novelnext Chapter 5: The Child Named Noah
Chapter 5: The Child Named Noah
"Two months ago."
Sophia felt the world tilt. Her vision blurred, and for a second, it felt like gravity had given up on her. She clutched the edge of the table, trying to hold on, to balance, to breathe, to stay upright.
Her gaze snapped to Ethan.
His eyes widened. Shock hit first, but it didn't linger. It quickly melted into something worse, something that shattered her, pure, unfiltered joy.
Joy.
Like he'd just been handed the world.
And just like that, whatever strength Sophia had left in her fingertips vanished.
As if she had never truly been holding on to him at all.
Blood spilled across the floor.
Emily's scream pierced through the chaos. "It hurts! Ethan, help me! Please, save our baby!"
Ethan didn't think. He didn't look back. He didn't hesitate.
He dropped everything, dropped her.
He tore through the crowd and scooped Emily into his arms like his life depended on it.
Sophia barely had time to react before someone shoved past her in the frenzy. She hit the ground hard, breath knocked out of her.
Her ears rang.
The chaos around her blurred into white noise.
She remembered another time, another country, when riots had broken out and Ethan had shielded her with his own body. He hadn't flinched then. He hadn't even blinked.
But now?
Now that same man had run toward someone else. Like Sophia had never existed. Like love had an expiration date, and hers had already passed.
She forced herself to her feet and stumbled outside. The night air slapped her in the face, but it didn't wake her. Not really.
At the restaurant entrance, a crowd had gathered.
"Wait... isn't that Ms. Williams?"
"Then who did Mr. Foster just carry out?"
"Damn. He really left his wife behind."
"All that talk about soulmates… what a joke."
"Poor Sophia…"
Their voices blurred together, underwater and far away.
She flagged down a cab with a trembling hand and headed home. Or… what used to be home.
Her phone wouldn't stop buzzing.
Text after text.
Emily.
Each one a knife.
"He was sweating the whole way, he held me like I was made of glass."
"He wouldn't stop talking about the baby. Can you believe that? He already wants to name it."
"Mrs. Foster… how about Noah? It has such a lovely ring to it."
Sophia froze.
Noah.
That name hit harder than anything else. That was the name she and Ethan had picked out for their first child.
The one they lost.
Now she realized… maybe that baby was the lucky one.
It would never have to live through this kind of heartbreak.
Back at the villa, Sophia didn't cry. She didn't scream.
She just moved.
She packed everything.
Photos. Gifts. Letters. Every trace of their love.
All of it into boxes.
When the courier truck pulled away, it felt like a weight finally lifted.
Then she walked into the garden.
The flowers from their wedding were still blooming, vivid, alive, stubbornly beautiful.
She grabbed a shovel.
And tore them out.
One by one.
If she was going to vanish, she'd make damn sure Ethan had nothing left to remember her by.
No rose petals.
No perfume in the air.
No "what ifs."
Only silence.
By the time Ethan returned and saw the garden, he lost it. Panic gripped him.
He ran to her, grabbing her from behind, his voice shaking. "Sophia? What are you doing?!"
She didn't look at him.
Just kept digging.
He spun her around. Dirt stained her hands. Her eyes were hollow.
"We said these flowers would last forever," he whispered, heart breaking.
"So why, why did you rip them all out?"
She met his eyes, calm and quiet.
"Because nothing lasts forever, Ethan. Not flowers. Not love. Not even us."