---- He said there were just too many temptations in the world-he had to lock me down before someone else stole me away. We had been married seven years, and every single day still felt like we were newlyweds. Because of my complicated family background, I had always been afraid of having children. But Levi had never once pushed me. He bore the brunt of our parents' relentless pressure all by himself, taking full responsibility without ever letting it touch me. I couldn't bear to see him suffer. So I had quietly planned to get pregnant, hoping to surprise him with the greatest gift of all. But I never imagined the man who once said he feared losing me to temptation would, in our seventh year of marriage, finally succumb to temptation himself. ---- Now, we sat in silence. Finally, Levi averted his gaze and murmured, "I'll get the doctor. And your test results." My heart lurched. Panic gripped me-what if he discovered the pregnancy? Quickly, I grabbed his wrist. "No rush. Let's talk about the divorce first." He froze. Then, large teardrops began rolling uncontrollably down his cheeks as he shook his head desperately. "Nikki, please... don't say things you don't mean. I can't bear it..."" His voice cracked, his eyes a pitiful red mess. Once upon a time, the sight of him crying would have shattered me into pieces. ---- But now? Now I felt nothing but a hollow, cold disgust. Expressionless, I stared at him. "When you chose to sleep with another woman while I was mourning the death of my grandmother, did you think about whether I could bear it? When you stood there, gently touching her pregnant belly, looking forward to your child's birth... did you ever once think about whether I could bear it?" It was as if someone had pressed pause on him. Levi gaped, speechless. After a long, heavy silence, he mumbled feebly, " But Nikki... I'm only human. You have to allow me to make mistakes..." How absurd. I let out a cold, brittle laugh. "So I can make mistakes too, right? I can sleep with another man, get pregnant with another ---- man's child, and come back asking you to raise it as your own?" "Of course not!" Levi shouted. I stared at him, my gaze icy, letting him hear the deafening silence that followed. Realizing how ridiculous he sounded, he finally broke down and slumped at the side of my bed, his face buried in his hands. "Nikki... my parents said if we didn't have a child soon, they'd force me to divorce you... I didn't want to pressure you, I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't know what else to do. The baby... it was a mistake. But if this mistake can save our marriage -Nikki, you know it-you know I can't live without you!" By the end, he was sobbing uncontrollably, his grip on my hand growing almost painful, as if he could physically tether me to him and keep me from slipping away.