His Nineteenth Secretary [✔]

Forty-seven

It was going to three months after the divorce, and my baby bump was now beginning to appear. I've still got nothing to lay a charge on Damien for and was well aware that I had limited time left because very soon, it won't be hard for anyone not to notice the bump but before the bump would start to become unnoticeable, I wanted more than anything for everything to have been resolved by then.

Concerning my pregnancy, there was the morning sickness and my distaste for certain food. I vomit a lot too, and it got to a point that I had to quit using cologne, and even on certain days, I would skip applying cream on my body because they made me feel nauseous.

It was a Sunday, and I had dressed up to go grocery shopping that afternoon, and just as I stepped out of my apartment, my heart had skipped a beat. And, that was due to the person that I was seeing right now.

It was Brian and seeing him this close after such a long time, I couldn't describe the joy that I felt at that moment. There were his grey mesmerizing eyes, which I had so much missed. We stood there staring at each other for as long as I couldn't remember until I heard my name being called by someone. It was Phoebe, Mike's cousin.

Our friendship continued even after Mike's death, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to tell her about Brian or about our wedding since everything happened.

She had informed me a week before that she would be coming to New York and would be staying over at my place for three days.

"Ruby." She screamed happily before running over to hug me. It was after the hug that she noticed Brian. She had the admiring and dreamy look in her eyes on noticing his good looks until I nudged her to snap her out of it.

"Who is he?" She whispered close to my ear, her eyes not leaving him.

"He's a... friend."

I didn't fail to notice the disappointed look on Brian's face.

"Are you not going to introduce me to him." She whispered again to me.

"Oh, that's right. Brian, this is Phoebe, my friend and Phoebe, this is Brian." I gave out a small awkward laugh after that.

"Nice meeting you." She held out her hand towards him for a shake.

He took her hand.

"Same here." He gave out a little smile.

Phoebe swooned, and there was the he-even-has-a-nice-voice admiration in her eyes.

"But why aren't you inviting him in?" She turned to face me.

"Invite him in?" I asked with surprise.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah, right. I was going to do that. Please come in." I said to him.

I led the way inside the house, and they had both followed behind me.

Once we were inside, Phoebe excused herself, saying she would be in the bathroom to take a shower.

It was just then that I remembered my baby bump. I heaved a sigh of relief when I realized it was nothing to worry about since it was hard to notice over the black jacket that I had on.

"How have you been?" He asked after we were both seated.

"I've been good. What about you?"

"Can't say." He replied.

I avoided eye contact with him. He must have noticed the chain he had told Alicia to give back to me, which I had on my neck presently as I could see his face brighten up a little on seeing it after a while. I had decided to wear it after Alicia gave it to me. With the necklace, I always felt like he was ever present with me. It was too late to hide it now. It only made the atmosphere between us grow even more awkward than it already was.