Elyana
"Please no!"
Her feet paced the spacious cubicle, her eyes stared at the ceiling, and her hands drummed the stick on her sweaty palms, then she chanted repeatedly, "No...! Please no!"
Time ticked silently in her mind, as minutes felt like hours. Her heart beat faster, her breathing became uneven, and cold beads of sweat broke out on her nape as tension intensified.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Her body jerked as if a bomb just exploded. But it was just her alarm, silently beeping on the bathroom counter.
Five minutes were up.
The moment of truth.
"Don't worry. You're just overthinking it." She whispered, wishing her words could sound more confident. "Please don't let it be..." But her voice cracked, revealing her true feelings.
Two lines.
"No!" Immediately, she closed her eyes. "That can't be real. Please don't let it be real." She whispered what sounded more like a prayer, hoping that by some miracle the result would change once she opened her eyes again.
"Shit!"
Two fucking pink lines.
That was all it took for her world to crumble.
"Hey, Elyana, what's taking you so long?" Sandy spoke outside the door, followed by a gentle, hesitant knock. "Are you alright in there?" Sounding a little bit worried.
After gaping at the stick in her hand, she shoved it into her pocket. Then, she looked up and stared at the door, picturing her best friend pressing her ears against the wooden barrier that separated them.
"Yeah, yeah!" She responded before her friend broke down the door. "I'm ok." Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door and allowed her friend entry.
Quickly, she returned to the sink, feeling like she was about to throw up. She hastily splashed water on her face, hoping that would calm her nerves before she had a total meltdown.
"Hey, you look pale," Sandy commented, as her friend examined her face through the mirror. "Are you sure you're ok? You look ill." Instantly, Sandy's hand touched her forehead, feeling her skin for warmth.
"No. I'm not." Well, she couldn't count her current situation as a sickness. "I'm just tired. You know... I've been helping Dad with some things." She added as the worry lines on her friend's forehead deepened.
Upon seeing her reflection in the mirror, she immediately saw why her friend was concerned. Her face was drained of all color. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
Pinching her cheeks, she hoped to put some shade on her skin. But there was nothing she could do with her puffy eyes.
"You're having those nightmares again, aren't you?" It was not a question, but more like an accusation. "Just look at your eyes... You look worse than my grandma... You need rest..."
Her friend grabbed her phone and started typing. "I'm booking as an emergency trip to the salon and spa... Then, we are flying to..."
Dah-da-da-da-dah.
Her friend rattled on about the things that she planned to do with her, but she hardly heard most of it.
"I'm pregnant." That was all that was running through her mind. The rest was just noise.
Blah, blah, blah.
"Hey, are you even listening?" Her friend snapped her fingers at her.
"Yeah! Of course, I am." She quickly answered. Although she only heard half of what she said. "But I have work, Sandy. I could not just pack up and leave." Not anymore.
Actually, it was her first day. Looking at the time, she was supposed to report to her new job in an hour, but to her surprise, her friend showed up while she was in the bathroom.
She knew she should be excited about it, looking forward to her independence and freedom. But with her situation, it suddenly became complicated.
"Why do you even have to work?" Sandy complained. "Look at you." Her friend held her shoulders in a firm grip. "You're too thin. Your face..." Her friend zeroed in on the dark circles around her eyes. "You looked like you aged ten years."
Elyana understood her friend's concern. Thinking about it, these past few weeks had been tough for her.
Learning that her mother was not killed by an animal, but by some supernatural being, was inconceivable. It was as if her nightmare just turned real.
Then, suspecting that she was pregnant kept her up all night. She had to secretly rush into the pharmacy that morning just to buy a pregnancy kit to confirm her suspicion.
"Because I want to earn my own money. I want to prove to my father that I can make something of myself." It had always been her motivation.
Ever since her mother's death, all she ever wanted was to catch her father's attention. The only way she knew how was to be excellent in school and make him proud.
Now, she wanted to show her father that she didn't need to marry a man just to survive in this world.
"I don't know if that would stop your father from forcing you to marry Craig," Sandy told her, looking doubtful. "You know, Uncle James, once he set his mind on something."
"But honestly, is marrying Craig that bad? After all, he comes from a decent family. He's kind, handsome, and tremendously wealthy." Sandy suddenly sounded like her father.
Unlike Sandy, she was not content to be a trophy wife of some successful husband. She wanted to make something out of her life. She needed to feel like she belonged to something and that her efforts were appreciated.
"No, Sandy. You don't understand." She shook her head. "I can't marry a man I don't love." Then, she pulled out the stick from her pocket and showed it to her bestfriend.
Moreover, she could never marry a man she barely knew. If she was going to spend her life with someone, she wanted it to be because of love.
"What..." Her friend choked on her words when she realized what she had just handed her.
"What the fuck!" Sandy lost her composure, which she rarely did, as she started cursing in every language she knew.
"Pregnant?" Sandy blurted in disbelief. Her eyes were still bulging from the sight of the two lines on the small strip.
"I'm having a baby." She nodded, confirming it in not so many words.
"Dammit! I didn't see that coming." Her friend wiped the sweat that broke out from her forehead with the palms of her hands before looking at her.
"So..." Sandy stopped as she took a deep breath. "The father is...?" She asked.
"I have to go to work." She answered instead, noticing the time. "I can't be late."
"But, you haven't told me..." Sandy complained, trying to stop her from leaving.
She rushed out of the bathroom and grabbed her bag. "We'll talk about this tonight. Dinner is on me." She promised.
But at the moment, she had to leave.
The last thing she needed was to get fired on the first day at her first job. Especially now that she was about to have a baby on the way.
As she drove toward her new job, the parting question of her friend reverberated in her mind.
"Are you going to tell the father?"
No idea.
Probably not, since she didn't even know his name.
But what if she accidentally bumped into him again?
Would she?
But could she raise this child alone?
"Hi! I'm Elyana Pryce. I'm here for the job." She beat the clock, giving her five minutes to spare before her time.
"You're late." The woman at the counter said, but she didn't even look up to see her face. "As the new assistant to the CEO, you should be here at least an hour early."
Wait! What?
Did she hear her correctly?
"There must be a mistake." Her eyes looked around the expansive and extravagant lobby, wondering if she had entered the wrong building.
But it was clearly stated on the wall.
THE STORM CHASERS PUBLISHING
"You are Elyana Pryce, right?" The woman finally looked at her, her eyebrow raised, her fingers with pointy, well-manicured nails pointing at her.
"Yes," Acknowledging the woman, "But I'm here to write stories, not..."
"Then, there is no mistake. It is clearly stated in this employment status that you're assigned as the new CEO's assistant." The woman said dismissively. "Here is your temporary badge."
A few minutes later, she walked out of the elevator on the top floor, where the office of the head of the company was located.
"I think there was a mistake. She was not here to be the CEO's beck and call."
Then, on the wall, she saw the list of offices on the floor.
COO - NASH ROWLAND
CEO - KOWEN CALDWELL
Why did the CEO's name sound familiar?