Swapped For Love

Chapter 5

Vincent's POV

September 10

No matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't get used to living my life in Joy's body. More often than not, I ended up puking out my meals just after I had eaten them. To put the cherry on the top, my cravings varied wildly, and I had no idea what to make out of them. With each passing day, I grew more miserable, more trapped in incendiary pain.

That night had been a mistake, now that I was surrounded by a million dilemmas I started to realize how wrong this relationship had been. Joy had her whole life ahead of her, I had my whole life ahead of me and now this kid. Worse than anything, I didn't want to end up like my family had. That fear gnawed at me.

When my mother got pregnant, it ruined my parents. My father was threatened by his family, he was disowned and literally thrown out of his house. And my mother took a gap year in order to give birth to me. And then they abandoned me.

I never want that for Joy. Still, despite my inhibitions, my heart was wavering after hearing the fetal heartbeats.

Damn it.

I placed a hand on my stomach. So much had changed in the last few days. I had simultaneously become a father and a mother by carrying. Just like I had growing up.

Sighing, I grabbed a bag that I found in her cupboard and took out her notebooks before heading out. I needed to look for a job if I was going to help her. And I had figured that working would at least help me think that there was still some normal left in my life.

After several hours of searching newspapers and calling up businesses, I finally found a job as a cashier at a pizza shop. The pay was not that much, but it would be enough for the most basic living expenses.

Though the idea of facing Joy's parents again, now knowing what happened, what she and I had done, it unnerved me. And now I finally understood why they were so mad. I recalled the crazed look in her mom's eyes and flinched. That woman was hella scary.

"Hey, Joyce," a boy suddenly said, waving. "Long time no see. We're still on for Sunday, right?"

Sunday? Joyceleen hadn't told me anything about meeting someone.

I turned around and came face to face with the guy who witnessed my accident and helped me.

"I was kind of worried about you since you fainted while I was talking to you and needless to say I was shocked when I found out you nearly had a miscarriage! Didn't I warn you to be more careful? This is why I can't stop worrying about you, Joyceleen. Take better care of yourself, okay?" he scolded, the concern in his tone making the reproval a gentle one. I wanted to laugh because he was talking like an old man in those nineties movies.

Who are you?

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for worrying about me," I said, flashing him a fake smile. Also, the most ugliest one I could muster out of Joy's face. Although there was nothing ugly about Joy's face, I admitted to myself softly, she was beautiful.

"I'm sorry, where were we supposed to meet again?" I asked in my best 'confused' voice.

"Our secret hideout," he said with a wink. Before I could say anything, he pushed past me and continued to the house.

So rude. How does Joy even know a guy like him?

I retraced his path while shaking my head. He waited while I unlocked the door and continued inside after me. Secret hideout? Was he a three year old kid? Since when did Joy started hanging out with people like him.