Shaylene

Piece of the Past🌹

Four years ago
New York City

Shaylene groaned in pain as she stared in disbelief at the 5th stick in her hands. The others held the same result. Could she be any more stupid? How did it get so bad? So much so that a life was now involved. She suddenly felt frail.

Pregnant.

She should've listened to him. She should've just taken the pills as he had instructed. She had let her anger rule out her better judgement and now it was real.

If only she had taken the morning after pills as he'd suggested _no_ more like yelled at her to take. She wanted to cry. To sob, to break down or throw something. But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't let her.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a while before sitting on the closed toilet seat. She pushed her bangs to the back and placed her left palm on her face.

The lone leaf on her wrist taunted her. Ethan and Shaylene had  both gotten the tattoo as their symbol for a lasting friendship instead of the infinity sign. He'd said infinity was common especially to couples and they should do their own thing. Everything was perfect then. How did times change?

After everything with Ethan, now this?

Before her fight with Ethan, she'd advised Nathan not to get a tattoo. She had said nothing could possibly hurt more. But apparently she stood to be corrected. Just when she felt nothing could hurt more than his betrayal, this happened. When would she learn to stop jinxing her situation?

She shook her head.

There was no way she could tell him. Other than the fact that they were mad at each other, he had also given her every reason to believe he wanted no trace of that weekend left. Telling him would only make it seem like she had wanted it to happen even though it was all on him.

Now there was more to their fight than just the contract. It was exhausting. Shaylene felt conflicted. She sighed repeatedly.

There was also the issue of her parents. They'd be disappointed but they wouldn't judge her to the point of disowning her. Ailsa and Donatello always supported their baby girl but never indulged her.

She was just 20 and had a little less than three years  left in Harvard. Taking a leave of absence would be tough and her medical school scholarship would be forfeited _not like she needed it but it was her pride.

Other than their obvious disappointment, they wouldn't be able to keep it from the Suaves and Ethan would never forgive her _not like she had plans to forgive him either. She didn't want to see their faces when they found out.

‘It's more than just them. It's on me now.’ She told herself. She needed to think of possible solutions. Shaylene steadied her breath and sat straighter.

First, she would need to get tested _in a hospital for confirmation. Deep down she hoped it was some sort of mistake, the signs were too seamless to miss. But it was a risk she couldn't take because of her parent's influence.

Abortion was out of the cards for her. She wouldn't be able to handle the guilt nor the pain that came with losing a life.

Her parents would have reservations to her moving out suddenly except she could think of a way to avoid raising their suspicion. A year without seeing either of them was all she hoped she would need.

After long minutes of deliberating, she made her decision. Ethan wouldn't find out and neither would her parents. It was time for a permanent move and there was only one person she could rely on.

She left the bathroom, barreled straight to her room and picked up her phone.

She sat at the edge of her bed, her phone to her ear and listened to it ring.

“Anne”