Teresa’s Return

It was exactly 10:00 in the morning when Teresa’s eyes began to open slowly. She was taking in the familiar surroundings of the hospital room as the doctor approached her. “Congratulations Teresa,” Doctor Paul said. “You’re three months pregnant,” he added, smiling gently. It was obvious that he was happy for her. The news which Teresa was expecting to hear was completely different from what she heard the doctor saying. As soon as the doctor shared the unexpected news. Teresa’s eyes were suddenly opened completely. “What!” She said in shock. “You must be mistaken. There’s no way on earth I can be pregnant now.” She had known Doctor Paul since childhood. He was one of the people who inspired her into medical. She knew he was competent. But she just found it difficult to take in the news. She was just twenty-one years old. She couldn’t even remember the last time she got closer to a man. So how on earth did she get pregnant? At first, she wanted to believe that the doctor was just pulling her legs. But Doctor Paul was not the kind of man who would joke about something as serious as that. Just to clear her doubts, Dr Paul handed her the medical report that confirmed what the doctor had just said. “Since it looks like you’re finding it difficult to believe me, here is the medical report. You can see for yourself,” doctor Paul said, handing the report to Teresa. After going through the medical report, she could not help but feel more broken down. It didn’t look like there was anything she could do. What had happened, had happened. “This pregnancy will bring nothing good to me but disgrace,” Teresa thought. “There’s only one thing I can do. I have to abort it,” she concluded, although she was not saying it out. Seeing the expressions on Teresa’s face, Dr. Paul knew that something was definitely not right. “Is the owner of the pregnancy not going to take responsibility for it?” He thought to himself. “I can’t keep the pregnancy. "I’m getting rid of it,” Teresa said as she had thought in her mind. Doctor Paul shook his head gently. “I’m afraid that is not going to be an option. As you know you’re medically not fit. Giving birth to the child is the advice I’m going to give you if you want to live.” Teresa could not help but just remain there in the hospital bed, staring blankly. She was completely short of words and frustrated. The pregnancy was not something she could hide forever. She had to tell her father. Of course she was going to receive the scolding of her life but it didn’t look like she had any other option. After a few hours, she arrived home. She took a few minutes by the door, thinking of whether to enter into the house or to just run away. After several minutes of thinking, she finally entered the house. “Hi dad!” She said, greeting her father, mister Albert, who was sitting on a couch in the living room, watching the news. After receiving a response from him. She took a few minutes to imagine what her father was going to do when he found out about the pregnancy. Finally, she mustered the courage and told her father she was pregnant. Mister Albert felt completely disappointed. Just as Teresa had imagined, her father began to give her intense scolding, calling her all sorts of names as if he was not the one who gave birth to her. “You good for nothing brat!” Mister Albert said, clearly upset. “How could you decide to ruin the only chance my company has to survive? I even wish you were not my daughter. What a disgrace you’ve brought upon this family.” With that, he headed out of the living room to check the surveillance cameras for the man who impregnated his daughter. If Teresa invited any man into the house, mister Albert was definitely going to find out. After several minutes of searching the surveillance footage, he could not find anything that was related to what he was looking for. He could only find out that exactly three months ago, Teresa was all alone in the house, doing all manner of house chores. She had no company at all and she didn’t take a step out of the house. After searching the surveillance cameras, mister Albert still believed that something was not right. Pregnancy was not something that just happened overnight. Even if he chose to believe her daughter, outsiders would definitely not. Teresa had a chronic kidney disease and she was also fat. She was supposed to get engaged with the Donald family in a few months but now that she was pregnant, maybe the engagement was not going to see the light of the day. After about three months, her belly was already growing, yet she was still giving excuses about the pregnancy. Outsider had begun talking and mocking her and her family. She could not even walk on the street anymore without being humiliated and make jokes of. The Donald’s family had been trying to see her but whenever they made such a request, mister Albert would look for one excuse or the other. He could not stand the shame. “It’s only a privilege that the Donald’s family wanted to get married to someone like you but now with your disgusting swollen belly, no one will ever want to have anything to do with you. I’m sure when they finally see you, the engagement is definitely going to be called off,” mister Albert said, scolding Teresa again just like he had been doing for three months now. It was at that point that the door swung open without any sort of notice. It was the Donald's family. Richard, who was meant to get engaged with Teresa and his wealthy grandfather, Sir Donald. As soon as mister Albert saw them, he was completely shocked. He stood up to his feet, his eyes widened. “Sir Donald,” he said gently, forcing a smile on his face. “You didn’t tell me you were coming to pay me a visit today.” he added as he stepped forward to his visitors, trying to obstruct their path. Sir Donald smiled softly. “Come on, where have you put your phone?” Sir Donald asked. “I have called you like a million times but you didn’t pick up.” “Uh-huh,” mister Albert said stammering. “I’m sorry, I think I left my phone upstairs. Hope everything is alright?” “Let’s have a seat. You don’t want to keep an old man standing all day” Sir Donald said as he stepped out of mister Albert’s front with Richard. It was at that point that Sir Donald and Richard noticed the presence of Teresa in the living room. Out of shame, she couldn’t say a word to welcome them. She just lowered her head in disgrace. But one thing that mister Albert noticed was that Sir Donald and his son were not surprised to see Teresa pregnant. Just at that moment, mister Albert realized that the secret he had been keeping from the Donald’s family was not really a secret. “Since they already knew about the pregnancy, then they were only here for one thing, to call off the engagement,” mister Albert thought to himself. As soon as he sat down, he took a deep breath, looking at Teresa with contempt before he decided to speak. “I wouldn’t want anything to do with a pregnant woman either, but I don’t want to jump into conclusion so I think it’s only appropriate to hear it from you Richard,” mister Albert said. “Do you want to call off the engagement?”