The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 132

The rest of the party was a blur. Angel spent most of the time with his friends and soon after dinner, they all fell asleep, which was a relief for her because she didn’t think she had the strength to deal with them. Her mind was filled with nothing but Damon’s reaction to her news. So what if she was not pregnant? Why did it seem to ruffle him so much?

He had left soon after she revealed the test results and had not returned since. She contemplated talking to him about it and decided to have a word with him the following day.

That was what would happen but it kept nagging at her. She only realized what she was doing when she dialed his contact number. She wanted to hang up. She probably should, since she didn’t know what to tell him. The last thing she wanted was to start a topic that might not end well and by the time she realized this, she heard his voice on the other end.

"Vivi?" He sounded concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes." She frowned. What was so strange about calling her boyfriend? Did something have to be wrong before she did? He didn’t say a word for a while and she pulled her phone off her ear to check if the call was still on, and only then did she realize what time it was. It was midnight. No. It would be 1am in eight minutes. That explained his groggy voice. No wonder he thought something was wrong.

"Sorry. I didn’t realize what time it was when I called. I found out just now and..." She was beginning to sound silly. "Did I wake you?"

It was obvious she did, but that was not what he said. "I was getting ready for bed. Do you miss me? Is that what you were thinking about so late at night?"

She smiled at his lie, picturing him lying in bed, trying to keep his eyes open and not fall back asleep on the call. She wanted to suggest talking about it tomorrow and letting him go back to sleep but he wouldn’t. Knowing Damon, it would be harder to go back to sleep now that he had already woken up, so it would be a waste of his time to end the call.

"I know this is not the kind of thing that should be discussed over a phone call," she sighed.

"Do you want me to come over?"

"What? Heavens, no." She quickly interrupted him. It was one thing to call him late at night but asking him over would be too much, and the fact that she knew he would ditch everything just to rush to her as soon as she said the words made her feel worse. Which brought her to her question, "Is everything alright? You have been off for a while."

"I’m fine. I was just tired, I guess."

Bullshit, she thought. It was his son’s fifth birthday and the first one he was present for. No matter how tired he was, he would not realize it until it was over. The excitement would outshine all else. She debated calling him out for a while and dropped it a few times, until she realized it didn’t matter when and how she asked it.

"You were alright, until you saw the test results."

"Avery," he started, only for her to interrupt him.

"Why does it bother you?"

"I thought you were certainly pregnant. It just threw me off that you are not." He said. She believed him, but she also believed that was not all there was to it.

"Why?" She pushed. "People don’t just get their hopes sky-high within a few minutes and then fall into the lowest of lows. That doesn’t happen without a concrete reason."

"Are you accusing me of something?" He asked, and she knew he must have sat up from the subtle sounds on the other end. He had probably gotten out of bed just to deal with her.

"Yes. I am in fact accusing you of keeping the truth from me."

"So you want the truth."

It was not a question. She nodded nervously, remembered she was on a call and couldn’t be seen on the other side, and swallowed. "Yes."

"I missed Angel’s life. All of it." He admitted. "I didn’t get to experience any of those magical moments. You telling me we are going to be parents, going for prenatal checkups, the gender reveal, the first sonogram image, seeing your growing belly every morning, feeling those kicks, I got nothing, Vivi. When Mina said you could be pregnant, I suddenly remembered this. Then I was suddenly hopeful."

She had only wanted to know what caused such a shift in his mood but now that he said it out aloud, she wanted to growl at him. "So basically, you want to replace our son with a child you weren’t even sure existed."

"You can’t put it that way." He sounded shocked. Horrified. "That’s not what I meant. I love Angel with all my heart. I cannot change the past but I’m doing all I can to make sure I don’t miss out on anything anymore. But this doesn’t mean I don’t want to experience what I missed, you know."

She was annoyed. He may have said he was not trying to replace Angel but she couldn’t think otherwise. He was not being fair. It was not fair that Angel didn’t get to feel what it was like to be in his father’s arms until he was four years old. The clock couldn’t be turned back but if there was any victim in this situation, it was Angel. Not Damon.

"So basically you’re telling me you wish for the impossible and since you are not getting it, you are so angry that you don’t want to see me anymore?"

"I never said that."

"That’s what you implied. By refusing to talk. By leaving earlier when we were supposed to have a party with our son. What now? Are you going to try again?"

"Vivi, I needed some time to think. Besides, Angel doesn’t need us tonight. He’s had enough fun with us and wants to be with his friends. I thought that was clear." He countered. The boy had not had time for them for more than a minute. The party had mostly been an excuse for adults to broaden their business connections while the children stuck together. He had wanted to stay nonetheless but he had been overwhelmed and didn’t want to make it awkward for everyone.

That’s not how she saw it. "The only thing that’s clear is the fact that you can’t have enough of what you have. You want more. I’m beginning to wonder why you were so certain I was pregnant when you knew I was on the pill. Did you do something you shouldn’t?"

____

This was unbelievable. Unacceptable. Unbelievably unacceptable. Damon’s shocked gasp when she made that accusation stuck on her mind for ages after it happened. She had not had a wink of sleep and thought about her ridiculous words for the rest of the night, then she dragged her lazy ass to a 9am meeting. She had nearly fainted when she rose from her chair so here she was, at the hospital nearest to Vaillant Telecommunications, taking a pregnancy test.

For the record, she still didn’t think she was pregnant. Mina’s words must have gotten to her. Although, now that she thought about it, she had not been herself lately. Not that it was an excuse for what she said to Damon the night before but she had been feeling overwhelmed even when nothing was wrong and had been snapping at the slightest provocation. Gabriel had sucked it up and teased her about it for a while, until even he couldn’t have it anymore.

After the bloodwork came out, she would have to give Damon a call and apologize for her rudeness. As if she had summoned the doctor by thinking about her, she returned with a smile.

"Oh God, no." She knew that smile. She had seen it six years ago and it had haunted her dreams for ages after Damon ran for the hills. "Please don’t tell me..."

The doctor cleared her throat and returned to her desk opposite which Avery was sitting. "You are pregnant, Miss Vaillant."

"No. I can’t be. I took a test."

"Well, sometimes it takes a while for HCG to be detected by kits. In blood, it can be detected much earlier and more accurately." She saw Avery’s expression and didn’t know how to proceed. "Do you need a moment?"

"I can’t be pregnant." She declared. "I’m on the pill and I haven’t missed any. I..." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"The pill isn’t a hundred percent effective. It is rare for a woman to be pregnant when on it but it’s not impossible. Do you have any more questions?" Asked the doctor.

Questions? Of course she had a billion of them. What would happen to her son? What about the baby? Would it be autistic too? Damon had told her she was worried for nothing but now that she was staring at the woman who had just declared her pregnant, she didn’t know what to ask first.

"Is there any risk..." Her voice fell. What if the answer was yes, that there was such a chance? What then? Would they advice her to have an abortion? She would never do that but what if, like six years ago, they told her the baby posed a danger to her body? And what if this time it was true?