Back Then, I Adored You

Lu Bancheng halted his act of opening the box. He lifted his gaze and looked in confusion at Xu Wennuan, who silently stared right back at him. After a few seconds, her lips moved again. “Because I already aborted the child this afternoon.”

Lu Bancheng’s face was still gentle and his eyes were smiling. He was acting like he did not understand what Xu Wennuan meant. His dark, deep eyes were locked on her face, and he looked at her for a moment before he blinked and asked, “Nuannuan, what did you say?”

As his voice fell, the warmth radiating from his body began to quickly cool. When he spoke again, he was not as tender as before. “Nuannuan, you’re lying to me, right?”

Xu Wennuan had finished saying what she wanted to say. She showed no sign of wanting to respond to Lu Bancheng’s interrogation. She continued pushing the door to close it, and when she saw that Lu Bancheng had no intention of relaxing his grip, she dropped her arms and headed for the bed in fatigue.

Lu Bancheng reached out aggressively and grabbed Xu Wennuan’s wrist. Her body felt flimsy, and she had no strength at all. He only needed to exert a bit of force to pull her over to him. “Nuannuan, you didn’t abort our child, right? Our child is still there, right? Tell me that our child is still there, still there in…”

At the last line, he seemed afraid that what she had just said was true. There was uncertainty in his trembling voice, as if he was pleading with her.

Xu Wennuan pursed her lips tightly and maintained her silence momentarily, as she did not wish to continue this interaction with Lu Bancheng. She pulled out a thick stack of forms from her bag and stuffed them into his arms. Then, she pulled her elbow back, walked to the bed, and sat down.

Lu Bancheng did not know what he was so afraid of. He stared at Xu Wennuan before he lowered his head and started reading the papers in his arms. There were reports for a urine test, an HCG blood analysis test, and some other physical examinations. The more he flipped through them, the more frantic he became. When he got to the last page, his fingers were trembling badly. He stared at the black ink on the white paper, concentrating for a long time before finally making full sense of the form: At the bottom were the words “Painless Abortion Surgical Procedure.”

It was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over Lu Bancheng’s head. He was frozen and rooted to the ground, choking and miserable. He pursed his lips and was silent for a long time before he forced himself to ignore the pain that was slowly spreading in his heart. He lifted his head, his sharp gaze landing on Xu Wennuan, who was shrouded in the yellow light of the bedside lamp.

“Did you really abort our child?”

Xu Wennuan seemed uncomfortable. Her face was pale as she leaned against the headboard. She closed her eyes and didn’t say anything.

Lu Bancheng suddenly raised his hand and flung the documents to the floor, scattering them everywhere. He barged into the guest bedroom using large strides, stopped before Xu Wennuan, and grabbed her collar violently. “Let me ask you again! Did you really abort our child?!”

Silence was still the only thing that greeted him. The corners of his eyes started twitching, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. He started shaking the hand that was gripping her collar. His words were fierce and scary. “Why did you abort it?”