In This Lifetime

Athena’s Past

Anton immediately stopped Andy from talking more about Tristan. Apparently Tristan’s my ex boyfriend and father to my son Andre.

I have not heard of anything about him since I left and I think Andy’s here to fill me in.

“What? She’s the one who ran away, pregnant.” He looked away from Anton as I watch him talk and then he landed his gaze at me. “Now he’s doing just fine with his fiancé thanks to you.” I was dumbfounded.

He never knew why I left, I never got the chance to explain to him what happened. All that he knows is that Anton told him to never mention me being pregnant with Tristan’s child to him, and I made Anton promise to never tell Andy why I left because I do not want him to be mad at anyone who has been so nice to him. Tristan even if worthless became Andy’s only hope to focus on his goal of being a doctor same as he does. And I cannot take that away from him, he already lost me, and technically, Tristan do not have any idea of his girlfriend’s evil plans before. I just hoped she stopped being so evil now.

“Andy, let’s sort that out later can we?”

“Of course. What choice do I have?”

So this is what Anton’s been telling me about him.

“Uncle Andy?”

“Yes, Andre?”

“Can you put me to sleep?”

Andre asking Andy to put him to sleep seems nice as a child, but for me it is making me fully aware that Andy might tell him about his father. And I am not yet ready for that.

“Don’t worry because he won’t.”

“How sure are you?”

“He knows.”

“What?”

My emotions changed when I heard Anton blurted that out. I immediately looked at him and asked why. And why does Andy still reacts like that.

“You kinda sent the wrong email to Andy before sending it to me. He was actually the one who knew it first.”

“I did what?!”

“You were young and stupid. That’s all.”

I glared at him when he started giggling.

“You literally told him everything yourself. From the moment you knew that Tristan’s cheating on you, to when you learned that Kylie wants you dead and you wanted to put her to jail and all before you had a change of heart when you knew that you were actually pregnant and just decided to let them both go and live your life as you own it? Everything, Athena. And he is mad at you for saying all of that to him after leaving. He wanted to avenge you, he wanted to make sure that Tristan will taste the doze of his own medicine that’s why he made sure that they will be engaged before he drops the bomb of fact that he had you pregnant and now have a child.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“Because Andy worked hard just to make sure that you are not the one who lost more.”

Did they just—

“Andy will let him know about Andre’s existence one day soon.”

“What will happen to Kylie?”

“She will be served her most awaited dish.”

I do not understand why my brothers are acting like this but I am beginning to like the idea.

They will be hitting two stones with one rock, Andre.

“Don’t worry because my nephew will be safe. Everything will be harmless.”

Even though with Kylie, harmless is impossible, I am still trusting my brothers to extract their plans well.

I never thought that coming back here will do me a favor too.

Because six years ago everything was still normal. Everything was going according to our plans or so I thought.

Flashback 6 years ago.

I just graduated from college and Tristan’s getting ready for his dream of pursuing medicine. I took Business Management and he finished Biology. It was already hard to get through his schedule in college and I know it will be more impossible to even eat with him now that he will be in med school. I have heard a lot of news that med students barely have time for themselves what more for romantic relationships. And I understood that. Very well to his excuse that he is doing all of those for our future together.

It was hard but we were fighting together. We barely see each other face to face but he updated me from time to time at first.

I knew that somehow it will also be hard for him to text me once he is already busy with his tasks and when it happened I just wished he never dreamt of becoming a doctor.

The daily updates turned into weekly updates, and then weeks turned to months. In which I gratefully considered as my luckiest days for he does not just text me around updating me, he will really make time to see me and spend at least a day with me.

But I did not told him anything. I did not nagged him for being unavailable. Even when I was stressed trying to land a job after graduation. I did not told him that I was having a hard time because I already know that he feels more than I do so.

But one day after one month of last seeing him everything was gone, no texts, no appearances, no anything. I tried to call him multiple times, texted him countless messages to check him out but I received nothing.

My friends pushed me to visit him in med school and for the first time I did. Only to see him making out with a fine young lady wearing a white uniform same as him.

All those times that I have not received anything from him was because he was busy with another woman.

My friends immediately asked how the day went when I visited him but I just cried to them. I told them what I witnessed, and they wanted me to confront him as soon as they heard everything but I declined, I cannot do that, I cannot hurt myself twice. Seeing them making out already killed me, what more confronting him, asking him who was that woman he was making out with? So I asked them to never open it up again and instead I called him in which he answered for the first time after one month of ignoring me.

I pretended that I did not know the truth that he was cheating on me. I continued to love him, I continued to accept him. I continued to play dumb in front of everybody.

Until one day, during Tristan’s birthday party, his parents decided to throw him a party in which they have invited all of his friends ever since he was born up to his friends in med school where in ofcourse Kylie, the woman who Tristan has been cheating with over me came to attend. I was just watching how Kylie reacts to all the gestures that Tristan’s doing for me.

And for a moment I thought that maybe Tristan really love me and maybe he was just confused with Kylie being always near and available for him that is why he was tempted to cheat but when I went to the toilet to freshen up, I heard Kylie with her friend talking about getting rid of me to finally have Tristan as her own not just a third party but the main party.

They discussed various ways to kill me because Tristan cannot get rid of me even if he already fell out of love of me in which made me sick of everything I have heard. I threw up in the toilet for many times, and just when I thought that it was because I was disgusted by how Kylie wants to go down so much just to get Tristan, I knew after a week that I was indeed pregnant.

And as impulsive as I could be, I packed all of the things I need and left without saying goodbye to anybody.