Chapter 4 Seeing Them

• Three weeks later
• My interest in going out and looking happy has dropped to zero, my good mood has been on hold since Lake left, leaving a note on his pillow saying "see you soon."
• "You're not doing well, not at all," Shania says, and I sigh deeply as we pack up all the books we used in class.
• "I know," I say, worried.
• "You're going to get married, Rain, and you know it's not with him," Shania tells me, and I signal for her to be quiet, looking around.
• Trying not to think about it, I leave the classroom and collide with someone's toned chest.
• "I'm so sorry, I was distracted and..." I say, raising my gaze, only to be completely speechless when I see the person I've bumped into.
• "Good afternoon, darling," Lake says, and I start to cry, then hit him.
• "You're an idiot!" I exclaim in annoyance.
• "I'm sorry, darling. Yes, I'm an idiot. But don't cry over this idiot, please," Lake asks, hugging me, and I feel all the worries I had been feeling up until now melt away through my tears.
• Lake never stopped writing to me, and although he sometimes took a while to talk to me, he said it was because of his father, who thankfully has been more stable since yesterday. However, that didn't stop me from crying at night, feeling lonely.
• 'I'm in love with a man with whom I can only have a romantic relationship without being able to marry him. But my heart doesn't understand that,' I tell myself mentally.
• Lake calms me with pats on the back, and without saying anything, we head to the parking lot, where I see the suitcases he must have packed before coming to pick me up from my classroom.
• "Did you just arrive?" I ask, confused.
• "I came straight here as soon as I arrived. I wanted to see my girl," Lake says.
• Lake doesn't talk to me about his trip, but the silence isn't bothersome; what is bothersome is his absence.
• "It feels good to see you in person and not just on a video call," I say, and Lake nods, smiling.
• "You're right, this feels better," Lake says, then parks his car near his house.
• The stomach ache I've been feeling for days returns, and I worry about it. Since Lake left, I've been stressed, and that's why I've had a lot of gastritis. So, I sigh deeply, knowing I need to buy more medicine soon before the pain consumes me.
• "I'll go up to drop off the suitcases and be back soon," Lake says, and I nod.
• "See you soon, I'll go to the drugstore while you're back."
• "Are you feeling unwell?"
• "No, I just want to buy a drink while I wait for you," I lie, knowing that if I tell him I'm in pain, he'll make a big deal out of it.
• "Okay, wait for me at the drugstore, I'll be back soon."
• I nod, and we both get out of the car, briefly saying goodbye with a kiss before going our separate ways. Smiling, I enter the drugstore, where I grab a bottle of water and ask for medicine for stomach pain.
• "Do you have a prescription?" the employee asks.
• "No, I have to see a doctor for it, but I'm very busy with university. I just need this medicine for stomach discomfort, and everything will be fine."
• "Do you only have stomach discomfort? Have you experienced any other symptoms?" the employee asks, and I shake my head.
• "Good afternoon, do you have sanitary towels and medicine to calm my cramps?" a woman asks as she enters the drugstore.
• 'I also suffer a lot during my menstrual periods from the cramps that make me cry. Luckily this month...' I tell myself mentally, and my thoughts come to a halt.
• Confused, I take out my phone and check where my menstrual calendar app is. Hoping there's a mistake, I see a surprisingly high number of days late, which makes my legs weaken.
• "Oh, God..." I whisper.
• "Are you okay, miss?" the young woman asks, and I sit down, looking at the number sixteen in red.
• 'I'm sixteen days late,' I tell myself mentally.
• “Stomachache pills over here, medicine for cramps and sanitary towels over there, do you need anything else?” the employee asks.
• “Y-yes.” I whisper, dazed “I need pregnancy tests.” I say in a barely audible voice.
• ‘Maybe it's just stress. Even though I'm a woman with no menstrual delays, stress may have caused one, but it's better to be sure. I just ask for it to be sure.’ I mentally tell myself, terrified.
• With trembling hands and legs, I receive two different boxes of pregnancy tests which I take and pay for immediately, distressed, I look at the employee and he points to the left, where I see the bathroom sign.
• So, walking like a robot, I arrive at the bathroom where I read the instructions for the pregnancy test and with trembling hands I take the two tests, begging for things to turn out well.
• “Don't be scared, Rain, you just had a lot of sex with your boyfriend during a night where we didn't protect ourselves, nothing out of the ordinary.” I whisper in a barely audible voice.
• ‘One thing is giving him your virginity and another is getting pregnant by him, you can't allow that, Rain. You can't complicate everything like that’ I tell myself mentally.
• Minutes pass and I worry too much feeling that I will be in serious trouble if the results are positive. Time passes slowly and the phone rings with the alarm I set causing me to hold my breath.
• The result appears and I run out of the bathroom towards Lake's house. Because this is something I can't look at a second time. So, I enter his house quickly, as the door is open, and I tense up at what I see.
• Frozen in the foyer of his big house, I see them kissing, while their suitcases are scattered between the living room and the kitchen.
• “Annia, you must stop.” Lake says, while my gaze focuses on what she is doing to Lake.
• “I can't stop, honey. Because I know that's not what you want.” the woman says, kissing the man whose shirt is unbuttoned.
• “Annia, go back to Rome. I didn't give you permission to come here.
• “I missed you, our weeks together are something I can't forget, promised.” the woman says and I can't take it anymore.
• “Promised?” I ask in a barely audible voice, getting the attention of both.
• “Rain...
• “What does this mean, Lake?! “I shout, annoyed, as my vision blurs.
• “So, you've figured it out.
• ‘What did he say?’
• “Since when?” I ask in a barely audible voice.
• “Does that matter, Rain? It's all over, honey. I don't think you can tolerate being the mistress any longer. Just go, Rain. You've realized everything, the fun is ruined.” Lake says from the kitchen island where before leaving, he made me his twice.
• “So, this is who you are.
• “It was fun... while it lasted.
• “That's what our relationship has come down to.
• “I got what I wanted, it's time to change prey.” Lake says in a cold tone that freezes me.
• ‘Is this the true face of the man I love? Is this the man I got pregnant by?’ I ask myself mentally before leaving.
• Not even as a human can I bear this humiliation. I wasn't rejected as a wolf and I'm not going to stay to see the rejection that a damn human has given me. I'm not going to accept it, even... even if I'm pregnant.
• ‘How foolish I have been. Foolish and now pregnant.’ I say to myself with pain.