“Fine. I’ll let you continue working. In exchange, you’ll let me work with you here at home,” Reiner proposed.
“…Huh?” I gasped in surprise.
“I’ll move here to work with you until you give birth,” Reiner declared proudly.
It was clear that Reiner thought that his idea was the best solution for both of us. I didn’t mind working with Reiner around because the first part of my career was spent working together with him and by his side. At that point, I was willing to do so much more just to keep my job and responsibilities.
“Deal. Thank you for compromising with me,” I thanked him wholeheartedly.
…
Having Reiner with me at home made my pregnancy a lot easier on my emotions. Life suddenly became less stressful and everything that I was required to do became easier with his encouragement and his company. Looking back, one of the hardest things during my first pregnancy journey wasn’t the pregnancy itself but dealing with my in-laws.
After we got official confirmation from the doctor at the hospital that I was indeed pregnant with Reiner’s child, we were so happy as a couple. The best part was when we celebrated alone and privately. Things started to change when we were forced to deal with the reality that we had to break the news to his parents. At that time, we didn’t know the gender of the baby. Regardless, I thought that King would be thrilled about the good news.
“When should we tell your parents?” I asked.
“When you’re ready to deal with a bunch of nonsense,” Reiner replied.
“What does that mean?” I asked, suddenly feeling very worried.
“If our child is a son, he’ll be the next heir. That comes with a lot of baggage and responsibilities,” Reiner said, and I knew that he was speaking from his own personal experience.
Until that point, it had slipped my mind that our child would somehow be considered as part of the clan that ran the company. Maybe it didn’t slip my mind, but my mind had a way of ignoring things that were burdensome. To us, our child was our child. To King, our child was his heir and the next head of the company who would take over after Reiner. The thought alone made a knot form in the pit of my stomach.
“Don’t worry so much. The baby could be a girl,” Reiner said with a warm and encouraging smile.
I smiled back, although something told me that my child was probably a boy. There was no scientific explanation as to why I thought that way or why I felt so certain about it. However, I was quite certain that the baby that was growing inside of my womb was a boy.
Although Reiner wasn’t in a rush to break the news to his parents, I had a very different take on the whole issue. I felt like it would be better to get it over and done with so that I could move on with focusing on myself and my baby. If King had something that he wanted to say about the fact that I was pregnant, then I wanted to hear it upfront. It was better than living in fear that he would find out. I also didn’t think that I could hide it for long anyways because my baby bump will eventually show.
“I think we should just tell them and get it over with. The baby isn’t going to be born any time soon, so I’ll have time to…mentally prepare myself,” I voiced my preference to Reiner.
“Really? Well, if that’s what you want. Why don’t we tell them over dinner tonight?” Reiner suggested before smiling a little at me.
“Sounds good. I’ll leave this important task to you, daddy,” I said teasingly.
“Please don’t call me that. It sounds so weird,” Reiner said with clear discomfort.
“Awww…I think it’s cute…in a strange way,” I said with a laugh.
Reiner just shook his head at me while I continued laughing at him and his funny reaction.
…
Later that night, we broke the news of my pregnancy to his parents over dinner just like we had planned. As agreed, Reiner was the one who did most of the talking. I was looking forward to how Reiner would break the news and it was as blunt as I had imagined it in my mind. The scene that I had imagined was so close to what really happened that I almost burst out laughing right in front of his parents.
“Natalia is pregnant,” Reiner stated matter-of-factly and with a straight face.
Queen dropped the fork that she had been holding as she stared back at us with widened eyes and an open mouth.
“Really?” she exclaimed in shock after a moment of silence.
“Yes, Natalia is pregnant. We went to the hospital together for the doctor to confirm it. Do you want to see the papers?” Reiner replied with certainty.
Queen smiled brightly before turning to her husband. I could feel her happiness and I began smiling as well. It would be nice if we ended up having a baby girl. Queen would be thrilled. Although she didn’t get to have a girl of her own, she could still play around and help me raise a baby girl who was her granddaughter. That thought crossed my mind along with some fuzzy and warm scenes of the three of us enjoying our time together; however, the nagging feeling at the back of my mind whispered to me that the child inside my belly was a boy.
Of course, I never told this to anyone because there was like a 50% chance that I could be wrong about the gender of my child. An ultrasound would solve that mystery for us soon enough.
“Is it a boy?” King asked coldly.
All warm and fuzzy thoughts that I had died right then and there. King’s attitude was cold, and he did not act excited or thrilled at the news of my pregnancy at all. Suddenly, I felt very cold inside just like his words. Reiner grabbed my hand under the table and began stroking its back with his thumb to comfort me. I turned to smile at him a little to reassure him that I was fine. Honestly, I had expected something like this, so I had no idea why it was getting to me.
–To be continued…