Fabian's POV.“I'm on the app cause I'm looking for a lover,” She states unabashedly.“Okay,” I nod, digesting the term lover, “What about your exes?” “My exes are none of your business. What about your exes? How about we talk about them?” Honestly, she's more approachable than you are.“I’ve only had one,” I wasn't a Virgin even when I met Pearl, even if she was when I met her. I was not a Playboy either but I'd had some amount of experience with sex. But Pearl was the first woman I was committed to.“Wow! Well, I've had seven.” She replies.“Seven? That's quite a number, so why did you break up with ‘Seven’ of them?” “You tell me why you broke up with yours first,” My phone beeps again. I almost ignore it but I can't, I just raise my phone to have a look. It's another text from my secretary.[Mr. Fabian, I have to go to the hospital, where are you?]I lock the screen and place the phone back.“She um…she cheated, there were other issues surrounding the relationship that made us s
Fabian's POV.The line goes silent. I curse under my breath. Stephanie has fucking blown my….“No, sir,” Greta stammers. With a release of breath, I cut the call. I'm fucked, I'm so, so, so, so fucked.I go back to my seat with Megan. “Sorry for the interruption, just something important I needed to handle.” “It's okay. With the way you look, I thought maybe your house was on fire or something.” She giggles.I force a chuckle, “Actually, it's something different. So…” I cross my fingers on the table, “...After all you said about your exes I don't think we are compatible. No need to make me the ninth one,” “What do you mean we are not compatible? You talk differently than you text,” She accuses. That's because I'm not the person you've been talking to.I clear my throat, “You said you broke up with your ninth…I mean the sixth boyfriend because he had a small Dick, and I'm sorry to break this to you but I do have a small dick,” “Oh…” She exclaims, her hand flies up to cover her mouth
Fabian's POV.“I can't get married, at least not now,” I retort. “I don't care, what is it that you're afraid of? Commitment? You were committed to your wife weren't you, why can't you be committed to a woman having your child? It's been a month since I found out I'm pregnant, you keep me a secret. At the office, you pretend like there's nothing between us. You won't even look at me…” In her voice, I can hear her pain, the helplessness, the regret. I'm familiar with these aches but how do we help ourselves when we are not on the same page? “I'm not demanding that you love me all of a sudden, but just acknowledge me. That's all I'm asking. I'm carrying your unborn baby. You cannot do that,” She opens the door. “Stephanie! Wait!” I try to stop her from going down.“Don't bother, Boss.” She places emphasis on the words ‘Boss’, flashing me a forced smile, “I know my way back to the office, I don't want to be anywhere near you now. Please. Be ready to see my parents tomorrow.” She yanks
Fabian's POV.Saturday.“Fabian, Fabian,” My mother calls out in a hushed tone behind my door. I go over and open it.“Stephanie's parents are here!” She whisper-yells. She'd come over early this morning, so she'd be here when Stephanie and her parents came. “Let me throw on a shirt, I'll be down in a minute,” I'm wearing only a vest and red shorts.“Alright. Be quick,” She leaves and I close the door. Heading for my closet, I pick up a dark t-shirt and throw it on. I tried to contact Stephanie last night and apologize to her about all that went down yesterday but she didn't pick up. I get the feeling she won't even be here today. I take one glance at the mirror. To check if the shirt is worn right, And my eyes spot something…Her earrings. Laying in the small space in front of the mirror. ‘Now’s not the time, focus on what you have at hand.’ A voice internally berates me.This is true, I've always considered Pearl in anything I do. Her feelings. Her happiness, I've always put h
Pearl's POV. Morning sun streams into my face, my eyes flutter open.Waking up on a Sunday morning. I feel so exhausted even when I didn't do anything that should make me this exhausted.Maybe I know why I'm exhausted. I hold my abdomen. “Good morning, Sunshine,” a small smile touches my lips. “Another day to be sneaky,” I toss the sheets off my body, I drop my feet on the floors. Walk into the bathroom to do my business. When I'm done, I take a look at myself. I slept in pink drawstring shorts and a white see-through singlet.I drag the singlet up to have a look at my body. I've longed for this feeling. To wake up in the morning, and know that my baby is growing inside me. What do I do now? I've had a hard time telling Philip the truth. I don't know who to trust with this secret. Who to tell.I let go of my grip on the singlet and walk out of the toilet. I go straight to the kitchen to have some milk. The aroma of different food spices assaults my nose as I enter the kitchen. My
Fabian's POV.Monday.“Fabian!” My mother walks through the doors of my office when I'm talking to a client.I facepalm, “Mother, I am currently in the middle of something…” “Have you seen the news?!” She asks. Anger and devastation take another color on her face. My mother and I may not agree on a lot of things but the last thing I want is for her to be distressed.“What happened?” I ask, rising from behind the desk.“Pearl is Tucker Hughes's daughter!” I'm stunned immobile, speechless. “How do you know that?”“Philip's family announced their son's engagement and his betrothed fiancee is your ex-wife and she's the only daughter of the Hughes household.” She pauses before saying, “Did you know that all long?” My head is suddenly in an overdrive, “What? That's not possible, Pearl said she doesn't have a family. There's no way she's his daughter.” “Why don't you pick up your phone and see for yourself, I knew that girl was a lying bitch but how could she?” “Mr. Fabian, I see you're
Pearl's POV.Monday.My legs almost wobble when I see my ex-husband and his mother standing in front of Betty's table, but I quickly hide behind the nearest table so they don't see me.I didn't know Betty understood sign language that fast because I didn't know what she told them and poof! They'd disappeared. Betty is my life saver this morning.The first question I asked myself once I saw them was, why are they here? To cause more chaos in my life. Then I remember! They must've seen the news, and Fabian must be looking for me to express his disappointment in person. I don't need to hear whatever he thinks he has to say. I did betray him. When I come out of my hiding place after I'm sure they've gone, I dust my arm and hair that I stuck under the table.“Pearl, what did you do to that man? Because the fire in his eyes when he said ‘Tell her Fabian Barlow was here’ is no joke. It was intense.” I smile tightly, “it's a long story. You'll get bored.” “Na.” She waves me off, “I don't
Pearl's POV.Closing my room door, I turn to move but once I hear “Pearl,” I pause in my tracks the moment I hear my name. It's not just about hearing my name. I know it's my Dad. He strides towards me from a near distance in the hallway while I'm standing at the front of my room door.“Dad, Good morning,” I readjust my bag over my shoulders. “You're not going to work today,” I want to ask what I've done but he puts his hand in his pocket and I just wait for what he's about to say. He brings out a card, “Here, take this,” I stretch my hand and take the card. “I've called HR to let them know you're not coming to work. Go and do some shopping with the card, I have somewhere to take you later this evening,” at first I'm confused, then shocked and overwhelmed. My father has been very strict with me since I came back home. He'd give me work overload and not one approval have I ever gotten from anything I did and all of a sudden he's giving me the day off? That's strange.“Thanks, Dad,”
Fabian's POV.“What is wrong with you Fabian? Why can't you get over this girl? You keep getting into continuous scandals with her and you don't even care what it's doing to your reputation or your Stephanie,” I pretend not to hear what she's ranting from across my desk.I stick my head in the paper before me, going through the files. “Answer me, Fabian,” She slams her hand on the desk. If I raised my head a second before she would have put her hand in my face.“What do you want me to do for you mother?” I ask. Offended by her distraction.“I want answers? What do I not know about you and your ex-wife that makes you crawl back to her even at her engagement party? Don't you have any shame? You had me panicking, looking for you! You weren't even healthy and yet you ran to her.” “Mother, I'm 34 years old. Old enough to make my own choices and be with whoever the fuck I want to be with. I'm busy right now and your noise is distracting me, please leave.” “I think I've given you enough ti
Pearl's POV.“I…I…that wasn't…” forming a proper sentence becomes difficult. Not sure I thought about what I'd say to him at that moment. “I was really scared. That's why I sent you the text,” “What text?” He asks, with slight irritation in his voice.“The…text I sent to you a day before,” “Pearl, we are both adults, and you have to own your mistake and stop lying to cover up because It makes me want to hate you even more!” “I'm not lying Philip, I sent you a text.” I defend myself.Philip breathes out exasperatedly, puts his hand in his pocket, takes out his phone, taps on the screen a couple of times, and hands me the phone. “You can check if your ‘sent’ message is there,” I scroll through the messages. I'm sure I sent it to him. Why is it not here? I keep searching.“Did something happen?” Philip mocks me, “You didn't see the message you sent? And you expected me to see it.” He abruptly takes the phone from my hand. “Let's face the truth, Pearl, you still love your ex, so much.
Pearl's POV.My brother and I are sitting at the ends of our plush sofa, in my Father's home office. My hands are intertwined between my legs, my heart is drumming erratically in my chest, it could Pop out.I know. I know I fucked up, I'm not blaming anyone, I shouldn't have let him get to me. I should have ordered him to leave, and not ruin my day. But I just couldn't, I told myself I needed to talk to him. I thought it was going to be a quick conversation and I'll run back in and no one will know I spoke to him, that was the plan but I didn't know when I hugged. It was so soothing, it felt like home. It was peaceful like I was back to being my old self, with my Man–but he is no longer my Man. And it has landed me here, under the scrutiny of my father by seven am in the morning. My brother has refused to talk to me since last night. I know he's mad at me. He has the right to be. Maybe when he falls in love with someone genuinely one day, he'll see it's not that simple to detach. Y
Fabian's POV.I can't go through the front because of how I'm dressed, so I sneak into the restroom area.When I start feeling dizzy again, I go into the men's room to pour some water on my face and rest a bit. But my adrenaline is pumping madly in my veins if I don't get to talk to my wife in the next few minutes. I'll lose my mind. When I come out of the men's room, I absentmindedly look sideways before setting my eyes on the path that leads to the….Wait a second! My eyes get sight of a man, standing at the entrance of the women's room. There's no one else in the hallway. Despite the strong urge to see Pearl, I feel this nudge to get close and know what's happening there. As I approach him, I notice he's talking. While talking to the person inside, his tone is hushed from a distance but as I get closer the words become clearer. I'm stunned when I realize it's Pearl's brother from a close distance.“Make me get this properly, 'cause I want to, How would you feel if I was getting ma
Pearl's POV.It's been really hard to keep up with the expectations of the people gathered here today. They're all like Dad, they narrow their eyes at you, searching for the tiniest bit of imperfection. Philip has been great at keeping my emotions afloat, but there's the lingering unsettling feeling I've been having. Has he read the letter and he chooses not to talk about it? That's impossible for me but I expected him to say something since last night, but he hasn't said anything. I checked my phone first thing when I woke up this morning and I was surprised to see no message from him was lying in my message box. Also, no missed calls or anything. I'd waited all night for a response. I wanted to be alert, holding my phone when the message came but I fell asleep and even when I got up, nothing had happened.“Pearl, Take this,” Philip hands me a glass of champagne he retrieves from the passing waiters. “It'll help your confidence,” he points to the people around, “It'll make you see t
Fabian's POV.My phone alarm rings. Signaling that it's time for me to go to bed. I set it to lessen my work time as my health condition has started getting worse and even if I'm afraid I don't have up to the time the doctor told me I don't show it.I close the paperwork on my desk and pack up, despite wanting to go home earlier, I'm still the last person who gets out of the office. Thank God it's Friday, I'll just have to take some time and rest before continuing anything.I use the elevator that leads to the garage. When the elevator dings, There's a spin in my vision, and I stop before I make the wrong step. Once everything settles, that's when I realize blood is coming out of my nose, at the same time a blinding migraine hits me, and breathing becomes a barrier.I try to find the nearest pillar–anything for support. My knees give out and I fall, clutching my throat as I struggle for air with eyes that can't see.I hear a voice in my head. I try to shake it off because of who it be
Pearl's POV.“Okay!” I say. Dragging my feet, I don't even realize I stopped.Settling in the backseat with my Dad, our driver takes over the steering and we start moving to God-knows-where. It takes me a lot of courage to turn and face my Dad, “Umm…” I try to make my voice polite, “Where are we going?” He swivels to look at me, “We are going to the venue of your engagement Party,” He says, almost excitedly.Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Why are we going to the venue tonight? I can't help but think my dad is up to something, Wait–has he found out? “Is something wrong?” He says. “No,” I reply sharply. Showing him a forced smile.He turns his face away as if irritated by the smile. The silence from then on puts me on the edge and makes me anxious till the car pulls to a stop, I immediately come down from the car. I don't even know if we have gotten to our destination.The air in the car is so suffocating that if I inhale one more time, I may fall sick. Or worse, colla
Pearl's POV.It's Friday already, I wish so bad that it's not but there's limited power to what I can control. Standing at my room window, I've seen the night snatch light from the day. And I can only wonder what tomorrow holds for me. Tomorrow is my engagement party.Tomorrow, I'll stand before people and pretend to love a man. I'm not so sure how I feel about him, and I'll have to tell him about my baby eventually. Running away is not an option for me. I've thought about it countless times. It'll only make things worse for me and the baby. I can only hope he doesn't take the news negatively, I'll never tell Fabian that the baby is his. Philip and I will care for the baby, he'll be my child's legal father. That's if he accepts the baby.I stand back from the window and turn, going straight to my table. The letters I'd written two nights ago are lying there.One for Philip, one for Dad, and one for Paul. He'd be the most disappointed, I don't know why it's hard to tell anyone I'm preg
Fabian's POV.After picking my Mom from the cell, I don't need to ask her why she did what she did because she won't give me a reasonable answer. I just drop her off at her house and head back to the office. It's already enough headache I'm dealing with in my life, I can only try to reduce my headaches.I toss my suit jacket on the desk as I walk into the room. I pick up a bottle of water from my mini fridge and drink. It's been so distressing and annoying how much I have to worry about myself and my Mom too. I throw some pills into my mouth and use the water to wash it down.There comes a soft knock on my door, “Come in,” I say. Stopping myself from thinking about whom it may be.Stephanie walks in, her pretty face is in order, but there's an edge of something…concern, Maybe.“What happened?” She asks, ambling close to me.“Nothing I couldn't take care of.” I reply, casually.“Do you have to be like this all the time with me?” By this time she's standing so close behind the desk. I