CHAPTER THREE
1613 Words
ELARA’S POV
I had just taken my bath and was standing in front of the mirror drying my hair. Unconsciously, I rubbed my stomach and sighed.
“Elara,” I jolted out of my thoughts as I heard my mom's voice.
“Elara, sweetheart, please open the door. What happened?” She asked
I could hear the worry in her voice. I walked to the door thinking of what to say to her. I'm pregnant and the father abandoned me? Did I disappoint you? Am I going to be a single mother? What exactly am I going to say? Maya isn’t here yet.
With so many questions in my head, I opened the door to see my mother's worried face.
“Elara” my mother called as she held my hand and led me to the bed
“Sweetheart, what happened?” You locked yourself in the room last night and you were crying so much. I was scared. Please tell me what the problem is”.
I looked at my mom and then my phone. Maya is supposed to be here by now.
“Mom” I started
“ I am sorry. I am so sorry for disappointing you”
“Baby, what happened” she asked holding my hands
“ Mom, I have let you down and I am sorry. I don’t know what to do. I thought he wouldn’t leave me. I thought we were going to be together” I said in between sobs
“ Elara what happened “ she asked again
“Mom… I… I am… mom, I am pregnant”
“What are you talking about? How are you pregnant? I mean who… when.. what are you talking about” she asked in shock.
M
“Mom, I am pregnant and it’s Noah’s. It was not meant to happen but it did and I am sorry. I have tried reaching out to him but it’s not working. I know you had big plans for me… Uni and all but I made a mistake mom and I don’t know what to do” I said quickly with my head bent low.
Silence
The silence was so thick that I feared that the beating of my heart could be heard.
I looked at my mother and saw tears falling down her face. I could see the disappointment and I knew that I had broken her heart. She didn’t say a word to me. She just kept looking at me, probably hoping that it was a prank.
But it wasn’t
I was pregnant. I had disappointed her
“How could you?” She said in a whisper after minutes of silence
“How could you do something like this? Did I make a mistake by being lenient with you? She said in tears
“ I work so hard to give you a comfortable life even when mine is twice as hard and yet you do this!”
I looked at my mom and cried because that was the first time she had ever yelled at me.” I am sorry, mom”
“ You are sorry? Really? What about our plans? You go to Uni and become something? What about that? You threw all of that away for a boy? A boy who is nowhere to be found right now? How could you throw my sacrifices away?”
I knelt crying and begging for her forgiveness but she stood up and left. I felt so scared of my future that I cried so much. I didn’t even notice Maya walk into the room. She just sat beside me and held me as I cried.
THE HOSPITAL
In a room in the hospital, Noah lay on the bed unconscious. Tubes all around him, the machine beeped steadily with indifferent rhythm, their sounds clashing against the sharp rise of a man’s voice.
“I don’t understand this! This is clear incompetence!” Mr. Blackwood shouted, pacing through the room. “My son has been lying here for three days…three days!!! and no one… not one person can tell me when he will wake up?”
The doctor standing nearby kept his posture straight, though his expression had changed, “Sir, as we’ve explained, the brain needs time to recover after the trauma of the severity of the accident. He is stable, but…”
“But nothing!” Mr. Blackwood snapped, cutting him off with a sharp wave of his hand. “Being stable is not enough! I want him awake. He has an empire to run!”
On the other side of the room, a young woman stepped forward, her heels clicking softly against the tiled floor.
“Mr. Blackwood, please…” she said gently, her voice smooth, controlled. “Shouting won’t help him.”
She reached out, lightly touching his arm.
Vivian.
She had a slim figure one might expect that she wouldn’t be involved in strenuous activities but she carried herself with quiet authority,her composure was scary. She turned to look at the man on the bed, and though there was concern there, it was calculated…scripted.
She turned back to the doctor before Mr. Blackwood could respond.
“Doctor,” she said, her tone was polite but firm, “what are his chances of recovery?
The doctor hesitated for a second. “It’s difficult to say. Patients in comas can wake up in days, weeks… sometimes longer. We just have to monitor him and give him the necessary treatments”
“So you’re saying there’s a possibility of him. It's waking up, “she said calmly.
“Yes.”
The doctor left and everyone went quiet except for the steady beeping of the heart monitor.
Mr. Blackwood glanced at her, his anger not gone controlled.
He exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face. “This wasn’t the plan. This should not have happened,” he muttered.
“No,” she agreed quietly. “It shouldn’t have.”
Before either of them could say anything else, the door opened and Lucas walked in.
He didn’t rush. Didn’t speak immediately. His presence alone shifted the air, as something quieter but more dangerous had just entered the room.
His gaze moved first to the bed.
To his brother.
Still. Unmoving. Suspended in silence.
Then to his father.
“That was quite the performance father,” Lucas said dryly.
Mr. Blackwood’s irritation returned instantly. “Lucas, if you’re here to annoy me, don’t. This is not the time, nor is it the place for this”
“You should stop,” Lucas cut in, his tone calm.
The interruption was sharp enough to still the room.
Mr. Blackwood frowned, “ Excuse me?”
Lucas looked briefly at Vivian then back to his father.
“Stop pretending. It’s unfitting for a man of your status.” He said as he adjusted the collar of his shirt.
The word hung in the air.
Vivian straightened slightly, she looked more scared than confused.
Mr. Blackwood’s expression darkened. “What are you talking about?”
But Lucas didn’t back down.
“I am talking about how you are shouting at the doctors like a worried parent when you are actually the one who put your son in this situation. I saw it. Everything, so just stop” he said, his voice lowering.
It was quiet again. This time, heavier.
Vivian became restless and called his name but he ignored her and continued.
“I didn’t come here to argue,” he added. “I came to fix things”
That made both of them look at him fully.
“Fix? And how do you intend to do that?” Vivian asked him though curious.
Lucas nodded slightly, his focus returning to his father. “The accident. The story. Everything surrounding it.”
Mr. Blackwood studied him carefully. “And why do you think you’re capable of that”
Lucas held his gaze, unwavering. “Because someone needs to be”
“And you are the man for the job” Mr Blackwood asked surprised
“Yes”
Mr Blackwood smirked and said” Go home Lucas”
Lucas walked towards his father.
“I need you to trust me,” he said.
Mr. Blackwood let out a quiet scoff. “Trust is earned.”
Lucas didn’t react to the jab. “Then let me earn it. The media will get curious,” Lucas continued. “An accident like this, involving him? It won’t stay buried for long unless someone makes sure it does.”
“And that someone is you?” his father asked.
“Yes. I’ll handle the press, the reports, the witnesses, whatever needs to be handled,” Lucas said in a rush. His voice dropped slightly. “The accident… and the truth behind it will never reach the public.”
Vivian looked at Mr Blackwood hoping to get a reaction from him but his attention remained locked on Lucas.
“You are certain you can take care of it?” he asked slowly.
Lucas nodded once. “I am.”
“Fine.”
The word came from Mr. Blackwood, sharp and decisive.
“Do it”
Lucas inclined his head slightly. “You won’t regret it.”
He glanced once more at his brother on the bed. He was unconscious.
Then he turned and walked toward the door.
“Lucas.”
His father's voice stopped him just before he reached it.
Their eyes held for a brief, charged moment.
“No mistakes”
“There wouldn’t be”
Then he left.
Noah still lay on the bed totally unaware that the truth of what happened to him had just become something worth hiding.
- Writer
