She walked out of the house and slammed the door shut while he still stood in the same position, his hand on his hair while he was deep in thoughts.
“I’m pregnant, and you’re responsible.” Her voice rang in his head and he fell to the sofa weakly.
Being a father wasn’t something he wanted to do. The thought alone scared him to witts. Sure, he loved sex, but getting a girl pregnant in the process was something he always avoided. He tried to think back to occasions when he had sex with Karen with condoms, and they were too many to be called a mistake. He knew he had made a great mistake and had no one else to blame, but himself. The second mistake he had made.
His mind was still in a haze as he buried his head in his palm. He wasn’t going to make a decision. Atleast, not suddenly. His phone beeped beside him and he picked it up lazily and unlocked it. It was a text message from an unsaved number. He read the content of the text, hissed and dumped his phone back on the chair.
It has been three weeks since Karen had informed Jack about her pregnancy and he was yet to respond. Her baby bump was now starting to show. It wasn’t too obvious, but with a second look, a curious eye would take the hint. Her business was going on smoothly thanks to her partnership with Harr communications. Though she wasn’t making as much wealth as she used to when she was in a fake relationship with Jack, it was still something. Her brand has survived the scare Jack had caused, and gradually, It was crawling back to it’s feet.
Jack walked in through the glass door at the entrance. His two hands were tucked deep in the pockets of his trousers as he took quick strides.
“Good morning sir.” Karen’s Secretary greeted as she walked up to him. He waved her aside as he continued walking till he got to the door of Karen’s office. This was his first time visiting her office, but he could already guess the entire layout.
He knocked the door once and Karen’s beautiful voice answered from inside, asking who was at the door. Ignoring her question, he pushed the wooden door open and stepped inside. He stood at the door and watched her type into her laptop before raising her head to peak at him.
“I didn’t say you should come… ” She said raising her head from the screen, but her voice was caught in her throat at the stared at the lovely figure of Jack standing by the door.
“Good morning, Miss Smith. Can I take a seat?” he asked out of courtesy, but she just stared at him. Seeing Jack in her office was something she never expected. Her heart beat loudly in het chest as she followed his movement with her eyes. From the door, till he got to the seat in front of her.
“What do I owe this visit? ” She finally found her voice as she sat upright on her executive chair.
Jack took the seat in front of her as he watched her fiddle with her hands. He crossed one of his leg on the other as he relaxed into the comfort of the seat. “We need to talk.” He stated, his tone heavy with seriousness. His facial expression hardened, showing how serious he was. “about the pregnancy.” he added after giving her some minutes and watched her face move into a frown.
“There is absolutely nothing to talk about, Mr Antonio.” She now addressed him formally.
“I want to be the father of that unborn child. I want to be in the child’s life.” Jack stated and her face fell. A knot tightened in her stomach as she listened to what he said. She thought he would say this. A disturbing thought at the back of her mind kept reminding her that he might want to lay claim on the child, and that was something she didn’t want to happen.
“That is not possible.” She stated, her voice almost breaking. “You cannot be in my life again, and definitely not in my child’s life.” She repeated.
Jack stared at her intently. He watched her speak with determination, making his chest tighten. He wanted to speak, but the words were stucked in his stomach. He knew he was wrong to come back, but he just wanted to do it. He wanted to have a family with her.
“You can now leave, Mr Antonio.” She stated, pointing at the door.
“Make a consideration to what I stated.” He pleaded and she scoffed. “I would be back soonest.” He added and walked out of the office.
Immediately the door slammed, indicating he was out, Karen heaved a big sigh of relief before dropping her head down on the table. Her biggest fears were slowly manifesting.
…
Jack drove through the street in silence. The music player in his car was turned off, giving the car a calm and peaceful ambience. He arrived at Karen’s house and parked going going out and knocking at the door. He rang the door bell multiple times and when he couldn’t get a response from inside, he took out his phone and called her number again. His call was redirected to voicemail, for the uptempth time that day. He had tried calling her numerous times that day and had failed and that prompted his visit. It had been a few days since he had paid her a visit in her office, and since then, he was yet to hear from her again. He knew coming back into her life was not the best of decisions, but somehow, he wanted it. He still loved her, and though he knew she hated him now, he still wanted to try. He wanted to earn her forgiveness.
After standing at the door for over twenty minutes without a response, he went back to his car and drove off. He realized she wasn’t home.
“Maybe she had a business deal to close somewhere and had to travel out of town.” he thought as he drove home. This time, he turned on the music player and left the volume to blast through the car.
Karen yawned lightly as he woke up from sleep. She rubbed her sleepy eyes gently before stretching a bit before going out of the bed. This was her second day in New York after she had travelled in the previous day. After Jack had visited her office, she knew she needed sometime alone to think, or maybe away from everyone, especially from him so she decided to skip the city to new York.
She walked to the window and pulled the curtain apart, allowing the bright early morning sun to penetrate into the room. She stood by the window as she stared at the beautiful city. “She might just have to relocate here.” She thought.