I don't know how, but we get back to the house.
My head hurts and I'm unaware of everything happening around me, so, I let Elijah lead me to my room.
He lays me on my bed and I close my eyes, too tired to keep them open. I feel him pull my hair in a bun, and then he leaves the room for a second, just to come back and use what feels like makeup wipes to clean my face.
"Hey, I don't know what your skincare thing is, so I hope this will do, darling. However, I do need to get this dress off you. Are you okay if I do that?" I nod my head and feel him taking my dress off and dressing me in a top and shorts.
When I feel him move away from the bed, I open my eyes for the first time, and grab his arm, "Please stay," I ask. He looks at me and seems conflicted but the pleading look on my face must convince him, because he agrees, and after taking off his shirt, he lays in bed with me.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to him. "For what?"
"Today. For being clingy and needy, and you needing to take me into the house. I usually know how to deal with these types of situations and I and Zak have not been together in a year, so I really should not care about his betrayal, but he and Emma were my people, my family for so long that. . . I don't know. . ." My voice cracks slightly, as I try to stop my tears. I feel him stroke my hair, "It's okay, Liliana. We're friends, remember? It's okay, trust me. That's what I'm here for."
He continues stroking my hair until I fall asleep.
Around 9:00 am this morning, I woke up. My head hurts so bad, and my body is stiff. I feel a weight on my body, and quickly realize that it is Elijah. I successfully move away from under his body and head towards the bathroom. When I get back to the room, his phone is ringing, and I answer it before he can wake up.
"Hello?" I answer walking into my closet. "Good morning, I'm looking for Mr Haze. I thought this was his personal number."
"Yes, it is. He is not available, right now," I answer as I step out and look at his sleeping form, "but I can leave a message." The man on the other line seems unsure, "Can I know who I'm speaking to?"
"This is his wife, Lilliana. How can I help?" A relieved sigh comes from the other side of the phone, "Oh, that's great, Mrs Haze. I'm Mr Lowell, I work with your husband, could you please get him to call me back when he's available – tell him it's about Nightstate, the building he wants to purchase in Manhattan."
I agree and end the call after quick goodbyes. Elijah is still asleep when I'm done, so I go make some breakfast to thank him for yesterday.
He walks into the kitchen soon after I'm done, a tired look on his face. "Morning," his voice is raspy and low, as he approaches me. I offer him a smile and say the same back. "I made you breakfast," I add. "I don't know exactly know what you like, so I made a bit of everything."
We sit at the table and eat, talking about nothing in specific.
"Im going to visit this place I saw, today," I let him know while we wash the dishes. "Where? I can clear my day to accompany you, seeing as I'm not too busy."
"It's an orphanage. Since I've taken over the company, I've started donating to causes I'm passionate about as much as I can." Elijah nods in agreement, "That's great Lilliana. I'll cancel my meeting and I'll come with."
I give him an appreciative smile before placing the plates on the side.
I'm dressed in cycle shorts and an oversized t-shirt, waiting for my husband to get downstairs. When he does, I take in his clothes. He's dressed casual, which is a rare pleasantry, in grey shorts and a white tee.
We get to the orphanage in no time, and we're met by the owner, who I contacted days ago. "Good morning, you must be Lilliana Campbell." She extends her hand and I shake it, "Yes. You must be Ms Valé." She nods and smiles gently, before turning to Elijah.
Her expression turns flirtatious, as she extends her hand, "And you are. . ." She starts, but before she can finish the end of her statement I do it for her, "Elijah Haze, my husband." I say as I wrap my hand around his bicep, put my ring on display, and place my head on his shoulder.
Her eyes widen and her expression turns back to professional, as I send her a placid smile. Elijah's hand wrap around my waist, and together we follow Ms Valé inside.
"Didn't know you were the jealous type," he whispers when she's far enough that she can't hear us. I elbow his side lightly, and all he does is laugh.
Ms Valé shows us around, letting us know the history of the place and the extension work they're currently doing. Finally, she takes us to the living-slash-canteen area where the kids are talking.
They vary a lot in age: from four years olds playing with cars in the garden to teens doing homework.
Ms Valé - Sophia - goes table to table to introduce us. We talk to the kids, get to know them as much as we can in the limited time we have, and then listen to Sophia tell us a little about their background and family life.
When we're introduced to almost every child, Sophia and Elijah get into a conversation about finances that I follow for a bit, but eventually, my attention is grabbed by a young boy, probably five years old, hiding under a tree.
I walk back to the garden and approach him. Sophia's voice stops me, "Ms Campbell, you may want to come back. Enrico isn't very good with people, especially new ones. He's dangerous."
I look at her, then at the small boy who is still oblivious to the rest of his surroundings, then again at her and the small boy. "Dangerous? Come on. . . He's a kid, not a zoo animal. I think I'll be fine."
Elijah's eyes are on me, as I approach Enrico. "Hi, you must be Enrico. I'm Lilliana." I say in Greek. I stay at a safe distance so that I don't startle him, but as I sit on the grass with him, I watch as he flinches. His calm expression quickly changes to a stoic and alert one.
"What have you got there?" I ask, noticing the little octopus teddy in his arms. He instinctively holds on to it tighter, but when his eyes meet mine, I offer him a kind smile. It seems to be enough to calm him slightly and make him more at ease because he slowly moves him towards me.
Carefully, I hold onto it, "Does he have a name?" He doesn't respond, instead, he continues staring at me.
We sit in silence for approximately three minutes, me holding the teddy, and Enrico quietly watching the other kids. "Do you want to go inside?" There's no answer, "We can go to the kitchen and get cake, maybe?" Finally, he nods his head and I stand up.
As I try to move my bag to my shoulder, it must brush against him, because Enrico quickly gets up and starts to scream. I freeze, not knowing what to do. The next thing I know, he reaches for his octopus, but when he can't reach it, he starts scratching my arm.
I let the thing fall from my hands, and Enrico grabs it quickly and returns to the tree and sits on the grass with his knees to his chest.
Elijah is quick to my rescue and asks me questions, but I tune him out, focusing on the boy who makes eye contact with me from his position.
"Ms Campbell, are you okay? I'm so sorry. I assure you this will be appropriately dealt with." I look at Ms Valé, "There's no need. It was my fault. My bad must have hit him as I was getting up, and might have gotten scared. Really, it's my bad. He shouldn't get punished cus I'm clumsy."
"Ma'am, you're bleeding. He needs to know that this behaviour can't be repeated."
Glancing down at my arm, I realize she's right. I'm bleeding. "He's a kid and he really just looks scared. I'm the one that invaded his space. Give him a break, please."
Before she can answer, another boy, who's probably fourteen years old, and a girl, who's the same age, join. "What happened to Enrico?" The boy asks while the girl goes to Enrico.
"He attacked this lady -" I stop Sophia, "Attack is an exaggeration," I look at the boy. "He was startled and got scared."
"Does this mean he's being sent away?" He asks Sophia, who looks away from him. "I don't know, Xavier. It's not up to me." Xavier shakes his head and scowls, as he joins the duo under the tree.
"Enrico is being sent away?" I ask. She nods, "it's a possibility. He's been acting violent and performing asocial behaviour for some time. The board will review and we'll see. He's a danger to all bye other kids. The problem is that his siblings may not be transferred with him.
As I look at the three kids under the tree, my heart hurts for them.
"I think we should adopt Enrico and his siblings." The car comes to a sudden halt and Elijah turns to look at me. "What?"
He moves the car to the side of the road, after a few angry honks. "I think we should adopt Enrico and his siblings. All three of them."
"Okay, slow down. First thing first, there are four of them. They have a younger sister, Mariana, who's about three weeks old. Also, Sophia told me that they have a past filled with violence and I don't think it's a good idea to bring them into our world. It's not fair to them. Adoption shouldn't be about what we want, but what's better we for those kids."
I sigh, "I know. . . It's just. . . I don't know." I huff.
"We can visit the orphanage whenever you want, but I think it's best if we allow them to go to better parents. We've only just started being friends and we're already trying for a child that neither of us wanted. It's not fair if we add those kids in this fucked up situation, and I know you know, I'm right."
I nod, but still, my heart feels heavy.
I've mostly got the house to myself today. Elijah is out with Kenan, meeting with some suppliers and most of the security is with them.
It's been three weeks since the last appointment with the fertility doctor and I was supposed to take the pregnancy test last week but thought I'd let another week pass, just to be sure.
The only people who know I'm doing this are Santi and Daniel, who had to accompany me to the pharmacy. I don't want to let Elijah know, so I don't have to see the disappointment on his face when the test is negative, or positive. It's best for me to do this on my own, and then share the news with him.
I place the stick on a piece of toilet paper on the bathroom unit and leave the bathroom.
I know it's going to be negative, seeing as it's probably unlikely that it worked the first time, but still, my anxiety levels rise.
When my three minutes countdown rings, I rush to the bathroom.
The results still me in my position. "Santi?" I call for him. He's in the room immediately, panicked. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" I shake my head, so he asks me what's wrong, again, to which I point to the bathroom.
He goes in, and I follow suit. "Is that . . ." I can't manage to finish my statement. He looks at it, and then at me.
"You're pregnant. Fuck, you're fucking pregnant, Lilliana."
I get closer to the bathroom unit and look at the stick. The word pregnant is clearly written on the small display, and I feel my heart drop to my stomach.
I'm fucking pregnant.
A/N
This chapter is so late, but there will probably be another one this week or early next to make up for it.