The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 312: Distracted.

The sun was getting ready to bid the day goodbye when Shikera stepped out of the hospital into the open air. It was evening.

So much time had passed and she had no idea. It was what anticipation and worry did to her.

"I should be able to manage now," she thought.

Her mind went back to what had happened earlier that morning when she was retching her guts out in the basin. She had imagined how it would be if she was not able to deliver the baby before... leaving. Then her life would be more than vain. Liam could adopt a daughter and forget about her as soon as possible, and the thought of that didn’t pain her one bit.

Noah would be opportuned to take riskier missions at work, since thinking about her was what had been holding him back. That also didn’t affect her one bit.

But Ethan...he would probably forget about her in a month or two. Even if he didn’t, she already hurt him so much now and her absence would hurt him more. Whether he got over her early or not, she would be hurt. But leaving a baby behind? Would that comfort him? Even if it was a very tiny bit of comfort?

All sort of thoughts had run through her mind and her resolve to keep the baby had been strengthened. This time, she was determined to keep the baby as safe as she could. It didn’t matter if she had to die as soon as she delivered the baby, she just wanted the baby here before leaving. Just like her own mother had done...

And that had brought her to Krystal who had been naturally hesitant at first. She had even threatened to call Ethan and inform him of what she was planning to do.

One sentence from Shikera had stopped her.

"I will have to sue you then, Doctor Xander. You are my doctor, not his!"

Here she was, five hours later with Krystal’s parting words resounding in her mind.

"Kera, this is going to be painful. More than, actually. But as you want, your baby will be safe and if there’s no unexpected incident, you’ll be sure to deliver him or her healthy and with no complications."

She sighed out loud, looking up into the clear blue sky.

"You can do this, Shikera," she encouraged herself. Staring down at her phone which she was gripping tightly, the words on the screen stared back at her with determination.

★★★

Ethan picked the call without bothering to check who the caller was, unable to take his eyes off the papers in front of him.

"Yes?"

"It’s Mignon, Ethan. You’re busy?"

"I am," he replied curtly.

Mignon scoffed, rolling her eyes at his narcissist reply.

"I won’t waste your time then," she assured. "I can’t reach Shikera, could you get her on the line?"

"Shikera? Didn’t she leave with you?" Ethan questioned. A frown starting to form on his face, he pushed aside the papers he was reading and sat back.

The surprise in his voice was reflected in Mignon’s when she replied, "Why would she leave with me? I and Esther left after breakfast which she didn’t even eat with us. Kera left to get you even before we began baking the pancakes and when she didn’t come back, I thought you guys were busy..."

"Fuck it!"

Ethan hung up and stood up, taking long strides to walk out of his room.

"Shikera?" he called as soon as he got out into the hallway, but only received an echo of his own voice in reply. "Kera, where are you?"

Repeating his calls, his heart began to tense up when he still received no reply from anyone.

He pushed open the door to her room and stepped in, his gaze sweeping around the room. Could she have fallen in the toilet? Maybe she was hurt.

He tried as hard as he could not to have bad thoughts as he walked straight to the toilet and bathroom, pushing the doors open one after the other.

"She’s not here," he breathed in relief, when there was no sign of her in any of the places. He wondered where she could have gone as he walked back out of the room.

Meanwhile, Shikera was taking her time adoring the hand rails as she walked up the stairs. She was weak but knew no amount of sleep would satisfy her. She was hungry but knew not of what meal she would eat without vomiting.

"I should start creating experimental recipes for myself," she muttered.

On getting to the top of the stairs, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her door open and Ethan walking out of the room.

"Ethan...were you looking for me?" she asked.

"Where were you?" he answered her question with another.

"Uhm, I went for a quick outing. Why? Did you need me?" she replied with an apologetic smile.

"Was I supposed to need you before knowing if you’re in the house with me or not, Shikera?"

Shikera shook her head. "I’m sorry I didn’t tell you and Mignon. I wanted to go and be back as soon as possible without worrying you two."

"Did you visit him?" Ethan asked. "Your friend from the Island."

"Alan? Oh no, I didn’t! I went to the hospital."

Ethan hesitated, his gaze hardening as he continued staring at her.

"Why did you—?Are you alright or did you...?" he didn’t have to complete his sentence before Shikera understood what he was trying to say.

"No, that’s not it," she hurriedly replied. And with a smile on her face, she continued, "I went for a general check with Krystal and she told me provided there’s no sudden incident, the baby will be safe. Until I birth him or her, that is."

"How about you?" Ethan asked. "Will you be safe and have a normal pregnancy like everyone else? I’m not even asking for you to stay with me now, Kera. I just need to know if ’that’ won’t hurt you."

"I will," Shikera blurted, a forced grin on her face. "I will be totally alright."

"I do not believe you," Ethan deadpanned. He took a step forward and turned, "He’s arriving tomorrow. We should pick them up together and by the way, you have just a little over 24 hours left."

Shikera took her time before nodding.

"Alright. I will get ready."

Subtly staring her up and down, Ethan made sure there was nothing out of the ordinary before leaving. On getting back to his room, he resumed looking through the papers he had been checking before Mignon’s call.

He continued reading it for the next thirty minutes, a futile effort to distract himself from the woman whose room was just outside his door. He was an heartless monster to still think of taking her in the state she was in, right?

His attention was drawn to the lit screen of his phone, and he leaned forward to pick it up. It was a message from Noah.

[Arriving in an hour. You don’t have to pick us up.]

Ignoring the latter part of the message, Ethan found himself pushing open Shikera’s door in the very next minute.

"Shikera, Noah..."

He didn’t bother knocking, secretly praying that he would meet her in a state where knocking would have been appropriate.

But there she was, completely buried beneath the sheets with only her brown hair being exposed. Ethan adjusted the sheets so he could see her face, to reveal her sleeping with her eyes tightly shut as if any attempt to wake her up would be unsuccessful.

"Didn’t we talk just a few minutes ago?" he murmured. How could she have slept so early when he was still struggling to?

He pulled the sheets off her body, wanting to wake her up when he noticed her upper body was naked. He remained staring at her for a few more minutes before letting go of the sheet, not wanting to lose control of himself.

"Just leave here, Ethan," his voice resounded in his mind as he took a few steps backward. "Try to think of something else. Yeah, Shikera...she didn’t eat dinner. Is that alright?"

The desire in his face was immediately replaced by worry as he thought of that. It had been a while since he talked to her doctor about her meal plan. Making a mental note to speak with Krystal the next day, he was about to leave the room when the sound of a phone ringing reached his ears.

It was Shikera’s, placed on her reading table which was just beside him.

"Speak of the doctor," he thought, seeing who the caller was. He didn’t think twice before picking up the call.

"So I thought about it, Kera, and I can’t do this. I’m not talking as your doctor here but as your friend—"

"She’s asleep," Ethan interrupted. "But I would like to know what you are talking about."

"Oh... shit!" Krystal cursed. "It would better to ask Shikera though."

He didn’t press further but hung up on the call, his calculative gaze studying the phone in his hand. When he looked up, his eyes were glinting with determination.

"Shikera," he called.