Chapter 10

Sharp and furious voices stirred Elena from sleep. Her brows furrowed, but her eyes remained closed. She lay silently on the bed, sensing her surroundings. The smell of disinfectants and medicine permeated her nose. 

Then, she remembered what happened to her. She almost sat upright to check her body when her thoughts were drowned by a shout. 

"I swear to God, Hector, I am not the father!" Nathan's voice reverberated to the walls of the emergency ward. People's gazes centered on them, yet he showed no restraint. "It's not me!"

A cold chill ran down Elena's spine. Her heart pounded erratically, as she dreadfully waited for the conversation to continue. 

"Don't lie to me!" Hector growled sharply. His voice was much louder, firm, and full of anger. "Who else would get her pregnant?! She's fucking dating you! Do you think I was born yesterday?! Fuck, let go of me, Erika!" 

"No, Dad. Why can't you believe Nate? What if he's telling the truth?" Erika's shaky voice chimed in. 

"Are you telling me your sister's got pregnant by another man, Erika?" Hector snarled. He grabbed Erika by the shoulder and shook her. "Do you know something?!"

Erika sobbed. She shook her head tremendously, biting her lips hard. "I don't know! I don't know, okay! But didn't she disappear one night, and only return in the morning? Even Nate couldn't get ahold of her! What if she…she…"

Nathan froze. His eyes flickered to Elena, full of hurt and…pity. He understood what it meant already. He knew Elena was kidnapped, but her parents said nothing about rape. He looked up, rubbing his face with both of his hands, paled and devastated. A small pained groan escaped his lips, stealing other people's attention. 

Gazes fell on them with varying expressions. Murmurs filled the ward and everyone was gossiping about Elena's affair and Nathan's pitiful state.

Erika's words brought silence among them. 

Then, after a few minutes, Elaine broke the quietness with her shaky, almost crying voice. "L–Let's talk about this at home. Honey, stop shouting. Nathan, go back home for now. We'll take care of things here."

Nathan did not reply. He just wiped his face and walked away. 

"I'm going too…" Erika commented and followed Nathan in haste. 

Elena barely had time to process everything that happened, when the pain in her stomach returned, not as sharp as before, but deep and concentrated to one part. She let out a low moan, her fingers twitching against the hospital sheets. 

Elaine watched Elean writhe in pain. She was at a loss for words after all that conversation. So, she simply turned to her husband who was watching them with indifferent eyes. "Call the doctor, honey. She's waking up."

Hector followed without a word. His steps were quick, it was as if he was finding a way to get out of that situation. He couldn't stomach what happened to Elena, and he felt ashamed while being under the scrutiny of other people's eyes.

Elena finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was her mother's worried yet disappointed face. She parted her lips to speak, but no words came out. She already heard it. She was pregnant. Her eyes darted to her stomach, and a terrifying urge to beat it surged inside her. Her hands gripped the bed's handrail tightly. 

Then, the doctor arrived and dropped the bomb in Elena's face. "You're six weeks pregnant, Ms. Russell. You experienced abdominal pain, which was likely caused by uterine cramping and stress-induced contractions due to many reasons…"

The doctor continued explaining, but it barely registered in Elena's head. Her mind screamed, rejecting the words, or the reality that hit her. Her lips parted, but nothing came. Her throat burned. 

Inside her was a growing life. A life that came from a creature she couldn't even believe existed. No, no, not this… I can't let it live! It will only suffer! She screamed inwardly. 

She grabbed the hand of the gynecologist, her eyes reddened and bulging like crazy, then with difficulty, she asked away, "H—How can I get rid of it?"

"Elena!" Elaine's voice crashed into the whole place. She snatched Elena's hands away from the doctor, giving her a warning look. She fumed, "How can you say that?! Abortion is not an option! It's a sin against God. You're not going to get rid of it!"

She dismissed the doctor after receiving the prescription and asked to be discharged right away. The whole ride, Elaine nagged Elena and reprimanded her for casually thinking about abortion. 

Once they were home, they found Nathan and Erika in the living room, waiting for their arrival. It was already dusk. The wind was colder, but nothing could freeze Elena's heart more than the stares she received from the people she called family.

She hadn't even walked a few steps from the door when Hector brought up the topic inconsiderately, no longer minding Erika's presence with them. 

"Elena. Were you raped?"

The question hit Elena like a slap. Her breath stilled. Her body was locked in place. She didn't want to say it, didn't want to make it real. But everything was real. Everything that happened to her that night was still vivid in her memories, haunting her in her sleep, every night. 

With a shaking breath, she forced herself to nod. 

Elaine crumbled. Her sobs tore through the air. Erika gasped in shock. Hector and Nathan both cursed loudly, their voices breaking as they shouted, rage spilling out like an open wound. 

"Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" Hector asked, shouting. 

"Elena, how could you…how could you keep this from us?!" Nathan voiced out hoarsely. He was furious, desperate, aggrieved. 

Elena trembled. Her hands gripped the hem of her shirt, her breath coming out ragged. She looked at them with blatant resentment, no longer hiding her emotions. "W—Why?" Her voice was barely audible, thin and brittle, as though it might break with a single touch. "Because you never listen! You never believed me! Because Erika always comes first! Because I have to be the good daughter, yet I was humiliated!"

She screamed, startling them all. "And I—I just wanted to pretend it didn't happen! No matter what I say… you're not going to believe me anyway."

She let out a shaky breath, swallowing down the ache in her throat. Her body curled in on itself, exhausted and spent. She walked away, her direction was her room, even though that small space no longer gave her comfort. But she couldn't complain. She had nowhere else to go.