"What's this?" Juliana asked, taking the pregnancy test and seeing the positive result, instantly feeling anxious and her hands trembling. "Holy shit... Victoria ..."
"Mom..." Victoria immediately grabbed the pregnancy test in fear. "It belongs to my friend!"
Juliana sharply looked at Victoria, full of suspicion, remembering that none of her friends had come today, leading her to think that the pregnancy test belonged to her.
"My friend didn't want her parents to know about this, so she asked me to keep it before giving it to her boyfriend," Victoria explained.
"You lie," Juliana whispered, staring intensely at Victoria as if trying to find honesty. "Your eyes never lie, Victoria ... It's yours ... You're pregnant!" she continued, grabbing the test.
"It's not mine, believe me!"
"How can I believe you? I've already sensed your lies all this time!"
"What?" Victoria looked at Juliana with narrowed eyes, not understanding what she meant by her lies. Now she worried that her mother already knew about her relationship with Brandon but pretended not to.
Juliana immediately sat Victoria down on the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. The middle-aged woman with brown hair looked at her beautiful and innocent daughter with long curly brown hair and perfectly shaped lips, her green eyes making her look so special.
"Sweetheart, don't be afraid to be honest," she said softly. "You are very special to me ... If you're pregnant, then it's okay ... I will never be angry with you or hate you," she continued.
Victoria immediately bowed her head, feeling powerless to lie anymore.
"So, is it true? Are you pregnant?"
Slowly but surely, Victoria nodded, her heart pounding, and her eyes welling up with tears.
"Oh Jesus ..." Juliana sighed, her chest suddenly tight, shocked but trying to remain calm.
"Is all this because of Brandon?" she asked.
Victoria just stayed silent.
"I know you two are close," Juliana continued, recalling several times she caught Brandon hugging Victoria in the kitchen, in the garden, and often finding time alone, especially when their parents weren't at the mansion, even when their parents were away for a few days, Brandon would often take her shopping for groceries for hours. "I'm sure ... You often do things that adults do when they love each other ... Or maybe you feel too shy to refuse him?"
"Mom ..." Victoria looked back at Juliana. "We are in a relationship... We have plans to get married ... But.. but we're waiting for the right time to tell you, to tell his parents... We're still very scared especially since you also need to focus on your career. I focus on my studies and he focuses on his business ... But ... I didn't expect this to happen." she bowed her head again and cried.
Juliana immediately hugged her and then rubbed her back.
"I'm so scared ... I'm stupid, I shouldn't have let this happen, I've ruined our plans!" Victoria said through her tears, unable to imagine how Brandon's parents would react. "I'm so scared ... I'm not sure Mrs. Smith can accept this," she continued.
"No ..." Juliana let go of the hug, looking at Victoria seriously. "Whether Mrs. Smith likes it or not, she has to accept all of this. A baby or a pregnancy that has already happened cannot be rejected or postponed... I will talk to her!"
"Mom, please don't!" Victoria shook her head, preventing her mother from standing up.
Juliana fell silent, sitting back down.
"You don't have to get involved now ... Let me handle this with Brandon!" Victoria pleaded with a pleading look.
"Are you sure?" Juliana made sure.
"Yes ..."
"Contact him now, I want to hear his reaction after knowing that you are pregnant."
Victoria wiped her tears, then quickly grabbed her phone from the bedside table and tried to call Brandon. She called several times but got no answer.
Click...
Victoria immediately jumped when the door opened, then turned and saw Brandon's mother, Casilla Smith, entering the room casually wearing a green outfit, letting her beautiful hair flow freely.
"Ma'am ..." Juliana immediately stood up.
"So you're here," Casilla replied, then her gaze fell on Victoria, who looked sad with swollen eyes. "What happened to her? Why is she crying?"
"Umm ..." Juliana was very nervous, approaching Casilla.
Casilla frowned, feeling something was wrong until her attention was drawn to the pregnancy test lying on the bed right next to Victoria. She immediately picked up the test and looked at Victoria seriously.
"You're pregnant," she said after seeing the result of the pregnancy test. "How could you be pregnant? I mean ... You're pretty, it's very normal if you have a boyfriend... But why would you let this happen? Don't you think about your position? You're still in college!" She looked at Victoria with astonishment.
Victoria bowed her head, feeling dizzy and more frightened.
Casilla turned to look at Juliana. "You shouldn't let your daughter get involved in promiscuity. My husband and I agreed to fund her education because I want her to be a successful girl and elevate your status... This is very disappointing to me... You should be grateful for what we've given... you should..."
"This is all because of Brandon," Juliana interrupted before Casilla finished speaking.
Casilla furrowed her brows, her eyes widening.
"She's carrying Brandon's child," Juliana said firmly, trying to push away her fear. "They've been in a relationship without our knowledge. And now she's pregnant... Of course, it's Brandon's child."
"No ..." Casilla shook her head and looked at Victoria cynically. "It's impossible for my son to be in a relationship with a girl like her!"
Juliana immediately frowned.
"Why don't you believe it? Do you think my daughter is so bad? She's so beautiful... Even your son often approaches her first... He's the one who often takes her to find chances to be alone when you and your husband aren't here!" Finally, Juliana uncovered everything she saw between Brandon and Victoria, and it all sounded so bitter that Victoria couldn't stop crying.
"You already knew about this," Casilla said with disbelief. "You already knew all this but you just stayed silent."
"I stayed silent because this is their matter!" Juliana asserted.
"No ..." Casilla shook her head. "You should have prevented them from being close... You should have realized that my son is very inappropriate to be with your daughter even though she's beautiful! You should have realized your position here is just a maid... Or perhaps you let them continue to be together because you want to change your status here... Your daughter becoming my son's wife... Elevating her status and yours without having to work hard but just by giving her body to my son?"
Juliana pursed her lips and shook her head with astonishment at Casilla's statement.
"I've been good to you all, but that doesn't mean I will accept you as family here," Casilla said again, then smiled thinly. "I never dreamed of letting my son marry a maid's daughter... Not at all."
"Mrs. Cassila Smith," Juliana whispered with a serious gaze, then gripped Victoria's shoulder from behind. "Perhaps you never had such a plan, never imagined it. But now my daughter is pregnant, she carries Brandon's child, your first grandchild... It's something unavoidable!"
Cassila fell silent, staring at the bowed and crying Victoria.
"Now is not the time to think about our social status... Now think about justice for that baby and my daughter... After all, she's a victim too... If your son didn't constantly pressure her into sex, she wouldn't be pregnant!" Juliana emphasized again.
"And if she felt she was a respectable girl, she wouldn't have surrendered herself to my son... She has no self-respect, she's cheap!" Cassila retorted, pointing at Victoria. "I'm sure she did this just to trap Brandon. Or maybe Brandon was just fooling around with her... You two don't need to take this issue seriously..."
"What?"
"I want you both to leave now before my husband finds out she's pregnant with Brandon's child!" Cassila exclaimed.
Instantly, Victoria looked at Cassila with fear and hugged her mother's waist.
"Just abort the fetus, then everything will be fine!" Cassila declared firmly, then took her phone from the back pocket of her pants and transferred money to Juliana's bank account. "I'll give you a lot of money. Get rid of the baby and never hope that Brandon will marry her!" she continued firmly, staring at Victoria.
"Mrs. Smith, you can't do that!" Juliana replied, her eyes widening. "Where is your conscience, how could you want to get rid of your future grandchild?"
"Shut up, you bitch!" Cassila yelled, pointing her phone at Juliana. "Leave now and never come back. If not, I can destroy your daughter... Don't mess with me!" she continued angrily, then grabbed Victoria's phone and threw it towards the wall.
Flashback off