Chapter 3

Though utterly mortified, I bit the bullet and nodded.

"I never imagined such a misunderstanding would occur. I'm truly sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Thorne!"

Alex gave me a complex look, then commanded the doctor behind him: "Dr. Evans, examine her. See if she's telling the truth."

I was finished! Oh, God! My reputation and my life—you weren't planning on letting me keep either, were you?!

Under Alex's watchful eye, I held out my arm, feeling like Death was breathing down my neck.

Dr. Evans carefully examined me, pushing up his glasses. "Mr. Thorne, Ms. Summers' physical condition is… indeed a bit unusual."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Dr. Evans stated gravely: "Her heartbeat is strong, and her vitality is robust. She doesn't appear to have just given birth at all. From this perspective, she truly doesn't seem like a woman who's just delivered a child."

My eyes lit up as I looked at Dr. Evans.

I wanted to bow down and thank him a thousand times. Giving birth usually takes everything out of you. But I was different!

Those five little calico kittens barely weighed anything at all; delivering them was no different than passing a bowel movement.

If Alex hadn't been here, I could still run a marathon right now!

Alex's face darkened further after hearing this.

He was probably picturing himself making a huge fuss, waiting outside, only to be presented with a pile of…well, that. A vein throbbed in his temple.

He stared at me, his voice low and cold: "What an idiot." "From today onwards, move to the storage room in the backyard! You are not allowed out without my permission!"

Move to the storage room? I eagerly nodded: "Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Thorne!"

It worked! I survived! The joy of escaping death overwhelmed me.

I quickly grabbed the bewildered Eleanor and the trash can containing my children, and we moved into the storage room that very night.

Although the storage room was old and dilapidated, looking at the five little calico kittens nestled on a makeshift bed, I felt like this was heaven!

"Eleanor, quick, get some thin gruel. These little ones must be hungry."

Eleanor quickly brought some gruel. But no matter how we tried to feed them, these kittens wouldn't drink it.

Seeing them curled up, looking so pitiful, Eleanor hesitated before saying: "Ms. Summers, since they are your babies, why don't you... try feeding them yourself?"

A human feeding milk to cats? Was that even rational? Never mind, they were my children after all.

I couldn't just watch them starve, could I? I tried expressing a little milk into a bowl.

The five kittens, whose eyes weren't even open yet, seemed to smell it instantly and eagerly scrambled towards the bowl.

The bowl of milk was gone in a flash. My babies, indeed. Their vitality was as strong as mine!

As I continued feeding them, I pondered the situation.

My life had been completely clean; the only time I'd ever been with a man was that night with Alex Thorne.

So why had I given birth to a litter of cats? I carefully recalled every detail from before and after my pregnancy.

Diet? Normal! Had I come into contact with anything strange?

No! The only unusual thing was that the day before I shared a room with Alex, I'd found a pure white stray cat in a corner of the garden.

I'd even given it some meat. Could that cat have been repaying my kindness by sending me five cat babies?

Just as I was thinking this, I heard a soft, sweet voice: "Mommy, hungry."

I thought I was hallucinating. I looked down, and nearly wet myself.

The five kittens who had just been fighting over milk had transformed into five fair-skinned, chubby little babies!