All she wanted was to crash into bed. She didn’t have classes that day, which meant a rare few hours of uninterrupted rest. Suddenly, a voice called her name. A sleek sedan rolled slowly alongside the sidewalk. It was Andrew, smiling behind the wheel, offering her a ride home.
Olivia hesitated, skeptical. There was no way he was going her direction. Andrew laughed, admitting he wasn’t, but insisted on driving her anyway. To this day, she didn’t know what made her get in the car—perhaps it was his genuine smile or just her own exhaustion. Instead of going straight to her apartment, they ended up driving around for hours, talking about everything and nothing until noon.
Her fatigue vanished. When she woke up later that evening and looked out her window, she was stunned. Andrew was parked down below, asleep in the driver’s seat, a bouquet of flowers resting on the dashboard. From that day on, they were inseparable. Three months later, they discovered they were going to be parents.
When Andrew heard the news, he didn’t hesitate—he proposed immediately. He wanted to take Olivia back to his hometown to meet his mother and brother as soon as his contract at the plant ended. But Olivia panicked. She asked him to go first and break the news gently. The thought of showing up pregnant and unannounced to meet a wealthy family terrified her.
Andrew tried to dismiss her fears, calling them nonsense, but seeing her genuine anxiety, he agreed to her plan. As a former foster kid, Olivia carried a deep-seated fear of judgment, especially from people with Andrew’s background. She needed him to pave the way.
He had left three months ago. The separation was agonizing. Then, silence. His calls stopped, and his texts went unanswered. People around town started to whisper, telling the pregnant girl that the rich engineer had simply moved on and left her with the consequences.
Olivia refused to believe the rumors. Eight weeks of silence passed. Then, while dropping off paperwork at the plant’s HR office, she overheard a conversation that stopped her heart. Two managers were discussing the tragic death of the consulting engineer in a carjacking back home. The room spun, and the next thing she knew, she was sitting on a sofa in the office, the HR director handing her a cup of water with a pitying look.
The woman confirmed the worst. Andrew hadn’t abandoned her; he was gone. He had been attacked outside his apartment complex shortly after returning home. It was a random crime, a senseless tragedy. The perpetrators were caught, but that didn’t bring him back.
