The Billionaire's Brother's Baby

5) No Living

Nightmares are usually unmet needs . . . Or worries, some people even thing that they're just your fears re-enacted.

When we wake up from our nightmares, we feel safe, we feel relieved.

It's over, and we can go back to sleep, peacefully. Well, maybe wary that it may happen again. But peacefully for the most part.

Mine didn't get the memo though.

Instead, it felt like my nightmare had just begun.

I woke up, dripping in sweat and found myself hunched over the bathroom toilet. My stomach pain had worsened, and from behind the clear cabinet door, the pregnancy test mocked me.

"It couldn't be," I told myself, and in the same breath, "did we ever get to use that condom?"

Out of pure curiosity, and a little disbelief, i. . . I peed on the stick.

Two lines.

I was fucking pregnant.

I stared at it in utter disbelief.

My mouth hanging open. A conversation I had just yesterday, the thoughts of not wanting to . . . Not wanting this exact thing to happen, and yet -

I shut my eyes tightly, feeling queasy again.

If I was pregnant, that meant the same man that couldn't even remember my face was the father. How could I possibly tell him that, it's been almost a MONTH and he hasn't even tried to reach out to me. I was nothing to him, just like he should've been to me.

"Shit," I whisper to myself.

Every second that passed made the realization clearer. I was going to have a baby by a man who doesn't even know who I am.

I was going to have even more responsibility, at a time in my life where I thought I was going to dedicate my time to living.

Well, that's over now.

I can't help it. I sob as loud as I can, not caring if I work Veronica up. The despair I felt was far worse than any other rational emotion, I needed to do something, to feel something else.

My door pushes open, and Veronica walks in rubbing her eyes.

"C?" She croaks, confused, "what is it? Why are you crying?"

I shake my head, but not before weakly raising the stick.

Her eyes widen.

"Oh fuck."

#

"Okay, but on the bright side you're a grown woman, with a stable job, and your own place. There's hardly anything to worry about."

Vee slept in my bed in the early hours, she held me while I cried, and then when I slept.

"Oh no? How about the fact that I got knocked up and the man doesn't even remember what I look like? I'm going to be a single mom-"

"Woah," Vee raises both hands, following me around my room as I get ready for work, "excuse me? Single mom?"

When I woke up she was already making me tea, she gave me some time until I spoke about it again myself.

"I'm not going to tell him, Veronica."

"Are you fucking mad?"

"Language."

Abortion would've never been an option for me. I don't look down on the people who do it, but at this age I'm grown enough to understand that sex . . . unprotected sex may have consequences.

"Be fucking foreal girl. He's a billionaire. You can actually take him to court and get something out of it for your baby.  Do you know how many friends I have that are single moms who receive less than $200 a month for child support?"

I don't think I need to clarify any further, but I was keeping the baby. I created it after all.

"Why do you have so many knocked up friends?"

"What if he actually wants something to do with this baby?"

"I'd rather not face the odds. The rejection would be brutal. Imagine going up to the office to tell him I'm prevalent, and he's like 'I'm sorry, Charlene who? We've never met.'"

"Uhum, okay, DNA tests don't lie, miss girl. You can be scared but you're not going to be stupid."

"He may have a girlfriend, Vee," I sigh, plopping onto the bed. I was fully dressed in my scrubs, bag under arm and keys in hand. But really all I wanted to do was crawl back under the sheets.

"I feel like I'm blowing up this man's life," running a hand through my hair, Veronica kills me as she jerks her head so far back, and pushes it forward like a peacock. She blinks for an excessively long time, all to place a hand on her hip.

"Oh!" She yelps placing a finger on her lip, "I'm sorry, he must not have known that he had a woman when he laid down his pipe and thought his weak ass pull out game was gonna do sum'"

"Oh my goodness, I am not doing this," flustered I stand quickly only for her to jump in my way.

"And he also must be the only one with a life that's about to be disrupted."

She crosses her arms, and scowls at me.

"You're smarter than this, Charlene, you are. I know it. You're just scared to death and hey, I understand."

"But you're having a baby. You're going to go through a bunch of changes, mentally, emotionally, physically, and if that man doesn't to have anything to do with my niece, trust that his pockets will make up for it. Give me the damn keys."

"Veronica - but what if he doesn't take me on!"

I follow behind her like a lost duck.

"Then tell him you'll go to the press!"

"I am not doing that."