This baby could have grown up healthy, but the doctor’s examination had revealed, advanced maternal age, poor long-term dietary habits and excessive exposure to secondhand smoke had caused the baby’s developmental abnormalities.
At that moment, I deeply regretted ever loving Karen so much.
I didn’t smoke, but Leon did. He never cared about Karen’s pregnancy, even deliberately blowing smoke rings into her face. She would laugh every time, thinking it was a form of intimacy.
I indulged her too much and in doing so, I harmed this child.
Karen had always said she didn’t want a child, so I would take precautions every time. But when she said she wanted one, I was overjoyed. I actively prepared for the pregnancy, trying all sorts of ways to make her nutritious meals, but she would throw them all away and secretly go to bars and night markets with Leon behind my back.
Every time, she gave me the cold shoulder and I endured it in silence. I never ate on time, waiting for her to come home for dinner.
But now, she was using this child, one we were about to lose, to threaten me.