Chapter 23 Jeremy’s Jacket Was Draped Over Her Shoulders
Martha’s unborn child was growing and developing inside of her every passing day. Hence, her pregnancy symptoms were a lot more obvious than they were before.
On top of greasy and fishy smells, Martha could even feel sick from inhaling the scent of flowers. She didn’t even feel comfortable with eating too many fully–cooked eggs. When the smell of raw egg hit her nose earlier, she almost threw up on the spot.
Unfortunately for her, Stella only added raw egg whites into the glass of milk. She managed to mix the ingredients together so well one could barely notice anything amiss. The transparent egg whites blended in perfectly with the milk.
Jeremy turned to look at Martha.
Blushing from embarrassment, Martha shouted, “What the hell are you talking about? I literally just married into this family. How can I possibly be pregnant?”
Once she realized she might’ve overreacted, she turned to look at Jeremy and continued, “I literally just felt my stomach cramping a couple of days ago. My period is probably going to be here soon.
Prior to this, Martha had asked Stella for the estimated start dates of her menstrual cycle. Thus, all the information that she just gave Jeremy added up.
Jeremy looked somewhat deep in thought. He shifted his gaze toward Stella instead.
It was very difficult to notice a problem with the milk. However, since his vision was relatively good, he was able to spot the transparent bits that were mixed into the beverage.
Stella wasn’t one to hold on to petty grudges. She was extremely careful in bed too. She wouldn’t do this to Martha if she didn’t have a good reason. Martha must’ve wronged her in some way.
Now that Jeremy had figured out that the pair were on bad terms, he couldn’t help but feel biased toward Stella.
A woman of his should be tolerant and generous. However, she should also have the courage to stand up for herself. Stella handled this perfectly.
Since she wanted to watch Martha make a fool of herself, he didn’t mind lending her a helping hand.
Jeremy broke into a small smile and pretended to look somewhat delighted.
“Even if you’re not pregnant, I think you should still make a trip to the doctor’s office if you’re feeling unwell. Should I free up my schedule so I can accompany you to the hospital for a checkup” Jeremy offered.
Martha looked mortified. She went through a lot of trouble in order to keep her pregnancy hidden the last time she went for a checkup. If she were to visit the hospital with Jeremy again, her cover would definitely have been blown.
“That won’t be necessary at all. I–I feel fine. Besides, I can get Stella to accompany me to the hospital if I really do need a checkup. You don’t have to go with me,” Martha replied.
She continued firmly, “I know you’re a busy man, Jerry. You should prioritize your work.“”
Stella tried to stifle her laughter as she watched Martha put on an act.
Once Martha had finished coming up with various excuses, Stella said in a worried voice, “Back where I lived, the older generation mentioned that pregnancy changes a woman’s taste buds. Milk used to be your favorite drink, Mrs. Parker. Now, you can’t even stand the smell of it…”
Stella trailed off. At this point, she was basically insisting that Martha was pregnant.
Martha glanced at the cup of milk. She couldn’t help but feel repulsed just by looking at it.
“Stella is right,” Jeremy said, backing Stella up.
Now that it had come to this, Martha had no other choice. Jeremy was staring directly at her. In order to prove that she wasn’t pregnant, she had to drink the milk.
Martha forced a smile onto her face. “The smell of grease from the dishes seemed to have gotten caught in my throat. I wasn’t dry- heaving because of the milk.”
After she was done explaining, she picked up the cup on the table and chugged it while she held her breath.
The milk reeked from the raw egg whites. Moreover, the texture of the liquid was strange as well. It felt smooth yet slimey at the same time.
After she drank every last drop, she slammed the cup onto the table and clasped a hand over her mouth.
The taste and smell of the beverage was gradually starting to hit her. She held back tears as she fought the urge to throw up.
Afraid that Stella would stir up even more trouble, she turned to look at her and said, “You can go and get some rest. We don’t need a maid to tend to us for the rest of our meal,”
After being preoccupied the entire afternoon, Stella was more than happy with taking some time off. She immediately returned to her bedroom.
Since she didn’t need to spend the night with Jeremy today, she decided to call her mom.
Stella was told that Alison was doing fine, but she couldn’t help but feel worried. She wanted to drop by the hospital again in her free time to make sure everything was okay.
The next morning, she washed up and changed into a neat attire. After leaving her room, she was just about to head downstairs when she ran into Martha.
“Follow me to the hospital. We’re going to do another blood test on you,” Martha instructed.
Martha had wanted Stella to get an IVF, but she failed to procure Jeremy’s used condoms. After multiple failed attempts, she could only hope that Stella conceived naturally as soon as possible.
After Stella nodded, Martha continued coldly, “I’m making you get a transvaginal ultrasound as well. We examined your body when you first arrived at the Parker residence. You might have been a virgin, but there’s no telling if you’re completely free of diseases.”
Martha’s intentions were clear. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with Stella, she just wanted to humiliate her.
She knew Stella was generally more reserved when it came to things like this, yet she went ahead and phrased her words in such a blunt manner anyway. She was clearly trying to get back at her for what she did last night.
Upon thinking about how a transvaginal ultrasound is conducted, Stella frowned. She shut down Martha’s suggestion without any hesitation. “If I’m actually pregnant, the procedure will hurt the baby. It I suffer a miscarriage, I won’t be able to get pregnant again anytime soon either,”
Martha had close to zero medical knowledge, and Stella’s response left her speechless. “You’re sleeping with Jerry and you can’t even do a transvaginal ultrasound? What a princess! I wouldn’t need to bring you for checkups if you were able to get pregnant sooner!”
Despite her harsh words, Martha decided against the ultrasound procedure anyway.
After the pair arrived at the hospital, Stella had her blood drawn like she usually did during her body checkups.
While they were waiting for the test results,
Its, Stella’s stomach suddenly began to ache. So, she went to the bathroom.
When she got to the bathroom, she discovered that she had gotten her period. There was a small blood stain on her jeans. Since her jeans were light blue, the stain was very evident.
Unfortunately, Stella had no other choice but to call Martha and ask for her help.
Once the call finally went through, Martha picked up the phone and barked impatiently, “How long are you going to spend in the toilet? I don’t want to waste my time here!”
Stella suppressed her anger and asked her for help.
“I just got my period and I don’t have a sanitary pad. Do you think you could get me one?”
“What? Does that mean we ran all those tests for nothing?” Martha snapped angrily?
“I’m sorry for what I did last night. We’ll be able to head home sooner if you pass me a pad. I’m in the stall at the very end of the bathroom,” Stella replied resignedly.
Martha scoffed and said smugly, “Sure, I’ll be right there.”
She hung up the call, but she wasn’t planning on heading to the bathroom at all. There was no way she’d lend Stella a helping hand. She was going to leave her stranded in the bathroom stall.
While she was walking toward the exit of the building, she ran into a cleaning lady, and an idea suddenly sprung to her mind.
She said, “Excuse me! I went to the bathroom earlier and found that the tollet in the last stall wasn’t flushing properly. Whenever I tried to flush, water would spray everywhere. I think you should get someone to fix it”
The cleaning lady looked shocked. “Thank you for the reminder. I’ll make sure to put up a sign on the door to prevent people from
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using the stall and complaining about it.”
Martha was incredibly pleased with how things turned out. After she returned to the Parker residence, she proceeded to make herself a nice cup of coffee.
She had just taken a sip of her beverage when a figure showed up at the living room door.
When Stella walked into the room, Martha looked like she’d just seen a ghost. She almost dropped her cup on the floor.
“H–How did you manage to get back here?” she stammered.
That wasn’t the main point. Martha glanced at the jacket that was draped over Stella’s shoulders. The design and the buttons on that
suit jacket looked awfully familiar.
Was that Jeremy’s jacket?
