasn’t realistic.

Joy Coleman sighed silently. Any words of comfort seemed pale and meaningless in the face of Luna’s problems, and she didn’t have the means to help her either.

All she could offer was a hug and a shoulder to cry on when Luna was hurting.

"Joy, I haven’t even saved a single life yet, and I’m already about to kill one."

Luna Axton couldn’t accept it, her fists clenched tightly.

"Joy, I’ve tried so hard. Why is my life still such a mess?"

"Joy, I’m so tired. I just want to go back to Kensing. Back then, Mom wasn’t sick, and all I had to worry about was studying."

She had been diagnosed with cryptomenorrhea as a teenager; she would never menstruate but was still fertile.

That night was so brief. How could she have known she’d get pregnant from just one time? Why did the morning-after pill have to be so expensive? Why did a tube of anti-inflammatory cream have to be so expensive?

After paying the hospital bill, all the money she had left was only enough to buy a single tube of anti-inflammatory cream.

The weather was cold, and the park was nearly empty.

The two girls held each other, crying silently.

As Luna Axton cried, Joy Coleman cried with her.

RING RING RING...

Luna Axton’s phone blared from the bench. When she saw the caller ID, her tears stopped abruptly, and her heart seized. She answered the phone, her voice full of apprehension. "Hello, Doctor."

"Your mother’s medical bill is overdue. You have three days to pay, or we will stop her medication."

With that, the call ended.

Luna Axton stared at her cracked phone screen, her own heart feeling just as shattered. Her thoughts were a tangled mess. Her hand subconsciously drifted to her flat stomach as she whispered inwardly, I’m so sorry, little one. I can’t afford to raise you. Go back and find a new family, one with money, time, and both a mommy and a daddy.

"What’s wrong with Mrs. Axton?" Joy Coleman asked, seeing the pensive look on her face after the call, an unshakeable sorrow in her eyes.

"It’s nothing." Luna Axton forced a smile. "Joy, I have to go to the hospital."

"Luna, I just got paid. I’ll transfer it to you. If it’s not enough, I’ll figure something else out." She couldn’t transfer the money in front of Mrs. Axton; it would wound the older woman’s pride.

"It’s fine. I have money."

Joy Coleman’s hand, which was about to enter her password, froze. Something was wrong.

How much could Luna Axton possibly make from her part-time job? Mrs. Axton’s medical bills are a bottomless pit. Where would Luna get that kind of money?

"Luna Axton, be honest with me. What’s the real story behind this pregnancy?"

Luna Axton was perfectly calm. "Medical bills."

It was only two words, but Joy Coleman understood everything.

Words of frustrated disappointment rose to her lips, but she bit her tongue and swallowed them back down. She knew Luna’s situation better than anyone. For money, Luna would do anything.

She can’t help her with anything, so what right did she have to judge her?

"That night..."