It was a beautiful cloudy day, Belle and Freddie had decided to take a walk through the calm streets so they could chat, away from all the paparazzi chasing them. She appreciated spending time with her father even more now, when she cried almost every day and lived so far away from him. At some point they walked past the theatre where Belle had met Roger and she smiled to herself. She used to love him so much, and it was a part of her life that seemed so old but it really wasn't. Her life would be totally different now if she had stayed with him, she just wasn't sure whether it would be better or worse.
"Belle, I can't wait to be in Barcelona again", Freddie said to his daughter as they walked Joe's dog. "Are you sure you don't want to go with me?".
Belle stopped to think for a minute. Going to Barcelona with her father would seem like such a good idea if she wasn't pregnant. But spending so many time with him would imply Freddie witnessing Belle's pregnancy symptoms, so she had to think about that.
"I obviously want to go with you. But I'd only stay for two days. I need to be here on Monday".
Freddie nodded, but he thought Belle sounded suspicious. It wasn't because of the fact she had mentioned she needed to be back on Monday, it was obvious, she had to go to college, it was the tone of her voice that made her sound nervous about something.
"That's alright. Let's talk about something else. Have you seen Brian recently? I haven't heard about him for a long time", Freddie asked as he took a sip of water.
"Yes, I see him every week. It's just that he's a father now, you know, he has a daughter to take care of".
"I understand that. Having children is such a blessing at any age, but it's a really tough job to do when you are so young, like him".
Belle gulped. Brian was a few years older than her and her father still thought he was young to have children. What would he say about her? She felt such a painful feeling in her stomach. She was dreading the day she would finally have to tell her father she was pregnant.
"Brian is such an intelligent and mature young man. He is doing a great job".
"Have you ever thought about having children, Belle?", her father questioned out of the blue, making Belle shiver. Why did he have to ask such questions right in that moment, when she was going through such a complicated and difficult time? The pressure was eating her alive, but she had to remind herself that no matter what happened, she would never show any sign of anxiety.
"I have. I have always wanted to become a mother", she turned to her father and faked a smile.
"That's great, Belle. My advice would be to wait until you are at least thirty. And don't have kids with that Rami guy, imagine if they inherited his personality".
Belle sighed. Her father was really blunt but that was not the problem. The problem was that she agreed with him. But she had to pretend she did not, she had to do everything she could to lessen the gravity of her father's reaction, make him believe that she was happy with Rami even if she had accidentally gotten pregnant.
"Dad, I'm telling you this again. I know you are not fond of Rami but you should get used to him. He's not going away anytime soon".
Freddie raised his eyebrow. It was weird to hear his daughter disagree with him. Freddie knew it was normal, she was an adult with her own opinions after all, but it was really strange to see her attached to a man that was so different to her.
"You're talking as if he was your husband. Of course he can go away any time soon, Belle, some relationships don't last forever, you're stone cold crazy if you think they do, I'm sorry to tell you that", he mocked.
"I know, but I don't know what will happen in the future. We might end up hating each other or we might end up getting married. You never know".
"Wait", Freddie stopped walking and frowned at his daughter. "End up marrying him? Why would you do that, Belle? Would you seriously marry him?".
"Well, I love him", she shrugged.
"He is so arrogant, I cannot even imagine how it must be like to live with him".
She sighed, it was just as bad as he thought.
"I don't want to continue arguing with you, please. We have more interesting topics to talk about. Such as Barcelona. Tell me everything about how it is like to be there and if you think I'm gonna like it", she faked a smile again, ready to listen to her father talk about his favourite city and divert attention from her problems with her boyfriend and not cause any suspicion.
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"You've got to be kidding me", Catherine said with a big smile on her face as she hugged Rami. "I cannot believe you'll become a father. Congratulations".
Rami had finally told Kate that Belle was pregnant, and she felt really happy for him, and for herself too. Belle was pregnant now and there was no way in the entire world that she would ever come close to Roger again. Their plan had worked perfectly.
Or at least that was what she thought.
"Mrs. Taylor", a young employee approached her as she talked to Rami. "You need to go to your office now. Daisy Newton has just resigned".
"What? Why?", Kate exclaimed, her momentary happiness starting to vanish.
"I don't know", the young woman responded. "Her letter of resignation is on your desk".
"Come with me, Rami", an agigated Kate said to her coworker.
Rami wanted to laugh, he had forgotten to tell Catherine about Daisy's plan.
The pair headed to Kate's office and read Daisy's letter.
"Do you realise how grave this is?", Rami asked Catherine as she drank a glass of wine, she seemed so calm but she was actually boiling with anger. "Daisy.. knows all of your secrets, Kate. This is serious".
"I know it", she lashed out. "I know it and you don't need to keep saying it. Your pointless words don't help at all".
Rami rolled his eyes.
"Actually, you should be real worried, too. Remember Daisy knows everything that you had to do just to get near Belle".
"Do you think I even give a damn, Catherine? There is not much she can do against me. She's pregnant with my child", he stated, looking absolutely unbothered.
Catherine shook her head and let out a deep sigh.
"Don't think about it too much", Rami said. "Now that I think about it, even if she said something against us, no one would believe her. Remember that not everyone knows what we do. We're the good, respectable guys. Everyone has a good image of us".
Catherine nodded. He was somewhat right.
"You're right, but she still knows too much and that bothers me", she gasped out.
"I think you should focus on keeping Roger. Does he still have divorce in mind?".
"I don't think he does. Things have been so weird lately. We don't.. fight, but we don't even talk. Only stuff that's related to our kids. I don't even know why it doesn't bother me. I think I prefer being like this, when we don't say anything and I can continue seeing Rupert".
"Rupert?", Rami gasped, followed by a mocking laugh. "Are you seriously seeing Rupert? It's.. unbelievable. He lives in the smallest house and drives such an outdated car".
"Why are you so obsessed with people's social position?", Kate questioned, furrowing her eyebrows. "At this point, I think you would have learnt that not everyone is as fancy as you are".
"Oh, no, this isn't about me", Rami denied, running his fingers through his hair. "It's about you, because we all know you've got a fixation with money".
"Not anymore, I'm rich now".
"You're not rich at all. Is your husband rich? Yes, he is. But your personal worth is $0. Unless you divorce Roger, that amount will have skyrocketed".
Catherine curled her lip, she would constantly be snubbed by Rami and it was so uncomfortable to her. He was one of the few people she could not be above of, a living reminder of everything she wasn't, a living reminder of her humble upbringing and money hungry days.
"Well, getting a divorce doesn't sound too bad after all".
Little did Rami and Kate know that Roger was actually near to them. He wasn't listening to their conversation, but he was planning on doing something that would directly affect Catherine.
"Where the hell have you been all this time?", Adam asked the Roger as he entered Rami's office, which was next to his, to leave some documents on his desk. "I haven't seen you since yesterday".
Roger walked towards Adam.
"I went to see my lawyer", he whispered. "This is it, Adam. I'm getting divorced".
Adam gasped, his eyes bugging out, he had been waiting for so long to hear those words come out from Roger's mouth.
"You are doing just what you needed to do", he chirped, a big smile shown on his face.
Roger chuckled and rubbed his neck.
"I know, but it will be a very hard process. I don't care though, I just need to end with this. It was so difficult for me to act normal when I saw Kate. But I've had enough. I'm not even following her one-year rule".
"I'm glad you are not following it, she doesn't deserve to have you for even one more day. But don't worry, Roger. You've got my support and it's gonna be alright", Adam stated as he patted Roger's shoulder.
"Thanks, Adam. But now there's something more that I need to think about. It's something that keeps me excited", Roger told Adam as he attempted to distract himself from his divorce.
"What?".
"Freddie Mercury will be hosting a party in honour of his new album the same week as the summit too. I already received my invitation, I'll be seeing him two times", Roger said as he rested his arm on an office chair.
"Do you think Belle's going to be there?", Adam mischeviously asked.
"I think she will".
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Freddie rolled his eyes as he saw Mary approach him. London was an extremely big city, so why did he have to run into his ex-wife as he visited a furniture store?
"Hello, Farrokh", Mary greeted him as they shook hands. "You look a little distraught. What's bothering you?".
He let out a deep sigh.
"You know I don't like being called Farrokh".
"That doesn't matter, you were Farrokh when I met you", Mary simpered.
"Yes, Mary. But that was around thirty years ago", he came on strong.
"Calm down, Freddie", Mary said in her strong signature British accent. "Wow, I hope you fix your attitude problems by the time Belle's child is born".
"Why do Belle's nonexistent children have anything to do with this?", Freddie questioned, thinking Mary might probably be drunk.
"Why do you even ask?", Mary frowned. "You're going to be a grandfather, Freddie. Will you ever even mature?".
"I have absolutely no clue of what you're talking about, Mary", Freddie frowned.
"Don't you know? Belle is pregnant", Mary stated.
"Belle is what?", Freddie grimaced.
"Pregnant".