STANDING UP FOR MYSELF

      As Faith walked out of the elevator and towards the entrance door, she said to the receptionist.  Get your credentials ready to hunt for a new job. The lady's jaw dropped in surprise and Faith walked out of the door without looking back. 

       Ethan was inside the car when she came out, he came out of the car when he saw her coming to the car. She walked up to him and fell into his arms and he held her there for a while, rubbing her back. They hugged for a while then he pulled away. 

           "Are you alright?" he asked.  "How did it go?" 

         "It went my way," she said with a smile looking into his eyes. 

      He held her hand.  "Where should we go next?" 

      "The mall remember?" 

    He opened the door for her and she went in.  Once she was in, she checked her phone for any messages from Dr Adriana concerning her pregnancy status, but there was no message. She really wished she was pregnant. The thought alone excited her and she had imagined herself carrying and rocking a baby. How she would love the child. 

      Ethan too was going to be a good father, whether they were married or not. Ethan slid into the driver's seat and strapped his seat belt. She started at him and wondered the kind of father he was going to be. He was a nice person and he was only going to be good with children right?  She quickly removed her eyes when he glanced at her. 

     Douglas stood at his window watching them until they drove away from the office premises. He exhaled deeply, went back to his desk and dialled the receptionist. He was going to find out why his sister asked for her attitude to be fixed. 

      Noah spread out the pictures on the table. They were pictures of Ethan and they were mostly with Faith, Charlie and Nora. He had been following them everywhere they went since Faith told him off. The bastard was not going to win, he wasn't going to allow that to happen, because he gets whatever he wants. 

      He could see that Faith was totally smitten with him and she doesn't have any more feelings for him.  He took a picture of Ethan that he was standing alone and pinned it to the wall, took a marker and marked one on the picture. He took up another picture of Charlie and pinned it, he numbered it two, he took another one of Nora's, pinned and numbered it three. 

        He was going to find out who that bastard was. He wasn't going to stop until he made sure that he brought him down and eliminate him.  He took the revolver from the table and walked to the chest of drawers, opened it and put the revolver inside, then he went back and stood looking at the pictures on his wall.  He was going to make sure he won this time, he would do everything possible to make that happen. 

       Ethan pushed the trolley, Faith was walking in front of him, facing him but backing the way.  They have picked out a few things that were needed. She and Ethan had played in the mall, Ethan has taken pictures of her and she had taken pictures of Ethan and they had taken a couple of pictures together.  Ethan had gotten them ice cream and they had eaten together while she narrated her experience with the receptionist and how she had told Douglas off and he had hailed her. 

        They had fun since they came into the mall.  Faith insisted on walking backwards even when Ethan had asked her to face front. 

        "I want to be looking at your face," she had said. 

       Ethan picked up Stoffer's frozen macaroni and tossed it into the cart as they continued. Faith still thought about the possibility of her being pregnant. She was urged to go to the babies and check out for herself some baby items but she didn't want Ethan to see her. 

        As they moved forward and she moved with her back, she bumped into someone who was standing by the counter, contemplating which product to pick. Faith turned front immediately and started apologising to the person. 

      She was a young lady, beautiful and classy. It wasn't her beauty nor her class that drew Faith's attention, the woman was looking at Ethan. Faith followed her gaze and saw that Ethan was looking at her like he had seen a ghost. 

       "Ethan Floyd!" the woman exclaimed. 

         "Melissa!" Ethan exclaimed. 

      Faith stepped back. They probably knew each other, from way back or was it recently?

        "Oh, my God, it's really you Ethan," the girl said and left her trolley to go over and hug Ethan. 

          Faith looked down on her feet as they hugged and pulled away. After the hug, Melissa looked Ethan over. 

        "You...you look casual," Melissa said. 

    Ethan smiled and grabbed Faith's hand in front of Melissa.  "Melissa, meet Faith Prescott, my girlfriend." 

      Melissa's eyes shifted to Faith and she looked her up and down. Then, she smiled at Faith and stretched out her hand.  "Hi, Faith, I'm Melissa, nice to meet you."

     Faith took her hand and smiled too. "The pleasure is mine." 

        "So, Melissa, what are you doing here? I thought you were in New York?" 

        "Well, I'm still in New York, I came over to Hollywood for the LA fashion week." 

      "That's right." 

       "So, what about you? What are you doing in LA?" 

      Ethan became visibly uncomfortable, he knew their conversation would run on the length and his empire would come into the discussion.  "Well, I came here to run around," Ethan said and changed the topic.   "Can't  you invite people to your fashion week show?" 

      "Of course," Melissa looked at Faith again.  "She is the one you finally picked?" 

       Ethan chuckled. "She is the one I love." 

     Faith looked at Ethan in confusion, there was something he was keeping away from her. 

       "Well, you both look..." she looked at Faith again.  "Rather casual." 

       "We just came to shop," Ethan replied. 

        "You look so good even on these clothes, you always look good though." Melissa removed her eyes from Faith and smiled at Ethan.  "Let's have dinner sometime before I go." 

        "No!" Faith blurted. 

      They both turned to look at her.  Melissa had a half-smirk, a half scowl on her face. 

        "It is the three of us, Faith." 

    Faith knew it was the two of them she had invited, but she also knew what Melissa was up to.  She was still flirting with Ethan and was showing Faith that she really had something to do with Ethan and that she could still hold as much effect. 

         "I know," Faith replied and looked for an excuse that could be suitable enough.  "You see, I am pregnant and the doctor asked that I rest and we have pretty tight schedules," she said. 

      Ethan looked at her wide-eyed and in confusion. She smiled at the Melissa woman and turned and smiled at Ethan. 

        "Wow, congrats," Melissa said with an uncertain smile. 

        "Thank you. If you don't mind, Ethan and I have pretty much other things to do. It was nice meeting you Melissa, we look forward to seeing you again," Faith said with a smile. 

        She was not usually like this, but since Melissa tried to rub in whoever she was to Ethan, she should as well show her who owns the man. Before Melissa could open her mouth and say anything, Faith was going away. Ethan who was shocked as well as confused looked at Melissa. 

       "I guess I have to go, now. I will see you later." 

         "It was nice seeing you today, Ethan," Melissa said. 

     Ethan wheeled his trolley away from Melissa who watched them with a half-smile as they went. 

         "What was that all about?" Ethan asked once they were done paying for the items and were on their way to the car. 

          "What was what all about?"  Faith asked coolly. 

           "Come on, Faith don't play dumb with me. Is this how you are going to scare every female around me away?" 

         "Like you didn't see what she was doing?" 

          "No, I wasn't. She was just trying to be nice." 

     Faith scoffed and put their goods at the back of the car.   "Trying to be nice my foot." 

        "And what was that about being pregnant? Can you stop this whole pregnancy talk?" 

           "I can't stop until I know for sure that I am not." 

         A ghost of a smile appeared on Ethan's face but he suppressed it.  "You are very stubborn and jealous, you know that right?" 

          "Maybe stubborn but not jealous." 

Ethan barked out a laugh.  "And you scared another woman away like that? That's jealousy alert." He went over to the car and opened the door for her.   "Get into the car." 

        "Call it whatever you want but I just put her in her place. You are a man and won't understand." 

         "What is there to understand? She was being nice." 

         "Now, listen, let me tell you what went on there. I don't know who she was to you in the past, but she was trying to show me that she was still valid."  She stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.   "And you thought me to always stand up for myself, right? Now, let's go home. It's been a long day." She winked at him and went inside the car.  

        Ethan smiled and shook his head.  "Was she always this sexy?" he asked himself and started towards the driver's seat.