Fifty Shades Alternative | ✔

Chapter 26: Seven Minutes

He ducks his head down, our lips hovering over each other. If he moves just a millimeter more, we'll be kissing each other. As I recover my equilibrium and push him off me with all my might, the alarm goes off.

7 minutes are up.

He moves away from me immediately and trudges to his drawer. He removes a t-shirt for himself whilst I pathetically try to tame my hair and my heart which is beating so fast that I'm scared he can hear me.

What the hell just happened?

"Ana", he starts but he doesn't look at me, "I'm sorry, I lost control."

What am I supposed to say? "It's okay..." I say in a whisper.

He nods as he comes towards me and gives me a hand. What? I take it and get up as he leads me out of his room. "I have some work to do, I'll be in the study", he says and leaves.

As I walk towards my room, reality slowly sinks in. What the hell was I thinking?! I mentally slap myself. If things weren't awkward between me and Christian before, they are now. How the hell am I supposed to face him tomorrow? Or the day after?

As I enter the room, I see Mila talking on my phone. I walk towards her and ask her who is it and she simply hands me the phone.

"Hello?"

"Ana?"

"Mom?!", I gasp. I check the time and it's 10:30pm. Why is she calling me this late? "Is everything okay?"

"Why I cannot even talk to you without a reason now?" she scolds.

"Mom, no. How are you?"

"I'm fine, honey. You are in Seattle, I heard", she says, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah..."

"How did Christian take everything? You know.. you coming back with Mila.."

"It's all fine now", I say, avoiding her question.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asks as tears well up my eyes. She knows. I look at Mila and tell her to go play with Luke. When she is out of the earshot, the tears flow freely. I sob as mom tries to say soothing words from the other side.

"You should've called me earlier, Anastasia. Why didn't you?", she scolds again.

"There was so much going on for the past month, mom. I couldn't even trust myself. I didn't know who to call, who should I trust..."

"If it wasn't for Ray, I'd be in the dark forever. I want to be there for you", she says as I listen intently, those damn tears still flowing without my permission. "Listen, Anastasia, ovarian cancer runs in the family. Your grandmother had it, I didn't... I got tested for it. I never knew you'd have it and that too, this early. I was going to get you tested in a year or two for it anyways...", she trails off.

"It's okay, mom. Christian is helping me. He has been so supportive in the past few weeks, I'm forever grateful. It kills me that even though I hid my pregnancy from him for so long, he is still doing everything in his power to help me."

"That is because he cares for you", she states. Cares… for me?

"Not really, he wants Mila to have both parents, that's all."

"Maybe. But tell me, is he awake every night just to get more knowledge about the topic? He is helping you financially too, isn't he? If you still don't believe he cares for you, why would he spend endless nights being awake just so you can get cured?"

"No m-"

"Think about it."

And it all comes crashing down. He has spent sleepless nights ever since he got hold of the reports. I remember how I overheard Taylor once telling Gail that Christian isn't concentrating on his work. I remember how he religiously comes with me every time I have a doctor's appointment. Does this really mean he... cares?

"Oh my… mom… this is so unfair! After what I've done to him..."

"I know, sweetie. But life isn't always fair, is it? I've learnt the hard way, long back. If life was fair, I'd probably still be with your dad. But we all learn the hard way eventually. He cares for you Ana, and I know at this point he doesn't even realize it himself, but he does. He is devoted to being Mila's father right now, but eventually, he'll realize the bigger picture."

"The bigger picture?"

"You are smart enough to understand that. Promise me one thing though, when the time comes, you will not lose him twice."

"I... promise" and I can picture her smiling right now. She should be a psychologist, she gives great life advices. God, I've missed her.

"Also, I forgot to tell you… I'm coming to Seattle next week!" she says happily.

"That's great! See you soon then", I say.

We then talk about a lot of things we missed since our last call. He told me how his husband got this new business going along with him teaching baseball to students who aspire to play at national level. I fill her with details about Mila's school, about all those doctor's appointments and how just yesterday Christian brought Mila extravagant gifts since she was starting school. She laughed when I filled her up on Christian's attempts at making me eat healthy and said that I was always a pain when it came to eating good food.

"I was not!", I protest.

All the while, I cannot brush aside the fact that Christian Grey cares for me.

~*~*~*~

This chapter was edited by Abby whom I met via Fanfiction.net . I think she did an amazing job on this and all those future chapters she edited for me!
Its so overwhelming to know y'all are absolutely loving this story.. it means so much to me since this is my first ever hand at writing! And English isn't even my first or second language!

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Until we meet again, xoxo ~ Ava❤