He Chose His First Love Over My Dying Child

Outside the delivery room, Ethan walked out on my emergency C-section to save his first love's baby. "Nora, Chloe is hemorrhaging. She's dying—she can't survive without me." "You've always been the strong one. You can pull through without me. You understand, right?" When I woke up in the ICU, I was hooked up to countless tubes and monitors. The nurse told me my baby girl didn't make it. I shook uncontrollably. It felt like someone had carved a gaping hole straight through my chest. Over two hundred days of pregnancy. Ninety-nine hormone injections. All for the daughter I had prayed for. The next morning, Chloe strutted into my room, holding her newborn with a smug grin: "See that, Nora? In his heart, I'll always matter ten times more than you." "You think marrying him means you won? You're just a placeholder. Even giving birth, you had to step aside for me!" "I'm the first love he could never get over. The second I show up, he'll drop you and your kid without a second thought." I watched as Ethan leaned in and gently kissed her baby's forehead. A bitter laugh escaped my lips through my tears. We were college sweethearts. I worked three jobs back then just to put that penniless boy through medical school. During his residency, he pressured me into having three abortions. Every single time, I lay on that cold operating table all alone. He promised that once he made it, he'd give me the life I deserved. Eight whole years. And what did I get in return? I loved him with my life, but he used my life—and our baby's—as a stepping stone for his pathetic, lingering nostalgia. This joke of a relationship... I was done with it. "I booked a train ticket. I'm moving out the day after tomorrow." I stood in the entryway, leaning against the wall for support, my voice barely a whisper. The incision on my lower abdomen was still raw. Every breath burned like a razor blade. Ethan was at the stove, stirring a pot of soup. At my words, his entire body stiffened. In eight years, he had never stepped foot in the kitchen. Even when I was burning up with a 104-degree fever, he had never once made me a simple bowl of soup. This was the first time. And it was all for his first love, Chloe. "Nora, what nonsense are you talking about?" He hurried over. "I made chicken soup to nourish you and Chloe." "You just had a baby. Why did you discharge yourself and walk home alone?" I looked at him, bile rising in my throat. "Ethan, our baby is dead. Didn't you know?" "What did you say?" The ladle slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. "Surprised?" Tears spilled down my cheeks as I laughed bitterly. "You abandoned my emergency surgery to go save Chloe. She had complications, and you made sure both she and her kid survived." "Meanwhile, our daughter died." He froze, all color draining from his face. A heavy silence fell before he mumbled, "Nora, don't be like this. Children... it's about fate. It just means... it wasn't our time yet." Two hundred days of pregnancy. Ninety-nine shots. Three miscarriages. And he called it 'not our time.' "We're still young," he said, pulling me into his arms. "We can always try again." I shoved him off with everything I had left. He stumbled back two steps, looking hurt. "Nora—" "Look, I'm sorry, okay? There's nothing going on between Chloe and me. Her husband abused her, and she was bleeding out on the delivery table. A human life was on the line. As a doctor, I couldn't just walk away." "A life was on the line?" I glared at him, my voice trembling with rage. "And what about me and our baby? Did our lives not count?" "You chose her over your own child. That shows exactly who matters to you." He frowned. "I didn't know your condition was that critical! You've always been tough. I thought you'd pull through!" "You've always been tough." Those four words were the cruelest weapon he ever used against me. "Chloe was just my first love. That's in the past! You're the one I love now." I took a shuddering breath, deciding to give him one last chance: "Fine. I'll believe you." "Call her family right now. Tell them to pick her up, and cut off all contact with her." His expression shifted immediately: "No! If her abusive ex finds out where she is, he'll kill her! I need to take care of her and the baby for a while, at least until—" Until she finalized her divorce and became a single mom? So he could play daddy to her child? What was I supposed to be in all this? A wave of nausea hit me so hard I gagged. "Ethan," I cut him off. "There are a thousand ways to help someone. But you chose to sacrifice me and our child just to prove your lingering devotion to her. Tell me, what were our lives to you?" "Nora, can you please grow up?" His voice took on an irritated edge. "Back in college, you were the kindest person I knew. I'm a doctor—was I supposed to stand by and watch a mother and child die?" "Stop making a scene over nothing. Aren't you fine now? We can have another baby." "Making a scene?" I clutched my aching stomach. Memories tore open inside me like my unhealed wound. I remembered college. We were both dead broke. He was raised by a single mother who struggled to keep food on the table. My father was a violent drunk who beat me mercilessly. We were two bruised souls crawling out of the gutter, clinging to each other for warmth. Back then, I fell in love with a diamond necklace. It cost ten thousand dollars. I stared at it through the display glass a hundred times, never daring to buy it. He scoffed, calling anyone who bought it an idiot. But behind my back, that scrawny boy secretly went to sell his blood again and again until he saved up the money. The day he fastened that necklace around my neck, his hands were trembling, needle marks still visible on his bruised arms. He said, "Nora, in this lifetime, you're the only woman I'll ever marry." I believed him. I believed him for eight damn years. Yet now, he had used our baby's life as a stepping stone for his ex. I squeezed that tarnished necklace tightly in my palm, a single tear dropping onto the back of my hand. "Ethan, we're—" An urgent knock on the front door cut me off.Ethan rushed to open it. Outside stood a woman holding a newborn in one arm and dragging a suitcase with the other. Her face was pale, shivering like a withered leaf in late autumn. Ethan immediately took the baby—a little girl—from her arms. Then he grabbed her suitcase, his movements completely natural. That face at the door mirrored the smug expression I'd seen in my hospital room. It was Chloe. As Ethan walked past me, he paused, offering an awkward excuse: "Chloe has nowhere to go and no money. I'm letting her stay here temporarily until she gets back on her feet." "Since you're recovering at home anyway, just make an extra portion when you cook. She prefers light meals." Chloe had looked fragile just a second ago, but when she glanced up at me, triumph flashed in her eyes. "Thanks for putting up with me, Nora." My heart turned to ash. It was as if someone had scooped out my insides, leaving only an empty void. He had let our daughter die, yet here he was, cradling another man's child as if she were his own flesh and blood. If he loved playing dad to someone else's kid that much, I'd let him. I turned and walked into the bedroom to pack my things. Chloe lingered by the doorway, clearly unsatisfied with my calm reaction. "Nora," she said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "Ethan bought me a seven-hundred-thousand-dollar condo. Paid in full. As soon as it's furnished, I'll move out. I'll pay you guys back once I start working." She paused, leaning down to kiss her baby's forehead: "Ethan saved both our lives. He's my hero." Seven hundred thousand dollars. Paid in full. My whole body turned to stone. The down payment for this house had come from every penny I scraped together. For eight years, I didn't even dare buy myself a cup of coffee. I wore clothes until the fabric frayed and pilled. The monthly mortgage payments had weighed on me like an anvil. He always told me that once he became a senior physician, he'd buy me a dream home. I pressed a hand against my chest, feeling as though an invisible fist was crushing my lungs. "Ethan," my voice shook. "I pinched every penny to pay our down payment, and you used your savings to buy your first love a luxury condo in cash?" He frowned. "Chloe has a newborn and nowhere to go! We at least have a roof over our heads. She had nothing." A metallic taste filled my mouth. Back in college, I gave up a graduate school fellowship and abandoned my dream of becoming a fashion designer. I woke up at 4:00 AM to work at a breakfast diner, shelved books at the library during lunch, and worked the graveyard shift at a convenience store. My hands cracked in the freezing winter, and I fainted from heatstroke in the summer. I worked three jobs just to fund his medical doctorate. Now, he was a sought-after associate chief surgeon. And I was the one who had saved every cent for this house. And what did he do? He handed every last cent of his seven-hundred-thousand-dollar savings to another woman. "Once I get promoted to head of department, I'll pay you back double for the down payment," he said dismissively. "Such a stingy attitude," Chloe muttered under her breath. "I thought Nora was supposed to be a good person. Turns out she's just like those petty, uneducated women, obsessed with money. How vulgar." Ethan paused. Yet, he didn't say a single word in my defense. He carried the baby toward the end of the hallway. Chloe followed close behind. The door at the end was painted soft pink. He reached for the doorknob, preparing to push it open. "Stop right there!" I screamed.Behind that door was the nursery I had prepared for my daughter. Soft pink walls, a white wooden crib, and a little blanket I had hand-knitted hanging over the rail. Every late night, I had sat in that room, imagining what she would look like when she was born. Would she look like me? Or would she have his eyes? And now, he was bringing the woman who caused her death into that sacred space. Cold wind blew through the open window, chilling the tears on my face. It felt like thousands of needles stabbing into my skin. Enduring the searing agony in my abdomen, I sprinted over and blocked the doorway. "This room is for my daughter. Neither of you steps a foot inside!" Ethan frowned. "Nora, calm down. Chloe is just staying here temporarily—" "Temporarily? You're putting her in the nursery?" "It's sitting empty anyway!" he snapped, losing patience. "Do you have to make everything so difficult?" "It's not like your baby is around anymore..." Chloe muttered quietly. Her words hit me like a serrated blade. Stabbing straight into the unhealed wound in my heart. While I stood frozen in shock, Chloe pushed past me and walked right into the room. She stood beside the crib, bent down, and pulled a red velvet box from the nightstand drawer. Inside was a gleaming solid gold baby bracelet. My mother had spent ten years saving up for that gift for her granddaughter. "How pretty," Chloe cooed, holding it up. "Is this for a baby?" "Put it down," I warned, my voice shaking with fury. She ignored me, turning to Ethan with an innocent smile. "Ethan, can I put this on Mia? Just to see?" "I said put it down!" She ignored my scream and slipped the gold bracelet onto her daughter's tiny wrist. That was my mother's gift to my baby. She had saved every spare dollar, buying tiny gold pieces month after month for ten years. Back in college, when my mom's heart condition flared up, she had gripped my hand from her hospital bed: "Nora, this is the blessing I'm leaving for my granddaughter. If my heart gives out before I meet her, promise me you'll put it on her wrist." And her granddaughter never got the chance to take a single breath in this world. "It's just a bracelet," Ethan said casually. "When we have another child, I'll buy you a much bigger one." "A bigger one." Hadn't he killed my child with his own hands? Where did he get the audacity to talk about 'when we have another child'? I stared at him, laughing bitterly through my tears. I had convinced myself that he saved Chloe out of professional duty, that a life had been on the line. Even through my grief and hatred, I tried to tell myself he was just being a doctor. But now, he had bought her a condo in cash, brought her into our home, tried to move her into my baby's nursery, and let her take my mother's heirloom. The truth was simple: she had always owned the deepest corner of his heart. The untouchable pedestal reserved for his 'first love.' That lingering obsession had driven this supposedly cold, rational surgeon completely insane. "That was left to me by my mother!" I grabbed his shoulders, screaming into his face. "If she wants gold for her brat, tell her to ask her own damn mother!" "Take it off right now, or I'm calling the police and pressing charges for theft!" "Nora!" He shoved my hands away, his voice harsh. "Chloe is just trying it on! Why do you have to be so petty?" "Ethan, don't blame Nora," Chloe whimpered, her eyes welling with tears. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have touched it. I just... Mia doesn't have a grandmother. Seeing this bracelet, I just wanted her to feel what it's like to be loved." She reached for the bracelet, pretending to take it off. "Leave it on," Ethan commanded. He turned back to me, his gaze colder than ice. "Nora, when did you become so vicious? Chloe and her baby have suffered enough. Can't you show a shred of empathy?" "Me? Vicious?" I bit the inside of my cheek until blood filled my mouth. I lunged forward to rip the bracelet off the baby's wrist. Chloe shielded her child and shrieked, "Ethan!" "Smack!" A brutal slap struck Ethan across the face. Blood trickled from the corner of his lip. It was a blinding, sickening red. Just like that night years ago. During our sophomore year, five thugs had cornered me in an alley. Ethan, skinny and bruised, had stood stubbornly in front of me, covered in blood. He had smiled through the pain and said, "Nora, I'll protect you for the rest of your life." I stared at the blood on his lip. Every ounce of energy drained from my body. And the void in my chest opened up just a little wider.I put the house on the market. I had bought this house with the money I scrimped and saved. The six-hundred-thousand-dollar down payment came entirely from my account, and I was the one paying the mortgage every month. Ethan had dumped all his earnings into research projects and medical equipment. In eight years, he hadn't contributed a single brick to this home. My lawyer assured me that since we weren't legally married, he had no claim to the property. Because of his career ambitions, we had delayed getting officially married. Thank God. We were never married. The house was mine. When I went back to pack my things, I pushed the front door open and froze. The nursery door stood wide open. Everything I had meticulously chosen—the tiny socks, the pastel bonnets, the soft onesies—had been trashed. They were scattered across the floor, covered in dirty footprints. Draped over the crib were women's bras and stained, yellowing underwear. I knelt down to pick up the clothes, my fingers shaking violently. Just then, the front door clicked open. Ethan and Chloe walked in together. Chloe was holding her baby in one arm, her phone propped up in the other, streaming live on TikTok. "Thank you so much for the gifts, guys~" Her voice was sickeningly sweet. "Today, I'm introducing you all to my first love—Dr. Miller right here~" The live comments exploded. "OMG, first love?! He's gorgeous!" "Kiss him! Kiss him!" Chloe blushed, glancing shyly at Ethan. "Oh, we shouldn't..." The comments flooded in faster: "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. Ethan stiffened slightly. But he didn't push her away. The chat went wild: "A real-life fairy tale!" "A man never forgets his first love! Other women are just stepping stones!" "He's saving a single mom! This is pure romance, I'm literally crying!" I stood at the end of the hallway, nausea churning in my gut, my heart freezing over. I spoke coldly: "Sorry to interrupt your little show." "I've sold this house. Pack your crap and get out." Ethan's smile vanished instantly. "Nora, Chloe was just joking for her stream! Don't take it the wrong way!" "And didn't we buy this place together? How can you just sell it without telling me?" "Together?" I glared at him. "Where was your money? Didn't you just spend seven hundred thousand in cash on a condo for Chloe? You can move in with her." Chloe toyed with a delicate gold necklace around her neck, smiling innocently. I stopped dead in my tracks. That was my mother's wedding gift to me, part of the matching set with the bracelet. The bracelet was on Chloe's baby. And the necklace had been altered and hung around Chloe's own neck. Everything my mother had saved her whole life to give me had been stolen by this mother and daughter. Fury exploded inside me. "Give me back my bracelet and necklace!" Chloe rolled her eyes. "It's just jewelry, why make such a fuss? When you have a kid later, Ethan can buy you something way better." "Aren't you ashamed of bullying a single mom for some trinkets?" "I've already called the police," I said, pulling out my phone. "Grand larceny for stolen property over fifty thousand carries serious prison time." "That heirloom set is worth over two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. You're going to prison." Chloe's face paled. Panic flashed in her eyes. "Stop trying to scare me! Ethan gave these to me!" I sneered. "Then he's an accomplice to grand theft!" Ethan looked furious, but before he could speak, my phone rang shrilly. It was Aunt Claire. Her voice was cracked and sobbing on the other end: "Nora... someone called your mother and told her your baby died. She went into shock, had a massive heart attack... The paramedics couldn't bring her back..." "Boom." It felt like lightning struck my skull. My mind went completely blank. I remembered being little. The woman who carried me on her back through three miles of mud in the middle of the night when I had a burning fever. The woman who swung a broom at my abusive father to protect me. The woman who secretly sent me envelopes of cash after I graduated because she worried I wasn't eating well. The one person who loved me unconditionally in this world. The person who spent her entire life giving me a foundation. She was gone. Killed by sheer grief. It was Chloe! My vision turned crimson. I lunged at her like a madwoman: "You bitch! I'll kill you for what you did to my mother!" "Nora! Calm down!" Ethan threw himself between us. "Chloe would never do that! Your mother had a heart condition, that's her own medical issue! What does that have to do with Chloe? Can you stop blaming innocent people for everything that goes wrong?!" Before my fingers could even graze Chloe's clothes, Ethan shoved me hard. A sudden, tearing pain ripped through my lower abdomen. Something warm and wet began running down my thighs. Blood. Bright, crimson blood. Just like the day in the delivery room when my daughter slipped away. "Why are you bleeding?!" Ethan's voice sounded like it was coming from miles away. Darkness closed in, and I collapsed onto the floor.