Lie after lie
Sofie’s POV
“Thanks a lot, Doctor Kylie.” I said, collecting the package which contained my medications from her.
She waved it off with a smile, “It’s alright, Miss Sofie. You don’t have to thank me for doing my job, what you have to do right now is to give yourself some peace of mind, okay? We don’t want you coming, and going out of the hospital when you’re not even in the second trimester yet.”
I nodded, lowering my gaze to the floor, as I felt the now familiar staggering guilt engulf me for the nth time that afternoon.
The baby wasn’t even born, yet I couldn’t even protect them properly.
Maybe Roman was right about not wanting to have kids. Maybe he really wanted to have kids but not with me. Maybe he had seen how clumsy and careless I could be that he didn’t trust me enough to carry his kids.
All sorts of torturous thoughts ran across my mind as I put the medications inside my bag.
“Sofie, do you have somewhere urgent to be right now?” Damien’s voice rang into my ears and dragged me out of my agonizing thoughts.
Right, Damien. I had almost forgotten about him and the impending doom that was about to befall me sooner than I thought.
“Uhm, no?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
He nodded, “Can I speak with you in a private place?”
My heart pounded with dread as I felt anxiety clog my chest, almost making it impossible for me to breath properly.
What did he want to say? Was he going to mock me and afterward call Roman to tell him about my pregnancy?
“Sofie, are you listening to me?” Damien asked, flicking his fingers in front of my face.
“Y-Yes. I’m sorry, I was thinking about something else. Sure, we can go somewhere private, where do you suggest?” I stuttered, shoving my clammy hands into my pants’ pocket.
“There’s a confectionery shop at the end of the street, Kylie and I like to eat there most times. Their cinnamon rolls are to die for.” Damien said excitedly but I was too engrossed in my misery to share some of his jolliness.
“Let’s go there then.” I mumbled.
“Alright.”
We trekked to the parking lot, got into Damien’s car and about fifteen minutes later, we got to the snack shop.
Damien ordered us some snacks, a glass of milkshake for me and a cup of coffee for himself, which I thanked him for but couldn’t even work up an appetite to consume.
We sat in the silence for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore and I blurted out, “Won’t you ask me?”
He frowned, “Ask you what?”
“About my situation.”
“I was searching for the appropriate words because I didn’t want to seem too forward.”
“Oh.”
“But since you started the conversation, I might as well ask you about it now.” He said, taking a sip of his beverage.
I inhaled sharply, “Okay, ask away.”
“So you’re pregnant.” He began, to which I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Does Roman know about it?” He asked the long-awaited question and my breath hitched my throat for a split second before I shook my head in negation.
His eyes gaped in shock as he stared at me, “Wait, why doesn’t he know about it? What’s going on? Or is the baby not his?”
“No, it’s not that. The baby is his but he doesn’t want it.” I muttered, causing Damien to frown.
“You just said he doesn’t know about it, so how could he possibly not want a baby he doesn’t even know about?”
“Well, I sorta asked him if he wanted a child and he told me he didn’t an-”
“So you concluded on your own that he didn’t want children?” Damien interrupted, raising a disbelieving brow.
Hearing it like that made me feel stupid because Damien was right.
I had jumped into conclusion without coming clean to Roman about my pregnancy.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
“I guess you could say so.” I said with a shrug.
My phone then chose that moment to ding with a text message from Roman which made shivers race down my spine.
“Excuse me, I have to reply to this.” I said to Damien, motioning to my phone.
“It’s fine.”
I nodded before unlocking my phone and swiping through the message he sent.
It read; “Hey, baby. I got off work earlier than I thought, would you like to get lunch together now, or are you still busy with your classes?”
My fingers nervously danced on the screen for some seconds while I pondered on how to reply him.
Eventually, I chose to lie. So I typed back; “Hi, my love. I’m so sorry but I don’t think our date for today would be possible. My classes today will end very late in the evening, and I don’t even know when the exact time will be. Let’s postpone our date till tomorrow, I love you.”
And with a deep sigh, I pressed send and placed my phone back on the table.
“It was a message from school about an impromptu class we would be having tomorrow.” I lied freely and Damien just nodded.
I had no idea why I was lying so unprovoked, and I just hoped my lies didn’t end up biting me in the ass in the future.
“You have to tell him about the baby before things get out of hand, Sofie. I won’t force you to nor will I tell him by myself but you really need to let him know about this. What if his reaction is better than you expected?” Damien suggested.
“You really think I should tell him?” I asked.
“Yes. You need to, you’re carrying a child that is half-him, he deserves to know. Don’t tell me you were planning on keeping it away from him forever.” He huffed incredulously.
I couldn’t defend myself, so I just settled on staring at my lap.
“Sofie, that man is in love with you. I’ve known him for decades and I know he is whipped as hell for you. I doubt he’d hate you if he knew you were pregnant. He’d be elated, I mean it.”
“No, he really doesn’t want kids. He-” I sighed, “He told me about your wife, I’m sorry for your loss by the way.”
Damien went silent then and just nodded wordlessly.
“He told me a lot of things and I know for sure that he doesn’t want kids. He’d never accept this child, Damien. Please respect my decision and don’t tell him about this, can you do that for me?” I asked, gazing his eyes.
He heaved a deep sigh and nodded, to my utter relief, “Okay. I will, I really hope you make the best decision for you and the baby. And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.” He said, pushing his business card toward me.
I plucked the card from the table, “Sure, I will. Thanks a lot, Damien.”
“No problem.” He replied.
Moments later after I was done scarfing down the fluffy, jam-filled doughnuts and milkshake, we left the confectionery shop in Damien’s car.