"When is your next prenatal checkup?" Dylan suddenly asked.

Elise paused. She quickly calculated the weeks in her head.

"Week sixteen," she replied flatly. "In about ten days or so."

"I’ll go with you for the next one."

Hearing this, Elise glanced at him, her expression remaining entirely unmoved. "There’s no need. You just focus on your work. If you want to know how the baby is doing, you’re on good terms with the head of obstetrics anyway; you can just ask him directly."

Dylan frowned. "Elise, I am the child’s father."

Elise pressed her lips together and let out a soft sigh. She stood up.

The autumn wind blew with a slight chill, prompting her to pull her trench coat tighter around herself. She looked at Dylan, her gaze detached.

"I made myself very clear the other day. I don’t need you to do anything for me right now. The baby isn’t even born yet, so you don’t need to force yourself to clear your schedule to keep us company. Once the child is born, I won’t stop you from showing your fatherly love in whatever way you see fit. Rest assured, no matter how things stand between the two of us, I won’t deprive our child of the right to have a father."

In today’s society, divorced families were incredibly common, and there was no need for parents to sacrifice their own happiness just to stay together for the sake of the children. She firmly believed that as long as parents made a genuine effort to spend quality time and communicate with their child, the child would understand.

Dylan stared at her, desperately searching for a single crack in her calm facade.

But how could she truly not care?

In the past, she used to care immensely about whether he could accompany her to her checkups, giving him plenty of advance notice before every single appointment so he could clear his schedule. Yet now, when he was actively volunteering to go with her, she actually rejected him!

Could it be that she really didn’t care about him at all anymore?

Before Dylan could say anything more, Elise’s phone suddenly rang.

She pulled out her phone, glanced at the caller ID, and said to him, "I’m going back to my room."

Dylan didn’t say a word, simply watching her as she answered the call and walked back inside the house.

"Rina... No, I was just out taking a stroll to digest my food... Yes, I received the packages. Please stop sending me things."

Her voice sounded soft and warm, a stark contrast to the purely businesslike tone she had used with him just moments ago.

Dylan stood beneath the pavilion, the overhead light casting a long shadow of his tall frame. His eyes looked hollow and dark.

As the autumn wind swept past, maple leaves fluttered to the ground.

Deep inside his chest, an empty ache began to swell.

***

Upstairs in the master bedroom, Elise pushed the door open, walked inside, and shut it behind her. She walked over to the sofa by the bed, sat down, and casually tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

On the other end of the line, Rina suddenly asked, "Are you sure you can make it?"

"I can," Elise replied with absolute certainty. "Barring any unforeseen circumstances, within a week."

"Alright, then I’ll go ahead and make the arrangements on my end."

"Thank you."

After hanging up, Elise sat in silence for a brief moment before opening her contacts list again to call Zoey.

The phone rang several times before it was finally picked up.

"Hello?" Zoey’s voice came through the speaker, intentionally muffled and hushed. "I’m working overtime at the company."

Elise pressed her lips together and asked, "Is it convenient for you to talk?"

"I sneaked into the restroom to answer," Zoey whispered. "Go ahead."

"Is there any news on what I asked you to look into?"

"We’ve been looking, but so far we haven’t found much of anything," Zoey said. "My friend is still working on it, and I’ll let you know the moment we get anything. However, there was an unexpected discovery."

"What is it?"

"Aside from us, there’s another group of people investigating the exact same thing."

Elise knitted her brows. "Do you know who they are?"

"They’re being incredibly cautious. Plus, my friend is currently being watched by Dylan’s people, so his hands are tied no matter what he tries to do. It’s severely slowing down our efficiency!"

Elise fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "If it’s truly too inconvenient, then let’s just drop it."

"There’s no need to drop it entirely, it’ll just take a lot more time."

"Alright, tell your friend not to feel too much pressure. I’m not in a rush for the time being."

"How have you been these past few days?" Zoey asked. "I heard from Oliver that Melissa crossed the line with you and got fired by Dylan. Is it true that Orchard Residence got a new nanny and even hired a child development specialist?"

"Yes. Robin has been getting along quite well with Fleur lately."

"Tsk!" Zoey clicked her tongue. "Blood really is thicker than water, isn’t it? It’s only been a few days. Even without his memories, he’s already back to being a loving son to his birth mother! This is exactly why we women should never, ever become stepmothers!"

Elise merely smiled and didn’t say anything.

Her relationship with Robin hadn’t quite reached the level of a stepmother anyway; it was simply that the boy had taken a dog bite to save her before, so she wanted to look out for him as much as she could.

"I have to go!" Zoey blurted out on the other end. "If I’m not back in five minutes, Oliver is going to accuse me of slacking off on the job again!"

"...Alright." Elise felt a bit helpless. "Zoey, thank you for your hard work."

"It really is hard work. Having to face that stoic, cold-faced man every single day is about to give me a hormonal imbalance! You have to treat me to a big dinner next time we meet! I really can’t talk anymore, hanging up!"

The moment Zoey finished speaking, the line went dead.

Elise set her phone down, gently caressed her belly, and stood up to walk into the walk-in closet. She opened her wardrobe and picked out a fresh set of pure cotton pajamas.

After taking a shower, she climbed into bed early to sleep.

Lately, as Robin and Fleur’s relationship grew increasingly close, the boy hadn’t pestered Elise to read him a bedtime story for two days now. This actually left her with a lot of free time, allowing her to be in bed by 9:00 PM every night.

Eating well, sleeping soundly, keeping her emotions stable, and staying well-rested made her entire complexion look visibly radiant. Even the frequency of her dreams at night had decreased significantly.

If Fleur didn’t cause any trouble, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to let life continue peacefully like this until the baby was born and she obtained her divorce certificate.

But she knew very well that it was impossible for Fleur to remain quiet. Life wouldn’t stay this peaceful forever. What was bound to come would always find its way.

The only thing she could do was gather her strength before the storm hit.

***

It had rained heavily the night before, bringing a sudden drop in temperature to the city.

After waking up, Elise lingered in her warm bed for over half an hour, only getting up when her stomach began to rumble with hunger.

After washing up, she picked out a set of early-winter loungewear, pulled open her bedroom door, and headed downstairs.

Before she even reached the first floor, the lively sounds from the living room drifted up to her ears.

"Mommy, don’t be nervous! I asked around, and Godmother loves matcha flavor. She is definitely going to love this matcha cake you made!"

"Really? Hearing you say that makes Mommy feel so much better."

Elise stepped off the final stair and walked toward the living room.

As she entered, she caught sight of Fleur holding Robin in her arms, a tender smile on her face. "Mommy was too clumsy last time. Fortunately, Mrs. Walsh taught me a lot. I promise I will do a good job this time."

"Go, Mommy, go!" Robin cheered, flashing an encouraging gesture at her.

Fleur smiled, leaning down to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Thank you, Robin. You really are Mommy’s good boy!"

Robin beamed with pure joy.

Elise froze in her tracks. Watching the intimate interaction between the mother and son in the living room, she suddenly felt that it wasn’t quite appropriate for her to burst in at a moment like this.

And so, instead of stepping forward, she pivoted on her heel to head toward the dining room.

"Godmother!"

Robin’s bright, crisp voice called out from behind her.

Elise’s footsteps ground to a halt. Pressing her lips together, she turned around.