LIMITLESS

Chapter XV

“What are you trying to prove here?” Hakeem asked Bayden. “Like, do you realize how stupid you look coming all this way just to ruin my engagement?” Bayden stood in front of him in embarrassment. She was usually never out of witty comebacks. But there was nothing that she could have said to make this less awkward.

“You’re making a mistake.” she said again, but this time much more faint. Everybody in the apartment was listening and cringing. This was painful to hear.

“You made a mistake, thinking it was okay to come here and try to tell me about Rayan. This is the last time I’m going to say this. Can you please leave?”

“Hakeem,” she began.

“Bye Bayden.” he interrupted her and shut the door. She stood in the hallway for a few minutes, basking in her own humiliation. She should have never listened to her younger sister. She turned around and sat on the stairs until she had enough time to build up the courage to go back out and explain what just happened. Meanwhile, Hakeem had a few questions for Rayan.

“What did she want?” Ahmed asked him in front of everybody. Hakeem disregarded his question and redirected his attention to Rayan.

“Come into the hall. I need to talk to you.” he said seriously. A chill ran down Rayan’s spine. She had just finished the most awkward conversation with his mother. She was terrified of what he had in store for her, too. She walked out into the hallway and stood in front of him.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Who was that?”

“Bayden.” he said. “She’s this girl that I associated with in high school and she’s still obsessed with me.” he explained, not knowing that Bayden was sitting on the staircase listening to every word that they said.

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

“Yeah, you don’t know the half of it.” he sighed. “But she did show me something that sparked my attention.”

“Well, what is it?” Rayan asked. She had no idea what it could have possibly been. She hadn’t even heard of Bayden until that very moment.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked.

“What? No.” Rayan said, clearly panicked. “Did she tell you that?”

“No, but she showed me a screenshot of you texting somebody and saying that your pregnancy test results came back. I didn’t read the rest, I kicked her out as soon as I saw it.” he explained. “If the only reason that you’re marrying me is because you’re pregnant then I want you to stop right there.”
Rayan’s face turned red. How did Bayden have those messages? The only person that Rayan texted that to was Hani.

“I’m not pregnant.” she assured him. “I promise I’m not.” She took out her phone to prove it. She scrolled through her and Hani’s messages and pulled up the full conversation.

“This doesn’t prove anything.” he shook his head. “What if you just lied to your friend?” he asked.

“Well what do you want then?” she asked. “How can I prove it?”

“Take a pregnancy test in front of me.” he said.

“You really don’t trust me that much?” she asked.

“I have to protect myself, Rayan. I really want to marry you but I have to make sure it’s real.” he shrugged. “Isn’t that fair to me?”

“No, it’s not.” Rayan said angrily. “How can you marry somebody you don’t trust? You and your mother both don’t trust me. She just spent fifteen minutes explaining why we shouldn’t get married. I’m not going to go through with this if you guys don’t trust me.” she shook her head.