bChapter /bb95 /b

na’s POV:

Hooked at him, heart thudding steadily in my chest, and slowly shook my head. The pressure behind my eyes was mounting again, Dike bsom /bswollen, trying to burst.

“sty mom’s at the hospital. She’s in her officeb, /band I can’t disturb her right now, I muttered, half to him, half to myself “She’s already been through enough because of me…”

I trailed off, the guilt hatting like a punch to the throat, I didn’t need to drag hier into another scene. Fiona had her exams to study for, and Rachel ………. God, I didn’t even know where she was. She hadn’t been answering her metsages since the weekend, probably halfway across the city or neck–deep in stitching a new design at her aunt’s boutique.

-No

o one?” Matakal’s brows lifted, and he slipped his phone out of his coat pocket. Then Niki? Yeah, I should probably call him-

My eyes snapped wide. “No.” My voice cracked bout/b, raw and urgent, and my hand shot out before I could think. I pushed at his phone, not hard, just enough to stop him,

“bNo/b,” Trepeated, softer this time, but firmer. “Don’t. Please don’t call him.” I bsighed/b, the dizziness hitting again, this time like a wave threatening to knock me under. “Fine. bOkay/b, I’ll go with you. Just…don’t call him. Pleade

There was a long beat before he nodded, sliding his phone back into his coat pocket with a soft click. “bGood/b,” he said with a relieved smile. “Come on. Sit down. I’ll pay the bill and be right back.”

He helped me back into the chairb, /bbhis /bbhand /bbbrushing /bmy shoulder briefly, and I sat down hard, my limbs too heavy to resist. My fingers fumbled as t grabbed bmy /bcap from the table and showed it into my bag with clumsy movements. I reached for my rucksack next, but before I could lift it, Mkar had already taken it from me.

“I’ve got it,” he said simply, nodding toward the door. “You just move bforward/b.”

I didn’t argue.

Even the act of blinking was exhausting.

Once in the car, I barely registered the start of the engine before I was bleaning /bagainst the window, my body giving in to the pull of sleep almost immediately. ?vaguely remember murmuring the location of Dr. Berkelt’s clinic before everything went dark.

When I stirred next, someone was calling my name gently, fingers brushing against my shoulder, “Elena,” Mkai said, “we’re here.”

My eyes blinked open, bleary with sleep and residue from the migraine pulsing through my skull pushed the door open, stiff limbs carrying me out slowly. The afternoon light was gentler now, softer, golden around the edges. A breeze btugged /bat my bhoodie/b, bsharp /benough to remind me that I was very much bawake/b, very bmuch /bnot okay.

We entered the clinic together. It was clean, modern, but not shy–painted soft cream with green nts dotting corners and a few cushioned chairs against the walls. bThe /breceptionist bgave /bus a weing smileb, /bbbut /bit bfaded /bba /blittle when she saw the pallor on my face,

I gave my name quietly. I’m here to see Dr. Beckett.”

The nurse tapped at her tablet. “You’re in luck. There’s no rush right now. Please have a seat, she’ll bsee /byou in about fifteen minutes.”

I nodded and thanked her before turning to Mka. “You don’t have toe in. Just wait here, or you can leave if you want, okay?”

“I’m staying!

g here. But you sure you don’t want me there?” he asked, ncing toward the hallway that led to the consultation rooms. He probably thought I wasing alone for the first time, Little did he know, hospitals were my second home for byears/b.

“iYeah/ii,/ii” /i15

Isaidb, /bmore firmly. “It’s fine. Thanks…for this.

Chapter on

– H4 nodded orics: “Take your time.”“

After theen notubes the hune told me to go to her room.

I walked down the corridor toward the Beckett’s room, the soles of my sneakers squesking faintly on the polished floor. My hands trempted for the handle. The door opmed before I could knock.

“na,” Dr. Pocket greeted with a warm smile. Her voice was gentle, soothing “t’s been a while. Come in, sweetheart.”

Idepped inside the room that had once felt safe to me as a child, now feeling like I was walking into a courtroom. The walls were the bsame /bpale blue, the familiar framed photos of her family still on the bdesk /bbeside her stethoscope.

She gestured to the chair and sat across from

amme. You look exhausted. Tell me what’s going on.”

I took ba /bdeep breath, trying to gather the scattered pieces of my mind into something coherent.

“I’ve been nauseous,” I began, voice hoarse. “Dizzy. Headaches. I couldn’t keep my lunch down today even after skipping breakfast–barely made it to the bathroom.

Dr. Beckett’s brow furrowed, but she didn’t interrupt.

“And I feel strange. Just… off

She nodded slowly, taking notes. Sturned to take ba /bseat and started clicking on herputer as she asked me some more questions about my recent lifestyle, eating habits and emotional fluctuations. She finally spoke after a while. “Any chance you could be bpregnant/b?”

I bstared /bat her for a second, then blinked rapidly. “Na. – have an IUD.”

She raised her bbrows /bslightly but didn’t blook /bsurprised. “Even so, no method is a hundred percent. These things fail. It’s rare, but it happens. And your symptoms…

She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she got up and fetched a small, white box from the cab.

“I need you to take a test, Elena,” she said quietly, cing the kit into my hand. “Just to be sure. If you are pregnant, we need to know immediately. With an UD, there can beplications.”

Complications

I swallowed around the hard lump forming in my throat.

My legs moved on autopilot as i followed her direction to the small adjoining bathroom.

Topened the test kit with trembling fingers.

Please no. bPlease/b, not now

I followed the instructions, each motion feeling foreign, mechanical. Then I waited.

The longest five minutes of my life

my stomach like I could protect myself from the answer, I kept

I sat on the toilet lid, staring down at the test on the counter, arms wrapped tightly around my chanting inside my head–Don’t do this. Don’t do this to me. Don’t let this be real

The second line appeared.

Faint, but unmistakable.

A sharp coldness spread through me.

Everything sted.

My vision tunneled

My breathing went shallow.)

It was positive

I don’t know how long I sat there, staring at the lit

stic strip like it had betrayed ma

My body didn’t move. My thoughts didn’t work. All I could feel was a single truth echoing through my skuff. I’m pregnant.

A soft knock came on the bathroom door. “Henal” Dr. Beckett’s voice was calm, but could hear the norm under it. You cane out wither you’re ready”

Esshed my face with water. My fingers felt numb as I washed my hands, dried them, and opened the door.

She looked at me. Hooked at her.

“It’s positive,” I said numbly,

Her lips tightened, but she only nodded, gently guiding me back to the chair. “We’ll run a few more tests to confirm and to see how far along you are just a urine sample and a scan, alright?“,

I nodded wordlessly.

After ten more minutes, she returned I with the results.

“You’re about three weeks along,” she bsaid /bgently. “Now, Elena, with an IUD in ce, there are risks. If you decide to keep the baby, we’ll need to remove the UD immediately to preventplications. But

She paused, probably because she could see the horror on my face, her voice softening.

f you decide otherwise, we’ll discuss bthe /bsafest method for terminating the pregnancy”

froze

Abortion?

My stomach twisted violently again, though I had nothing left to throw up, I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t.

The idea of it–the clinical removal of something inside me–of erasing something I hadn’t even basked /bfor, felt bunreal/b. Like I was listening to someone

Dr. Beckett was watching me carefully, her hands folded patiently. “Whatever you decide, be here. But time is important.”

My phone buzzed.

Treached into my hoodie pocket and pulled it out. The screen shed with a message-

Niko

I stared at it like it was a live wire.

A memory shed his voice blow /band desperate, his breath hot against my ear as he hovered bover /bme that night.

“I’m trusting you.”

He hadn’t said it out of cruelty. He’d said it because he believed me. Because he didn’t want to believe I’d lie about being on birth contral

But bnow/b!

What the hell was this?

This wasn’t my fault.

But it felt like a trap. A betrayal.

If I kept this child… Would it be like I was trapping|

ing him? Would he think I had done it on purpose?

I stared at the message.

Then at the doctor

Then down at my stomach.