Preg-Not

19

RAELYNN POV

Employees hadn't stopped buzzing about the drama that went down in the office. They connected the dots and realized that Maksim fired Amoura and Derick. They had never seen the big boss lose his cool like that. Apparently, Maksim became so irritable that employees were walking on eggshells around him.

Raelynn was blamed for it all. Acquaintances that used to greet her now glared whenever they got a chance. Others fearfully avoided her.

The spotlight made Raelynn so paranoid that she avoided crowds. She ate lunch at her desk every day, scurried past people in corridors, and kept a folder in front of her practically at all times.

Shanna was the only one that remained loyal. To protect her from rumors and attention, Raelynn tried to avoid her.

"Hey, C-Train."

She was waiting for her therapy when the guy she met at the train station sat beside her.

She smiled at him. "Hey, baby scrambler."

"Baby what?"

"You know, knocking into unsuspecting pregnant women and making their babies scrambled eggs."

He laughed, and their chat took off from there. Raelynn felt uneasy, because it felt like she was cheating on Maksim.

Daniel loved to tease her, but she was careful of not flirting back. She was in no position to be chasing after a guy when she was knocked up by another. There was no harm in making a friend, as long as Maksim didn't find out. Daniel had nice teeth, and she would hate it if Maksim punched them out.

She went home after her session. Her ankles were rebelling again, so it took her half an hour to get out of the bathtub. When Tiffany came home from work, she found her sprawled on the couch in her bra and panties while listening to music.

Raelynn took her headphones off to catch Tiffany say, "You look ridiculous."

Raelynn looked down at her bump, which had headphones draped over it. "Well, they wanted to hear Russian music, and I wanted to listen to club music and pretend I'm dancing and still have ankles."

"You still have ankles, Rae."

"No, I don't. I have swollkles."

"What?"

"Swollen ankles."

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Lets hope the kids get their intelligence from their father's side. How are they?"

"Fine. They've been kicking so much I think they're performing Russian folk dance in there." She adjusted the headphones when they began to slide off her belly.

"Scoot over."

Raelynn gave her an are-you-serious look. There was no way she could move, unless she rolled like a barrel across the cushions.

"Sheesh. Fine." Tiffany tossed her purse aside and sat on the carpet. Then, she began ranting about her office crush. Raelynn listened to avoid talking about her own workplace. She didn't want to make Tiffany worry.

She fell asleep at some point, but Tiffany woke her up to help move her to bed. She was grumpy. This was one of the many occasions she wished Maksim was around to carry her.

The next day was just as miserable as the previous one. It was pay-day though, so she looked forward to that. The college fund was now at a one-hundred and fifteen dollars, and she couldn't be prouder.

"Raelynn."

She turned away from her notes and stared at a marketing supervisor.

Shit. What did she do now?