Chapter3
1191 Words
3
Janet's POV
His words were like a thunderbolt to my ears. I had even forgotten to think of that.
Remembering my mother in the hospital, tears instantly filled my eyes and I struggled to keep them from rolling down my cheeks.
My mother has been in a coma ever since the accident two years ago. The doctors said she was basically a vegetable. They advised me to give up, told me it was just a waste of money and time to keep her.
But I refused to give up on mom. She was the only family I had left.
When Drake offered me the contract; the fake relationship in exchange for his funding my mom's treatment, I gladly took it. Why wouldn't I?
I wasn't ready to give up on mom, and which girl in the city didn't want Drake? For me then, it was a doubly good deal.
Not so much now.
I sniffled, but valiantly tried to keep standing even though my knees had gone weak at the thought of having to unplug mom from her life support system.
“I don't understand you, Mr Hoffman –”
“There's no reason for you to,” Drake cut in.
“Why don't you just let me go –”
“There's no reason for you to know –”
“Keeping a mistress when you're so clearly engaged would sully your reputation –”
“That sounds like my business, doesn't it?”
I stopped short and stared mouth agape at the man before me. I suddenly felt like I had never known him. We had only gotten into the fake relationship in the first place in order to protect his reputation.
Why doesn't he care about that now? Was he really going to keep me as a mistress till the five months was up?
Speechless, I watched him walk back around the desk to settle into his seat. A million thoughts ran in my head, but none of them coalesced into a clear thought.
My mind was a mess. I thought of everything I've read on the net, and thought of what they may yet say if they found out we're still together.
It was a bleak thought, one that better remained as imagination than become reality.
“Mr Hoffman –”
“Drake!” he interrupted impatiently, still focused on his laptop. Few seconds later, he looked up. “There, I just rented the apartment next to yours, so you don't need to come down to my house. You're keeping the job too, and the cars. I don't want people thinking Drake Hoffman is petty enough to collect everything he's ever given you just because you broke up.”
It dawned on me that this man was never going to let go, for whatever reasons. He was willing to go clandestine just to honor the contract?
“Cheap prostitute scores billionaire CEO, most eligible bachelor in the country. No degree, no status, nothing to her name,” I quoted one of the headlines that made the news when we began the fake relationship.
“How are you going to explain keeping me on the job?” I asked. I was dry eyed now, slowly accepting my fate. I had no choice, except I wanted mom dead.
But still, I had to make one last effort. Not to my surprise, Drake shrugged.
“Again, that's my business, isn't it?” he sounded impatient. “I will still be expecting you in my house at six, in your official capacity as my personal assistant,”
He sounded dismissive. Sighing, I got up from the seat. I wasn't going to win this battle. It made no sense, but there was nothing I could do.
I left the office, heartbroken and afraid of the future.
*****
The pity in the receptionist’s eyes when she heard who I came to visit almost brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't imagine what the former receptionist must have told her, but it clearly wasn't so good.
Taking hold of my emotions, I collected the visitor card and walked to my mother's special room in the ICU.
The nurse was just preparing to clean her up when I arrived.
“Hey, you're early today,” the nurse said. She was a young woman and was just starting her residency when Mom was admitted into the hospital two years ago.
She had been unsure then, and afraid of taking on such a Herculean task, especially when she learnt Drake Hoffman was involved. But we had gotten a lot closer since then.
“Yeah,” I answered simply, dropping my purse on the small table beside the bed.
“And you don't look so good either,” Ruth observed, studying my face.
‘Because my boyfriend refuses to break up with me,’ I almost blurted out. But I thought of how ridiculous it would sound and held my peace.
Besides, it might lead to me breaking the non disclosure part of the contract I had with Drake.
So I just shrugged. “It's nothing,” I replied. “Why don't you let me do the cleaning today?” I asked.
Ruth looked at me strangely, but shrugged and nodded. It wasn't the first time I made such requests. Sometimes, it becomes all too much and I have to unburden myself to Mom.
Today, I wanted to spend some time alone with Mom. I needed to apologize for being such a disappointment, for being such a moron. I had been glad when the doctor told me most people in a coma can hear their loved ones because the thought of Mom in the darkness I imagined coma must be like, with nothing to keep her entertained, scared me.
For the first time, I wished she couldn't hear me. I almost cried imagining what she must feel to hear that her daughter was a college drop out.
We were a family of moderate means, but Dad had been determined to make sure we all went to college. It was his lifelong dream.
“Here,” Ruth said, handing me the towel and bucket of sanitized water.
I collected it gratefully, but the next moment, I retched forcefully as the smell of antibiotics hit me.
Ruth was by my side in an instant, holding my hair out of the way as I deposited the breakfast I had prepared for Drake and I.
But that wasn't the end of it. When I finally stopped retching and tried to stand, the room spun so wildly I dropped back down to my knees.
“What's wrong?” Ruth asked, supporting me. I could hear the panic in her voice.
A panic that mirrored mine, because I knew without doubt what was wrong with me. I had been seeing the signs for quite some time now.
I had dismissed not seeing my period last month as just the result of stress. But now, I knew without doubt that I was pregnant for Dra
ke Hoffman.
Three months ago, it would have been the best news in the world. But now? Not so much.
- Writer
