Chapter 9 Something Unexpected

"Boss, that woman is looking for a house. It seems that she is going to move out and stay alone."

Richie's eyes twinkled as he listened to his men's report.

After thinking for quite a while, he said, "That's good. Keep your eyes on her."

He then turned his eyes to the resume that was on the desk. He thought about it for a while before he finally decided to approve it.

Without seeing Harry and Sheryl, Consuela noticed how the quality of her life had gotten drastically better.

Being independent-living and doing everything alone-had greatly impacted her as well. At the beginning, she thought it would be hard as she was used to being with her parents and sister, but it didn't take long until she got settled down. It turned out, she didn't need anyone. She could clean, cook, and manage a household all by herself!

In her isolation, she also realized one important thing: time was indeed the best medicine to anything and everything. Not only was she slowly letting go of Richie and what had happened between them, she was also learning to give up her feelings towards Harry so that she could genuinely wish him and her sister happiness.

Though the process might be difficult, she was proud that she had already taken a step towards the right direction.

She felt that everything was back to normal,

until God decided to test her once again.

One night, her dreams were interrupted by a vision of a child. She woke up with a startle. Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't had her period. Feeling that something was wrong, she quickly headed out to the pharmacy to get a pregnancy test kit.

As soon as she got home, she did the test. She waited for a few minutes for the result, and when it came out, she felt her soul leave her body. Two line had appeared, indicating that she was pregnant!

"How...how could this be possible?!" she screamed.

Her heart was racing. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her!

Somehow, she was able to convince herself that the result was wrong. Through her tears, she once again charged towards the pharmacy to buy ten more kits.

Two lines...

Two lines...

Two lines.

She felt it sinking in.

She had initially thought that she hadn't had her period because her body was adjusting to living alone and having a drastically different routine than before.

But now that she was sure that that wasn't the case... She felt lost. What should she do now?

"No way! This isn't happening!" she screamed once again. Immediately, she grabbed her purse and rushed out of the house. She didn't know what to do exactly, but she was planning on going to the hospital to have herself checked. She wasn't pregnant. Maybe the pregnancy test kits she had bought were subpar and malfunctioned.

While she stumbled out, she felt a nasty headache starting to come over. She began to feel dizzy, but she gritted her teeth and continued on.

To steady herself, she took a deep breath. She needed to hail the cab that was approaching.

Unfortunately, before the car even got anywhere close to her, she felt her head spin. It seemed like all of her strength was sucked from her body, and so she fell to the ground unconscious.

It was a good thing that a middle-aged woman was there to witness the whole thing. She quickly ran towards Consuela to see if she was okay. "Miss!" she called out. "Miss! Are you okay? What's happening?"

She didn't get any reply.

Her heart began to race. Immediately, she looked around for help. Fortunately, she saw a few people coming up the street who could help.

"Please, help us!" she shouted. When the other people came, they tried to hail a passing taxi, but it didn't stop as it was already occupied.

With no other choice, they hailed the next car, which was a private one.

"Please stop! Can you help us? We need a car!" the middle-aged woman shouted as she signaled the driver to stop. When the car did, she immediately explained their situation. "This girl just fainted. We need to take her to the hospital but there hasn't been any taxi!"

Seeing the commotion that was happening, Richie couldn't help but frown. Despite getting annoyed, he still asked the driver to roll down the windows.

He was surprised to see a few people huddling around something. Upon closer look, the something was apparently a person: an unconscious woman.

At first, the whole scene irritated him. But then he took notice of the woman, as somehow she seemed familiar. Soon, his brows became knitted. 'Is this...that woman?' he thought.

"Mr. Richie, what should I..." The driver started, but then hesitated. He didn't expect to see such a scene.

Besides, he didn't really stop to help the woman-the traffic light became red.

After a few seconds of tensed silence, Richie said coldly, "Get her in the car. We'll take her to the hospital."

The driver immediately did exactly what he was told.

He exited the car, picked the unconscious Consuela off of the back of a man, and told the woman asking for help that they would be the ones taking care of things.

"I'll come with you," the woman said as she didn't want to leave an unconscious female with men she didn't know.

Richie, however, was quick to shut her down. "I never said you could come or even enter my car. And don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to her."

With that, the woman, as well as everyone on the scene, fell quiet and became embarrassed. They all stepped back and did not push Richie any further.

Consuela was placed right beside Richie in the passenger seat. "Start the car," Richie ordered. "We need to get her to the hospital."

"Mr. Richie, but... We are on the way to...I don't think we'll make it in time if we still drop this lady by the hospital," the driver carefully reminded Richie.

"Postpone it," Richie answered straightforwardly.

With a deep breath, the driver, once again, did what he was told.

The doctor who attended to Consuela at the hospital diagnosed her and gave her an infusion in the meantime.

"Mr. Richie, don't worry," the doctor declared as soon as he was finished. "It's just hypoglycemia. Nothing serious." He was especially being cordial as he didn't want to get on Richie's bad side. If he did, he'd have to leave the city, just like everyone else who dared be disrespectful against the powerful man.

"I understand," Richie said, nodding without a discernable expression on his face.

The doctor, however, still had something to say. He, however, was hesitating.

"Spit it out. What else do you have to say?" Richie wasn't in the mood and he was getting a little impatient.

"Well, this lady...She... She is pregnant," the doctor finally blurted out.

The expression on Richie's face drastically changed.

"How long has she been pregnant?" he asked quietly.

"About two months."

Two months?

Richie frowned. It had been nearly two months since the incident had happened. The timeline was checking out.

Maybe...

"No matter what happens, do not let this lady abort her child. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir! You can rest assured the baby is safe and will be well taken care of!"

Richie then left in a hurry.

Before he could even exit the hospital doors, however, he was already on his phone with one of his men.

"Do a thorough investigation on everything Consuela did in the past two months," he barked into the phone. "And figure out whether she has had sex with any other man in the meantime."

When Consuela woke up, she found herself in a hospital. Confused, she caught the attention of a nurse and asked, "How did I get here? Did some kind-hearted passer-by bring me here?"

Not knowing what was going on, the nurse just replied, "Maybe."

"Oh...okay. Thank you," Consuela answered. She felt like she had seen a face she didn't want to see just now. As long as the person wasn't Richie, she would be thankful.

Not long after she had woken up, a doctor rushed to her room. This confused her even more, as she didn't feel like she was in such a bad condition.

After asking some basic questions, like if she was feeling okay or if any part of her body was hurting, the doctor told her, "You shouldn't stress yourself out. Just rest, relax, and eat healthy. Your baby would need all the help it could get."

Consuela was stunned. "Doctor...Doctor, you... What did you just say?"

The doctor looked surprised. With a slight chuckle, he repeated, "Your baby! You need to rest up so it will grow strong!"

"Am I really pregnant?"

"Yes!" As he adjusted his glasses, the doctor remembered what Richie had told him before he left. Determination flared up in his eyes. "We need to make sure you and your baby are healthy. No matter what happens, the lives of you two need to be your main priority. I'm just afraid that if this one gets aborted one way or another, you'd be too weak to conceive another one."

Color drained from Consuela's face as soon as she heard the doctor's words.

At that moment, her mind was occupied by two things.

First, she was really pregnant.

Second, the baby was that man's.

No matter how much that thought disgusted her, she would never hurt the life inside of her.

Aborting the child never crossed her mind. But that also was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Consuela felt alone more than ever. As intense feelings consumed her whole person, she just felt tears running down her cheeks.

It seemed like no one would be able to help her. She was going to face this all by herself.

It took a while before she was able to collect herself, but when she did, she had already accepted the fact.

She knew she had no choice but to raise a child on her own, but she didn't care. She was now a mother, and that alone was enough to make her feel happy and thankful.

Suddenly, all the doubts and fear that she was feeling vanished. A magical feeling replaced them, which only became stronger when she touched her belly.

Consuela stayed in the hospital for the whole day. After that, she went home and was told to rest.

Just as she arrived home, she received a text message. It read, "Congratulations! You're hired by the Sruthan Group. Please come to the meeting room on the ninth floor of Sruthan Building at 9 a.m. tomorrow."

Consuela's jaw dropped.

"Is this real?" she asked aloud, a big smile forming on her lips.

Finally, there was one good thing happening!

"Baby! I have a job now! We'll survive, even if it's just the two of us!"

The next day, Consuela woke up early. She made sure she was ready and prepared before even starting her journey towards the Sruthan Group's building. There was a feeling of lightness in her. It seemed like everything would go well today.

When she arrived, she was led by someone to the ninth floor. Soon, she found herself in front of the door of the meeting room. She knocked, her face full of excitement.

The moment she opened the door, however, all her hopes and expectations crumbled right before her very eyes.