A Compromise

Cara's last two words snapped Adonis out of his dazed state, and he stomped over to her with annoyance polluting his facial musculature.

"Little Adonis? Are you serious right now? Did you know about this before? You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"Excuse me? I just found out, and why would I want to get pregnant intentionally?" Cara snapped back at him, meeting his glare head-on.

"Then why?"

She scoffed. "If you've forgotten, this is what happens when two genders of the opposite sex have unprotected sex, and we've been having a lot of that!" Her voice rose at the end.

Was he going to blame her for this too? For getting pregnant?

"Okay, okay, let's not forget that you have company." Luca raised his arm to call them to order but was promptly ignored.

Adonis began to pace around the room, his hand restlessly running through his hair.

"How can you get pregnant? It's too early for a child; the circumstances right now are not even palatable. I thought you were being careful or preventive" He paused, looking back at her. "Wait, the stuff that happened that night, was that when?"

Cara threw him a pissed-off look.

"What night? You mean every night since a few weeks ago?"

The idiot was really going to dump it all on her.

"You know what I'm referring to. The night when you held my hand, stopping me from using the-

"Okay! Okay! Too much information, Dr. Bruno, and I would give you some privacy. We'd be outside in the living room if you need us." Luca cut him off, walking out of the room with the doctor closely behind him but not before throwing a subtle warning look at Adonis.

Silence stretched out between the couple for a while. Cara sat up, staring absentmindedly as she organized her thoughts while Adonis stood leaning against the wall with his eyes closed in deep thought.

She exhaled heavily.

"From your demeanour and attitude, I'm guessing you don't want this child."

Adonis grumbled in reply.

A child. A real-life human being. What could he say in reply?

He wasn't going to deny the fact that he'd once considered it and had planned to get a woman who'd procure an heir for him at some point in life but not this soon. Most importantly, at this time?

What was it he said about everything happening all at once again?

"Do you want it?" He asked Cara

He wasn't a boy. He was a man, and he knew exactly what he wanted, so there was no use dragging things out. Cara clicked her tongue.

"I don't know. I'm scared but excited at the same time, you know? Honestly, I find it stressful to care for myself at times, and now, I'd have to care for a mini-me. The thought of it is nerve-wracking, but I feel excited and grateful because it changes things."

Adonis pulled his eyes open to throw her a glance.

"Changes things?"

"Yeah." She acknowledged, then got off the bed to go over to him. "I don't want to leave Adonis. You know that already. I want to be with you, and if I have to shamelessly stay by your side with this, I don't care."

He regarded her coolly.

"Do you love me?"

Cara was taken aback by that question. Does she love him? Could she admit to loving him?

She parted her lips to reply but the right words to say wouldn't come as the lingering voice in her head resurfaced.

"I... I'm sure that... I know..."

She was unable to get the words out. Once again, she was torn. That small voice in her head always piped up whenever she wanted to let go. It was like a part of herself was being held back.

Adonis chuckled. He understood how she felt. It was, after all, the same way he was feeling, except he was completely sure of his feelings for her.

"I love you." He started. "I've known for a while now. I would be having a very bad day, but just the thought of you would make me feel better." He said to Cara, whose heart was about to explode. "I do, but it's not a feeling I'm used to submitting to. I think we both need a break, a little while to help ourselves heal." He took her hand in his. "What do you think, Bel?"

She gave him a small smile at the pet name he hadn't used in a long time.

"So what should we do?"

"You should leave." Adonis breathed

"But I don't want to."

"I know, and we're expecting a child, so I don't think it's ideal anymore. If you stay back, I might raise your hopes, and I don't want that. What if I conclude that love is not for me? I might never be ready, Cara." He admitted but she was willing to try. To give them another shot.

"Then I'd have a reason to leave; you never said you don't want me. I caused this rift, so if waiting is what I have to do to mend it, I'll gladly yield. Just tell me how long..." Cara pulled on a resolved look. "Because I would not wait forever. This isn't just about the two of us anymore." Her hand unconsciously moved to her belly.

They both gazed into each other's eyes in mutual understanding. Their relationship had been a love-hate one from the very beginning, and they got together spontaneously. To prevent the loopholes formed from crumbling the little they had built, they'll need to work on themselves individually.

"A month," Adonis said in a final tone. "Just until I find Antonio."

Cara's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

Antonio again?

"You're going after Antonio? Why?"

"You don't think I'd let him live, do you?"

She sighed.

"But he's gravely injured. You don't think he'd come back?"

He regarded her with a slight curl of his lips.

"I always make sure to clear all loose ends, Cara. Gravely injured is not dead. I won't make the same mistake Nonno (grandfather) made. I am going to block all ends to prevent the war from reoccurring this time. A dead man wouldn't have the will to fight." He spat with a venomous look in his eyes.

"Sabestien and Carlo's deaths were too easy. When I find him, I'm going to explain the errors of his ways to him. I'll break him slowly until his last breath, then revive him again. I'll do this over and over again, and just when he begins to see it as usual, I'd kill him, but by then, he'd be rid of almost every organ in his body." Adonis seethed with a lifeless look in his eyes.

By the time he was done, Cara had her mouth wide open, staring at him with pure dread as she reconsidered if waiting for the raging man in front of her was the right choice.