Imagines • Calum Hood

A Child?

—What do you mean you have a child? -Mali stresses out, chasing his brother through the house-

He can't believe it himself, he always had been careful when having sex and now, all of sudden, a woman sends him a bunch of photos of a toddler that looks just like him saying it's his son. And he does remember her from years before – he doesn't know what to do, it's just not a matter of how his family and career will be affected, but also his relationship of 3 years with his now fiancé.

—I fucking don't know, seems like it. She said I can run a DNA test whenever I want to... The kid looks just like me, Mali! I feel like I don't even need the test. -he lets out a loud sigh as he runs his hands through his hair-

His sister really is pitying him right now.

—Woah, Cal... What are you gonna do?

—I don't know, Mali, it's not like I'm gonna abandon my child... if it's mine. No kid deserves that.

—You fucking moron -she can't help but slap the back of his head- I told you countless times to protect yourself from STDs and unwanted kids! Now your whole life is being turned upside down thanks to your stupidity. What are you going to say to Y/N, huh?

—I fucking wore condoms, Mali -he raises his voice, but then realises it's not her fault and she's just looking out for him and stressed out, too- I'm clean, I never got any kind of STD. I don't know if the condom ripped or... Fuck.

His eyes start watering, he doesn't want to see the looks on his girlfriend's face as soon as he confesses he might be a father, and to make everything two times worse, his fiancé had been telling him she wants to have a child for almost a year now and he refuses to.

—Well, fuck. Are you meeting them?

—Yeah... Yeah, I have to. She said today was alright so I'm heading to the lab in some minutes -his leg bounces up and down, result of his anxiety- what am I going to do if the kid is my child, Mali?

—I... I don't know, mate.

~

The kid looked at him and called him Dad right away, Calum didn't know how to feel, he was perplexed and found himself giving into the hug, showing an uncomfortable smile. The mother, Gabrielle, had been very polite and kind, no drama whatsoever – the test was ran and he had to wait one week until the results were up, so he decided not to say anything about it during that week, if the test came up as negative, then he wouldn't even mention it to his fiancé, but when Gabrielle and Calum met at the lab again to see the results, Calum felt his blood freeze, the kid, Austin, really is his child. Instead of pressuring into parenthood right away, Gabrielle told him to take his time to figure everything out because after all, she was the one who decided to keep their son a secret for 4 years.

He drives home from the lab and once parked in, he stays inside of the SUV for a hot minute, still processing it through. Once he walks inside, he sees his sister and fiancé sharing a laugh.

—Woah, did you see a ghost? -Y/N jokes- you look pale.

Mali understands right away what his expression means, and she feels her body shivering.

—I... No. -he just says and clears his throat, going to find a bottle of water to try and swallow the lump on his throat-

—Hey... You're off. What happened? -she starts to worry-

Calum chugs down the water rapidly but can't look at her eyes.

—...Cal?