Angela's POV
"I don't know what to do, soon he will send his driver here. I'm nervous right now"…she sighed deeply.
"You will be alright Angela, all of these are just a phase to prove how strong you are. Look at it from a different angle; your dad gets to live and you, you have more than enough money to take care of yourself for a lifetime". This was Rachel speaking. She had spent the night in Angela's small hostel apartment. Angela paced the room back and forth as though she had lost something dear to her.
"I have to change into something else, this jean is choking, I need something free,maybe a simple dress would do". Angela has never had a good choice of clothes. She rampaged through her tiny closet and picked up a peach color straight gown with laced sleeves.
Poom! Poom!
The driver hunk.
That should be the driver, she peeped through the window to see a clean black SUV packed right in front of her apartment.
"It's him, she said, rushing to pick up her bag. She hugged Rachel for a while before leaving the room.
Be safe Rachel said as she hugged her for the last time, wiping off the lane of tears rolling down her cheeks.
Angela hopped into the back seat with her hair uncombed.
"Good morning sir she greeted the driver"
He nodded in response and turned on the engine.
About an hour later they arrived at the hospital. It was the same hospital she had visited for the tests the previous weeks.
The car pulled in straight into the parking lot. She walked to the reception at the main entrance. And there he was, the supposed father of her soon to be child. He was not alone this time. She managed to calm herself down. His beauty and ravishing looks always takes her off guard. She wonders how he would look without his clothes on. Just before she could conclude her thought the deep voice spoke….
Hey! You must be Angela. I have heard alot about you. I'm Chris, Andrew's friend and best man.
Best man…Angela chuckled. Hi, yeah, I am Angela. She turned to look at Andrew who was already looking away as though he was irritated by something. She pressed down her messed up hair with her right hand and held her bag in the other hand.
Yes, Chris said, giving Andrew a short signal to say something but instead he looked away.
Here she was all by herself, he had brought his friend to witness something as private as this. She should have brought Angela, just in case something happens to her. Chris's voice interrupted her thought again.
"Hey! Are you ready for this now?" Chris asked,
"Yes, I am" she nodded with a shy smile, then looked over to Chris who looked like he was irritated and couldn't wait to leave the environment.
Alright then, Chris said as he sat up and she got up too.
"You're a lucky woman", he hugged her, Andrew was already heading towards the door.
He pushed the elevator button and hopped in without looking back.
Chris followed and so did Angela. She stood in front of the two men.
"You know saying a simple hi to her will not kill you, you know that right?" Chris queried.
Yeah, it wouldn't Andrew replied dressing the hand of his suit,
"She's your baby's mama and you sure wouldn't treat her like that". What's wrong with you man?Andrew lifted his eyebrows as if to say "so what if she is?",
She's just a surrogate and nothing more, okay?
And she's human too, you can't treat her like that, what if she was your sis…
"Don't bring my sister into this, man she's nothing like my sister. Can't you see her hair, her clothes? she's poor obviously and I can't deal with that". He said to Chris under his breath and stepped out of the elevator
Angela stood watching as tears rolled down her cheeks. She has to be strong. She was only doing this to save her father. After the baby is born she will leave for good. She closed her eyes tight and sulked her lip.
Chris turned round and saw Angela crying, he held her hand and wiped her eyes with his handkerchief. "You'll be fine, trust me", he said, holding her by the shoulder.
Why was this man so mean to her? She hasn't done anything wrong and to judge by his looks he wasn't anything close to the attitude he has exhibited the whole day. If he doesn't want me then why send his drive to pick me up? She asked herself.
Angela entered the office and the nice smell lifted her nose unlike the hospital hallway that has the terrible smell of drugs and a stern mixture of different ailments. She had never liked the smell of hospitals, it made her sick. She never had a good experience with it, especially now that her father goes in and out every single day.
She shut the door behind her and took a quick look round the office. It was much bigger than her little room, it had a good interior decor, warm and nice, it was sophisticated and had lots of medical instruments, calendars, a large table and a few chairs that could house about five people all at once.
The middle aged doctor smiled at her and signaled her to sit,
"Alright then, I will have Lydia send them over as soon as I am done", she said and ended the call.
"Miss Angela Mann?",
"Hmm, you're really beautiful",
Angela Chuckled shyly, "Thank you",
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Doctor Karl, I know you met the previous doctor a few weeks back, the hospital sent him on an emergency surrogacy case in Ukraine. He will be back in a month or two so I would be in charge of your case now.
"Okay, nice to meet you Doctor Karl", she said smiling.
Angela followed him into a much wider room with a bed, machines and other medical stuff she obviously didn't know their names. Angela felt scared, these machines looked big and horrible "would they plug these strange stuff into my body?"She wondered as she walked into the room. Her eyes popped open at the sight of a needle from one of the machines. The sight of the needle made her sick, a shivering cold swept from her head to her toe.
"Sit down Angela don't be scared, I see you looking at the machines. These are not for you actually so relax"
Angela sighed in relief and could not imagine how painful it would be passing those instruments inside her.
Angela looked around, she couldn't find any seat and so she assumed she would have to make use of the bed. She hopped on it, her legs hanging and dangling in the air.
" Have you ever done this before, Surrogacy, I mean?'' he asked as he gathered some more equipment and took some notes while he spoke.
"No",
"In a relationship?",
"No",
"Then why did you decide to do surrogacy if I may ask?", When Angela didn't respond Dr. Karl stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at her keenly if she was still there or not.
Angela swallowed.
"Money?",
Angela smiled, her eyes down on the floor as she blinked hard to hold the tears that were about to come down her cheeks.
"It's fine, you can trust me, surrogacy is not that hard. It not as difficult and painful as people presume it to be, it's just like the normal way a lady can get pregnant, the only difference here his there's not going to be any form of penetration whatsoever and you won't have to do any work for it, if you know what I mean", the both of them laughed at this and then the doctor continued
" We would have the sperm inserted into your body and so it fertilizes the eggs and the baby starts growing, don't worry you are in safe hands okay,
Angela nodded, and then she heard him turn on the machine.
"I'm going to do a few medical screenings, it doesn't take much time and in a few hours you will be out of here. I would need to check your body if you have any form of infection that might cause harm to the pregnancy. It would be over before you know it", he said as he positioned Angela for the screening.
"I've been an expert in this for years and have done it for several women, some do it for money and others do it because they want to have children and create a beautiful family, it's a beautiful thing you know, the smiles on their faces when everything is finished is amazing, the always seem like some magic happened to them, they always return happy", he laughed.
He went on and on about surrogacy and told so many stories of people who had successfully gone through it. All this was just to make Angela feel relaxed and calm. The magic did work. Angela didn't feel the machine go through her much. After about two hours, they were done and back to Dr. Karl's office.
Along these lines, I will see you tomorrow and then a part of the results will be out. In case they come out generally perfect, we will proceed, the rest will be done at home. Then, at that point, we will look out how it goes.
"Relax okay, everything will be alright", he said to Angela, she nodded repeatedly.
"Thanks a lot Doctor", she said and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.
Walking through the reception she had been sitting with Andrew and Chris. She couldn't find any of them and so she sent Andrew a text that she was done.
Andrew and Chris had left about two hours ago, he had an emergency meeting with some new investors at the office and so he couldn't miss it for anything. She walked out the door and took a seat at the mini cafe just beside the hospital. She suddenly noticed women moving in and out the hospital, some heavily pregnant and others with their babies hanging on baby carts. She had thought about getting pregnant but this didn't hit her at all. She would have to be this heavy, just like the woman she just saw? Really? This was unbelievable. The woman had swollen legs and she looked pretty shapeless in her dress, with a big nose and a Pink face. She admired some of them who came in with their husbands, such a jolly moment. Her's was definitely going to be nothing like that, especially now that Andrew is acting up. She couldn't understand. He seemed quiet and kind the first time she had met him.
He phone beeped and it was the driver who would pick her up.
The car pulled in some minutes later. She hopped in the back passenger seat. The car was cold and it had a sweet lavender smell from the diffuser placed somewhere in the car. She couldn't figure out where the sweet fragrance was burning from, all she knew was she liked the smell. It smelt a bit of mint and roses. She relaxed herself as the car drove off.