Trouble in Paradise

"Um... you mean heart disease?" Mila corrected, staring blankly at the doctor, who was clearly reading gibberish from a result that wasn't hers.

Roman was left jaw-dropped. In all his years as a doctor, he had never seen anyone choose heart disease over pregnancy.

"What heart disease?" he asked, checking the result again to be sure of what he just said, because he was confused. "I said pregnant."

Mila rubbed her neck, trying to remain calm. "Oh wait," she snapped her fingers. "It's, um... my own result I'm asking for. Not my boyfriend's girlfriend's..."

Roman raised his brows, clearly confused. "What?"

Mila pressed her lips. "It's complicated, I know, but I wasn't asking for Stephanie's result."

"We don't give anyone another person's result. This is clearly written as a result for Miss Milena Dennis. Are you not that one?" Roman asked to be sure. He could see the fear as well as the confusion in the girl's eyes.

Mila adjusted on her seat and gulped. "It can't be," she muttered.

Roman tapped his finger on the result. "Are you not sexually active? With your boyfriend, I mean."

"No, no... I've never done anything with Ken. It's..." Mila could feel air knocking out of her lungs. She touched her button. "It's not mine; there must be a mistake."

Roman stared at the girl for a moment, then at the result. "Are you saying you've never done anything sexually with any man?"

Mila held the table tightly; her heart was threatening to break free from her chest. She was trembling. How was she pregnant? Why? She'd never slept with any man except—

"No," Mila shook her head. "No, no, no... it can't be, Doctor... it can't be. It was just once and a mistake," she confessed, tears filling up her almond-shaped grey eyes.

Roman reached for a wet wipe on his table and gave one to the girl. "Most pregnancies are usually mistakes," he tried to sound encouraging.

"It can't be," Mila sniffled. "I can't be pregnant; I don't even know him." She blew her nose into the wet tissue and folded it. Mila's eyes lit up when she remembered something. She had been exposed to cold the last few weeks. Maybe...

"It's the cold," she muttered, then raised her face to look at the doctor. "I think I caught the flu."

Roman nodded understandingly. "Yes, and a baby."

Mila shook her head. "I cannot be pregnant! I- I have to wait until marriage." She rubbed her hand on her forehead. She was feeling dizzy again and might pass out if she didn't relax.

"Um... Miss Milena," Roman stood up. "I think you should calm down, breathe in and out. Even if you don't want any baby, you can—"

Mila stood up and packed her bag. "I have to leave, Doctor. I'm sorry, but that result is not mine. I can't accept it." She bowed and dashed out of the room.

Roman was gobsmacked. Before he could even run after the girl, she had already bolted, and this made him worried.

"Why is she hell-bent on not being pregnant?" Roman asked himself. He'd never seen someone act like pregnancy was some sort of terminal illness. But that wasn't all- the girl mentioned it being a mistake and something she did once.

The girl was the same one he met at Zyran's company and also at the club that night. Roman wasn't someone to believe in coincidence; he majored in facts. And with that, he took out his phone and dialed the number he had been reporting to until now.

"I think I have bigger news, but first, I have to check something. I need the footage from the club on the date Heritage du Cœur was launched."

Outside the hospital, Mila ran to the nearest bus stop and dialed Ashley's number. If it was just another trouble, she would have called her sister, but this was something much more sensitive. She couldn't discuss it with Lacie. No, anyone but Lacie.

"Ashley- I... I'm doomed," Mila said over the phone, her hand trembling. "The doctor... he said... I am..."

Ashley couldn't quite make out what the girl was talking about, but she knew for sure that there was trouble in paradise. "What? Where are you? Wait there; I'm coming right now... I'll take an excuse from work."

Mila sat at the bus stop near the hospital and waited until Ashley arrived. Mila told her everything that happened back at the hospital without skipping a detail. They made a stop at a pharmacy on Ashley's idea and then returned home.

"Here, dip your urine into this and wait for five minutes," Ashley said, handing the pregnancy stick to Mila.

Mila's hand quivered as she grabbed the stick. Each step she took toward the bathroom made her heart beat faster than normal. After a few minutes, she returned with the stick.

Ashley grabbed the stick from her. "Fuck!" she cursed. "Mila, who— I mean... it's positive."

Mila fell on the ground, her world closing in again. She was suffocating, she couldn't breathe, and her head was spinning.

"Mila, this is not the time to panic!" Ashley said, pacing around the room with the stick. "Do you know who the father is? Or are you getting rid of it? Look, being pregnant in a city where you know nobody is messed up."

All Mila could hear were fading and muffled words from Ashley, none made sense. Pregnant? Who? Her? Why? How? How??

"Mila! Speak, or you'll end up like your sister! Who is the father?!"

Mila's breath seized. She squeezed her chest as she wheezed. "I... I... I can't breathe."

"Oh no, no, not now." Ashley rushed into the bathroom and returned with a bowl of water. "Look at me... breathe. Come on. Breathe."

Mila was trying to, but she couldn't. She was having a seizure. It felt like she was trapped in a box and pushed under water.

Ashley unbuttoned her shirt and unhooked her bra and skirt, then blew warm air in Mila's face. "Easy... easy... just breathe...good...breathe out."

Mila wanted to die. She didn't want to breathe. First, it was Ken, and now she was pregnant for a stranger she didn't even know. How was she going to explain that to Ken? And what would her parents do or say if they heard she was pregnant? Her world was falling apart once more.

"Mila, breathe... you need to think," Ashley rubbed her back, trying to get the girl to calm down.

Mila moved her chest up and down, the tears brewing from her throat audible as she spoke. "I-I've never d-done anything with any... m-an... just that night... club."

"Night club?" Ashley narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Was it the same man that gave you this shirt?" She ran to the wardrobe and returned with the pale blue shirt.

Mila nodded, goosebumps rising on her skin. She didn't want to think about it, she was supposed to forget everything that happened that night and move on. Now how could she even move on, with a stranger's seed growing in her body. A child!

Ashley on the other hand was having a different thought, she stared at the shirt and then at Mila.

"Girl, it's possible you might have fucked Zyran Ciro Montclair!" Ashley said with a dropped jaw, holding up the shirt.