She took her finger off the indicator and stepped on the gas, going after the black car.
As she zoomed after the car, the absurdity of the what she was doing struck her. She wasn't even sure if it was him. A cream sedan car had slid behind the Mustang, obstructing her view of the number plates.
What even if it was him? she thought. What would she do? She had nothing with him and was even relieved to not be with him anymore. They were due for divorce mediation next week and then wouldn't have to see each other again for the rest of their lives. So why was she about to make her presence known?
Yeah, he had lied about his whereabouts (if the Mustang was him at all), but that didn't mean a thing, did it? She couldn't care less if he had gone to Antarctica, or still lived somewhere in Illinois.
So why was she on the chase after his car? she questioned herself again.
It was just to confirm if it was his car or not, she told herself. Maybe she wouldn't even reveal her presence. Once she found out the occupants of the car, she'd U-turn back and continue on.
Feeling silly for her behaviour, she surged forward to the next lane, passing the cream car by.
Relief was what she felt, followed by a roll of her eyes, when she came by the black car and the occupants turned out to be strangers. The girl hadn't even looked remotely like Sienna except for the curly dark hair.
Embarrassed and feeling sillier and sillier by the moment, she took the next U-turn and went back her normal way. Slowly, her embarrassment rubbed off her face to be replaced by anger. Why on Earth had she let herself be bothered by the sight of the car at all?
"Silly me," she muttered. "Must be the hunger."
Because why else would she do something so irrational? By God, she didn't miss Rocco or anything, their story was over, so should any concern about him.
Feeling irately disgusted with herself, Kiersey pinched her face in a tight frown and pressed her temple into one palm. Then she realized that wasn't the only reason she was frowning, an onset of a headache was threatening to buoy up.
"Not now," she muttered irately. "Not now."
Hunger, coupled with an incoming headache didn't mix together at all. What irked her the most was not knowing if it was stress related or pregnancy related, or maybe both. She had better find time in the weekend to sign up for a prenatal class. Even if it was online.
That aside, she still had a lot more work cut out for her. There was the guy in Cali to look for, who, hopefully, would be able to help her. Then there was the new house to look for before the month ran out. So much burden that made her headche more pronounced. She sighed and bent her head, massaging her temples lightly in circular motions.
Kiersey was so lost in her thoughts she forgot where she was for a slight moment. She was jolted back upright by a thump that seemed to rock her car, almost pushing her forward had she not had her seatbelt strapped on and her hand gripped firmly at the wheel.
Eyes widening in horror, she watched as the car in front of her broke out in red blinking lights. Her eyes struggled to understand the situation.
Had she just plowed into a car and gotten in a fender bender? How on Earth had that happened?
Then the enraged owner of the car came around back, spitting profanities. Her mind seemed to have blacked out, she couldn't hear what he was saying or even respond back, she could only watch him gesticulate lividly like a quivering volcano about to erupt.
Some part of her mind that had been able to escape the lockdown was telling her she needed to get down and go apologise. This whole mess was her fault after all. And Kiersey knew it was right.
With shaking hands, she struggled to undo her seatbelt. This was the closest Kiersey had ever been to an auto crash in all of her life, so it did scare the crap out of her. As she fought with the metal clasp of the rope holding her down to the seat, she registered the headache that was now nearing the surface. That definitely wasn't a headache, a burgeoning hurricane of a migraine was on its way, crushing everything in it's path.
Kiersey sighed at the timing of everything as she finally freed herself from the car seat. With hands now shivering more than ever and heart throbbing faster and louder than a pellet drum, she popped open the car door and stepped outside.
The afternoon sun beat on her with a renewed intensity as she stepped out into the open. She squinted at the guy and tried to make her mouth form words.
Instead, to her own surprise, she started to cry. Kiersey had often heard of situations like this, something to do with pregnancy hormones, but she had never personally witnessed one like this, nor had she ever thought it could be her it would be happening to. One moment she was feeling sick with migraine and fear and worry, and the next moment she was crying her eyes out.
Adrenaline was working the wrong way in her body system.
Still shocked, she moved away from leaning on the car, trying desperately to find the faucet handle to her tears. The shock, combined with the migraine and every other emotion that seemed to have assaulted her in the span of five minutes, had turned her body to something else. Her arms felt heavy and sore and her knees seemed to have turned to sponge. So, moving away from the car had been a bad move. There was nothing to support her body and she started to go to the ground.
Her senses were efficiently scrambled and on the fritz and seemed to be going into overdrive. It was like she couldn't control any of her movement or actions.
A latent part of her mind dully registered that she was falling, she was going to hit the ground in the most graceless way and it wouldn't be funny. She couldn't even get to move her muscles to resist the fall. She was carrying a baby in her stomach and was about to fall down, face first.
The last thought shocked a reaction out of her and she uttered a squeaky moan. Her baby!
Just as she was sure she'd be hitting the ground and probably dying (God knows where that thought came from), a set of firm arms stopped her fall, catching her and holding her up.
"Woah, steady there," the dreamy voice said somewhere near her ear.
Kiersey felt the warm tears burn tracks down her face as the world around her went out of focus and dimmed.
She struggled hard to fight it. She knew was was happening to her. Her disordered senses had probably decided it had had enough and was shutting down—she was going to black out. So she struggled hard to fight it. To push back the darkness that was steadily creeping towards her, shutting down everything in it's wake."No," she mouthed.She was aware of the strong, warm arms around her slowly lowering her into a warm cushion. Then she was aware of his face looking down at her in worry, it was the only thing in focus.He's probably going to call 911, she thought. Or the police. She had destroyed his car after all.Oh, the car.She remembered the fender bender and tried to shake her head. When had things gone from plowing into a car to fainting? She wasn't fatally wounded and dying, was she?Still confused, she struggled to grasp the reins of her world. She
One would think life would cut her some slack after the whole kerfuffle of the afternoon, but then it turned out it wasn't quite done with her yet. She barely trudged her way out of the elevator to her apartment when her phone started to ring. It was Kevyn, and of all times to call.She swiped her keycard and stepped in, immediately toeing off her flats. Then she found the nearest sofa and sank into it. She so very much wanted a cool, aromatherapic bath right now, but she didn't see how she could possibly postpone Kevyn's call. Her brother had a record for being paranoid, especially when it came to matters concerning her.So, sighing heavily, she swiped the call to pick."Key," said Kevyn in greeting. "Are you okay?"Kiersey was even too tired to roll her eyes up. "Come on, you can do better than that. And what makes you think I'm not, kiddo?"She could just imagine her brother r
The next day, she was fine enough to take two classes before the long break at which she had to go see the principal.From the call to her travel agent early in the morning, she had found out the most convenient time to travel to California was tomorrow. Unexpected, but she didn't have much of a choice.The old bastard of a principal was grumpy as usual and failed to see how a teacher in his school could have, err. . . familial matters so important as to take the rest of the school week off, albeit it was just a day before the weekend.She even had to pull the expecting mother card before the tough jerky finally agreed to let her have the rest of the day and the rest of the week off.It just happened to be around the time scheduled to pick up her car at the garage, so she took a Uber to the place.The garage was named 'The Zeunt Fix' and was an old but neat out-building that was
The sun was high overhead and burning hot as usual when Kiersey arrived at the airport. Exhausted, she paid her silent taxi driver and immediately started searching for the nearest refreshment. She was lucky to find get a chilled bottle of fruit milk drink at the nearest duty free.Recently, her proclivities went towards chilled, brain freezing drinks. Kiersey wasn't sure if that was good for the baby, but she just couldn't help the craving. Sometimes she craved for chilled stuff so bad it felt like she'd break down if one didn't gush down her throat soon enough.Her flight was in thirty five minutes, and aware of that, she had come early anyways. After all she had had the day off from work and had spent the time doing laundries and other little stuff, sufficiently boring herself out.Then she wandered more departments of the duty free before finally claiming a seat in the departure lounge.Watching
"Yeah," Kizza agreed. "I'm not going with her though.""She's traveling alone?""Yes," Kizza answered, her lips tightening slightly. "I couldn't take a break off of work, and neither could my husband." She blew out a somewhat annoyed sigh. "If she hadn't been so obstinate and insisted on going during school session."The statement wasn't really finished, but Kiersey figured she got the gist. She glanced at the girl and quirked a corner of her lips. "And she's okay with . . . flying alone?"Kizza shrugged. "She's old enough to be fine. And she sure didn't sound like she minded when I kept hammering that fact into her ears."Kiersey chuckled."I don't suppose you could help me keep an eye on her?" Kizza asked with skepticism."Oh," Kiersey said. "Why not. Sure thing. I'll be happy to."Kizza beamed widely and reached to
He raised a thick, curved eyebrow, his eyes twinkling in amusement. If he dropped the magazine lower, Kiersey was sure she would spot the twitch of those dusky rose lips in the hint of a smile.She tightened her grip on Zanéh and contained the puerile urge to step back like one scolded. His gaze, admittedly, did make her feel reproved."Yes," he said simply and put down the magazine on the glass extension tray spanning the side of his seat.His rosy lips, which looked pinker than the last time she had seen them, were slightly pinched, contrary to the amusement she had glimpsed in his eyes.Slowly, he rose to his feet, swinging his earnest gaze from her to the hostess. In the little time it had taken him to switch gazes, his stare turned from warm and amused to cold and daring.The hostess moved back a step, clearly intimidated. Kiersey could understand how she felt. She herself had felt a transient surge of alarm run through her at the weigh
"Hmmm," she hummed, casually closing her eyes to let the burst of flavours sluice over her being. Her taste buds were alive and spry with the flavours and ecstasy exploding on her tongue.The drink washed down her throat in a minty, spumescent trail and infused a chilly warmth in her chest that spread to her stomach.She opened her eyes when the drink stopped pouring and discovered she had drank it dry. What remained was the blue bubbles clinging to the inner walls of the glass and the attractive sweat that coated the outer.Then she almost dropped the flute in surprise when she saw Aithan standing very close to her, his body bent and his face studying hers intently.Kiersey swallowed as a tinge of blood suffused her face. Her pulse spiked, going into a mad orbit. She struggled to keep his stifling gaze, wondering what she had done to warranty the scrutiny. His intent stare was doing stra
"Uh," she started. "Um, I'm good."The artificial smile that followed the statement made her almost cringe. The guy wasn't blind."I'm doing just fine. I guess, " she added, when the skepticism still wouldn't leave his face.He put up his hands in surrender. "I get it, I get it. You don't wanna talk about it. "She started to correct his impression but then stopped. Fuck it, maybe she didn't want to discuss her private life with a stranger, no matter how sincere he looked.But she really was doing fine on her own. Despite all she had been through, she was still standing tall and strong and, so God help her, she was going to be better.Feeling satisfied, she dropped her fork after the next bite and reclined back in her chair."Do you have family? " she asked. The question had been lurking somewhere in her mind
"You nosy buttinsky!"Kiersey looked up from where she was flipping pancakes to see that Autumn had Peyton in a loose headlock and both girls were giggling nonstop."Shut up, you shrew. I knew you liked him!" Peyton exclaimed, still stuffed with giggles. "Let go of me, lover girl," she croaked further."Gimme my phone first," Autumn insisted. "And shut up, I don't even like him like that." The girl tried to frown and look serious, but the giggles still burst through.Kiersey smiled as she dropped the done pancakes into the dish bowl and poured more batter into the pan. "Okay, who likes who?" she asked.Peyton broke free of her friend's grasp with one strong thrust, almost getting a head rush. "Autumn likes Quentin!"Kiersey frowned as she mixed more batter. "Do I know who that is?""No," said Autumn, at the same time snatching the phone from her friend's hand and catching her completely off guard."Hey!" Peyton made no move to reclaim it. "I already saw it anyways. You soo like him."
Thursday afternoon found Kiersey in the teacher's cafeteria sipping on a freezing milkshake when the message came in.She had sent that message two days ago and had pretty much forgotten about it, so seeing a follow-up message pop up on her notification bar out of nowhere had surprised her.A message from the_marigna_fry_official: Kiersey? My Kiersey??? OMG, HI!!!!!Almost choking on her milkshake, she excused herself from the table of five and the current discussion to find an empty seat. Her pulse had gone into a mad orbit in the time it took her to relocate. Her nerves were alive with bubbles of apprehension and part-excitement.kiey_west: Yeah, it's me! I so didn't expect to get a reply. How have you been??Her thumb hovered above the send button. She stared at what she had typed and quirked her lips. It sounded a bit cheesy. What else could she say that didn't? Wouldn't it be tacky too if she went and sounded too formal? They hadn't been in contact for years, after all, so a lot
Mrs Hard was a gaunt, bespectacled woman in her late thirties, blue-streaked brown hair twisted in a tight ballet knot in the middle of her head.The sonogramist cum doctor showed her to one of those lie-back exam tables that always felt like a cushion of heaven. Then she set up the array of computers ahead of them and plugged something into the wall."You said in the form you didn't want to know your baby's gender yet," the woman stated after a long scrutiny of the thin brown file in her hands."Yeah," Kiersey confirmed with a smile and a nervous chuckle. "That's kinda old-fashioned, right?"The woman chuckled back but didn't say anything, instead, she stood up from the stool beside the comfortable chair and went to slip on gloves."I understand this is your first time," Doctor Hard said. "Why did you opt for a clinic though, and not the hospital you initially registered with?"Kiersey's brows furrowed. The question took her mind back to the damned mix-up the government hospital had
It was a week later and Kiersey was in the waiting room of the sonographer, waiting to be called up for her first..She was supposed to have done this for the first time last week but it had been postponed due to one medical situatuon at the clinic or the other. She wasn't too sure. The merry-as-a-cricket secretary that had spoken to her over the phone had said it was something to do with the clinic or was it the sonographer? And could they schedule her for next week Tuesday?She tried to feel comfortable in the plush tangerine leather three-seaters in the reception. There were three short rows of the seats to the right of the reception room, an elevated receptionist's desk occupied the left side of the room opposite them and the professional's door stood at the end of the room on that side.The young couple in front of her tittered again and she looked up from her phone. The twosome spotted bottle-red hair and looked to be about twenty one. Twenty three tops. There bright heads were
Kiersey muttered a groan as the car merged into the light road traffic and clicked the button to do up her window. She had forgotten about the rain for a moment there. Although it was significantly light, but being exposed to it for long would soak you up all the same.She decided to put away any thoughts for Rocco at the moment. Whatever his problem was, she was sure he could take care of it.She thought about picking up her phone to call Kizza and letting her know how the divorce mediation had gone but decided to put it off for later. Once she was done for the day at work, she would go soak in a much-needed bath and call. And maybe she'd call Kevyn too. He didn't know when her divorce was being finalized but he'd be worried sick anyway. And maybe Ryan too.She smiled absently as a thought sunk in. Before, Kevyn might have been the only person she'd have had to phone. In the quest for her baby's daddy, she had made a couple of friends that she never would have met otherwise.Before a
The meeting didn't take as long as Kiersey had been expecting it to and within an hour, the attorney was on her closing speech.It wasn't as if she and Rocco had had much to discuss or settle anyway, she thought, shifting in her seat and glancing at the said guy opposite her on the other side desk. Rocco happened to look up at the same time but was quick to look away when their gazes caught.She scoffed and looked elsewhere. This mediation couldn't be over soon enough.From what she had found out from people before arriving, she had been made to believe they'll still be here when school closing hours were over, but, thankfully, she and her ex-husband had no ongoing feud to settle or no shared responsibility to come to an agreement with, like kids.It had been a bit awkward, though, when the counsellor had started to talk about alimony and other arrangements for her unborn child. Explaining to the lethargic woman how the baby wasn't his and how, yes, it had been conceived during their
The first rain of the year started that day. Kiersey had known it was going to rain when she had woken up to a chilly wind, and when the sky had remained moody and dark at way past seven on her way to work, she had been instantly glad she had given in to that urge to take an overcoat with her.By the time it was the second period the rain was beating down hard on the earth and sobbing heavily against the glass windows of the private school.She had only five students in her Economics class for class 12 B, so the mood in the class was light, contrary to the rain.She rounded up on her topic on International Economic Organisation twenty minutes before the end of the double period and she permitted the students to be free till the end of the class.In the free time, she messaged the housing agent whose contact had been given to her by Kizza. She had told the woman about having to start looking for a house yesterday night and she had produced the number of a housing agent instantly.Kizz
After the encounter with Aithan Reeves, the rest of her evening was uneventful till her flight. She ordered a light room service then showered and packed her stuff to leave for the airport.Her trip hadn't turned out like she had been hoping, but it hadn't been a total waste either. She had met a friend and discovered new places.Still, it all paled in comparison to finding out what she really came here for. A vague tattoo and a rampant affinity for booze, and wasn't Stevenson a common surname?Things definitely weren't looking up from her own point of view. To say she had a glimmer of hope of finding the sperm donor would be lying to herself.But life moved on and she also had to. Intra-uterine testing was definitely out of the question as she wouldn't dare jeopardise her baby's safety just for the sake of it. The only option left now, whether she liked it or not, was to wait till she gave had the baby. A large percentage of the population were carriers of some defects or disease, u
The trip around took place for the whole of four hours plus. Ryan took her to The Getty Centre, where they had a lot of fun and bonding time exploring the museum to their hearts' contents. They talked about a lot of things; how he got his nickname Stacks from work, her line of work and other things.While they explored the natural park, he filled her in on some aspects of his life. About his time as an orderly at Springfield Memorial Hospital, about his neighbours at the trailer park, laughing very hard when Kiersey updated him about the newest addition to the park.Then they took an hour-long drive to Disneyland. Kiersey couldn't take most of the rides because of her pregnancy, but they had a lot of fun walking around and sightseeing. They also took lots of pictures and bought souvenirs. At one point, they even got mistaken for a couple and congratulated on their first child. The two spent the rest of the time laughing it off.Their last stop was an open terrace restaurant back in