Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Chapter 37

I drag myself to the kitchen. I have no energy to take care of myself. I feel drained completely but I have no idea why. I have been spewing just a little and that sucks.

Janet is already in the kitchen preparing madam Aliana’s breakfast. She is still the very first person to wake up in this house and she never wakes me up. We have fought about that several times but she never just listens to me.

‘’Good morning, beautiful?’’

‘’Don’t call me that. You have no right to. That name is meant only for him who I love with the whole of my heart.’’ She lifts up her hands.

‘’I surrender, baby girl. I didn’t mean to offend you. What’s up?’’

‘’The sky, of course. Why are you asking?’’ I feel like I am being abnormally rude to Janet, she doesn’t deserve me being rude to her in that manner.

‘’Are you okay?’’

‘’Never been perfect.’’ Her eyes widen but I maintain a straight eye. I have to keep looking at her. I have been avoiding her because most of the time I end up being discourteous and insolent to her.

Right on cue, there is a serious urge to throw up and I run out at an utmost speed. I bump into a hard body but I don’t even turn to look at who that is. I walk straight into the bathroom and I force the whitish bitter and sour substance from my throat. I feel my abdomen ache but I bluntly ignore it.

I swear the feeling sucks and before I know it, I am shedding tears. I don’t remember the last time I had a serious meal. I am feeling tremendously weak and I hope desperately that I won’t faint inside the bathroom.

‘’Are you okay, babe?’’ Tabby, she must be the one I bumped into when I was rushing to the washroom. I facepalm, that’s so uncultured of me.

‘’I am,’’ I say lazily wiping the tears with the back of my palm as I walk out of the bathroom.

‘’You don’t seem okay, are you?’’ she asks concern covering her face. ‘’Wait, babe. Have you been crying?’’

‘’I am just feeling a bit of queasiness but I will be okay, I trust that.’’ Her mouth hangs open. She looks super surprised and that’s not good for me.

I feel like shit itself.

‘’You are feeling bilious?’’ she asks with a raised eyebrow and I nod. I feel like she’s already judging me for reasons I cannot tell. ‘’When was the last time you had your periods?’’

‘’Shit!’’

‘’What?’’

‘’I don’t remember the last time I had my periods, it’s been a while. Three months, maybe?’’ I say with tears as I shout the shortest prayer ever, asking God not to let it be what I think.

I hope it isn’t what I think.

‘’Really? No wonder I don’t hear of the dogged crumps anymore.’’ She pauses thoughtfully before she speaks again. ‘’Ooh! Unless you want to …. Babe!’’

‘’Mh!’’

‘’You are pregnant!’’ facepalm. ‘’You remember the day you told me about you and Harry, you know, making love in his apartment? Do you?’’

I nod drowsily, ‘’I do,’’

Well, that day, after we had the food, which by the way I really enjoyed, he drove me home. I swear I had no idea that there were pills I was supposed to take. It only hit me like three days later that Harrison and I didn’t even use any protection. I told Tabby the story and she was like ‘’Wow! You two couldn’t wait? How is he? Did you enjoy?’’ she made me feel guilty when she mentioned that we were supposed to have used protection but the guilt disappeared with time. I mentioned the same to Harry but he assured me that nothing was going to happen.

Since then, he has been showing up frequently and has taken me out on different occasions but we’ve never made love again. I was wondering if I was that bad in bed that he hasn’t asked for it again but that too, fade away with time.

He has been so good to me, he does his work but never has he forgotten to check on me. He is a very busy chap but he is always there at least a few hours a day.

When I confessed to him that I loved him too, I saw the gleam that shone in his eyes and trust you me, I don’t have to be an intellect to tell that he was genuinely happy. He was overjoyed and excited. He took me out and bought me a mobile phone, he said that we will be using that to communicate. I tried saying no but he told me that I had to take it so as to make work easier for us. He insisted I didn’t even know how to use it, he took his sweet time teaching me and I was super happy.

I met his dad a few days later and I know that he truly likes me. He told me to take care of his son’s fragile heart.

I remember that same day, I met his mum and she said that I will never succeed in bringing her family down I have been thinking about those words and I cannot help but feel stroppy.

Whatever she meant, I have really tried to understand it but I cannot. I have asked myself if maybe I have some sort of a twin whom she knows and she is confusing me with but I cannot seem to place my hand on anything tangible.

‘’Babe, please come back here!’’ she says gently startling me from my trance. This truly is going to be torturous.

‘’Do you understand what that means?’’ I ask amidst sobs. ‘’I have let dad and the family as a whole down. I have messed up and I know dad will never forgive me for that Tabby’’

She moves towards me and hugs me in an assuring manner. I think I needed this because I suddenly feel loved and cared for. The warmth that comes with it is evident and is clearly what I need for now. She looks at me in the eyes after cupping my cheeks.

‘’Does he know?’’ she asks quietly.

‘’Who?’’

‘’The Harry guy, of course.’’

‘’Is it true? Because you just told me and I am not sure if your assumptions are correct.’’ She eyes me suspiciously.

‘’Stop being Naïve, babe. You are pregnant. I know about your regular periods and if you have missed them for more than a month and you don’t even think that you are pregnant, then you must be truly confused.’’

I nod. ‘’You are right. My periods have been missing for the past few months but I was just totally masked into designing the work that I never bothered to remember that.’’

She pulls her hands away. ‘’Don’t worry. It is not a sickness, neither is it a disability. You know it’s just something that will end within a few months and …’’

‘’Nine months, Tabby, I don’t know what I am going to explain to dad. He is going to swallow me alive, hate me forever, and trust me he will blame the city, mum and you. Maybe even my godmother for the misfortune. What will I do?’’

‘’Hush! It is going to be okay. It is not a misfortune. Don’t worry yourself to death okay?’’ I don’t have a choice but to nod. She truly knows how to make things better for me.

‘’You got to be kidding me, Tabby. You know very well that dad will never allow a bastard baby in his home. He is going to despise me and he will prove that he was right. I wanted to prove him otherwise but that’s disenchanted already.’’

The doorbell rings and I rush to go get the door, I know Janet is busy in the kitchen so, I need to be of a little help.

‘’Look who’s here!’’ Harry’s mum says immediately I open the door. She has never known that I work here, she has never seen me here, I wonder what has brought her here today.

‘’Welcome, madam.’’

‘’What are you doing here?’’ I hear a presence and before I can respond, Aliana picks to respond on my behalf.

‘’She works here, any problem with that?’’ ‘’A lot,’’ Mrs. Williams says.

‘’Enlighten me on the same,’’ Aliana tells her.

‘’First, is that how you welcome your mum to your house? Two, this girl will destroy you, the same way she has destroyed Harry. I wouldn’t even be surprised if she slept with your gateman and imposes a pregnancy on Harry, three …’’ tears fall automatically and I don’t do anything to keep them at bay.

‘’Baseless!’’ Aliana interrupts. ‘’If you don’t have any other important thing to tell me, then get out of my house and go look for somewhere else to rant in.’’

‘’Really?’’

‘’Yeah, really.’’ She responds casually. ‘’You never come here. You never even want to see me. You are always the most difficult person I know, so unfair and disoriented. I don’t deny the fact that you housed me but you have given me way too many frustrations to pay for that.’’ ‘’You are so ungrateful.’’ She claps her hand.

‘’Thank you, Mrs. Williams, the great. That is really prodigious. I like the fact that you discovered that I am churlish. Do you know something?’’ she asks her but she doesn’t react at all. ‘’I learned that from you. You are the most truculent person I know.’’

I start to walk away but something catches my eye. Mrs. Williams charges towards Aliana and is about to slap her when someone holds her lifted arm midair. I want to throw up so badly Her mouth hangs open when she sees turns and sees who that is.

‘’What are you doing here, mother? Who even told you that Aliana lives here?’’ she pulls her hand angrily from his grip. Harry moves to my direction and holds me securely around my waistline. ‘’Before you respond, I want you to know that you will never touch Clarita with your filthy hands ever! GET THAT INTO YOUR THICK SKULL.’’ He shouts.

She laughs evilly. ‘’I have been following you here all this while. I wanted to know who lives here and guess what?’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Now I know that Aliana lives here and you brought your evil girlfriend to live here so that you can be seeing them every day.’’

‘’What is wrong with that?’’

‘’Everything, Harry. You are dating this fool …’’

‘’Don’t call her names! SHE IS CALLED CLARITA! If you dare call her names again, I will forget even the little respect I have for you.’’

She laughs dryly. ‘’So, you still have some respect for me?’’ she asks maliciously. ‘’You are dating someone that I don’t approve. You still talk to this woman who doesn’t respect me even though all she has is because of me. What do you want, Harry? Don’t you know I can disinherit you?’’

‘’Do I care? Go ahead and do your worst. I am fed up with you threatening me always. You should stop being mean for once and accept people in your life. I am a grown-ass man. I visit whomever whenever I wish. I date whoever I wish too so, get a life and let me be! I am tired of you controlling my life.’’

Someone clears their throats and we both turn to look at the direction. ‘’If you spit one more evil word against Clara, I will beat the hell out of you,’’ Tabby says boldly.

‘’Wow! The audacity. Are these the kind of people you associate with?’’

‘’I’d rather associate with such people than associate with you. You are one of the most mischievous people I know. So wicked and discourteous.’’ She shakes her head at that.

‘’You better take back your words. I will make sure that all of you regret ever meeting me at some point. You will know I never bluff.’’ She says turning on her heels and walking out.

‘’Is that a threat?’’ she stops when her son asks that.

It is a threat and a warning at the same time.’’ She says without turning to look at us. Then she walks away.

‘’That was too much drama for just a few minutes. Your mum is so daring, I wonder what she is planning to do to us.’’

‘’I know, but forget her and whatever her plans are. I am here now, haven’t you missed me?’’ he asks pulling me into a hug. He has brought me to the bedroom so it is just him and I.

He tries to kiss me but I pull back. I don’t know why but I don’t think I wanna kiss anyone right now. I am not in the mood to do that.

‘’What’s up baby?’’

‘’Nothing. I need to speak to you.’’

‘’Well, what a coincidence? I need to talk to you about something very important too.’’ ‘’Okay, you go first.’’

‘’No, you go first, ladies first, that’s the rule.’’

I shake my head. ‘’Rules are made to be broken. Mine can wait, yours is very important. So, you go first.’’

‘’Okay, mum is forcing me to marry her friend’s daughter who is ailing and has just a few months to live.’’ I have never seen Harrison so sad, his eyes are teary and even though he is trying as a man to keep strong I can see that he is really hurting inside.

I don’t say a word to him.

I walk out of the bedroom and of the house. I don’t know where I am going to but I will go, anyway.