CHAPTER 3

TWO MONTHS LATER

Yawning while waiting for her friend where she had left her, Amber waited for Julie to come back with the coffees she promised after Julie could start talking about the new job their boss said he could offer her. Sitting on the bench beside the coffee shop they always went to relax before getting back to their tasks in the office, Amber was able to see her friend move with difficulty.

“Hey!" Julie said, sitting next to Amber while giving her coffee.

Amber couldn’t help but stared at her. She wasn't the same Julie she’d known for a couple of years. Julie seemed not to want to move so much. Even her right hand was on her belly.

“What's going on with you? Are you okay?"

Julie looked at Amber. “The cramps. I'm on my period!"

Amber laughed it off. Every time she was on her period she went like this.

“I can't believe you don't feel anything when you're on your period!" She whined.

Suddenly Amber stopped laughing like those words had hit her hard. If she thought a little more about that, Amber hadn’t been on her period but… since when?

She started remembering when was the last time she felt as Julie was feeling. If she wasn’t mistaken it was two months ago. She hadn't been stressed out, She’d been eating well. What was wrong with her?

“Hey, what happened?" Julie asked.

“Julie, I haven't been on my period." Amber said.

Julie's eyes widened. Of course she knew what had happened, of course she knew everything about her life, including that night Amber had with her brother not by blood but by habit.

“What? Amber, what are you saying?”

“Yes, Julie, I haven’t been on my period.”

“Oh, my god! Amber, do you what are you saying? You had a one night stand with Mr. Slimth, you said so… Amber, are you pregnant?!" She gasped.

Amber smiled nervously. It couldn’t be possible, it couldn’t be true.

 “Hey, are you okay in there?" Amber heard Julie calling her.

Biting her nails, Amber stared at the pregnant test in her hands while she kept sitting on the toilet. Just ten seconds and she’d know if she was pregnant or not. Of course she couldn't, of course she couldn't be carrying the baby of the man that was like her older brother.

“Hey, Amber, talk to me!" Julie insisted.

Amber closed her eyes. Five, four, three, two… one!

Finally, she got out of the restroom, Julie was there, the seriousness printed on her face made Amber look at her.

“What? Are you pregnant?"

"Julie… I'm pregnant, I'm carrying the baby of my brother, the man I had shared my life with as siblings!"

And then all Amber could feel was the hug of her friend who was as shocked as Amber.

“I can't, I can't have this baby, I can't have the baby of Damien.”

A WEEK LATER

A week had gone by since the moment Amber realized she was pregnant. So much had happened, so much to think about but no solutions that came to her.

Amber was going to be a mom, she was carrying the baby of the man she shared the roof with. All of a sudden her life had changed because it was enough a night with Damien to get pregnant.

What should she do? What should she expect from that? She didn’t even know if she was going to be able to tell the as soon as she had him in front of her again. That week all Amber had done was to run away from Damien.

That baby couldn't be born, not in the circumstances she live in.

Suddenly, the door of her little room opened. Julie had arrived while Damien had just head out to the company allowing her to stay at home when she lied to him saying she was sick.

“Are you okay? How do you feel now?" Julie asked.

“I'm fine."

"I can't believe you haven’t eaten so much. Come on! I bought some milk and some bread."

“I don't want to eat, I want to get rid of my problems!"

“Your baby shouldn't be paying the consequences. You have to tell him everything. I thought you were telling him the truth."

“I don't even know how I ended up in his bed!"

“Oh, really? Do you want me to talk about that?!"

“Come on! Don’t say anything else!”

Julie smiled. If she observed a little more her friend, she would easily see that Amber wasn’t as concerned as she said to be. After all, she seemed to be a little happy.

Would it be possible she was happy for the baby in her inside because, in the end of the day, she was in love with her brother?

“Amber!"

Amber opened her eyes and immediately the tears came out from her eyes. It couldn't be possible.

“Amber?” Julie called her out.

“Mmm?”

“Damien took care of you after what happened that night, right?”

Amber signed after staring at nothing, like on that invisible point she could see the images of that night.

“We shouldn’t have done that!” Amber murmured, hugging her legs against her chest.

“But we did.” Damien expressed without looking at her.

Finally they had shared those feelings that none of them knew about. Of course Damien felt kinda strange, she was like his sister but after that night, it wasn’t going to be easy to see her as his sister. They were forbidden to each other, they shouldn’t even been in that situation but in the end of the day, they were.

Just at that moment Damien couldn’t resist the temptation to look at her. She was too cute in that position, hugging her legs, she looked like a poor innocent girl who was lost. Damien smiled.

“Rosy cheeks,” he said, grabbing her right cheek.

Amber raised her head. Now she was seeing the man she always expected to be in him. Damien wasn’t a bad man, he was just too cold and maybe all of that changed at the moment he realized he was alone in that world after their parents died.

“Rosy cheeks, can I call you like this?”

Amber smiled. “Of course, Damien, of course.”

Getting back to her world, Amber turned around to see her friend.

“Damien took care of me.”

“Maybe Damien is going to be happy when he knows you’re pregnant.” Julie shrugged in a funny way.