1.5. With a Capital F

Rocco burst into laughter. The audience in the room were confused at his reaction and cast worried glances among themselves.

Kiersey didn't even notice her husband's reaction. It was like a loud bell had gone off in her skull at the news, it brought agony and pain and blocked out every other sound in the room. Her mouth dropped open like a parched fish and she looked down at the little bump of her stomach.

"No." That single, monosyllabic word carried so much pain and horror in it, it captivated the attention of every other person in the room. Rocco even stopped laughing to cast her a worried glance.

"You've got to be joking," Rocco said, glaring from one hospital staff to another.

The woman in pink shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Dr Lips—"

"Oh, please, save it." Rocco pushed up from his chair, filling the room with the sound of wood scraping against tiles. "How could something so stupid happen? Why would you give important jobs like that to frigging interns!" He fumed, flaring his large nostrils like a wounded cobra.

"Dr Lips, we're terribly sorry about the unfortunate incident. The—"

"How long had you known?" Kiersey asked in a small voice. There was a dazed look in her eye like her mind was stuck somewhere in the depths of a restraining limbo.

The man cleared his throat nervously and clasped and unclasped his hands on the table. "About a month now, ma'am. We were skeptical about telling you. We didn't know how to break the news to you."

"You didn't know how to break the news to us?!" Rocco bellowed.

Kiersey was silent. She placed a hand over her belly and watched a fat, hot tear drop onto her cashmere black top and roll over her palm. She was in a terrible mess.

What could she do? After trying for a baby for two years, she finally got one and then just had to find out the baby wasn't her husband's. The little life growing inside her belonged to a faceless, nameless stranger who had sold his seeds for money.

Her heart felt like a sick butterfly in her chest as it fluttered weakly and painfully against her breast. She was done for. She was going to have a fatherless child. And there was no telling what Rocco would do. He was angry with her when they all thought the baby was theirs, what would he do now that he knew the baby wasn't his? He'd turn her into a punching bag and leash out all his anger on her body. He might even make her miscarry the poor baby.

What misery you have come to in this world, little one?

The palm resting over her tummy closed into a fist. She had to be strong and healthy for her baby. That she had to do. And try her best to be on Rocco's good side and stay out of his way.

She sniffed back a tear and suddenly realized her face was soaking wet. Her nose and cheeks stung from crying, she could see the bright red tip of her nose and knew her face must be a mess. Pulling out a pink handkerchief from her bag, she wiped away her tears and blew her nose.

She became aware of the people around her. She had zoned them out in her thoughts. Rocco was still shouting at the staffs. He was jabbing his finger in the air and shouting on top of his voice. Dark veins strained against the skin of his neck, threatening to burst.

Kiersey swallowed as a frisson of fear zipped across her heart like an electric wave. She picked up her bag and stood, wobbling, to her feet. "What do we do now?" she asked in a voice as loud as it could go in her terrible, frightened state.

Rocco abruptly stopped his shouting to glare at her in disbelief. His metal-blue eyes held so much venom she involuntarily flinched and stepped back, as though he had reached a twitching, forky tongue out and bitten her.

Rocco blinked, once, twice, then smiled. It was that kind of evil, leering smile that made her heart curl in fear. 

"What do we do now?" he echoed, placing his hands on his hips. "What we do now is get the frigging abortion out of your womb!"

Kiersey recoiled and found herself dropping back into the seat in helpless horror. The tears climbed back into her eyes. She closed her arms over her tummy, as if that could protect the baby. What!

She couldn't possibly abort the baby. She had always wanted a baby, it had been a dominating aspect of her childhood fantasy— four girls and a boy; five lovely, rosy kids that would surround her with love and laughter. And whether it was Rocco's baby or not, she was still going to keep it. Nothing he said or did was going to change her mind. If he was going to be so heartless, she'd show him she could defy him. It was high time she tried to stand up for herself. 

Kiersey looked up at her husband, her tears in her eyes hardening to a gleam. Her heart skipped at what she had to do. "No."

Rocco gaped at her in disbelief, but only for a second. Anger took over his face instantly, robbing it of other normal colours. A storm was brewing on his forehead, his teeth bared like a savage. He looked like someone about to commit murder.

He started to advance towards her. "What the fuck did you say?"

Her eyes widened in fear as he continued to close the distance between them. He was going to hit her, she just knew it. He was going to beat her up till she could hardly breathe again. But she was going to stand her ground and protect her baby. Let him do whatever he liked to her, she wasn't going to abort her precious baby.

"I said, no. I'm not aborting the baby, Rocco."

Rocco reached her and started to raise his hand. "What—"

"Now, let's not hasten to behave, sir." The man doctor held Rocco's wrist firmly in a tight grip. His eyes were hard with anger and what looked like disgust. His cold look warned Rocco not to try anything funny.

Rocco's nose flared more in anger and he sputtered, trying to wrench his hand from the man. When the doctor continued to squeeze his wrist, he calmed down and shook his head. "Let go of me now, jackass. I ain't gonna do shit."

His mouth was pursed tight in bottled anger. Kiersey knew he could easily take on the man and break his bones, but he had probably been thinking of the lawsuit that was sure to come. And the consequent damage to his professional reputation and stand.

"Let go," he growled and snatched his hand from the man's grip.

The doctor stepped back, casting Kiersey a look of deep regret and sorrow. The latter looked away, blinking back her tears. She was so embarrassed she wished the ground would open up and swallow her on the spot. She couldn't even look up to see the looks of pity and regret that was bearing down upon her.

"Maybe you can go discuss this at home and come to a common decision. Without violence," the elderly woman added.

Mutely, Kiersey stood up, sniffing back her tears. She couldn't bear to remain in the room anymore. It felt like the walls were closing in on her and, put together with the heavy throb of tension in the air, she would suffocate to death, before she could even save her baby.

Whatever happened to her next, she would try her best to deal with it. Making a wide berth around her volcanic husband, she started out of the room. It was a miracle one leg moved in front of the other to carry her out of the room. Her mind and body was numb with fear and worry. And sorrow. They seeped through her pores and latched unto her soul like leeches.

She was aware of Rocco calling her name, but she didn't think she had the energy to turn back. To answer him. She pushed out the double doors and slipped into the narrow corridor. A young nurse wheeling an IV-drip patient stared at her with worry. Kiersey blanked out her form and walked down the hallway. Into the next hallway. Out of the hospital.

A hand suddenly grabbed at her biceps roughly as she pushed open the hospital door into the open hot air and busy traffic outside.

"What the fuck are you doing?" 

"I'm going home, Rocco," she slurred.

Rocco glared at her but released her limb. "What the fuck is wrong with you. You look like an hangover case."

"That's because I'm in shock, Rocco," she said. Funny she was in shock and knew she was in shock. A laugh tried to upheave from a sick part of the abyss her mind had become. It didn't quite make it into the open. The absurdity of the situation and the laugh itself shied it back into the dark recesses.

Rocco's anger came back full on. He brought her to a stop with an iron-like grip on her shoulder. "Don't go all stupid on me, Kiersey. I'm telling you for the last time to have that thing aborted."

Her cheeks reddened as she swung her gaze to him. "Rocco, that thing is a foetus in my womb. My baby." Her eyes moistened again. "Please, I don't want to abort the baby. We can always take care of it. No one would be any wiser."

Rocco's face remained stoic as he glared at her till she was sure she'd turn to stone. "Rocco, please," she continued to plead. "It's my baby, and that automatically makes it yours, too."

"We should just sue the hospital for the mix-up and move on with our lifes."

Rocco continued to stay silent. His face got angrier and angrier by the second. The grip on her shoulder tightened till she winced in pain.

"Fuck," Rocco said, releasing her from his grip with such speed that she thought she had burned him. He worked his jaw from side to side and the venom returned to his eyes.

"Look, Kiersey, I can't do this. I can't. Keep the abomination if you want." With that, he made for the black Mustang that happened to be just ahead of them and unlocked it with the remote.

He got into the car and revved the engine, rolling down a window. "I'm going for the meet-up with my friends. Find your way home." 

Kiersey stared, open mouthed, as the car reversed out of the hospital parking lot into the busy traffic.

She was Fucked, with a capital F.