Lydia POV
I stared at my reflection again, and for the first time in my life, I looked like someone I did not know how to help.
I changed in under two minutes.
A loose boubou gown.
Slides.
Face cap.
No earrings.
No dignity.
I didn’t even tell Bernard where I was going.
I just rushed downstairs, booked a ride, and left before anyone could ask questions.
The mall close by was still open.
Thank God for capitalism.
I walked into the pharmacy section trying very hard not to look like a woman whose life was currently dissolving from the inside out.
I failed.
Miserably.
The girl at the counter looked about nineteen and far too calm for the emotional apocalypse I was carrying in my
chest.
“Hi,” I said.
She smiled. “Good evening, ma.”
“Pregnancy test.”
Her smile stayed exactly the same.
Professional queen.
She reached under the counter and placed two brands in front of me.
I bought both.
By the time I got home, my palms were sweating.1
Bernard saw me at the entrance and immediately frowned.
“Ma, hope all is well?”
I gave him a sound that was neither yes nor no.
Just a small, haunted “Hmm.”
1/7
N
Then I practically flew upstairs.
side my bathroom, I locked the door like I was protecting state secrets.
Then I stared at the box.
Then at myself.
Then back at the box.
I read the instructions three times like it was an exam I had not studied for.
Then I did it.
Then I placed the strip on the counter.
Then I stepped back.
And closed my eyes.
My hands came together automatically.
Tight.
Desperate.
Childish.
“Please God,” I whispered. “Please let it be negative.”
My breathing got shallower.
The room felt too small.
The silence felt cruel.
I counted in my head.
One.
Two.
Three.
By the time I got to ninety, my chest felt like it was caving in.
I opened my eyes.
Looked down.
And the world ended quietly.
Positive.
For one second, I genuinely forgot how to stand.
Then my knees hit the bathroom floor so hard it hurt.
A sound tore out of me before I could stop it.
+15 Bonus
༢༽
2/7
I bent forward and pressed a hand to my mouth as tears blurred the result in front of me.
The word came out broken.
I cried into my own palm because the alternative was screaming.
And if there was ever a moment to appreciate soundproof walls, it was then.
I was pregnant.
Pregnant.
For Dave.
For that emotionally unavailable, apology-allergic, infuriating man who did not love me, did not choose me, and had very likely only touched me because another woman walked away from him.
I laughed once through my tears.
A horrible, cracked sound.
Of course.
Of course this would happen to me.
Of course life would look at my already complicated existence and say:
You know what this needs? A baby. 1
I stayed on the floor for a long time.
Long enough for my legs to go numb.
Long enough for my tears to dry into that ugly tightness around the eyes.
Long enough to realize that whether I liked it or not, I had to tell him.
Because this wasn’t something I could hide.
And even if I could, I wouldn’t.
This was not some dirty little secret.
This was real.
Terrifyingly real.
I stood up slowly, washed my face, and stared at myself in the mirror again.
Then I left the bathroom and called Bernard.
He answered immediately.
“Yes, ma?”
“Can you…” I swallowed. “Can you please tell Dave to come home?”
A pause.
3/7


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