Standing outside their apartment door, he stared at the pills in his hand. He heaved a sigh and pulled out his keys. He put them in the keyhole and unlocked the door slowly. He walked in and was met with silence. He went straight to their bedroom and found no one there. He ran into the living room and finally saw Chloe asleep on the couch.

He crouched down beside her and caressed her cheek. She fluttered open her eyes and saw Axel's face.

"Hey..." He mumbled

Chloe got up and sat straight. "Hey" she drew in her lower lip.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier..."

"It's okay..."

"But I still don't want this child" He whispered and kissed her on the cheek.

She gently placed both of her hands on his cheeks. She nodded solemnly. "I get it. I don't think I am ready for a child either..." She looked down and heaved a sigh. "But we can give it up for adoption..."

"It's better to end this right now, Chloe..."

"Don't you feel anything for it? It's your child too" she tried to reason with him.

"I hate it." He told her. "This piece of shit is causing problems between you and me. I fucking hate it" he told her honestly. He never hid anything from her.

"Piece of shit?" Chloe whispered heartbrokenly.

"Chloe, I will hate it. Even after its birth I know I will hate it. Do you want your child to grow up without a father's love?"

She looked down and fumbled with her fingers that were resting in her lap. "Will it make you happy... If I aborted this child?" She asked

He kissed her hands multiple times. "Yes..." He answered

She solemnly shrugged her shoulder. "Okay..."

He quickly dug into his pocket and pulled out a prescription bottle. "Chris bought it for us... I asked him to"

Chloe frowned at his eagerness to get rid of this child, it broke her heart. With shaking fingers, she took the bottle from his hand and stared at it. Axel was looking at her with hopeful eyes, she gave him a weak smile and opened it. "I don't want to..." She uttered, one last time trying to save her baby.

Axel pursed his lips disappointedly. "You have to, Chloe. We have to. I don't want this thing between us" After saying that, he went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water.

This thing... He called their child "This thing"

She knew now that if she brought this child into the world, she will bring hell upon it. She took out a pill and as she was about to put it in her mouth, Axel's voice stopped her.

"Take two" he took out another one and handed it to her. She took both of them and drank some water.

Cupping her face, he kissed her deeply. "This is the right thing. We aren't ready... We can't give it a life it deserves" he whispered and she nodded.

"Come on, let's go to bed." She didn't feel like making conversation with him after this.

She stood up and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They walked to their bedroom and Chloe laid down in her bed away from Axel. Axel slid closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist, spooning her.

"Everything will be fine..." He whispered in her ears as she silently cried.

Axel woke up by the sound of the shower running and distant whimpering. Startled, he shot up from his bed. Beside him was a big red blot of blood. He hurriedly got off the bed and saw droplets of blood trailing towards the bathroom.

He trotted towards the door and the whimpers turned into sobbing. He knocked on the door and heard nothing in return. He knocked again and the sound of crying seized.

Losing his patience he burst open the door only to see Chloe sitting on the bathroom floor completely naked, her knees to her chest, her eyes reddened with water running down her body. Her face contorted into misery as she saw a stunned Axel before her.

"Chloe..." He whispered terrified

"It... just--- won't stop--- bleeding" she hiccuped

"Do you wanna go to a doctor?" He asked, his voice trembling.

She shook her head. "No..." She cried miserably, her tears washed away with the water.

"Chloe" a helpless whisper.

"I killed my baby" she wailed. "I KILLED MY BABY!" she shrieked

Axel sat beside her and pulled her in his arms. He couldn't help the tears that escaped his eyes. Chloe cried like a child. "Shh... Chloe, pull yourself together" he cried

"I KILLED MY CHILD!" She sobbed loudly.

They both sat under the running water as she cried and cried. Axel held her as long as she sat there, bawling his eyes out. He felt her going limp in his arms, he looked down and saw her passed out. He panicked.

"Chloe? CHLOE?!" He picked her up in his arms and took her to the couch.

He hurriedly changed the sheets and gently laid her in the bed. "Chloe, wake up, please. Chloe, please, I can't live without you. Please, Chloe" he cried beside her.

Panicked and afraid, he called an ambulance. They took her to a hospital, where the doctors treated her. He spent all the money that Ace left him on the hospital bills.

After an excruciating two hours, she finally gained consciousness. She looked around the hospital room lifelessly. Axel came beside her in a flash.

"Are you okay?" He asked and Chloe just nodded.

"I want to go home," she said lifelessly.

"Yeah" he nodded

She got discharged and they went to their apartment. With unhurried steps, she approached the couch and sat down. She picked up the TV remote and started flipping through the channels. Axel stood in his place watching her with nervousness. She glanced at Axel and patted the space beside her. Axel walked towards her and sat down. She leaned her body over his and mindlessly watched television. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Chloe?"

"Hm?"

"I... I feel gu---"

She cut him off. "I never wanna talk about it again... Ever," she said emotionlessly.

"Okay," he rubbed her arm assuringly.

They watched the television in silence. An hour later, Chloe sat straight and looked at him. "I'm hungry" she mumbled

Axel nodded and smiled. "Why don't we go out to eat? I think it'll be good for you"

She nodded. "Yeah..."

They ate at the nearest restaurant. Chloe kept quiet the whole evening. They needed some stuff for their apartment so, he took her to a mall. He shopped for things while she just looked around mindlessly.

Chloe kept walking until she noticed that Axel wasn't beside her anymore. Frowning, she turned to look for him. There he stood in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at the Cartier outlet. She walked closer to him and saw him staring at the certain gold tie clip.

She heaved a sigh. She knew he was regretting. He was regretting leaving everything for her. He missed his family, he missed his money, his lifestyle.

She held his arm and his attention turned towards her. "Let's go..." She mumbled

They both got back to their apartment. Everything seemed so weird and awkward between them. It felt like nothing will ever be the same.

A few days later, they got a little better between them. But lately, it felt like there was a wall between them but it wasn't Axel's fault it was Chloe who couldn't get intimate with him anymore.

She robotically worked day and night, whenever he'd get close to her, she'd flinch away from his touch or turn him down.

Axel became even more depressed. He missed her... They were living together, they were sleeping in the same bed, but it's like she was so far away from him. Like even if he tried he couldn't reach her.

He also worked tirelessly without taking breaks. Jayden would always overload him with work. He noticed that he didn't do it to his other employees but he kept quiet. He didn't want to make a scene.

Slowly, he began to hate all this. The only reason he endured everything was Chloe but now it felt like she wasn't with him and he was doing all this for nothing.

He was working like any other day. His mind was on Chloe when a familiar black Porsche stopped at the garage. He stopped what he was doing and straighten up. Then his eyes fell on the car's plate.

He couldn't believe it. It was like his mind was playing games with him. It can't be his Porsche. How would it even get here? He waited for a few more minutes for the person inside the car to step out.

The door opened and a shiny shoe landed on the ground followed by the other. Axel sucked in a breath as his father took off his sunglasses and gave his son a heartwarming smile.

"Dad?" Axel mumbled under his breath

Everyone in their surrounding watch the scene with their mouth hung open.

"Son" Dominic's deep voice echoed.