Chapter 1

The sky was now dark.

            As dark as the clothes she was wearing to her fiancé’s funeral. The crying of the people was a cacophony to Minerva’s ears; even her own crying.

            Derrick’s sapphire engagement ring was still cherished by her ring finger—the same color of her pristine and beautiful eyes.

            Minerva wiped away the tears that had long made her scarlet handkerchief wet. The handkerchief was the very first gift given to her by Derrick—her first and probably last boyfriend.

            “Condolence, Minerva…” The voice was familiar. It was from Daphne, her brunette co-teacher who teaches at the same high school as she had before.

            “Thanks.” Minerva’s answer was definitely sincere—as sincere as the love she bears to Derrick. It was very genuine to the point that she chose to wait for Derrick’s approval of her marriage request upon the first week of carrying his child.

            It had been days already since she’d been carrying her now-resting fiancé’s child.

            Minerva could still vividly remember that Derrick was always the person who wants to be prepared, who wants to have perfection in such things.

            But, it seems he wasn’t prepared the moment he was now laid in the casket, in the coffin. So was Minerva. She wasn’t prepared for any of this, to be honest.

            It was just last week that she’d been preparing for the baby and even planning to apply for work as soon as she gave birth when the news of Derrick’s car accident reached her very ears from her apartment’s telephone.

            It was her best friend Mariella Chu, who also happens to be working as a nurse in the local hospital, who phoned her about Derrick’s passing.

            He was dead on arrival. Perhaps God, or any supreme being out there, didn’t give Derrick even a slight chance to live—not even a chance to say his final goodbye to his baby. And most of all, not even a word of goodbye to his soon-to-be-wife.

            The attendees of the funeral are gradually decreasing. Probably because midnight is nearing and most of them have their homes hundreds of kilometres away from this venue.

            The flickering lights from the candle reflect in the eyes of Minerva as she was the sole person to be left in her former boyfriend’s house.

            Derrick lost her mother at a young age and his father already had another family the time that he was born. So, this is the last time she can step foot to this simple house as it was already sold just a week ago. They’ve planned to use the money for their settling down. Therefore, she had a bit of money left—Derrick had a bit of money left for her and their baby.

            Without further ado, she too went home to her apartment as the caretaker of the house showed up, signalling her time to depart into the four walls of her once beloved Derrick’s abode.

***

Morning came by the time she opened her eyes—so was her morning sickness.

            Indeed, it is not easy to bear a child as it is very complicated. Especially to her as she was left by the only man she dearly loved.

            She grabbed the hems of the ebony curtains and swiftly split it open, revealing the morning sun’s beaming light. She looked to her left and the pink sticky note that she tacked on the calendar that was just a freebie on the grocery store, reminds her that she has a medical appointment today.

            It was definitely upsetting. Upsetting due to the fact that the cash she has on hand could probably not even buy bread and butter. Without any choice, she phoned the only person who knew of her current situation—her financial situation.

            The phone rings on the other side and the voice of Mariella Chu reverberates.

            “Are you ready for your check up today, Minnie?”

            Minnie. That was her Chinese-American best friend nicknamed her after the famous “girlfriend” of Disney’s Mickey Mouse.

            She cleared her throat before responding to Mariella’s query. “I am, Ella.”

            “Good. Just let me know when I can fetch you. I’m still on the home service of one of my patients as of now but I can drive to your apartment perhaps in less than three hours.”

            Minerva paused. She looked at the Hello Kitty watch that she had since she was a grade-schooler. It’s seven in the morning. Perfect for a nice warm bath for a pregnant single mother like her.

            “Sure. I’ll just have my preparations.”

            “Sure, Minnie! Bye for now.”

            Then the receiver on the other end was now silent. As silent as the morning, if not for her stomach’s rumbling that signals her that it’s her breakfast time.

            She treaded towards her bathroom that’s no less than a few steps from her bed, and took a nice warm shower.

***

Minerva was wrong.

            She was wrong that her bath would be a warm and refreshing one.

            Well, it’s kind of refreshing because her body was definitely drenched in her own tears, sweat, and probably from her saliva.

            But still, the water from the shower seems to come from a freezer. It was very cold as she bathed herself, bathe their selves. Or is it just because she was pregnant? Well, the body of a pregnant woman was always a bit “hot” on the inside, as they say.

            The splashing of water was both music and noise to her ears. The more she soaked in the shower, the more her teeth gritted due to the frigid waters from the shower.

            She quickly gets out from the freezing bathroom that even her little circular mirror was shrouded in a mist as a result of the cold shower.

            She wrapped her slender body and her now-circular womb in a forest green bath towel. Her eyes caught what seemed to be falling from the outside sky that made her realize why the water is wholly gelid—snow.

            Today is the first day of snow in the city—the first day of winter. Now, that’s what you call total misfortune. She only has one thick jacket left for the first day of winter. Two, if you’re gonna include Derrick’s trench coat that happens to be still in his former home.

            She will get their remaining things from the now-sold house after her appointment from her ob-gyn. At least her ob-gyn was the sister of her mother’s husband. The doctor was her mother’s sister-in-law, to be simple.

            Her mother volunteered to answer the expenses for her check-up. At least in that way, her mother, who now has another family, still manages to “care” for her since the death of her biological father five years ago.

            Minerva was definitely still lucky amidst her unluckiness oozing up to its brim. She still has a mother that has still a bit of kindness left in her heart—that is if she still has one.

            Her phone rings. She was still munching her sunny-side egg when Mariella called her. She seized a glass of lukewarm water and immediately drank it in just a matter of seconds.

            “Wait for me, Mariella,” Minerva muttered then shove the remaining fried egg and French toast into her small mouth.

            Before she could speak further, three knocks interrupted her simple breakfast.

            ‘Perhaps it's Ella…’ Minerva mused. “Coming!”

            When she opened the door, Minerva was flabbergasted. It was not her best friend, Mariella Chu.

             It was her mother.

            “Hello dear! I came to take you to your doctor, who happens to be my beautiful sister-in-law. I already phoned Mariella as she was also having an immediate family matter to attend.”

            Minerva was about to open her mouth but chose not to as she remembered that she was still chewing her French toast and egg—the only breakfast she had. Perhaps the only breakfast she will be having from now on.

            In less than an hour, Minerva and Rhea—her mother—were now driving towards the hospital to which the ob-gyn was waiting.

***

The hospital’s scent was new to her senses. She felt like puking on the very floor of the elevator. Or was it just because she was pregnant?

            Either way, the meeting with her ob-gyn was absolutely no problem. It’s about the bills that made her head totally ache.

            “What’s the price of you helping me?”

            Her mother briefly looked at her from head to toe before answering. “Nothing.”

            Nothing. That was all Rhea said throughout the entire time. From the very moment they stepped in the hospital to the time that her check-up was finished, her mother’s mouth was wholly shut—as if she wittingly sewed it shut to avoid conversation with her.

            Minerva cleared her throat before speaking again…alone this time.

            “Well, if that’s the case, I will still pay you as soon as I find a new job. I resigned from the high school I was teaching the moment I got pregnant.”

            “The moment you got pregnant? Or the moment you were about to give the pussy between your legs to a man named Derrick?” Her mother’s voice was thundering in the midst of the four narrow walls of the elevator.

            It took all the remaining strength that was left of her in slapping her blonde-haired mother. She was entirely insulted by that tone, by her words. She said there was no price in helping her during her pregnancy. Yet, it seems that a liberated scold was the price she silently chose to offer Minerva.

            To be honest, she could take her down and choke her to death into the very lustrous floor of the elevator if it wasn’t the fact that her words somehow resonates verity, that there is actually truth in her words. Her mother left her for another man on the verge of her father’s terminal illness. That’s how maleficent her mother was and is probably until now.

            Minerva absolutely gave it all up just to live under the same roof with Derrick, who happens to be six feet below the ground now. And her mother will just insult them for that, insult her for that..

            ‘That is why they always say to never give your entirety to someone, even if you love the person more than you do to yourself.’ Minerva’s own words bounced into the walls of her mind.

            Her fists are still clenched, ready to punch her own gold-digger mother who left her own family for another man—for an asshole billionaire.

            She was, in fact, the first to witness them having sex in her own parents’ room. Imagine banging your other man in the bed you and your husband shared. That was wholly awful, unlawful, and definitely inhumane. That is also the reason why Minerva chose to stay with her father aside from the fact that she cannot bear to gaze at the eyes of her mother’s man—who also looks at her lustfully, as if inviting her to be fucked as well.

            Her attention drew back to her mother as the elevator opened, signalling the arrival to the basement to where her mother’s car parked.

            “It’s not that, Rhea. I already had planned on resigning beforehand. Besides, me and Derrick planned my pregnancy anyway.”

            That was a lie. Well, she would rather lie than to be shamed more by this bitch who calls herself her mother. That is also the reason why she addresses her in her own name rather than calling her a mother. A mother is such an honourable and glorified title and the blonde woman in front of her doesn’t even deserve a second to be called one.

            Minerva was about to say more when, in the corner of her eye, she spotted the man that she had always prayed she would never meet or see or smell again.

            It was her mother’s husband—Rhea’s sex-loving man.