Chapter 8 - Hasty Decisions.

Amelia hated painting the sunset as much as she hated painting the sunrise but when she had stopped for a minute and looked out her window, she was confronted with a beautiful sight.

The yellow sun had changed to hues of orange, and then almost tangerine. It merged with the sky, like juice-mix dissolving in a clear glass of water. The clouds were like cotton-candy, as though they blushed at the warm touch of the sun. Silhouettes of birds flew home across a sky that was slowly turning into magenta; and the sun was half submerged. The mauve of the dusky sky intensified, and in just a while, the biggest star had started to set, giving way to a thousand others.

The garden gave the best view, besides Amelia wanted to draw it from the garden, not because she wanted the sunset to be the main highlight, but because she wanted it to be the backdrop of her painting. She she ran out of the house with her easel, paints and her painting brushes, dropping almost everything and causing a mess.

The garden was beautiful, kept in perfect shape and groomed three times in a week by the two gardeners the Blacks hired, it was a perfect paradise when in summer. That was when the colours popped out the most. There was a circular well groomed lawn that was always mowed short. The bonsai trees lined the perfect lawn in their wooden boxes, making it look like the perfect modern garden. In the centre there was an artificial pond as large as a small lake with flowering lily pads and a wooden bridge that crossed the middle so you could look down at the koi carp. The flower beds were a riot of May colours and even on close inspection they were weed-free. Amelia loved the garden and the beautiful flowers but she wasn't much of a gardener. She loved to admire the pretty scenery and paint it sometimes, but she didn't love it enough to get her hands dirty for it. And that was good enough for her.

She was still in her thoughts, trying to capture the beautiful subset with quick strokes and an outline before it went away. Xavier came out the backdoor to find her.

"You'll catch a cold walking around like that. Come in."

He said as he slowly put a blanket around her, Amelia didn't even notice that the midnight air was a bit chilly.

"I'll be fine." She murmured as she swatted Xavier's fussy hands away, there was a brush in her mouth and her unruly hair was slowly catching the oranges and pinks of her paint brushes. Xavier shook his head, Amelia could be a messy painter sometimes.

"What do you want for dinner? Should we order?"

Amelia shook her head, they ordered takeout at least once a week. Half of the time it was Chinese or Thai food or greasy burgers and the other half of the time it was pizza. Pizza and pizza and more pizza. They always had lots of fun choosing out what type of pizza they wanted to order. But Amelia wasn't really feeling up to eating takeout.
What she really wanted was a wholesome bowl of ramen noodles and a lovely warm bath. Then she would go to sleep. It had been a long Sunday and Xavier's cousins had given them a lot to do. She was planning on sleeping very soon.

"I just want noodles. What about you?"

Xavier shrugged as he stood next to Amelia, observing her every stroke on the canvas that was slowly coming to life with colours.

"I'm not sure yet. Since we're not ordering today maybe a salad should do. What do you think?"

He asked and she nodded in agreement.

"That's okay too."

He wondered if it was a good time to bring up Daphne's high risk pregnancy to Amelia. He wanted to tell her the day before but she had been so preoccupied with the kids that they couldn't really have a conversation. And his aunt had started pestering him with different questions since Amelia told her everything that happened.

Sometimes it felt like Amelia was trying very hard to ignore the whole baby issue, to fade it out of her mind as if Daphne and the baby didn't exist. Xavier didn't blame her, he only wished he could do the same. But he didn't have the liberty to do it, he was the father of the baby after all.

"What do you think?"

Amelia's voice brought Xavier out of his pool of thoughts and he inspected the painting. It was coming along very well.

"It's pretty impressive. Although I was expecting you to use more vibrant colours. It kind of has a dark undertone to it."

"Hmmmm."

She cocked her head to the side as she studied the painting.

"I guess you're kinda right. But I think I managed to capture the colours of the sunset pretty well didn't I?"

Xavier nodded impressively.

"That you did. I must say it's a beautiful sunset."

Amelia blushed as she curtsied a little.

"Why thank you kind sir."

"Although..."

Xavier added and she rolled her eyes at him.

"The colours for the garden are pretty dark in my opinion."

"Okay okay! I hear you!"

Amelia said as she went back to her painting. Xavier hugged her from behind and kissed her neck tenderly. Amelia settled in his embrace.

"Come on. Let's go inside. We can watch a movie and eat ramen together."

He coaxed her as he gently kissed her ear as he whispered the words into them. His hot breath tickled Amelia deliciously.

"Hnmmm. Okay. Movies and Ramen it is. But I get to pick the movie."

"Sure. Only if we're not rewatching Fifty shades again. I swear I'm tired of it."

Amelia lightly jabbed Xavier as they turned to leave the garden.

"It's not that bad. Okay you pick the movie this time as long as it's not some boring SciFi..."




Amelia was fast asleep, it was about four in the morning when Daphne's incessant phone calls finally woke Xavier up. He had been ignoring his phone ringing for so long, silently cursing himself for forgetting to turn off his phone for the night. Amelia was fast asleep, they had stayed up late in the theatre until it was two am and Amelia being a heavy sleeper who loved her sleep wasn't going to wake up till it was around eleven in the morning. He slowly sneaked out of bed and ran into the bathroom to pick up the call.

"Daphne, it's four in the morning! What the actual hell?"

He whispered into the phone with burning anger. There was no reply from her end except little tiny whimpers.

After a few seconds, Xavier's anger dissipated and he became increasingly worried.

"Oh God Xavier! I'm bleeding! I've been calling you because I woke up and I saw so much blood and I just didn't know what to do."

There was so much sobbing and background noise that it was hard for Xavier to actually make out any of her words. But when he finally did, his eyes widened in fear as he realized what Daphne meant.

"What? Are you okay? I'm coming there now!"

More sobs and whimpers from Daphne's side.

"I'm actually in the hospital. I just need you to come over right now. Please, I'm all alone here."

She pleaded and Xavier nodded. He collected the address of where she was and hurried back into the room, he debated whether or not to wake up his wife as he walked into the closet and picked up a pair of sweatpants and a black T-shirt. He looked at Amelia again wondering if he should wake her up.

He knew she would have many questions and the first thirty minutes of Amelia abruptly waking up was filled with mumbo jumbo and incoherent statements.

Xavier decided that he would tell her everything that happened when he got back.




At the hospital, the doctor had ruled out the bleeding as vaginal bleeding, it was around that time that Xavier finally reached the hospital. He gave Daphne a few drugs to use and he ordered her to have lots of bed rest or he was going to put her on mandatory bed rest in the hospital. After signing her release documents and everything else, Xavier and Daphne left a quarter to six am. Xavier was relieved that nothing happened to Daphne who had cried throughout their entire trip back to her apartment about how terrified she had been.

When they reached her apartment, he wanted to make sure she was settled back in bed before he left, so he decided to escort her.

Daphne unlocked her apartment door and invited Xavier in. The first thing he noticed was that the boxes on the floor. Boxes and stay items littered all over the floor. It was a literal packing mess.

"What's going on here? Are you moving?" Xavier asked and Daphne shrugged

"I was evicted from the apartment."

She said slowly as she settled in on a sofa

"Do you want some water or something to eat or drink?"

She asked as she started taking off her shoes. Xavier shook his head.

"Why?"

"I'm behind on my rent and all. I have to leave today."


"Why? Why didn't you tell me?"

Daphne shot Xavier a look as she chuckled.

"Tell you? And what would you have done? Nothing."

"Come on! You should have told me. Where are you moving to? Maybe I can help you with packing."

Daphne lowered her head.

"I don't know where I'm moving to. I don't have money right now. If you've noticed the acting jobs and offers aren't really coming in right now."

There was a long silence between them as Xavier wondered how he didn't know that Daphne was going through so much. He had been so blinded by her shortcomings that he failed to see what was going on with her.

"What if I give you some money and I set you up somewhere else?"

Xavier asked and Daphne sighed.

"Money? Is that really the only way you can think of solving all your problems?"

Xavier shrugged as he folded his arms.

"Yes, you don't have a house, I'll help you get a new one. You're having my child. You deserve that much."

"Ugh! I'm so sick and tired of you thinking money can solve everything! Just imagine what happened today! I was all alone, without any help, not even from you! I could have lost the baby."

"I know you don't care much about it but this baby means the world to me right now."

Daphne said as she laid her hands on her belly and smiled.

"What do you want me to do?"

Xavier asked slowly and Daphne shrugged.

She walked up to him and held his hand, looking into his intense blue eyes. She reached out to caress his face and he took a step back reminding her about boundaries. Daphne pretended not to be offended by the rejection.

She took his hand and laid it flat against her belly.

"I just want you, I want you to be there for us. I know it's impossible, but you should at least try. Promise me this."

Xavier shook his head slowly.

"Daphne..." He warned but she wasn't listening.

"Just say you'll be there for your baby."

"You know I will. I'll do everything in my power to be there for him."

Daphne nodded slowly.

"I need a favour."


"What is it?"

"Can I crash at your place? Even if it's for a few days? I just really need to get myself together in a safe and secure environment you know?"

Xavier shook his head.

"You know that's impossible right?"

"How is it impossible? I know you're married to Amelia and you love her. I'm not going to do anything to jeopardise that. I swear I won't."

"But I'm genuinely scared something is going to happen and I'm going to lose this baby. But I always feel safer when I'm around you. I even think the baby feels safer when I'm around you."

"Daphne...."

"Please Xavier. I can't even sleep here tonight without thinking of all that happened here. The blood, the pain. Oh! It's all too much!"

She Exclaimed as she buried her head in her hands and started sobbing again.

Xavier watched her sob for a while. His mind was conflicted. He was divided. He didn't want to leave Daphne alone, but bringing her to his home could cause problems. He knew she was probably very scared and the thought of having a miscarriage must have shaken her up pretty badly.

He looked around the apartment, it was a mess too, she must have felt so lonely sleeping alone.

He really couldn't imagine her staying all alone all over again.

"Pack a night bag. Let's go."


As the words left Xavier's mouth, he knew what Amelia's reaction would be.

But he couldn't imagine how disappointed at him she was going to be.