Sir, Please Sign Here to Get a Divorce-Chapter 142: Sleeping Together

Ethan Yardley leaned down, moving closer to the woman beneath him, wanting to kiss her.

But subconsciously, he knew Serena was pregnant. He couldn’t touch her; he would hurt the baby.

So, he fought back the agonizing urge and suddenly rolled over to lie beside her.

Lying on the bed, Vivian Lynch had braced herself, but she never expected the man to pull away again.

She sat up and looked at him.

The man beside her was clearly in agony. He had even undone his own belt and buttons.

But in the end, he held back, refusing to touch her no matter what.

Vivian Lynch had no experience with such things and didn’t know how to initiate, but she couldn’t just give up.

’I have to make him sleep with me.’

She moved closer, trying to kiss him.

Sensing someone approach, Ethan Yardley pushed her away, murmuring incoherently, "Don’t, Serena, don’t come closer. I’ll hurt the baby..."

He was truly suffering.

He wanted to get up and go to the bathroom, but he was completely disoriented. His body felt limp and weak, and he didn’t even have the strength to sit up.

Seeing him like this, Vivian Lynch had to think of another way.

She got up and found a sewing kit in the storage cabinet.

Ignoring the man sleeping beside her, she pricked her finger with the needle and let the blood drip onto the bedsheet as it welled up.

After that, she tried to take off the man’s clothes.

But it was no use. No matter how hard she tried, whenever she got close, he would coldly and roughly shove her away.

Vivian Lynch was at a loss. Seeing that his belt was undone, she thought, ’It’s not like you have to take his pants all the way off to do it, right?’

She gave up and started taking off her own clothes instead.

To make it look more realistic, she even tore her clothes and pinched her arms and body to create bruises.

Once everything was done and she was sure her plan was foolproof, she lay down naked beside the man, covered only by half the blanket.

...

「The next day.」

Ethan Yardley was woken by the sound of a girl crying.

As he opened his eyes, his head still felt groggy.

But the crying beside him made him sit up instinctively, his mind instantly clearing as he looked at the woman lying next to him. Her back was to him, revealing a large expanse of her pale shoulders and back.

"Serena?"

he called out.

Vivian Lynch’s body convulsed with sobs, but she didn’t turn to look at him.

Ethan Yardley studied her back, her hair color.

’Wrong!’

’This isn’t Serena.’

In that daze, it felt like he had been struck by lightning.

The next second!

He immediately got up, pulled on his pants, and yanked the blanket over the woman’s bare shoulders. Then he walked around the bed to stand in front of Vivian Lynch.

When he saw Vivian Lynch’s face clearly, he staggered back a step, feeling as if the sky had come crashing down. It was unbelievable.

Seeing the man by the bed, Vivian Lynch continued to cry, deliberately burying her head in the blanket.

Ethan Yardley took another step back, finding the scene before him impossible to accept.

’So I touched this woman last night?’

’I, Ethan Yardley, actually touched her?’

’No, impossible.’

’I’m obsessively loyal. There’s no way I could ever touch a second woman.’

’Something must have gone wrong somewhere.’

Ignoring the woman’s clothes scattered on the floor by the bed, Ethan Yardley stared at the person under the blanket, his eyes blazing with fury as he roared:

"How did you get here? Why are you in my bed? Who told you to get into my bed?"

He knew his own character. He would never touch another woman.

Although he couldn’t remember what happened last night, this had to be a misunderstanding.

Hearing the man’s roar, Vivian Lynch poked her head out, wrapping the blanket tightly around herself, her lips trembling as she cried.

"Mr. Yardley, don’t you remember what happened last night?

You were drunk. You kept holding me and calling for Miss Serena. I couldn’t break free. I kept crying and shouting, but you wouldn’t listen... WAHHH..."

Ethan Yardley was speechless.

’So he had mistaken Vivian Lynch for Serena?’

Still unwilling to accept this reality, Ethan Yardley roared, "I asked you how you got here! Who let you come back?"

Vivian Lynch sobbed, continuing to cry.

"Miss Serena asked me to return her ring. When I brought it back, I saw you were drunk downstairs. I wanted to help you rest, but you... you mistook me for Miss Serena... WAHHH..."

He turned away, unable to look at the person on the bed for another second. Suppressing the suffocating pain in his chest, he commanded:

"Get up, get dressed, and leave immediately. You are not to tell anyone what happened last night, do you hear me?"

Vivian Lynch sat there motionless, still crying.

Ethan Yardley shouted in exasperation, "I’ll give you whatever you want, but you need to disappear right now."

"Wahhh... What could I want? After what’s happened to me, where can I go? Wahhh..."

Hearing the woman’s crying intensify, Ethan Yardley grew agitated and furious, turning to leave the room.

When he returned, he tossed a card at Vivian Lynch. "There’s ten million in here. Take the money and disappear. Don’t ever let me see you again for the rest of my life."

Vivian Lynch wanted to pretend she wasn’t interested in the money and keep crying.

Ethan Yardley couldn’t stop himself from roaring in a rage, "Didn’t you hear what I said? Take the money and get out!"

Vivian Lynch was frightened. As she got out of bed, she deliberately pulled the blanket aside, then scooped up her clothes, put them on, picked up the card, and limped away, sobbing.

Ethan Yardley turned to go to the bathroom, but then he saw the bloodstain on the bedsheet.

Staring at that stain, his mind went completely blank. He felt like he was about to fall apart.

’Not only did I touch another woman, but she was a virgin.’

’Ethan Yardley, oh, Ethan Yardley, how could you be such a bastard?’

’How can you face the woman who’s carrying your child now?’

He clung to his last shred of willpower and went into the bathroom, turning on the cold water and blasting himself with it.

He wanted to shock himself into sobriety, to clearly remember what had happened last night.

He remembered dropping Quinn Gardner off at home, then coming back and drinking alone.

Later, Mrs. Miller said she had something to do and left. After that, he had no memory of anything.

Trying hard to remember, he did feel like someone was with him last night, but he couldn’t recall what he had done at all.

’Mrs. Miller’s daughter is only eighteen or nineteen, isn’t she?’

The thought that he had actually violated her filled Ethan Yardley with remorse. He clenched his fist and slammed it violently against the cold wall.

He hated himself for not being able to control himself.

Why did he have to touch someone who was only eighteen or nineteen?

’Now that this has happened, what about Serena? What about the baby?’

Ethan Yardley stood under the shower, soaked to the bone, but he still couldn’t calm down or forget what he had done.

After a very long time, he got out of the bathroom, changed his clothes, and threw away the bedding.

Then he left the house.

...

「That morning.」

Serena Yardley received a call from Nina Thorne, who said she was waiting for her at the school gate.

She hadn’t expected Nina to come all the way to the school to find her. Without a second thought, she quickly washed up and hurried to the school gate, getting into Nina Thorne’s car.

"Nina."

Nina Thorne hummed in acknowledgment and gestured. "Fasten your seatbelt. I’m taking you home."

Serena Yardley hesitated. "I don’t want to go back."

"Don’t be silly. You’re pregnant now, you have to take care of yourself. You can go to school, but you should at least come home on the weekends. Hurry up and buckle up, I’m driving."

Nina Thorne ignored her protests and drove away.

As she drove, she began to earnestly advise Serena Yardley:

"I know you’re still mad at Ethan Yardley, but it’s time to stop fighting. For the baby’s sake, and for your own, you need to work on this marriage. Don’t follow my old path."

Serena Yardley fastened her seatbelt and listened quietly to every word Nina said to her.

"Serena, you don’t have a support system like I do, with parents and a brother. You only have Ethan Yardley. In this world, he’s basically your only family.

I believe that deep down, you love him too. Otherwise, why would you have married him in the first place?

Since you’re married and Ethan hasn’t made any fundamental mistakes, you should try to live a good life with him.

After all, Ethan Yardley truly loves you."

Who was Ethan Yardley? A man of immense power in the business world who could have any woman he wanted.

But he chose to marry her.

If it wasn’t for love, what other reason could there be for him to marry her?

Nina Thorne also knew that as an outsider, she shouldn’t be meddling.

But she didn’t want to see her younger "sister" end up in an unhappy marriage like her own.

She hoped that everyone around her could find happiness and be healthy.

Serena Yardley lowered her head, not saying a word, her hand unconsciously drifting to her stomach.

Nina Thorne glanced at the person beside her and asked:

"Since you’re pregnant, have you had any morning sickness? Like, do you feel nauseous or want to throw up?"

Serena Yardley shook her head.

She hadn’t had any symptoms since becoming pregnant. Aside from being in a bad mood, her appetite was still quite good.

Nina Thorne smiled.

"Ethan Yardley wasn’t feeling well a while ago, right? It was probably because you’re pregnant. Your pregnancy symptoms were manifesting in him."

Serena Yardley was confused and turned to look at her. "What do you mean? What does my pregnancy have to do with him?"

"It’s called Couvade syndrome. It means he had a premonition that he was going to be a father, and combined with being so close to you, his intense emotions manifested as physical symptoms.

Didn’t he tell you he went for a check-up and there was nothing majorly wrong? This is the reason. You’re pregnant, and he’s suffering the hardships of pregnancy for you."

Serena Yardley was speechless.

’That can actually happen?’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

She didn’t quite understand and continued to sit with her head down, subdued.

Nina Thorne reached out and patted her head, continuing:

"Alright, you already have a child on the way, so why are you fighting with him? If he really just saw you as a tool for having children, why wouldn’t he find someone else? He wouldn’t have to give anything in return that way.

You have no idea how depressed he’s been every day that you’ve been ignoring him.

Even though he’s about ten years older than you, a relationship is a partnership of equals. You can’t just take advantage of his indulgence and doting to recklessly wear out his affection for you."

At least in her eyes, Ethan Yardley was a man worth entrusting her life to.

She didn’t want Serena, out of immaturity, to shatter a marriage that could have been happy and perfect.

Serena Yardley kept her head down, thinking about every word Nina had said to her.

’It’s true. If Ethan Yardley just wanted a child, he could have found someone else to have one with.’

’And he often humbled himself to apologize to me, even lowering himself to kneel down and put on my shoes, taking care of me with his own hands.’

’When I think about it, even in a truly loving marriage, the husband might not go to such lengths for his wife.’

As if she had suddenly understood and come to terms with it, Serena Yardley said:

"I understand now, Nina. I’ll try to live a good life with him."

Even if it wasn’t for herself, she had to do it for the child in her belly.

She had already lost one child. This time, she had to take good care of this one and bring him into the world safely.

Nina Thorne smiled. "That’s the spirit. He should be home today. I’ll drop you at the door, and you can go in by yourself and resolve your issues with him."

"Okay."

Serena Yardley nodded.

Soon, Nina Thorne’s car stopped at the villa’s entrance.

Serena Yardley got out of the car, waved goodbye, and watched Nina drive away before turning to go inside.

It was ten in the morning.

Serena Yardley walked into the house and saw Mrs. Miller clearing the dining table.

Mrs. Miller saw her too and greeted her with a warm smile.

"Miss Serena, you’re back! Have you eaten breakfast? What would you like? I’ll go make it for you right now."

She had just returned herself. She had assumed her daughter would have come over to tidy up this morning, but not only had she not cleaned, her phone was now unreachable.

Serena Yardley shook her head. "I haven’t eaten yet. Just make whatever is easy."

She turned and went upstairs to take a shower.

After showering and changing, she came out but didn’t see the man. She then went to the study, but he wasn’t there either.

’Strange, where did he go?’

’Didn’t Nina say he was home?’

When Serena Yardley came downstairs to eat, she asked Mrs. Miller, "Is he not home?"

Mrs. Miller shook her head. "He must have gone out early. No one was here when I got back. Should I give Mr. Yardley a call?"

"Never mind. He can come back when he wants to."

Serena Yardley paid it no mind and sat on the sofa, taking out her phone to shop online for baby clothes and supplies.

But she waited until evening, and Ethan Yardley still hadn’t returned.

’Does he not know I’m back, so he’s decided not to come home at all?’

Thinking about how she might have been a bit difficult before, and remembering what Nina had said, Serena Yardley swallowed her pride and dialed his number.

After a long wait, he finally answered.

Serena Yardley took a deep breath and, bracing herself, asked, "Um... are you not coming home tonight?"