When We Were Young

Chapter 32

Six years ago(Flashback)

Paula knelt weakly against the bowl and vomited the small amount of food she had managed to keep down that morning. Limp and drained, she dropped on the cool bathroom tiles regaining her breath. She has been feeling nauseous for the past days and vomited almost everything she ate.

For days, a nagging suspicion haunted her, whispering in her mind that she might be pregnant. With trembling hands, she fished out her cellphone from her sweatpants pockets and dialled Riya's number.

Paula had been much closer to Mia than Riya and would have called her first if things were normal between them. But Mia had broken their friendship after their argument. She had even cut ties with Riya.

Riya arrived twenty minutes later with a pregnancy testing kit. She found Paula still leaning against the bathroom wall, her face pale and tearstained. Paula took the test and it came out positive.

She staggered backwards as if a heavy blow had been delivered to her face. Her heart began to thump madly against her ribcage and her hands trembled uncontrollably. An image of her father's furious face appeared behind her eyes and great panic and fear seized her.

"What am l going to do?," she asked no one in particular.

Riya came behind her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't panic, Paula. These things are never hundred percent correct. We will go to a doctor and have it confirmed," she reassured her.

Paula shrugged her hand away and continued pacing the bathroom in a stupefied daze. If she was really pregnant, she couldn't imagine what her father would do to her.

"But how..did this happen? We were always careful every time," she whispered to herself, finding it difficult to believe that she had another life growing within her.

"Stop taunting yourself and get it confirmed. This could be a false alarm for all we know. I will take you to the hospital."

She lied to her mother that she was going shopping with Riya but instead they drove to a small clinic at the outskirts of the city where no one would recognise her. Riya waited outside while the doctor attended to her. It was confirmed that she was indeed three weeks pregnant.

She stared at the evidence on the white piece of paper, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her hand palmed her still flat stomach and she felt different emotions surging through her. She was carrying Rafael's baby and she didn't know whether it was a good thing or bad.

A part of her was happy that she had Rafael's baby, the only man she had ever loved and another part of her was scared about her baby's future. She sat there for a long time, her face hidden behind her hands as she sobbed. The older doctor stared at her in both panic and worry.

It was not every day that his patients broke down in his office.

"Are you okay, miss?," he asked in a worried voice.

"I am sorry, sir. I have to go," she stammered before she scrambled to her feet and stormed out of the room.

She ran along the long corridor, bumping into people who stopped to glare at her or pity her but she was too drowned in her emotions to notice or apologise. She felt overwhelmed by the different emotions rioting through her. She laughed and cried at the same time as she fled down the long corridor.

Suddenly she ran into a muscular wall and was about to fall down when muscular arms held her up. A horrified gasp escaped her when her eyes collided with familiar steel grey ones.