Elliot relaxed slightly.The two went to lay down on the bed, and Avery turned off the lights. She kept her eyes wide open, unable to fall asleep.She knew that Elliot could not fall asleep as well.She had failed to convince Shea to give up earlier that day, and when Wesley walked her outside, he told her that Shea was behaving this way because of his mother.Avery felt even more helpless after hearing that.Though Wesley said that he would talk to his mother to get her to talk to Shea, Avery knew that it was unlikely that they would be able to convince Shea to get the abortion.She did not have the courage to tell Elliot about this. If she did, he might go after Wesley's mother, and the situation would only escalate further."Avery, what are you thinking about?" He noticed that her eyes were open through the faint moonlight.It unsettled him that she was lying in bed with her eyes wide open in silence."About all sorts of things... It's a mess in my head right now." She turn

Avery set his phone down and went back to bed.Her mind sank into chaos as she discovered that though Elliot had promised her that he would not acknowledge the child as his, his best friend was trying to take the child away from Ruby in private."How ironic," she thought. "it's a shame that Ruby doesn't want to hand the child over. I wonder if she would cave if it was Elliot doing the asking."Avery's heart felt as though it had been pricked by countless needles. She had thought that she and Elliot had overcome all difficulties, and hand in hand, they would not break no matter what lay ahead. She had not imagined that it was all just an illusion and that they were dreaming of different things.Avery could not sleep. She lay awake and stared out the window until the ink-dark sky slowly turned white. Her eyes felt sore, but the ache in her heart had not subsided. She closed her eyes and forced herself to go back to sleep.At seven in the morning, Elliot woke up and glanced at Avery

Shea lowered her head at Sandra's words. The burden she had been carrying felt slightly lighter.Wesley was relieved when he noticed that Shea was not as stubborn as she was earlier.As expected, it was because of his mother that Shea had risked crossing Elliot to bear him a child.He understood that her obedience to his mother was out of her love for him, or she would not have taken his mother's wishes as commands. "I do really want grandchildren, but my son is the most important of all," Sandra said with regret. "Had I known that you are more important than life itself to him, I wouldn't have done something like that."Shea lifted her gaze to look like Wesley."Shea, let's go and apologize to your brother later." Wesley held her hands. "You hurt his feelings yesterday. I need to apologize to him as well. I promised him that I would take good care of you, but I failed to fulfill said promise.""No." Shea shook her head stubbornly. "I will apologize to Big Brother, but you shou

"I spoke with Wesley and Shea today, and we plan to take her embryo out and place it into an artificial womb," she said. "It's a bit expensive and we will need someone to monitor it 24/7, so it will cost more in the months to come."He nodded. "What are the chances?""I can't say, but it's better than getting rid of the baby altogether. Shea really wants a child.""Yeah, it's a great idea. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He felt the pressure on his chest finally lift."I'm telling you right now, and I just got back. It's a very important decision, and I wanted to tell you about it in person." He nodded again. "Ben told me you were a little cold to him today when he called you to ask what you needed the money for."Avery had not expected Ben to be this sensitive. Not only was he sensitive and skeptical, but he seemed to enjoy telling on people.She shielded her true emotions with a smile. "I haven't even told you about Shea at that point, so how could I tell him about her? It's

"In about half a month!" Avery said. "The equipment is here, but we don't know how to use it. The professor that invented this machine only has time to teach us how to use it next week.""Won't it be too late by then?" Elliot voiced his concerns. "The child will be big then. Will the risk and difficulty of the surgery increase?""She just got pregnant. In half a month, the child won't be big yet," Avery said. "Don't worry. Wesley and I are here. We will ensure Shea's safety as best we can.""I trust you." Elliot was relieved. "If the child could grow up healthy, that would be even better."Avery heard what he said, and she got distracted. "Elliot, you still like children a lot. Although you were terrifying when you tried to force Shea to get an abortion and when you tried to force me to get an abortion, it's not like you hate children. You're just afraid that they will inherit your sickness.""When we first got together, I did not like children, sickness or not," said Elliot. "I l