Chapter 120: Chapter 120

At first, Carol wasn't sure if Sebastian had heard what she said or not, because he kept looking at her without expression and without saying anything. She looked back at him, willing him to say something, anything, but he did not say anything until the silence became unbearable, so she cleared her throat and tried again.

"Sebastian, did you hear what I said? I said I'm preg..."

"Don't ... don't say anything else," Sebastian said tersely, his face still devoid of emotion as he held up a finger to silence her.

"O ... okay." Carol gulped, her insides churning and the urge to retch coming over her. She had expected anything else, but what she had not expected in the least was this weird behavior that he was displaying. She sat there in the same weird silence as Sebastian got up and went to the bathroom to take his bath, not knowing what to do, or even understanding any of what was going on. Sebastian spent a long time in the bathroom, so much so that Carol almost drove herself mad with worry.

The water was running, but he was spending more time than anyone should spend in the bathroom, so she guessed that he was avoiding her. Carol was just about to stand up to go knock on the bathroom door and ask him if he was okay, when he came out of it, rubbing vigorously at his hair with his towel. He avoided her gaze, acting as though he could not even see her where she sat tensely on his bed, waiting for him to come out and say something, no matter how bad it was. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Carol spoke up.

"Sebastian, please say something. Are you not going to say anything?" She asked him in a shaky voice, still trying to fight the nausea that had a hold of her. His strange behavior was making it all worse.

He still ignored her and went about his business, toweling off, applying lotion to his naked body, selecting the cloth he would wear, and putting it on. He was acting normally, as though nothing was wrong, and he was alone in the room. The only sign that she could see that everything was not fine was the tautness of his body and the way he held himself so stiffly.

"Sebastian..." Carol called for the third time, feeling the tears she knew that she would be unable to keep at bay well up in her eyes. She had always been a crier, but ever since she got pregnant, it seemed to worsen. Within seconds, tears were running down her cheeks as she cried silently and tried to stop them, not wanting to cry in front of him.

Finally, Sebastian put on his shoes and wristwatch and then turned slowly with that same stiff movement to face her, his face still holding the scary lack of emotion or expression that it had had since she broke her news to him.

"What did you say?" He asked. Carol wiped at her tears bravely and repeated herself, even though she knew very well that he heard her clearly the first time.

"I'm pregnant. I know that it is not what you wanted, but I swear..."

"You're pregnant." It was a statement, not a question, but Carol answered nonetheless.

"Yes. It was..."

"How come you're pregnant? How on earth did that happen?"

"I don't know, Sebastian, but..."

"You don't know? Whose is it?"

"Um, excuse me?" Carol asked in disbelief. Of all the absurd questions that she had thought that he would ever ask her, that had surely not been one of them.

"You heard me quite clearly, Carol. I'm really upset at you right now, and I don't want to keep having to repeat myself, so it would be in your best interest to give me straightforward answers." Sebastian thundered, causing Carol to flinch.

"That's an insulting question, Sebastian. Of course, it's yours. What are you trying to imply? That I've been sleeping around?"

"Well, there's no way you can be pregnant for me, not to the best of my knowledge, except you wanted to be dubious about the whole thing."

"Sebastian, I don't understand..."

"You assured me that you were on the pill. You assured me every single damn time we had sex without protection. So what the hell happened? How the fuck and why the fuck did you wind up pregnant?"

"I know it sounds suspicious, Sebastian, but..."

"Are you trying to trap me, Carol? Is that what you're trying to do? God! I would have sworn you were different. I can't believe that you would do this to me." Sebastian yelled again.

"Sebastian please, stop yelling at me. If only you would let me explain myself." Carol said, not bothering to stop herself from crying any longer as there was no need. She had known that it would hurt if he got angry that she was pregnant, but she had had no idea that it would hurt this bad. The horrible accusations that he was hurling at her were way too hurtful for her to bear.

"So, what was your plan, Carol? To keep me in this marriage for eternity, or to do what exactly? To think that I had even begun to like you more than I should."

Carol had gotten tired of defending herself since he wasn't even listening, so she merely sat there and let him do his yelling, not responding to whatever he said, no matter how hurtful it was. She tried to pretend that this was not Sebastian, or that at least he did not really mean all these hurtful things that he was saying to her. Looking at his red, angry face, she could hardly recognize the person in front of her.

"You're not saying anything? Well, that's good because there is nothing you can say or do to make any of this better. You've been lying to me all along. You told me you didn't want any kids, and I believed you, only for you to go do whatever it was you did behind my back to get pregnant. What did you do Carol, huh? Did you purposely refuse to take the pill? Is that what you did? You let my uncle and his wife talk you into getting pregnant against my will? Oh, don't act so surprised. I know that that is what they wanted." He finished at Carol's surprised gasp.

Once she saw that he had paused to take a breath in his ranting, Carol decided to defend herself.

"You seem to forget that it takes two to tango, Sebastian. You and I had sex and made this baby, but you don't see me yelling at you and accusing you of something I'm not sure you did. After all, I could very well accuse you of puncturing the condom or some other absurd thing like you're doing to me right now." Carol told him, her tears drying up momentarily as she got angry and talked back at him.

"Can you listen to yourself, Carol? Is any of what you just said making any sense to you?"

"Yes, it is. If you can accuse me of such horrible things, then I should be able to reciprocate."

"You know what? You're going to get rid of that pregnancy because I don't want it ... not like this." Sebastian ordered.

"Like hell, I will. It is my body, and I will do whatever the hell I want with it." Carol fired back.

"Suit yourself, but don't think you can force me to become involved. I'd rather not be. You can't take such a decision on your own without my knowledge or consent and expect me to applaud you. Also, I don't want to see you right now. The sight of you is annoying me big time, and I don't want to say something I'm going to regret."

"I think it is too late for that," Carol told him sadly.

"This was all a big mistake that should never have happened in the first place. I don't want to see you here or set my eyes on you by the time I get back, Carol. Just steer clear of me so I don't do or say something I'm going to regret. Do you understand me?" Sebastian asked, heading for the door without bothering to hear her reply. Her eyes filled with tears again, and this time, she could not stop them. The chasm in her heart kept growing as the seconds passed until she was sure that she would die of a heart attack right there.

"What about the funeral, Sebastian. I have to be at the funeral tomorrow." Carol told him, referring to Mr. James's funeral which was supposed to take place the next day. His wife had been postponing it for this long because she wanted his sisters who were out of the country to attend it. Sebastian did not answer, but rather, slammed the door with a force that echoed through Carol's shattered heart.