“Your husband is not here again?”
“Out of town.” I don’t know if Enrique got lost or returned to the car because I left him. He didn’t call either or maybe I just didn’t notice. I don’t want him to know that I left Enrique and that he might tell my brother again. “As usual,” I added.
“I see. Don’t you feel anything strange?” Doctor Keisha asks while taking my blood pressure.
“Nope.”
“No pain anywhere?”
“Nothing.”
“No pressure?”
“Nah. Gone.”
“What’s gone?”
“I mean, my conception is over so I’m calm.”
“So, nothing at all?”
“Clear, doc.” My conception is over and I’m ok. I don’t get hotheaded anymore and I don’t get irritable too. Except for blocking Enrique which I’m happy about but not because I’m angry but because I just want to tease him. I think that no longer counts as pressure.
“Good. Your blood pressure is normal. Lie down and we will check your baby’s gender.” Doc Keisha put me in the hospital bed.
“Okay.” I’m just laughing because Enrique still isn’t there. Maybe he really just returned to the park. Too bad he won’t know the gender of my child. It’s like it’s good to tease again and I’ll tell him the opposite and then he’ll be surprised, something else will come out. He will even think that the baby has been changed. Haha. My brain is really the devil!
Doc Keisha lifted my clothes so that my stomach was exposed when suddenly there was a knock and then the door opened.
“Yes?” She asked her secretary with a raised head.
“Doc, Mr. Enrique Locsin is here and wants to see his wife.” Doc Keisha looks at me. I don’t know what’s going through her mind.
“Oh, is he here? I thought he went to Batangas.” I’m lying. “I wish he had said so that I would have just brought him here.”
“Let him in.” She ordered the secretary.
It only took a few seconds and the door opened again as Enrique entered. I wanted to laugh because of his reaction. He was blushing and I don’t know if it was from annoyance or heat. But in fairness, he’s still handsome.
“You’re on time, Mr. Locsin. Come.” doc Keisha called him. He walks closer to us.
“I thought you would go to Batangas.” I have already preceded and maybe what else can be said? “Don’t you have an out-of-town business?”
“I didn’t go anymore because I didn’t go with you several times.” Oh, and he rode on my lie. At least we are both liars.
“I’ll get you a chair,” snapped Doc.
“No need, I will stand beside my wife.”
Ayie, Daze is so excited. But of course, I will not make it obvious. Maybe later we’ll grow up and think we’re ok. Let’s just calm our anger this time.
“Ok. As you wish.”
Doc Keisha took the tools. It is like a gear that is white in color and then he put gel on my stomach as well. I’m still tickling I don’t know.
“What is that?” asked Enrique.
“Ultrasound tools. To check your baby’s gender.”
“Now we will know the gender?”
“Yeah, didn’t Daze mention it?”
“I forgot, doc, I know he’s as busy as he is. But he’s here so it’s ok.” I couldn’t read Enrique’s face if he was angry or something. After all, even if he gets lost, there is nothing he can do. Also, he’s here and he’ll know.
“Ready to know the gender?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Enrique and I looked at each other when we answered at the same time.
“Your mom and dad are excited to know your gender, baby. Here it is.” Then he put the dark one.
“Is that the baby?” asked Enrique. This is not new to me because I often see the baby on ultrasound every month. It’s a little bigger now compared to last month.
“Yes, Mr. Locsin, that’s your baby.” Enrique looked at me. I don’t know what’s running through his mind because he’s staring at me. “For sure it’s naughty. Am I right mommy?” He had just turned his gaze back to the monitor when Keisha asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Move little, baby. So we can see if you are a boy or a girl.” Doc Keisha moved the stick while keeping scrolling in my tummy. “What gender do you want?”
“Anything,” we looked at each other again when we talk at the same time. But I was the first to avoid it. He pretended to be, he wanted to have a boy to have an heir. He said that before, it’s really plastic. Dimwit!
“It’s a girl.” I don’t know how to react exactly. It doesn’t matter to me if my child is a girl or a boy. As long as she is my child no matter what she is and no matter who is her father. And I am happy because she is a girl just like my dreams.
“Is she ok?” Enrique asks while smiling and staring at the monitor.
“Yeah. Perfectly fine.” Doc Keisha lowered the stick and helped me adjust my clothes. “She’s healthy like her mom. It’s just that in the next few months, until mommy gives birth, it might be a little difficult for her. The baby is a little bit bigger than normal and looks hyper because it’s so mischievous. It’s hairy so for sure in the next few months it will be thick enough to make the stomach itch.”
“Is that what will cause stretch marks?” I ask.
“Some, but some it’s because the stomach stretches upon pregnancy when the stomach is big. And take note that your baby is big.”
“I see,” I answered.
“For now, just continue the vitamins and I follow my advice.”
“Ok, doc”I was surprised when Enrique held my hand to help me stand up. Fortunately, doc Keisha didn’t notice that my face had changed because she had her back turned. I took Enrique’s hand and then stood up. But I didn’t say thank you.
Doc Keisha wrote my prenatal book for the results and the next schedule. When he handed it to me, Enrique took it before me. I just stopped arguing to get back and let him go. Is he is still have the plan to come again for the next check-up?
“Thanks, doc Keisha,” I said.
“You’re welcome.”
“We’ll come back next month,” Enrique said so I looked at him. He said yes and he still has plans to go with me again. What a devil indeed.
“Good to hear that.”
“Gotta go, doc.” I interrupted their conversation because I wanted to go home.
When we got out of the office, I took my card to pay at the counter but Enrique preceded me to reach out. He emotionlessly handed over the card and signed it. Even though the cashier smiled at him and thanked him and he didn’t answer or even look at him. Rude! Dimwit!
“Let’s go.” He supported me and held me by the elbow as we walked. I feel special and important until we get out and I have to admit that I was thrilled to be there. Haha.
But because I’m arrogant, I didn’t show it. It’s normal. He left me at the entrance to get the car. When the car arrived, he got down to help me get on. And just like before, he fastened the seatbelt on me before he closed the door.
He drove and didn’t talk to me. And because I’m cursed by nature and I don’t want silence in life, I made a topic. A topic that is the source of his anger. Topic to tease him.
But the truth is that I will fight him first before he blames me for why I left him.
“You’re disappointed, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
“You’re disappointed.”
“Disappointed in what?”
“The baby’s gender. Because my baby is a girl.”
“And why would I?”
“Because she is a girl.”
“Stop assuming. No matter what her gender is, I accept her because she is Locsin.”
“Plastic.”
“What are you saying?” I confronted him who was still driving. He frowned and glanced at me.
“Your plastic. Because you can’t admit that you don’t want a niece. Because when the day comes, the last name will also be changed. That she cannot continue the surname Locsin. I’m right, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar. After all, you can have a son with another woman because we will also separate when the time comes.”
“For fuck’s sake, Dandelion. Can you stop overthinking? It can’t be helped.”
“I don’t overthink.”
“Then stop assuming and concluding nonsense.”
“I don’t assume and conclude.”
“Then what?” He’s a bit frail. “What do you really want to happen?”
“Nothing, I just want to fight. Because I know what I said is true.”
He stopped the car beside the road. I heard him take a deep breath and grip the steering wheel tightly. He sighed and looked at me calmly. Straight in my eye.
“Listen, Dandelion. I don’t want to argue and please stop stressing yourself because that’s what doc. Del Valle said. First, I don’t mind the gender of the baby. Second, Women, men, gays, lesbians, even if it’s a dog or a cat, it’s still Locsin. Third, he is my niece—-no, she is my daughter so I accept her for what she is. Lastly, we will never be separated. Satisfied?”
“Whatever.”
I turned back because it looked like he didn’t want to hit me. He went back to drive so I just kept quiet. It seems that this fool doesn’t want to punish my curse. He is too concerned about what he thinks is his niece but is actually his daughter.
But suddenly he spoke.
“And who told you that we will separate?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who told you that I will agree to the annulment? Where did you get that idea?”
“Me, why is that what you want too, right? You only married me because of my daughter and when everything is ok, we will separate. That’s where we’re going too.”
“Is that what you think?” Then he looked at me and stared before looking back at the road. “That will not happen because I will not let the child become a broken family. Just try to get Ervic to lead me in telling him that he is her real father—-even if he is my brother I will bury him alive in the ground.”‘
“What do you mean?”
“After making me sympathize with your problem, is it that easy for you to make a decision? Hmp, no, Dandelion, I am her father and we are his parents even if we don’t agree. We will still live in the same house.”
I just looked at him because of what he said. Even now when the annulment is discussed and he can react like that, what else will happen when he finds out that he is really the father? Good luck to me.
“Why did you leave me earlier?” I swallowed and couldn’t answer. Dimwitand he remembered.
“I got tired just standing, that’s bad for a pregnant woman.
“Reason accepted. But why did you say I was in Batangas?”
“I didn’t say you were already in Batangas, I said you were out of town and just leaving. And I clearly said ‘I THOUGHT YOU WERE IN BATANGAS.'”
“That’s the way it is. Is it true?” he asked so I looked at him because he suddenly changed the topic
“True what?”
“That baby kick?”
“Yes, often. Starting at sixteen weeks.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”‘
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because I want to touch her. Can you call me sometimes?” His voice had a pleading tone. Not really begging but with tenderness. And I’ve been noticing his calmness for a while now.
“Why, haven’t you ever held a kicking baby in your stomach? How many times has Hailey been pregnant, right?”
“You’re starting again.”
“I’m just telling the truth.”
“Her offspring is not related to me. There is no reason to get excited about her baby. Happy? Yes. But, excited? No. I’m happy for her as a friend.”
“Fine.”
“So you will call me?”
“Okay.” To end the conversation.
I noticed that the road we were taking was different and it was not going back to the mansion.
“Where are we going?” I asked seeing us exit the highway.
“Mall,”
“Why?”
“We will buy a maternity dress for you.” Mater—-what? What are we going to buy?
“What?”
“I noticed that most of your dress is tight on you. We will buy a new one.”
“Are you saying I’m fat, huh?”
“I am saying that the baby is getting bigger. But you are still sexy. Happy?”
“Tss. It’s good to be clear.”
“You really just want to fight,” he whispered but I heard it.
“Good thing you know.” I glare at him who just shakes his head. Ayie—-she notices me.