While I Was Pregnant, My Husband Pressured Me to Lose Weight

I gained sixty pounds after I got pregnant.

Using the excuse of pushing me to lose weight, my husband stopped giving me any money to live on.

"Lose ten pounds, and I'll give you a thousand."

"From now on, all your expenses come from your weight loss, until you're back to a normal weight."

The next prenatal checkup would cost 968 dollars.

To scrape together the money, I starved myself for half a month.

But I only lost three pounds.

"Have you even been trying seriously?!"

"If it's not ten pounds, you don't get the thousand!"

Inside me, the hunger clawed at me until it was unbearable.

I forced myself through three days without eating, and finally lost ten pounds.

I sent him a screenshot of my weight, and at the hospital payment window I anxiously urged him to send the money.

But all he sent was a onedollar transfer.

Not until three hours later.

Only then did he add one more line.

"That earlier text was from my assistant. I'll transfer the money to you now."

I didn't yell, I didn't make a scene. I calmly accepted the money.

I didn't go through with the checkup. I scheduled the surgery instead.

If I want to lose weight, isn't this the easier way?

1

It went more smoothly than I'd imagined.

In one hour, the child I'd spent three years of injections and painstaking effort to conceive was gone.

I sat alone on a cold chair in the hospital for two hours.

Elijah didn't call me once.

My phone rang.

His assistant, Beulah, had sent a photo of herself holding a designer handbag.

Thank you, Mr. Swanson, for your generosity. I finally got the bag I've been dreaming of!

That bag costs a hundred thousand.

My checkup fee wasn't even a thousand.

The hunger in my belly clawed at me, sharp and merciless.

I used to want to eat like crazy, but now I couldn't swallow a single bite.

I got up and jogged five kilometers back to the villa.

I opened the door, out of breath, only to find a new electronic scale inside.

"Ma'am, you're back?"

"Miss Bell bought this scale especially to push you to lose weight."

"She said if you haven't lost weight today, you can't come in…"

Nanette stood awkwardly in the doorway, blocking my way.

I looked up and inside.

Beulah stood beside Elijah, wearing the tightfitting dress I used to wear before I got pregnant.

"Mr. Swanson, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault for staining my dress during my period."

"I've changed into your wife's dress—she won't be angry, will she?"

"Why would she be angry?"

"Could she even fit into this dress with her figure now?"

Elijah took off his rimless glasses, guilt in his eyes.

"Thank you for pretending to be my wife today. Otherwise, if I'd brought her to the investment conference, I'd have made a fool of myself and become a laughingstock."

When he finished, Elijah leaned back.

"Elijah Swanson's wife, a fat woman who weighs a hundred and sixty pounds?"

"I won't hand my rivals a chance to attack me."

Those two words, "fat woman," were like a knife driven into my heart.

It gouged out a chunk, leaving it dripping with blood.

I froze in the doorway, unable to move for a long time.

After I got pregnant, my reactions were always severe.

I vomited until I bled, and my whole body broke out in dark blotches.

The worst time, I ran a high fever that wouldn't break, for no reason at all.

I had thought about aborting the child.

It was Elijah who begged me with pleading eyes, asking me to give him a complete family.

To keep the child, I took the medicine and the injections.

My weight climbed out of control.

He had once promised.

No matter what I turned into, he would love me.

Now, "fat woman" was always on his lips.

"Mr. Swanson, your wife is back!"

"Oh no! What happened to her?!"

"It smells awful…"

Beulah covered her mouth, her face embarrassed as she swallowed the rest of her words.

Elijah frowned and walked step by step to the door.

When he saw the state of me, a flash of disgust crossed his eyes, then vanished just as quickly.

"Dawn, are you doing this on purpose to get back at me?"

"Just because Beulah accidentally heard 'one dollar' instead of 'one thousand'?"

"Just because I transferred the money late?"

His voice was hoarse, and Elijah covered his mouth and gagged a few times.

"Mr. Swanson, are you all right?"

"Ma'am, Mr. Swanson closed a big deal at a business dinner tonight and they made him drink a lot."

"Don't be angry—it's all my fault!"

Beulah hurried to hold Elijah up, her hands expertly loosening his tie and shirt buttons.

I watched quietly, and my heart gave a sudden, sharp ache.

Without thinking, I stepped inside.

Beulah suddenly stopped me, her voice sharp.

"Ma'am, step on the scale before you come in!"

My raised foot froze.

I looked at Elijah before I could stop myself.

He spoke, cold and hard.

"Dawn, I'm doing all of this for your own good."

"You can't keep making excuses when you can't even lose weight."

"My wife—Elijah Swanson's wife—can't manage even this much selfcontrol."

"Do you want to become something people laugh at behind my back?"

Elijah's words were icy, cutting to the bone.

The corners of my open mouth closed, and I pressed the miscarriage surgery form deeper into my bag.

"Fine."

I said it softly.

I was just about to take off my shoes.

Beulah suddenly frowned and spoke up.

"Madam, isn't taking your shoes off a bit like cheating?"

"I heard from Mr. Swanson that before he started pushing you to lose weight, when you weighed in you'd cheat by not taking off your shoes."

"So now you have to weigh in with your shoes on too!"

My hand, reaching for my shoes, froze. I stepped onto the scale still wearing them.

"A hundred and fiftyfive pounds?"

"Madam, you didn't cheat, did you?"

"You lost five pounds in a single afternoon?"

Beulah's disdainful, suspicious voice rang out.

I looked at Elijah.

His expression stayed cold.

My heart ached, but I said nothing and walked into the villa.

After running five kilometers, my mouth was dry and I felt awful.

I opened the refrigerator, only to find I couldn't pull it open at all.

"Madam, I forgot to tell you."

"The best way to lose weight is to not eat after noon."

"It's already eleven o'clock, so the refrigerator locks itself automatically. It won't open again until seven tomorrow morning."

Beulah walked over and finished calmly.

Then she took out a weight loss plan.

"Madam, this is a plan I had a professional weight loss coach put together just for you."

"Please follow the schedule on it exactly."

I took the weight loss schedule from Beulah's hand—every inch of it crammed with exercise and dieting.

Almost every single minute was accounted for.

"I won't agree to this!"

"Elijah, my mother is still in the ICU after her car accident. I have to go see her every day!"

I crumpled the paper in my hand.

I looked up and met Elijah's eyes.

He frowned and was about to take the schedule from my hand.

Beulah suddenly cut in.

"Mr. Swanson, since you hired me to keep after your wife, you have to trust me completely."

"She's in the ICU—going there won't do any good anyway."

"Madam, stop making excuses!"

"If you keep this up, you'll probably be dieting for the rest of your life!"

Elijah's outstretched hand stopped.

His phone suddenly rang.

He walked off with the phone, leaving behind only one line.

"Dawn, Beulah is right!"

"Don't forget, I'm the one paying for every last one of your mother's ICU bills..."

Clutching the weight loss schedule, I trudged back to the bedroom, exhausted.

My mouth was so dry I couldn't stand it—I drank the water at the sink.

Elijah's words kept replaying in my head.

Bit by bit, my heart went cold.

Late that night I tossed and turned in bed, barely sleeping a few hours all night.

Just as I sank into deep sleep, my phone suddenly buzzed violently.

"Miss Delgado, your mother is in very bad shape!"

"She's suddenly become delirious and won't wake up!"

"Please come to the hospital right away!"

I threw on my clothes and hurried downstairs.

I had just reached the living room when Beulah suddenly blocked my way.

"Madam, did you break into the refrigerator last night and steal the food inside?!"

It was such a bizarre accusation that I frowned and started to speak.

Elijah, in his pajamas, walked out of the kitchen.

In his hands were a roast duck gnawed to shreds and some fruit.

His eyes were impossibly cold.

"Dawn! Have you lost your mind?!"

"I told you to lose weight for your own good and for the baby's!"

"And this is how you go behind my back?!"

"You really disappoint me!"

His tone carried exhaustion and selfmockery.

Elijah threw all the ruined, bittenup food into the trash can.

"Maybe I was wrong."

"I never should have made you diet. I should have just left you to fend for yourself!"

"If you drop dead from being too fat, at least it'll be easier for me to find a slim wife."

The words that came out of Elijah's mouth were cold to the point of cruelty.

My heart clenched, and I opened my mouth to deny it.

"Elijah, I didn't!"

"I didn't eat any of it!"

Shaking my head over and over, I stepped forward to take his hand.

Beulah suddenly pulled out a digital scale and shoved me aside.

"I knew you'd deny it, Madam..."

"So let's step on the scale and see the truth!"

The scale was set on the floor, and I looked at Beulah's utterly confident face.

Doubtful, I was about to refuse.

Elijah spoke coldly.

"Dawn, didn't you say you hadn't eaten anything?"

"Then step on it and prove your innocence!"

I thought of my mother waiting for me at the hospital, so I set down my phone and stepped on.

"Oh my God! A hundred and sixtyone jin!"

"Madam, and you still say you didn't sneak any food!"

I looked down at the number on the scale and froze.

"That's impossible...!"

"I didn't sneak any food!"

I looked up and met Elijah's eyes, then grabbed my phone in a panic.

"Elijah, the hospital just called. They said my mother suddenly went into delirium."

"The doctor said she might not wake up—her life could be in danger."

"Let me go to the hospital first. We can look into the food thing when we get back..."

I never got to finish.

Beulah frowned and cut in.

"Madam, this wouldn't happen to be a lie of yours, would it?"

"Are you deliberately trying to cover the whole thing up?"

My eyes went damp, but I ignored what Beulah was saying.

I walked over and took Elijah's hand.

"Elijah, you have to believe me!"

"I would never joke about my mother's life!"

After a few seconds of standoff, Elijah frowned and nodded.

"Let's go!"

"I'll drive you there!"

Forcing a smile, I rushed to the garage.

I was just about to sit in the passenger seat.

Beulah stopped me.

"Madam, Mr. Swanson's business partners have always thought that I'm his wife."

"It wouldn't look right for you to be seen sitting up front now."

"It'd reflect badly on Mr. Swanson..."

My body stiffened, and I looked at Elijah.

He nodded calmly.

My heart went cold. I opened the back door and climbed in.

Not long after the car started, Beulah abruptly shoved her seat back.

I was crushed against it, and only when I looked up did I notice—

Elijah and Beulah's pajamas were a matching couple's set.

My fingers clenched tight as the clawing hunger in my belly came surging back.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

The illtimed sound rang out in the car.

In the passenger seat, Beulah suddenly covered her mouth and laughed.

"Madam, you really do have quite an appetite!"

"You ate all that and you're still hungry..."

"Oh, wait! I forgot, you're eating for two."

Beulah tacked the line on, as if to smooth it over.

I looked down at all the fat on my body.

My eyes reddened, and I couldn't help but snap back.

"How fat I get is none of your business!"

"Dawn! Show some respect when you speak!"

The car braked to a sudden stop.

Elijah turned his head, his eyes lowered dark and hard.

"My wife—Elijah Swanson's wife—is not some thirdrate nobody who runs her mouth without thinking and disrespects people!"

"Apologize! Now!"