He gazed at the brown-skinned girl who was lying peacefully on the ground. He tenderly lifted her face and wiped away the smudges of dirt from it. As he removed the thorns from her hair, he recalled the night they had together, and it brought a smile to his face. He carefully lifted her off the sand, as if she was a fragile porcelain doll. She looked innocent and harmless. He gently caressed her warm cheeks and kissed them. He stared intently at her luscious rosy lips, his eyes filled with lust. He leaned in to kiss her, but abruptly stopped mid-air. He shook off his impure thoughts and carried her out of the woods.
She was taken to the accident and emergency room. He paced back and forth in the corridor, waiting for the doctor's result. He walked out of the room and said to him, "Are you in any way related to the patient?"
"I'm her boyfriend…" he smoothly lied.
The doctor frowned and said, "You should take proper care of your girlfriend. Her blood sugar levels are very low. It's a big problem in women, talk more of a pregnant one!"
"Can you please repeat what you said?" He said, trying to confirm what he heard the doctor said.
"I said her blood sugar levels are critically low and could be a…" The doctor continued.
"Skip to the last part." He said, tired of the long talk.
"I said a pregnant woman is more…"
"Are you insinuating that she's pregnant?" He said in a shocked tone.
"I'm not trying to imply, she is! Two weeks at least. Make sure you take good care of her…"
When he was done, the doctor walked away and had the nurse move her to another ward. In the ward, he stared at the girl on the bed who was still unconscious. He seemed confused about what to do on the matter. He knew she wouldn't want to keep the baby because she had to further her education. He sighed and stepped out of the ward.
She slowly opened her eyes. The green walls and the smell of disinfectant made her realize she was in a hospital. She sat upright and as she did, she felt an intense pain in the middle of her head. She held her head in her palms as she tried to remember how she got there. She recalled Lori chasing her and her tripping, after that, everything went blank. She heard the door open and frowned once she saw the person who stepped into the ward.
"What are you doing here? Did Lori tell you to come here to mock me? How dare you show your face here after what you did? You've got some nerve!" she shouted.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" He finally said.
Her eyes widened, trying to process what he had said. She clutched the sheets on the bed and said nervously, "What? Who told you that? I'm not pregnant. Why would you…"
"The doctor told me so you can stop acting as though you know nothing about it…"
"So what if I'm pregnant? Why do you care anyway? You caused this! It's not like I wanted to get pregnant!"
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"Do what? I don't understand…"
"Don't try to play dumb Hannah. The child, what are you gonna do about the child?"
She pursed her lips and said, "I don't know…"
"Abort it."
"Excuse me?"
"The pregnancy, get rid of it!"
She clenched her fists, her blood boiling. She tried as much as possible to make sure her face showed no emotions, although the tone of her voice said otherwise.
"I'm not sure about this…"
"What's there to be sure of? Do you want to keep the baby?"
She didn't respond. He sighed and sat on the chair at the side of the bed.
"What is it that you want? Is it money or what?"
When she heard the word 'money', she lifted her head. He smirked and crossed his legs on the chair.
"How much do you want?"
She shrugged and said, "What do you think?"
He retrieved a checkbook from his pocket. Tearing a check note out of it, he wrote a sum of a million dollars on it and handed it to her.
"I believe that will be more than enough to cover the abortion, your upkeep, and take you back to your jungle of a continent."
She took the check from him. "Typical…" he thought. To his utmost surprise, she tore the check note to shreds. His gray eyes grew darker as she threw the shredded paper at him.
"What do you take me for? Do you seriously think I'm anything like Lori? Do you think I'm desperate? Or that I need help? Did you think that I would throw myself at your feet just because you offered me money? I may be poor, but I'm not for sale, your money can't buy me! You've had everything going smoothly for you, so you think once you throw money around everyone will worship you! I have something you and Lori don't have, self-worth. I may be black, but it doesn't mean you can bully me around! I don't need your money! And as for the baby, it's my baby. You don't have to do anything about it! I'm not aborting my child! How can you even live with yourself? Get out! I don't want to see your face!"
He looked at her with a stunned expression on his face. He gathered his thoughts and stood up from the chair. Slowly, he made his way out of the ward.
She stared at the ceiling, processing what she had said to him. She had never screamed at anyone and never thought she would. She felt that the past few days made her grow up and learn to fend for herself. She knew she had to continue on that path since she was going to become a mother. She unconsciously placed her hand on her stomach and smiled.
The door opened once more. A brunette whose hair had been tied up into a ponytail walked in hurriedly. She came to her side and said, "Are you okay? I was so worried…"
She smiled and said, "I'm fine June, you don't need to worry so much."
She cleaned her face and said, "What happened to you? I heard Lori dragged you out of class and…"
"It's fine. I bumped my head and ended up here…"
"Candy's here…" She whispered.
Her lips curled into a smile. 'Really?'
She nodded her head in affirmation.
"I'd like to see her if you don't mind…"
She frowned in disapproval. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. I have questions needing answers. She's going to answer my questions." She said softly.
June nodded and slowly got up. She walked out of the ward and after a short while, came in with Candy, before leaving once more.
The ward was quiet. They simply glared at each other, no one refusing to speak. Hannah decided to break the silence and said, "Why did you do that to me, Candy? I trusted you and yet you betrayed me?"
"You're so gullible, Hannah. Besides, you act as though you're the most perfect girl in the world! Someone had to teach you a lesson, and that person was me!" Candy said boldly, without a hint of remorse.
"I always thought you were my friend…" She said softly.
"What about Lori? You loved shamming her because you felt you were better than her. Do you remember what you said at the party? You said she got pregnant after sleeping with some random guy. Seems like that happened to you. You're both in the same ship!" She said smirking.
'How dare you compare me with Lori? If anyone should be compared to her, it's you!' She said infuriated by her comment
"You look so innocent, Hannah. But you're just like Lori and I, a trickster. How did you do it? Tell me…" She said calmly.
"Do what? What are you talking about?" She questioned.
"You weren't supposed to end up in Julian's room. Someone switched the notes which had the room numbers. I saw the way you were staring at him at the party. You did it, didn't you? You switched the notes intentionally so you could have a good time with Julian. What I don't get is how you found out. Did you overhear my conversation with Lori back at the apartment? You tried to make her jealous didn't you, but here you are, sad, alone, and pregnant for some random guy!" She said laughing.
She had heard enough. She grabbed the glass jug on the side table next to her bed and threw it at her. She managed to see it coming, so moved quickly to the other side.
"I hate you so much, Candace Mortimer. I wish I had never met someone as disgusting as you! Look at yourself! You think Lorraine is your friend, but you're nothing more than her little puppet. You don't mean anything to her! I won't waste my precious time trying to advise you. Get out!" She said, enraged by her very presence.
Candace hissed, her black eyes darkening. She flung her hair across her shoulder and casually walked out of the ward as though nothing had happened. Seeing that she had left, she lay her head on the pillow and sighed. Closing her eyes, she was taken into the world of dreams.