Becky woke up in an all white room. With a doctor and a nurse currently checking up on her.
“Ohh… good. You’re awake.” The doctor, who later introduced herself as Dr. Charlotte Austin, said smiling.
“Where am I?”
“You’re at St. Mark’s Hospital, Ms. Armstrong. Someone saw you lying on a bar’s parking lot and brought you here. But don’t worry, everything is alright.” She assured her with a smile.
“Anyway, are you aware of your condition?”
Becky fell quiet for a moment, before slowly nodding.
“Good. Don’t worry. The baby is completely fine, but you seemed to be lacking nutrition and sleep. You have to remember that you have to stay healthy for your baby. I will prescribe you some vitamins that would help keep your baby healthy. Also, please refrain from being stressed. The baby feels your emotions. It needs its mommy to be healthy to grow big and strong.”
Becky just gave her a small smile.
She felt so selfish. She was making her baby unhealthy because of overthinking and staying up late. In her defense, she can’t help but think about the situation that she and the baby’s other parent are currently in. Now, she’s dragging this innocent life into her mess.
She was silently caressing her still flat stomach, somehow trying to apologize to her unborn child.
“Ms. Armstrong, while you were asleep, we called the person on your emergency dial to accompany you. We also needed your information that’s why; we hope you don’t mind. She’s outside. Do you want me to call her in?” The nurse politely said.
Becky's heart almost pounded out of her chest with what she heard. Her emergency contact is Freen. She’s here? Did they tell her?
“Nurse, did the doctor tell her about… about my condition?”
“Yes, miss.” She didn’t know how to react with what she heard. Freen knows. What is she thinking about now? Will she want the baby gone? As far as she remembers, the older told her before that she always makes sure that she’s safe because she doesn’t want to get anyone pregnant, but now here she is.
Her thoughts were halted when the nurse asked again, “Miss, do you want to let her in?”
She just nodded thinking that, whatever, she’ll know eventually anyway. But still, she felt so nervous while waiting for her to come in her room.
When the door started to open, she was half expectant and half afraid of what is going to happen, but she got partly disappointed and relieved to see that it was Nam and Mind who were behind the door.
They immediately rushed to her side, with the younger of the two coming to hug her tight.
“Becbec. Are you alright? You got us so worried.” Mind started, patting her head.
“I’m alright, unnies. No offense meant, but I thought they said they called my emergency dial? As far as I know, that’s Freen.”
The two exchanged looks before Nam said something that broke her heart even more. “She called me to come here instead. She said she can’t face you yet. Mind came after I called her.”
That made her eyes water automatically. “Ohh…” the youngest said laughing while crying, trying to wipe the flowing tears.
“If you don’t mind us asking, Becky, who’s the father of the baby?” Mind asked while Nam was rubbing circles on her back, trying to stop her from crying.
Silence.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Mind then continued when she received no reply.
Becky had no choice but to nod weakly, as a confirmation.
“That sick bastard! Even you? What was she thinking?! You’re her best friend, and you’re too young for this! You barely started living your life, for Pete’s sake!” Nam was furious, ready to smack some sense into her best friend, with the tone of her voice.
You see, aside from Becky, who is Freen's best friend since childhood, she has Nam and Heng as her closest school friends. And Nam, who's the oldest of the trio, is always the one to straighten the problems caused by the two mischievous others.
“P' Nam…” Becky held her arm, trying to calm her, because she is sure as hell that the girl is ready to fetch Freen and bring her there.
“Does she know?” Mind, who remained quiet during the outbust of their friend, asked.
The youngest shook her head no, before looking down.
“Ohh… Becky… Is this why you’ve been waiting for her in her apartment almost daily?” She asked, moving to the girl’s side to rub her shoulders.
“Yes, Phi. But she said she doesn’t want to talk to me. She said we shouldn’t see each other anymore. I wasn’t even able to tell her about our baby.” She smiled bitterly with the memory.
“Do you want me to talk some sense into her?” Nam asked, one hand on her waist, the other on her head. She is obviously frustrated with what she heard.
“No! Please, no. Phi. Please, promise me you will never tell her.”
The two looked at each other with a sign of hesitation.
“P' Nam, P' Mind, please. This is not really totally her fault. It’s mine. I was stupid. I was desperate for her to love me too, so I offered myself to her. But, it resulted to this. Instead of having her closer, It seems like I lost her altogether. Now, I’m even dragging an innocent child into the mess I made. It’s going to grow up without a father because of me. I’m so stupid.”
“Please stop crying, Bec. It’s bad for the baby. Stop worrying. Everything is gonna be okay. We’re here for you.” Mind said, trying to calm her.
Realizing that what the older said was true, she quickly tried to stop her tears by wiping them, though they seem to keep on coming.
“I really don’t know what to do Phi. I never expected this, especially as what happened between us was only once. It seems like fate was playing with me.” She forced a chuckle. “I’m not saying that our little bean is a mistake, but I just… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”
Nam sighed, before asking Becky if she already told her parents about it, only to receive a no for a reply. According to the youngest, this was actually one of her biggest problems. Knowing how much her parents value their reputation, she doesn’t know how to break the news to them, cause she’s sure that it would mean trouble for her and her unborn child.
“Oh, no. This time Sarocha Chankimha really messed up,” Nam thought.
The older two offered to help, but Becky refused, saying that she created this mess, so she has to be the one to straighten it up. They stayed with her for the remainder of her stay in the hospital, not knowing that that would be the last time they will see her.
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