The Billionaire's Wild

Pregnancy

“Would it hurt you to give me a heads up first before suddenly showing up in my front door and now what? What the heck is this, Amelia? Tell me the truth, are you pregnant?”

Amelia rubbed her throbbing head to make the pain temporarily stop. She’s already feeling dizzy since last week from jet lag but her sister seems so convinced that she’s pregnant.

“Sis, I’m just tired from the trip. Can you please tone your voice down?” Amelia pleads to her sister, who keeps running her mouth like a worried mother.

“Tone my voice down? Oh, god, Amy, you don’t know what mess you are in?”

Amelia ran the tips of her fingers through her messily tied up hair, massaging the scalp from her head that wanted to burst out. She hasn't drunk a single drop of liquor ever since she came to Switzerland but it always feels like she’s waking up with a hangover, head dizzy, a bit choky, and running out of energy. And in addition to that is her sister’s constant nagging that she’s pregnant. Her, pregnant? She thinks it’s impossible because Alejandro and her only did it once and never again. Who knows, maybe that once even made him think of Melissa as he took her virginity.

“Are you going to stay silent, Amy, or do you want to go to the hospital with me?” Anna Steiner said once more to her younger sister.

Annoyed at her sister’s voice, Amelia tried to stand up from the edge of the bathtub she was seated on but lost her balance.

“Amy!” Anna shouted as she ran beside Amelia that’s about to hit her head on the marble walls of the bathroom. “I’m telling you, let’s get you checked, please.”

Feeling so confused on what’s happening and still weak after her almost an hour stay inside the bathroom to puke on the sink, Amelia just nodded to her sister’s suggestion without clearly understanding what was said.

A couple of hours later, Amelia stares listlessly at the flowing white curtain of the hospital room where she temporarily stays with an IV stuck in her hand. The bright light emanating from the fluorescent tubes seems like the edges of heaven to her as she feels herself whether she’s still alive or dead. It’s like a pause button was hit in her life and everything just stopped spinning. The fan from the AC sounds more vivid than ever as her mind scrambles back to reality.

“Amelia,” her sister called after noticing Amelia’s silence. “Amy…”

Amelia tilted her head to her side to look at her sister sitting just beside her, stroking the back of her hand.

“What should I do?,” she cried. “I’m…I’m pregnant. The baby is, I’m sure, it’s Alejandro’s child. He’s the only man I had but… but that man hates me now. I ditched the wedding. I left him. I…if only I just proceeded with our wedding then…then… haaa. Anna, he doesn’t love me. But the child won’t have a father now and Alejandro ought to know but he hates me and he loves Melissa more.”

Anna hugged her confused sister from the lack of choices on how to calm her down. She shushed and tried to make her stop crying but it’s all futile from all the self-pitying Amelia is doing right now.

“Amy, it’s alright. We’re here for you,” she flatly said as she glared at her husband, Viktor Steiner, who drove them earlier to the hospital. “We’ll help you,” she whispered again.

Even with those words, Amelia hesitated and held Anna's hand firmer as she tried to speak in between her hiccups. “But Anna, what if Alejandro learns about this? He’ll be mad. He’ll tell me to kill the child because he would rather have kids with Melissa and not me. He’s crazy. He’s crazy, I’m telling you. He doesn’t even like me.”

Anna shook her head at the sight of her sister, who’s starting to panic and overthink things that haven't happened yet. If it is Alejandro and the Morris family, she’s sure that they will take the child without a question since they’re a family that gives significance to bloodline.

“Okay, okay. Calm down first, I do understand your grudge against Alejandro but you can think about that later because what you need right now is to focus on yourself and the growing child inside you. Okay?”

With that, Amelia nodded and just held on to her sister’s support for a long time but misfortune comes when it is least expected.

Months and years passed in Switzerland and the frost hanging from the last twig of a dead tree already thawed. It’s the opening of spring. Sunlight is happily pouring from the edges of the roof where Amelia is passing the time under when a bird suddenly stops its flight in front of them, perching on the hand railing of their balcony.

“Looky… hm? Birds…” she told the child she’s holding in her arms before pointing to the small wild bird busy pecking on the empty handrail. “Baby bird, baby bird,” she repeated to the child slowly as if teaching the small human to speak.

She can still remember how her sister hugged her after waking up, saying that she almost didn’t make it during her childbirth and the doctor asked them to choose who to prioritize. Thankfully, they did not give up on either and Amelia with her twin babies survived.

“Amy… are you really going back to that place?” Anna asked as she put down the second child on their large baby floor mat inside filled with children’s toys. “I know that you need–”

Amelia sighed, interrupting her sister’s words and clicked her tongue before speaking. “I already made up my mind, Anna. I am not doing this for myself but Caden’s sake. You already know why.”

“Then what about Cayce?”

“Isn’t it the reason why I am asking you to please look after her while I am gone?”

Anna pursed her lips from the lack of words to say further to her sister. In fact, she has no qualms against her taking care of Cayce for the meantime but then, that would mean that the child will miss her mother while Amelia goes back to their hometown with Caden alone.

“Whatever, Amy. Just be back as soon as possible…and be safe. And when you meet with Alejandro, remember what you promised me. Don’t break.”