Valerie's POV

The doctor's statement; 'You are four weeks pregnant,' was still ringing in my head as I walked back to the main road to get a cab back home.

I wasn't happy upon hearing that news because I wasn't financially stable enough to take care of myself but now, it appeared that an unborn child would be involved soon.

Sometimes, I don't eat for two days because my aunt refuses to feed me. Her reason was that she was training me to get used to starvation because she wouldn't be there for me all the time in my life.

But the truth is that she was never there for me. 'I am four weeks pregnant!' I was reminded about my condition once more and I thought to myself about how much more I was going to have to endure all my life.

I fell in love with a handsome guy across my street and we'd been getting intimate for some time but that night, it happened so fast and I didn't expect that I'd get pregnant because I wasn't ovulating yet but unfortunately, it didn't work.

I just got the news that I have a baby in my stomach. I was used to suffering but I didn't want an innocent child to come into the world to suffer just as I did.

My mother had me before her marriage to a billionaire. She didn't want the billionaire to know of my existence so she paid her sister to take care of me.

However, despite the money my biological mother sent to my aunty, she still treated me badly and her children were her supporters.

They had turned me into a slave ever since…since my life began. I don't know what freedom feels like because my mother's money never reached me. My aunt spent it all and she never denied it.

After a few days, I visited the man who I shared a nameless relationship with. He was the father of my baby.

My aunt didn't care where I went as long as I had finished the work she gave me and whenever I failed to do one perhaps because I forgot, she'd starve me and lock me in a very dark room.

Again, I had gotten so used to that treatment. She sent her children to school but I stopped going to school after 3rd grade. I craved more knowledge but I had no power over my life to desire more things.

All I wanted was a break from all this misery but I didn't know what freedom felt like. I didn't know what a good life was. I didn't know what life I was supposed to live. I believed it was destiny to be this unfortunate.

He kissed me when I entered his house. This man was independent and was four years older than me. He was twenty-three years old and I turned nineteen four weeks ago. I guess we all know what must have led to the unexpected sex I shared with it. It was called a 'birthday gift'

When he was slowly pushing me to lay in his bed, I retaliated because I wasn't feeling those sensations anymore. I was bothered about the situation I was stuck in.

"I have something to tell you," I mentioned.

At this moment, I was sitting on his bed without the shirt I had on when I entered because he had taken it off.

"That you love me?" He sat next to me, kissing my neck and caressing my thighs with his hands.

'Did he miss me that much?' I thought to myself and began to feel sad that I was going to have to stop him from touching me so that I could tell him about the situation at hand.

I looked into his eyes vulnerably but it didn't take him a second to look away.

"I have something else to tell you," I explained.

"Then tell me," he was in haste to hear what I was about to say.

Wait, didn't he notice the expression on my face? Couldn't he tell that I wasn't happy? Did he not care?

How would he know if I didn't tell him? I laughed at my thoughts. What was I thinking?

Subconsciously I asked him; "Do you love me?" I did not know why that question came out of my mouth. Not only that, I was feeling extremely sad and I felt like crying.

I closed my eyes to stop the tears from forming in my eyes and then I stood up to get the result of the pregnancy from my little purse.

I didn't wait for his response to my question because I believed that he loved me. I trust him, I do. I should.

I sat next to him, holding the sheet of paper in my hand. "I know this news is unexpected but it's just…" he grabbed the paper from me before I could continue my statement.

I waited for him to go through it and finally, I saw a change in his expression. He seemed amazed by the result.

"L-o-l," he said. "You are pregnant?" He laughed. "And let me guess, I'm the father…" he continued laughing.

My heart broke for no reason. I felt really scared at that moment for no absolute reason. I chuckled awkwardly, looking at him confused by what was happening.

"She's pregnant!" he exclaimed. "Alright, congratulations!" He held my cheeks and I smiled but I realized that I actually forced the smile.

"I thought you'd be upset," I said to him, looking unhappy about the situation.

"Why would I be upset with you? That's nonsense. I love you, remember? And I will take responsibility for all of it," he smiled calmly at me and it felt really assuring at that moment but I still felt uneasy.

That night, I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes when I heard my aunt shouting my name aggressively. She sounded angry so I rushed out of the kitchen and approached the living room.

"Yes…" I paused the words that were supposed to come out of my mouth when I saw the father of my unborn child.

Not only that, his hand was around my cousin's waist. I didn't know what was going on but I could feel my heart breaking as it was when I was at his house earlier.

While I was looking at Tristan, the father of my child, and Raquel, my cousin, standing close to each other, I heard my aunt let out a curse word.

Then I drifted my gaze to her only to receive a harsh slap from her, not once but twice and then she tossed a sheet of paper my way.

"She's pregnant, mother!" I heard Raquel say and turned my teary eyes her way.

My gaze was mainly on Tristan who betrayed me but why should it be a new thing to me? My mother and everyone around me hated me from the start.

I was crushed on the inside but on the outside, I was staring at Tristan, crying silently. Why did I never notice that he was just a jerk all this while?