The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 562

The heavy, greasy smell drifted through the air, and the more Clara breathed it in, the more acid surged up her throat.

She shifted to the side, too afraid to even take a deep breath, fighting with everything she had to suppress the rising nausea.

Fortunately, the couple ate quickly. About five or six minutes later, the plastic wrapper was crumpled up and tossed into the nearby trash can.

The two stood up and left just as Emily emerged from the consultation room with her paperwork.

"Clara?"

Clara opened her eyes, turning her head sluggishly toward the voice. Emily was standing in front of her, looking confused.

She pushed herself up using the armrest of the chair. For a split second, her vision went black, blurred, and then slowly came back into focus.

"Is it time for the ultrasound?" Clara asked, catching her breath.

"Yeah..."

Emily replied, reaching out to support Clara's arm. She noticed that Clara was trembling slightly, and her palm was even colder than before.

"Hold on, I was only in there for ten minutes. How does your face look even worse than before?"

"Probably low blood sugar."

Emily looked at her frail appearance and didn't buy a word of it. "Are you really okay? Stop trying to act tough in front of me. If you're not feeling well, we're already in the hospital. Just go check into the ER."

The two of them started walking toward the ultrasound room.

Moving away from the overwhelming smell of the greasy sausage, a faint breeze drifted from the air vent, and Clara finally felt the suffocating tightness in her chest ease a little.

"It's really nothing," Clara said, glancing back at the spot where the couple had been sitting. "It's just... someone was eating a greasy sausage sandwich next to me."

"A sausage sandwich?"

"Yeah, the smell of the greasy meat was just too overwhelming. I couldn't stomach it." Clara patted her chest. "I just felt a little nauseous earlier, but I feel much better now that they're gone."

The speaker had no ulterior motive, but the listener certainly took note.

Hearing this, Emily stopped dead in her tracks.

As someone currently in her first trimester and dealing with all kinds of pregnancy symptoms daily, Emily's mind raced. She ran a complete mental playback of everything Clara had just said.

Nausea from greasy food, extreme exhaustion, and rubbing her lower back.

As for the insomnia...

Emily wasn't entirely sure about that one.

Because ever since she got pregnant, she was exhausted every single day, practically blacking out the second her head hit the pillow.

But everyone's body and pregnancy symptoms were different.

Stringing all these fragmented symptoms together, the expression on Emily's face shifted repeatedly in utter conflict.

She swallowed hard, taking two seconds to carefully choose her words, but ultimately couldn't hold back.

Around this time last month, she had too many things going on: Felix's psychological issues, planning the new business venture with Simon, and dealing with all the chaotic fallout from Owen Price and Margot Johnson.

Further back.

Old Mr. Huntington's passing. Veronica West showing up at their door. Felix going missing and being found. The evaluation form Felix handed her on New Year's Eve. The midnight dumplings. The remarriage. The proposal. City hall.

Over the past month or two, she had completely thrown herself into managing Rhys's illness and Felix's mental health while clearing out all the hidden threats around them.

Was she late by two weeks? Or twenty days?

She wasn't sure.

Because she hadn't paid any attention to it from start to finish.

High stress, extreme emotional fluctuations, and a disrupted sleep schedule could all cause a menstrual cycle to become irregular.

Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have experience.

When she was pregnant with Felix, her morning sickness came and went quickly. After the first month, she could eat, sleep, and had great energy. She felt completely different now than she did back then.

But now, with Emily spelling it out, Clara instinctively raised her hand and placed it over her lower abdomen.

Emily stood opposite her, too terrified to take a single step.

She saw Clara's hand resting on her stomach.

And she also saw the undisguised bewilderment in those eyes for the very first time.