in love with a villain | choni

-56-

Lancaster Health Center

"Relax. She's gonna be fine." Tabitha made sure to not panic in front of Cheryl whose forehead was badly sweating. She sat down across from her, near the ward Toni was in. "It's kind of a normal thing for pregnant women, though not in the second trimester."

Cheryl looked at her with filtered worry. "It's... how long is she... uh, that."

Tabitha sighed. "Five in the first week of April. Quite fast, isn't it?"

Cheryl muttered something inaudible to herself. She was constructing a sentence in her head, which she found so disturbing. It couldn't give her better terms to use.

"Are you okay?" Tabitha asked. "You're acting really differently. It's like... you're drugged or something."

"'Cause I was," Cheryl mumbled.

"What? That's... vague. Why would you be?" Tabitha was concerned despite her cussing head. She was mad for what Cheryl did, but at the same time, she hadn't heard the other side of the story.

"It's a long story, Tabitha. And I'd rather explain it wholly to both you and Toni. Later." Cheryl exhaled. "Right now, I couldn't think of anything but Toni's safety."

Tabitha nodded. She knew Cheryl had a point.

"Anyone with Clement Laurens?" a doctor called after walking out of the ward.

Tabitha and Cheryl got off their seats.

"Yes, Doc?" Tabitha approached the lady while Cheryl stayed behind. "How's she?"

"Nothing to worry about." The doctor smiled. "It's a normal spotting, and as long as she doesn't have extreme abdominal cramps and heavy bleeding, both of them are safe..."

Tabitha and Cheryl listened carefully to the doctor speaking in front. They paid attention to every term she mentioned and took note of the next scheduled immunization.

As Tabitha handled the small bill on the counter, Cheryl accompanied Toni inside the ward of 4 pregnant women, each having curtains as division. She couldn't look at her eyes, knowing that the tension might rise even more. She could feel Toni glancing at her, so she kept her head low.

Even though she was upset, Toni couldn't stop her eyes from pointing to Cheryl. She noticed how Cheryl's right hand's fingers would shake constantly atop her lap, it looked uncontrolled. She was alarmed because Cheryl did have countless tremors caused by her anxiety and she was afraid that it might get worse again. She swiped that thought away and kept quiet waiting for Tabitha to come back. She set her head and chest calm, not until she saw Cheryl's nose leaking blood.

"Shit," Cheryl whispered as soon as she felt the warm fluid coming out her nose. She blocked it using her right hand and stood up to excuse herself. "I'll just use the restroom outside, I'll be back."

Toni was flustered. She wanted to go after her or at least talk it out with her, but a brick of pride was hindering.

"Where's CM?" Tabitha asked when she arrived. "Is everything okay?"

"She's... she had a nosebleed?" Even Toni wasn't sure of what to tell her cousin. "Like thickass blood came out of her nose. What the fuck."

"Seriously? How? I mean, why would it even happen?" Tabitha took a seat. "Is it because of the accident? Like, didn't she hit her head on a concrete wall?"

Toni tensely exhaled. "Yeah, probably."

2 minutes later

"Um, should we go now?" Cheryl asked. She looked normal and spoke casually, which Toni read as a cover up.