URINE PREGNANCY TEST
RESULT: Positive (+)
Jasmine's hands trembled as she gawked at the pregnancy test report in her hands.
"I... I am... Pregnant!" She whispered and tears of delight cascaded down her cheeks.
She immediately touched a hand on her stomach and felt her heartbeat go wild. Although she had done a test at home a few days ago, she wanted to be double sure about the baby. Hence, she went to a nearby maternal clinic and submitted her urine samples.
Now the test result was in front of her- in the form of a big bold POSITIVE sign staring back at her.
"Oh my god! I'm shivering. We're pregnant. Vince and I are... Going to be parents." Jasmine's words came out as a whisper in the end.
Her eyes shone with sadness she had been feeling over the last few months. Vince and she hadn't had a good time recently. He hadn't been happy and it showed in his body language.... All because they've been married for four years and they were still 'alone' with no hint of having a family in sight.
"I must tell him!" She chimed and dialed his number.
Nevertheless, her eyebrows furrowed when the call didn't connect. Jasmine's happiness didn't waver.
"I'll go to his office to surprise him... And I'll also write a letter to him from our baby's point of view. He'll be shocked." She giggled and sought after drafting a beautiful and short-lengthed letter that exuded deep meaning.
Jasmine put it in her side purse and took a taxi to Vince's office. She couldn't help but imagine his reaction on her way up in the elevator.
The ones who joined her in the elevator, though, eyed her weirdly. But Jasmine didn't blame them. She never visited Vince in his office before, so technically she was a stranger in their eyes. Except for Vince's secretary and the old woman working on the reception, Mr. Shilton, no one knew that she was the boss' wife.
This was the first time she was coming to her husband's office so all the curious and weird glances didn't matter to her.
Jasmine stepped out of the elevator and headed towards his cabin. She had hardly walked a few steps ahead when she walked into his sectary, Mr. Grill. The moment he saw her there, his face turned white and his body froze.
"Mrs. Garrison... You are here!" He asked in a voice full of uncertainty as he looked behind his back at Vince's cabin located in the far end of the corridor.
"Good morning, Mr. Grill. I came here to meet Vince. Mrs. Shilton told me he's in his cabin." Jasmine smiled at him.
However, Mr. Grill turned even whiter at the mention of meeting Vince. He wiped a hand on his face and forced a smile.
"Ma'am, sir is... Busy! He's in an important business conference meeting. You can't, uh, see him." His secretary tried to block the view of the cabin from Jasmine.
"But Mrs. Shilton said he's free."
"No, he is... Uh," Mr. Grill forced out a fake chuckle that Jasmine quickly grasped. "He is busy. Why don't you come with me ma'am? Let's have a cup of coffee. I'll bring you up when sir is... Er, when sir is free."
"I want to see him now." Jasmine said as she felt her body become tense.
Mr. Grill was usually a silent man with very few words. He never spoke so much. The fact that he was stuttering, and sweating, and behaving weirdly like he knew Jasmine closely made her senses stand on guard.
Jasmine longingly gazed behind his back at Vince's cabin- Her husband and she hadn't been on good terms lately. So she could understand if Vince was avoiding to see her.
"I'll hardly take five minutes." Jasmine proclaimed and tried to go past his secretary.
"Ma'am, please try to understand..." He clutched her hand, making Jasmine's eyes widened.
Now this was even more weird and suspicious. Mr. Grill, in his usual mood, wouldn't dare to touch his boss' wife.
Now Jasmine was sure something was off. She shoved him away and charged towards Vince's cabin.
"Ma'am, please don't... Ma'am!"
However, the damage was done- Jasmine had opened the door of the cabin. And what she saw... Made her heart stop beating.
Her body froze as she felt her senses getting plunged in the abyss of sorrow. She wished she hadn't open the door but the deed was done.
Jasmine regretted forcing her way past Mr. Grill even as he tried to hold her back, but the impulse had been uncontrollable.
Her breathing fractured and her knees buckled because... Right in front her hazel eyes- her husband was sitting with Lucy, his young stepmother, in his lap. Her top was pulled down from her body, revealing her full breasts.
Vince was suckling on them hungrily like he was a baby. He kneaded her breasts at leisure even after he spotted Jasmine standing on the doorstep and witnessing everything.
Jasmine flinched back whilst holding onto the door. It wasn't a dream. It couldn't be. Jasmine pinched herself to pull herself back to the real world in case she was dreaming. She wasn't.
It was broad daylight and Vince didn't even flinch back when she walked in on them. Their eyes met, but he didn't stop. He didn't look away as he continued to eat Lucy's tittíes and grope them.
Even as his lips stayed on Lucy's nípple, they twisted into a dark smirk, taunting Jasmine with the unspoken words- You didn't think I could be with my sexy, young stepmother like this, did you?
Gathering her senses back, Jasmine closed in on them. She yanked Lucy back by her hair, causing her nipple to come out of Vince's mouth with a pop.
"Aah!" Lucy wailed as she flattened on the desk on her back.
"JASMINE!" Vince thundered angrily as he pushed her away.
Jasmine staggered, barely holding herself together. With tears burning in her eyes and the image of her husband cheating on her with his stepmom burning into her memory- she took a step forward and connected a slap with his face.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Jasmine shrieked.
Her shoulders sagged under the weight of pain she was feeling. She gritted her teeth and tried not to give in under the weight as she eyed her husband, who was still smirking bitterly at her.
"How dare you cheat on me, Vince? I agree we had problems. We had tension between us. But how could you do this to me. Do this to our marriage!" Jasmine heaved noisily.
To her shock, Vince went back to Lucy and embraced her. He whispered to her to be calm and that he would handle his wife.
"Do it properly or else I'll forget she's your wife! How dare she pull on my hair." Lucy yelled against his chest.
"Don't worry. I'll talk to her."
Hearing this, a storm of indignation unfurled in her chest. Jasmine grabbed her husband's arm to pull him off his stepmom. She was about to slap him again when Vince held her wrist and shoved her back.
"Why are you angry? What right do you have to be angry? You can't keep me happy. You can't give me a child. You can't dress up the way I want. You're just... An ugly excuse for a wife." He said with disgust.
Jasmine took a step back, "An ugly excuse for a wife? You didn't feel that way when we married."
"And I regret it!"
"..."
"Look, Jasmine, I'm sorry but I can't hide it anymore. Lucy and I are dating. The earlier you accept the better it'll be for all of us."
Jasmine couldn't believe her ears. Her husband was dating his stepmom- His thirty-three year old stepmom who was married to his fifty-four year old father!
"You, rascal! How could you do this to me. I gave you four years of my life!" Jasmine tried to hit him on the chest.
"So what? I gave you a luxurious life in return. It wasn't so bad, was it? You enjoyed my wealth and everything I had to offer."
"You, aashóle! What I gave you is far more sacred and incomparable- I gave you my loyalty."
Jasmine prepared to hit him harder but Vince grabbed her wrists. This time he said something that scarred her very soul.
"Who wants loyalty in today's world." He chuckled. "What about a baby? Could you give one to me? NO. Certainly because your womb is unfit to carry a child! It's as barren as an infertile land."
Lucy chuckled in the back.
It hit Jasmine like a truck. She struggled to breath.
"I love Lucy. Get that straight in your head!" He said and walked over to her.
Lucy was still half-naked, her breasts exposed. Vince went over to her and sat back on the chair. He pulled her back in his lap and started suckling on her nípples.
Jasmine sunk her nails in her palm to check again whether this was a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
This doesn't happen in a dream, does it? Even if a husband is cheating on his wife, the ounce of conscience he has in his heart would compel him to move away from his mistress after setting his gaze on his wife.
But Vince, that puckered asshóle arrogantly held Jasmine's gaze as he pulled Lucy closer, and that contemptuous brunette arched her back to offer her large bréasts to him... Again.
"H-how could you? How could you bring another woman between us?" Jasmine forced the words out as she fisted her hands tightly.
It still felt like a dream. Vince wasn't like this. Jasmine gulped the knot forming in her throat. Or perhaps... He was always like this and she was blind to see that!
"Who are you calling another woman, huh? It's you... Actually. You're the other woman between us. Vince, baby, why don't you tell her about our secret!" Lucy finally spoke.
Jasmine's body went cold. Pain rippled through her chest as she took a few steps back.
"What secret? Tell me, Vince. What is this secret she's talking about?"
"She's trying to piss you off. There's no secret." He merely rolled his eyes.
But Jasmine wasn't convinced, "No, I can it there's something else too. She wouldn't have said it so confidently otherwise. Tell me now, Vince. Tell me before I lose my mind."
"Do you want me to throw you out of here?" He asked lazily as his fingers caressed Lucy's arms.
"Stop bothering us, Jazz. Forget this meeting happened. Get out before I start fucking her right in front of you!" He said before latching onto her nípple.
Jasmine remained motionless for about five minutes. Her body was too numb to move. Vince and Lucy were really making out in front of her like she didn't exist there in the room.
After taking a deep breath, Jasmine looked at them- at the betrayal she got.
She wiped the tear about to fall from the corner of her left eye as she straightened her back. She clutched the letter in her hand and whirled around to leave.
She came out on the street, face drenched with tears. Although her heart ached, she looked ahead.
That's what she was going to do after the experience she had today- look ahead of her. She fisted her hands to her sides, watching as impatient vehicles zoomed past her on the busy road.
The black and white strips of the zebra crossing made her temples ache. The same black and white dots started blinking and throbbing on the border of her vision. She felt the smooth texture of the parchment she was holding burn in her closed palm- it was supposed be a gift.
Pain tore through her as the smoothness of the paper turned into unbearable heat. Her hand shook, but she didn't let her grip loosen or more tears fall.
'It's useless to cry on a man who compared my womb to a barren land!' She reminded herself.
However, his words triggered emotions she was battling to keep buried in. Tears blurred her vision as her emotions rose up through her like a tide.
Jasmine couldn't help but sob as her head lowered. There were people around her, waiting for the signal to turn green so they could cross the road. She didn't want them to heed her tears or the fact that she was the most unfortunate being among them.
Jasmine sucked in a breath greedily as the loud chiming of the phone of a woman standing next to rang out. She looked at her, at her head full of dyed brunette hair, reminding her of Lucy. Tears returned, quivering on the edge of her hazel gaze. It was a relief that the woman didn't smile at her victoriously like Lucy did. This woman's brows furrowed as she raised a hand to rest on Jasmine's shoulder.
"Hey, everything okay?" The woman's soft voice hit her like a hailstorm.
Jasmine's trembling lips parted. Her throat ached as she tried to form a word which would have sounded like, "Nothing's okay! A brunette woman... I mean a brunette bitch I was reminded by your hair stole my husband from me. No, that's not the right way to put it. Actually, my spineless husband cheated on me with a brunette bitch, who's also supposed to be his young step mother. He also called me barren before throwing me out of his office."
The woman stared at her for a while before withdrawing her hand. She cast a faultfinding look towards Jasmine's lack of response. Only when the woman started walking away did she realise that those were the words she wanted to say to her. Alas, she lost the warmth the woman's eyes held exactly how she lost her worth a while ago.
Jasmine shivered as the cool air brushed against her. She wore a white cardigan, stained with a dry tea patch just below her chin- a mark from when she accidentally spilled a cup of tea on herself. Though she didn't incur burns, it was no less. Her chest was on fire. It had grown heavy from the discovery she made today.
She couldn't breathe. The world seemed to be tilting sideways. She couldn't stop shaking. Couldn't stop grieving. Couldn't stop crying. Couldn't stop her mind from replaying that scene from her husband's office. Jasmine forced herself to take a breath as she saw the woman who had offered her a moment's warmth disappear behind the curb.
Jasmine broke free from her reverie with a jolt. It sank in that everyone around her had almost reached the other side of the road while she remained right there. She blinked her tears and took a step forward as she refused to be left behind. She had promised to look ahead. Similarly, she was going to always walk ahead without letting her cowardly husband's betrayal affect her.
What happened, happened. There's no need to cry over it.
Nevertheless, Jasmine stepped onto the road at the exact moment the traffic lights switched to red and the engines revved up. The vehicles roared to life, causing her legs to lock up in reflex. Her heart stopped beating in panic as she watched a speeding car closing in on her. Before she could move backwards it slammed into her, sending her crashing to the pavement.
Jasmine winced upon a breath. Her ribs hurt. Her hand holding the paper unfastened as thousands of scorching needles pricked her wrist. She couldn't comprehend where exactly the pain began or ended. It made her vision misty and the sky overhead began to spin.
The impact was sickening. Her world had already drowned into darkness, and now she felt her senses going down the same road. She wished to never emerge from the darkness.
But then, it hit her- she wasn't alone.
There was a life growing inside her- In her womb that had been mocked by her cheater husband. Her hands instinctively moved to protect her stomach, aching to cradle the life within.
Unfortunately, her co nsciousness faded into oblivion before she could raise a hand.
Tbc...
Hello Fam,
Here's a new story!
It's gonna be completely different, and yes, it's gonna be daily updated after signing:)
2
When Jasmine stirred back to her senses, she found herself on a hospital bed. The back of her left hand was covered with an IV needle. She tried to move when a man's emotionless voice shook her to the core.
"Don't move! You just had a miscarriage."
The words skipped her heartbeats. Her breathing came to a halt as her throat closed up. Jasmine wanted to cry but her tears had dried up.
She sat rigidly like a model used in art studios for painting. Her mouth was sealed tight and her cheeks drained of color. Although the disclosure of the miscarriage weighed down on her, she didn't feel a single ounce of remorse.
Miscarriage. For some women, 'miscarriage' was a word filled with trauma and pain.
Women who couldn't get pregnant even after trying a hundred times, doing a hundred things, prayed for a miracle to happen to get pregnant. To such women, the mere mention of 'miscarriage' would bring overwhelming anxiety and trauma.
But then there were some women who didn't want to do anything with a child, who didn't want to start a family let alone think about it, and yet they found one growing inside them after a night or two of unprotected sêx.
As for Jasmine, it was like a last minute blow.
She was married for three years. Her husband was loyal and desperate for a baby. Albeit, her life wasn't a fairytale. She couldn't conceive no matter how hard she tried. For three long years she did everything she could but to no avail.
And when she finally did conceive, the baby died before she could make a connection with it. Before she could feel attached to it.
Jasmine took a deep breath. Miscarriage. The word played in her mind like a broken record. She had a miscarriage moments after she caught her husband cheating. Moments after she had determined to cope with her current life situation alone.
She raised her right hand to touch her belly and realized her forearm was plastered. As she stared at it with a pale look, a shadow fell on her. She had forgotten that she was not alone. There was someone in the ward with her and the voice that broke the news of her miscarriage to her belonged to a man.
Now that man was towering over her while she attempted to not drown in the storm of emotions raging within her.
"I want to be left alone." Jasmine spoke in a dull tone.
Whoever it was that saved her after the collision with the car absolutely deserved her gratitude. But currently she was not in the mind to offer anything other than emptiness. Jasmine promised to make it up to the man, but right now, she needed time for herself. Time to get her mind, body and soul together and become one again, because right now everything was scattered, including her breaths.
Minutes passed but the man didn't move. He remained standing hovering over her tired frame. Jasmine was calm, hoping that the men would leave. Perhaps, it was just a wave of sympathy he was feeling towards her that compelled him to stay.
After all, it was commonly believed that a woman who had a miscarriage shouldn't be left alone. Else she would dwell in her thoughts. And then one thought would lead to another, and eventually it would become so suffocating to come to terms with the truth that her baby is no more, and then she might just take the wrong step.
Jasmine inwardly broke into an escalating bark of laughter. She wasn't from the weak ones. She was a woman. Definitely. But she was not weak.
'I never wanted the baby to die. But it is better this way. I don't think I would've been able to answer his questions regarding his father's whereabouts or why we were abandoned by him.' She mused while caressing her belly.
'What could I have said? That his father left him and his mother so he could continue with his sinful affair with his young stepmother.'
Jasmine's lips puckered. She wanted to think out loud. Talk to herself. She had an urge to scream and act violently with passing time as it took root in her mind that every reason to want to keep living was snatched out of her hands. Her chest was growing heavy like a huge bucket of wet clothes.
Much to her disappointment and dismay, the man would not budge. It was as if he had turned into a statue.
When his presence metamorphosed into being corrosive and intolerable, she snapped her head up to bark at the man. However, her words got caught in her throat, stunned by the sight in front of her.
Her jaw dropped and heart fluttered in her chest like a bird wanting freedom from its cage. Damn! He couldn't be a man. Erm, not really a man but a fantasy man of every woman on earth.
He stood at a delicious 6'4 height with broad shoulders. Jasmine's eyes traveled upwards from the shining obsidian metal of the belt at his front up to his chest. Her head painfully craned up, still she couldn't help but observe. He was wearing a white shirt without the coat, the crisp and creaseless fabric unfastened at the color.
She stared at his tanned visible skin. His neck was thick and strong, any woman would want to wrap her arms around and clung to him. The shirt was stretched rigid against the expanse of his broad chest. As she further went up, her mouth became drier. His squared jaw was littered with dust of scruff, making him look even sexier.
He appeared like one of those totally hot and brooding models who walked the ramp. This man was rather more savage and fierce.
Jasmine further studied his hot but indifferently straight mouth. Those lips made indecent promises that Jasmine couldn't contemplate why she was getting. She hadn't even seen him before this.
But she would go straight to hell if she lied that she didn't want to! To make her feel worse over the trauma she was dealing with, his eyes were dark and hooded, and full of dark and dirty secrets, calling her to unveil and access them.
She hated herself for checking her saviour out. Yet again, she would go to the deeper recesses of hell if she denied that he wasn't attractive. Truth be told, he was very attractive.
Her own husband- correction, soon-to-be-ex-husband- couldn't even come to stand beside him for a comparison. Vince didn't even come in the same frame as this attractive man.
"Done ogling!" The exclamation rippled over her skin like goosebumps.
Jasmine's hazel eyes met with his punishing dark ones. She subtly frowned, wondering why he was looking at her like she was his guilty.
"I..."
"Spare me the fictional drama, okay. Just tell me your price." He articulated ruthlessly, making Jasmine's heart slam down in her chest.
What he said next left Jasmine frozen in a mixture of shock and misery.
Tbc...
3
"You already wasted three hours of mine. Now be quick and tell me how much you want."
Kyle's scrutiny seared into her flesh, hot and insulting and agonizing. He was barely keeping his unbridled anger in control because the woman looked pathetic with all the bandages around her right arm, head and that pitiful blue bruise on the corner of her mouth from falling on her face after getting hit by his car.
Otherwise he had lost his sanity the minute he regarded the piece of paper in her grip that she had been holding when she was struck by his car.
Kyle looked at the woman on the bed and felt disgust brimming within him. He had dealt with women like her before. The ones who would do anything for attention... or money. It wasn't the first time someone had suddenly come in front of his car!
Some women thought throwing themselves in harm's way was a shortcut to a fat cheque. They thought that one minor injury, a few tears, a few fake sob stories and boom... They'll get what they want.
He wasn't new to this game. He had experienced this before as well. Women came in front of his car all the time and then demanded compensation or fake sympathy until Kyle agreed to pay money to get rid of them.
Therefore, a pretty face and a dramatic fall didn't fool him anymore. He'd been around enough gold diggers to know when something smelled off... and the woman here in front of him seemed like a master player!
There was no doubt the woman jumped in front of his car to demand money- like everyone else!
Ultimately her plan was something else!
She probably wanted to use the baby in her womb- which he suspected didn't belong to him; after all, a dozen women like her visited him at his mansion, office, and where not, just to claim that he impregnated them.
But too bad for her that her plan backfired because the hit with his car was a little too much and it caused her excessive bleeding right there on the pavement.
And by the time he rushed her to the hospital, the baby had bled out of her.
Well, he accepted that he was the biggest and the baddest player in the country. But one thing he always resorted to was making sure he never spilled into a woman without a condom, no matter if he was sober or drunk. He always used protection. It was the only way he could prevent an unwanted baby from popping up in his life when he wanted none.
Therefore, when this 'too beautiful to be a human' looking woman jumped in front of his monstrous black Rolls Royce, he knew at first glance that it was a scheme.
Kyle Panther didn't become the wealthiest investor in Eastonville out of mere luck. He was the CEO of Panther Group, one of the most successful Corporate Groups that had been in the number one position for the last five years.
Years of hard work and observation had brought him to where he had come today.
"Price? What price are you talking about?" The woman blinked her eyes, shocked.
"Don't act like you don't know." He drawled fiercely. "I want to know the sum you would take to shut your mouth and never bring the baby up."
As if her wounds weren't any deeper, he carved them even more, making her heart bleed and pump in anger.
Jasmine's eyes hardened on the man, she hollered, "Mister, who the hell do you think you are offering me money for?"
Her head throbbed and a cursing pain emerged in the back of her eyes. Jasmine didn't want to see the man anymore. He had a pretty face with a bad attitude. A devil with no heart and conscience.
At once Jasmine deemed that the saying 'a stunning exterior hid the ugliness within' was about him.
"Nurse! Nurse! I want this man thrown out of my room. Nurse!" She called out for help.
However, no one came, and from all the loud yelling, drowsiness rose over Jasmine. She rested back on the pillow to take a breath. When she undid her eyes to call for help, Kyle sniggered.
"Don't you get it, lady? No one's going to come. I have reserved the entire floor for your treatment." He paused. "Enjoy the VIP treatment while I'm willing to pay for it." The dark glow to his eyes made him look more condescending.
Jasmine's jaw clenched. If she wasn't injured, she would have definitely jumped to her feet to connect a fist with his arrogant face.
"Who are you?" She demanded with blazing eyes.
"Come on, now." Kyle chuckled. "Don't play dumb. You know who I am."
Jasmine was outraged. She encountered another asshóle within hours of dealing with her husband. Her life couldn't get any more cruel, could it?
"I don't know you." She hissed with tears surfacing in her eyes.
Kyle stared at her for a while and a smirk unleashed on his lips. Women and their tactics. He could never understand them.
This woman was probably one of those he had one of the many memorable nights with. He hated her theatrics and how she was acting like she didn't know him. Maybe this was her way to get more money out of him.
'Money is what you want, right. Fine, money is what you will get.' He mused before retrieving a checkbook from his inside pocket.
He was getting late. Hence, to make it quick, he tore a blank check out of the book and extended it towards Jasmine.
"Okay, I agree that you don't know me. Let's keep it that way." He gestured to the check with his eyes and added. "Here is a blank check. Fill it with the sum of your liking and go to your bank. Within twenty-four hours you will have the money transferred in your bank."
That was the height of being shameless. Jasmine's eyes crackled with fire as she yanked the IV pipe, detaching it from her hand. As she tried to step down on her feet, her body betrayed her, and she went down on the floor.
She closed her eyes, bracing herself to embrace new pain. But it never came. She was held in time by Kyle and a jolt of electricity slithered up her spine.
Where Kyle held her, her skin burned, and when she found his eyes, she completely froze. The man looked exotic up this close. A frown marred her features because his eyes were full of contempt as if he wasn't holding a woman but a poisonous viper.
"Let go." She demanded in a low voice while looking away.
Kyle didn't comment. He was blank from the time he stepped forward to help the woman till he heard her voice. She was soft in his arms. Her voice was warm honey. Alas, she was a woman with a questionable character and was motivated by financial gain.
No wonder, she jumped in front of his car with a pregnant belly. That pretty much revealed her lack of integrity and a focus on material gain.
Kyle attempted to reign in his rage as he helped Jasmine back in bed. Once in, he covered her with the blanket- out of compassion he was forced to show given she lost the baby that may or may not have been his... But a baby is still a baby- before stepping back.
Jasmine was caught off guard by his next move.
Tbc...