Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
I had taken care of my disabled husband for six years. The day he finally stood up from his wheelchair, I thought I’d never been happier.
I’d planned to tell him that I was pregnant. I wanted it to be a surprise.
But that same night, the one who got away flew back home.
Julian didn’t come home at all.
He only returned the next morning.
I woke to the sound of him on the phone with his assistant, his voice low and tired.
“Once she wakes up, have her leave.”
I didn’t say a word. I packed my things and disappeared with his baby growing inside me.
Five years later, I was at preschool arguing with my daughter.
“You want a baby sister too? Your dad’s legs aren’t exactly reliable. I can’t count on him for that.”
Before Ellie could answer, a cold voice sounded from behind me.
“Take another look.”
The day Julian stood up from his wheelchair, I was so happy I could have cried.
He wouldn’t let me help him. Trembling, unsteady, he pushed himself up little by little from the chair.
For a moment, I could see the man he’d been six years ago again—the brilliant, untouchable Julian Sterling.
He looked at me and said, “Thank you, Sophia.”
Julian hadn’t smiled in a very long time.
I rested a hand over my stomach, emotions churning so hard inside me that I could barely sort through them.
“There’s actually something I want to tell you too.”
The words had barely left my mouth when his phone rang.
The second he saw the name on the screen, the smile on his handsome face froze.
“You’re not answering it?” I asked.
“It’s Lila.”
I hadn’t heard that name in a long time.
For a second, I went blank.
Right. Lila Hart. The one Julian had loved and never been able to have. The one who got away.
I took half a step back, sensible enough to make room, while keeping the same calm smile on my face.
“I’ll ask Mrs. Zhang to make more of the dishes you like.”
I didn’t say anything else. I turned and walked out.
But half my heart had already gone cold.
The moment I stepped outside, Mrs. Zhang came up to me with a warm smile. “Ms. Bennett, I made a whole table of Mr. Sterling’s favorite dishes today. And now that you need to take it easy during pregnancy, you should be eating well too. What else would you like?”
That’s right.
I was pregnant.
In that house, only Mrs. Zhang knew.
I had meant to tell Julian today.
But…
From inside the room came his voice, faint and slightly unsteady.
“When did you get back?”
I understood immediately.
I didn’t keep listening. I pressed a hand over Mrs. Zhang’s and said softly, “Don’t bother, Mrs. Zhang. Something came up at Sterling Holdings today. Mr. Sterling won’t be home for dinner.”
Two in the morning.
Julian still hadn’t come back after leaving with his private doctor.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Exactly as expected.
I sat there staring at my chat window with him, not really reading a word.
Our message history was painfully dull. My screen was filled with long stretches of green bubbles—almost all of them mine. It wasn’t always like that. We only started texting more often after we got married six years ago.
Because that was when I could finally bother him openly.
Even if his replies were usually one or two words at most.
I had loved him in secret for five years. Back then, I truly thought there would never be any overlap between our lives.
Then he got into that car accident and his left leg was permanently injured.
A man as proud as Julian had never really been able to lift his head again in front of the one who got away.
The day Lila left for overseas, I gathered every ounce of courage I had and confessed to him.
He agreed to marry me out of spite.
No matter the reason, I still ended up with the man I loved. That meant I was the one who came out ahead.
I was so happy I didn’t sleep all night.
And then…
I spent six years taking care of him in that wheelchair.
I helped him manage Sterling Holdings, climbing from an invisible little employee to the Ms. Bennett everyone at the company knew.
Whatever he needed, I did my best to give him.
Including… that.
After six years together, I could feel it—Julian had slowly started to accept me.
I had everything I needed. A comfortable life. And the man I loved had started, little by little, to love me back.
I had been content.
Until today.
Somewhere while scrolling through our chat logs, I fell asleep.
Ever since getting pregnant, everything about me had felt strangely light, as if I could drift off at any moment.
At dawn, the sound of a phone ringing jolted me awake.
There was an extra blanket draped over me.
Then I heard Julian’s cold voice from outside the door.
“When she wakes up, send her away.”
Oh.
Lila was back.
So it was my turn to leave.
It had come later than I’d expected.
So I wasn’t all that surprised.
After Julian left for Sterling Holdings, I quietly packed my things without saying a word.
Anything I had bought with my own money, I took.
Everything.
Including his boxers.
I called a moving company.
Before I left, I placed the divorce papers on the table.
Mrs. Zhang hurried after me and asked what was going on.
I only pressed my lips together and smiled. “Miss Hart is back. Take good care of her. And anything that shouldn’t be said—don’t say it.”
Mrs. Zhang parted her lips, but in the end, she said nothing.
Right before I left, I turned and looked one last time at the half-empty bedroom.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
In the corner, the potted orange jasmine I’d planted for Julian by hand was glowing in the sunlight.
I froze for a second.
Then a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
So it was true—looking up at someone for too long really could wear you out.
All these years, just to make him happy, I had offered him everything my heart could think of, like a child proudly presenting treasures.
And every time, all I got from him was a cool, indifferent, “Mm.”
That orange jasmine was one of the very few things he had openly disliked out of everything I ever forced on him.
The way he disliked me.
I was just about to go back in and take the plant with me too when the movers called.
Forget it.
I knew exactly how he was.
The moment he saw those flowers, he’d throw them out without hesitation.
Fine.
Let him.
Just in time.
I should throw away this whole one-sided thing I’d been desperately holding together too.
I moved overseas, cut off all contact with Julian and Sterling Holdings, and focused on taking it easy during my pregnancy.
Even so, I still kept hearing bits and pieces about him.
It was through a woman I’d met at the company.
She’d seen me rise from an ordinary employee to Ms. Bennett. She was the person I trusted most at work.
She told me, “Mr. Sterling’s been acting really weird lately. I mean, his leg is better now, right? He should be in a great mood every day. But instead he’s gloomy all the time, like some abandoned stray.”
I texted back, “Maybe… his face got stuck that way?”
Then she said, “There’s also this beautiful woman who keeps coming to see him lately, but every time she leaves his office after barely saying a few words.”
I smiled faintly. “That’s normal. His office isn’t exactly a date spot, is it?”
She went on, “And today he saw the cactus on my desk and actually asked me how I take care of it. Tell me that’s not weird.”
I lowered my eyes. “Because… she likes it, probably.”
After that, the gossip about Julian gradually became less frequent.
And my own feelings changed too. At first, I’d been curious. Now, I didn’t want to hear anything about him at all.
The next time I heard his name was the day my daughter was born.
My best friend flew out to the hospital to take care of me. She held my little girl in her arms, grinning so hard she could barely stop. “Seriously, look at her. That nose, those eyelids—she looks exactly like Julian.”
I hadn’t heard that name in so long that I froze for a second.
My best friend immediately realized she’d said the wrong thing and hurried to change the subject. “Have you picked a name yet?”