THE TWO-WEEKS WAIT
1261 Words
The days seemed to move slower than usual.
For Jelina, every morning began with the same thought.
Could I be pregnant?
She tried not to think about it, but it was impossible.
The fertility clinic had warned her that she wouldn't know immediately.
She had to wait before taking a pregnancy test.
Two weeks.
Fourteen days.
It sounded simple.It wasn't.
On the seventh morning, Jelina stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection.
She looked exactly the same.
No morning sickness.
No dizziness.
No swollen breasts.
Nothing.
She sighed.
“It's too early,” she reminded herself.
She placed a hand over her stomach.
“Just be patient.”
A knock sounded on the bathroom door.
“Jelina?”
Kevin.
“I'm coming.”
She opened the door.
Kevin was standing outside with two cups of coffee.“You've been in there for twenty minutes.”
“I was getting ready.”
He handed her a cup.
“You weren't checking for pregnancy symptoms again, were you?”
Jelina smiled sheepishly.“Maybe.”
He laughed.
“You're going to drive yourself crazy.”
“I know.”
He touched her stomach gently.“It's too early.”
“I know that too.”
“But?”
“But I can't help hoping.”
Kevin smiled.“Neither can I.”He kissed her forehead.
For a moment, Jelina felt completely safe.
She wanted to hold on to that feeling.
At the pastry shop, Jelina struggled to concentrate.She mixed ingredients twice before realizing she had added too much sugar.
“Jelina!”
She looked up.
Eliana stood near the counter.
“What happened to you?”
Jelina looked at the bowl.“I made a mistake.”
Eliana laughed.“You? The woman who can make fifty cupcakes without measuring anything?”
“I have a lot on my mind.”
“Baby?”
Jelina nodded.
Eliana came around the counter.“Come here.”
Jelina allowed her sister to hug her.
“I hate waiting.”
“I know.”
“What if it didn't work?”
“Then you try again.”
Jelina pulled away.
“I can't.”
Eliana frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The house is gone. The money is gone. We can't afford another attempt.”
Eliana's expression softened.“Oh, Jelina.”
“I have to make this work.”
“You don't have to put that kind of pressure on yourself.”
“But I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I can't lose everything and still have nothing to show for it.”
Eliana looked at her carefully.“You haven't lost everything.”
Jelina forced a smile.“I know.”But deep down, she wasn't so sure.
Across Manhattan, Adriel sat in the back of his car reading a report.
“Jelina Mayfair,” his attorney said.“Twenty-eight years old. Married. Owns a small pastry shop.”
Adriel looked down at the photograph.For the first time, he saw her face.She wasn't glamorous.She wasn't dressed in designer clothes.She wasn't posing for the camera.
It was simply a photograph taken outside her shop.
There was something about her expression that caught his attention.
She looked… genuine.
Adriel quickly dismissed the thought.
“What about her husband?”
“Kevin Mayfair. Thirty-eight. He's a builder.”
“Financial situation?”
“Unstable. He takes private construction jobs, but there have been disputes with several clients.”
Adriel's eyes narrowed.“Anything else?”
“Nothing significant.”
“Her family?”
“She has one sister, Eliana. She's married to
a Japanese man named Kenji Nakamura and is preparing to relocate to Japan.”
Adriel nodded.He looked at the photograph again.
“Does Jelina know who the biological father is?”
“No.”
“Does her husband know?”
“According to the information we have, they both believe they used anonymous donor sperm.”
Adriel leaned back.For some reason, that bothered him.
He didn't understand why.
Perhaps because a child carrying his blood was growing inside a woman who didn't even know his identity.
Perhaps because he had always imagined choosing the woman who would bear his child.
Instead, fate had chosen for him.
“Keep monitoring the situation,” he said.
His attorney nodded.
“Will you meet her?”
Adriel looked out the window.“Not yet.”
He wasn't sure why.
Maybe he needed time.
Maybe he wanted to understand what he was feeling first.
Or perhaps he was afraid that meeting her would make the situation more complicated.
That evening, Kevin returned home later than usual.
Jelina was sitting on the sofa.
“You're late.”
“Work.”
“Everything okay?”
He dropped his keys onto the table.“Fine.”
She studied him.
“You seem tense.”
“I said I'm fine.”His tone was sharper than necessary.
Jelina went quiet.
Kevin noticed.“Sorry.”
He sat beside her.“I've just had a difficult day.”
She leaned against his shoulder.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”He kissed her forehead.“Not tonight.”
Jelina nodded.She didn't push.
After a moment, Kevin asked, “How many days left?”
“Seven.”
He smiled.
“Seven days.”
Jelina nodded.
“What are you going to do when the test is positive?”She laughed.“I don't know.”
“I do.”
“What?”
“I'm buying a crib.”
She laughed again.“You haven't even seen the baby.”
“I don't need to.”
“What if it's a girl?”
“Then I'll buy a pink crib.”
“And if it's a boy?”
“Blue.”
Jelina rested her head against him.
“What if it's twins?”
Kevin looked horrified.“Twins?”
She burst out laughing.“I'm joking.”
For the first time that day, Kevin laughed too.
But later that night, after Jelina had fallen asleep, he lay awake beside her.
His eyes remained on the ceiling.
He thought about the donor.
Another man had contributed the sperm.
Another man's blood would flow through his child's veins.
Kevin clenched his fists.
He had agreed to it.
He knew that.
So why did the thought suddenly make him angry?
He turned toward Jelina.
She was sleeping peacefully.
He reached out and touched her stomach.
“Our baby,” he whispered.
But a small voice inside him asked a question he didn't want to hear.
What if the donor ever comes looking for his child?
On the tenth day, Jelina woke feeling different.She sat up slowly.
Her stomach felt unsettled.
She hurried to the bathroom.
Afterward, she stared at herself in the mirror.
Could it be?
Her heart began racing.
She reached for her phone.
The clinic had told her not to test until the
scheduled date.
But waiting was becoming unbearable.
She placed the phone down.
“No,” she whispered.“Three more days.”
She would wait.
She could wait three more days.
What Jelina didn't know was that, at that very moment, Adriel Matthias was looking at her photograph for the second time.
And this time, he wasn't simply curious.
He had made a decision.
He was going to meet her.
He just didn't know that the woman he was about to meet was already carrying the one thing he had spent years believing he could never have without a wife.
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