Chapter 44

Minerva’s POV

 

Mariella is bearing little Hemera in her arms.

            I just recently woke up after a day and a half, and I immediately saw the two of them. I looked to the left and I found Darwin sleeping soundly on the coffee-colored couch.

            “How’s little Hemera?” I asked.

            Mariella Chu’s brows rose. “Hemera?”

            I tried to sit up but my head ended up falling back to the pillow. “Yes. Her name is Hemera Lou.”

            A shock look on her face made me cackle. “Why? You didn’t expect that we’ll name her sooner?”

            We because Darwin and I named her. In fact, it was only him who named her. I just added Lou as her second name, derived from my favorite young adult book series, Serpent & Dove.

            I glanced at him and I forced a smile. “How are you after that—“ I took a breath, a pause before continuing. ”That rejection of your offer?”

            Why do I make it sound like Mariella is offering me a huge business deal and I simply just didn’t acknowledge and reject it?

            Sorrow shimmered in her onyx eyes. “I’m okay now, Minerva. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

            I smiled at her and reached for her hand. She instead let me hold little Hemera’s. “Plus I also got myself a boyfriend,” she added.

            I froze. Looking up to her, her grin now reaches her ears. “A boyfriend?” I don’t know what I should be astonished of—Mariella speaking the word ‘boyfriend’ in probably the first in the century or the fact she already has one in less than a million years I’d expect her to have.         

            “Who is it then?” I asked. 

A man entered my hospital room and it was Lushan Angeles. I almost forgot to breathe when he gave her a kiss on the lips. On. Her. Freaking. Lips.

            “Oh…” that was all I muttered. Darwin finally woke up and I smiled at him. But he immediately averted his eyes on Lushan and Mariella, their two hands intertwined to each other like a magnet that is difficult to separate.

            I was about to open my mouth when Mariella put Hemera on my lap and faced the two.    “Boys…can you leave us for a second?”  She said while putting her hands on her waist.

            “Of course,”Lushan purred. Darwin didn’t so much as whisper. Lushan went straight for the door before squeezing Mariella’s hands in front of my two, sapphire blue eyes.

***

 Mariella’s POV

 

I have told Minerva everything.

            From the bribing of Jocelyn and the fact that Jocelyn wants her baby gone due to Hemera not being Darwin’s child and instead of Derrick. All of it.

            Though, in my observations, Jocelyn seems hesitant in speaking and talking about Derrick. I wonder if he and she had somehow had a connection or this is just my result of too much reading pocketbooks and watching telenovelas.

            Jocelyn thought I was just a random nurse that can easily be tempted by money. I am not. I will not, no matter what. Because in the first place, I am already from a well-off family. I am born with a silver spoon, I can easily summon money in a snap of a finger. That’s why I chose to be a nurse because I wanted to help people aside from giving money to orphanages and charities.

            It’s ten minutes before midnight and I was on my way to grab a midnight snack when I heard gossip at the nurse station.

            “Hey, have you heard that the billionaire’s daughter-in-law just recently gave birth?”

            “What’s the name of the billionaire?” The other nurse nudged her, both of them are new to my eyes. Probably a nurse that just recently passed their internship I guess.

            “Damon Gray. His name is so hot and you know what, he’s a total DILF!” They chucked and I sat on the row of metal chairs in front of them, pretending that I was listening to music but in fact, I didn’t even install it to my phone.

            “I heard earlier, since he was talking to his lawyer near the nurse station that he’ll be divorcing his current wife and is going to marry a well-known prostitute!”

            “Really? What’s the name of the prostitute?”

            I silently watched the other brunette nurse show her blonde nurse her phone. “That’s her. I heard she was once the colleague of that adult actress Mia something.”

            “Wow. I pity his current wife. But I heard from my boyfriend who works at the Gray Co. that the current Mrs. Gray is an absolute Karen.”

            “Yeah, I’ve also seen several tweets about her. I heard she also collects men and just dumps them anytime she wants. Totally gross!”

            As I was listening to the gossip, I can conclude who that adult actress they were talking about. Minerva told me a friend of Darwin’s and his housekeeper was a former prostitute.

            It’s sad to know that people still remember you for who you once were, even though you already entered a new stage of your life…

            I saw a coffee vending machine nearby and realized it was newly installed here. Glad that I sat here and listened to the gossip. I picked the cappuccino one and was about to sip when I heard Jocelyn’s voice near the stairs.

            Gosh, Jocelyn probably heard from the two gossiping nurses or maybe she already knew that information beforehand. Or maybe Mr. Gray had told her all of that face to face, leading her to this scene.

            There she was, lying on the floor by her side. She wasn’t wearing her magenta high heels.

            I brought my hand to my mouth when Jocelyn Angeles-Gray’s shrieking and shouting began again while repeatedly hitting the wall in utter anger and dismay.

***

Derrick’s POV

 

I broke up with her.

            I dumped Jocelyn for two reasons: Minerva’s pregnant and she’s obviously and immensely obsessed towards me to the point that the only thing she didn’t do is by installing a chain on my neck.

            I wouldn’t let her enter my life nor ours—me and Minerva’s life—ever and ever again.

            I started my car and placed my unfinished can of beer on the seat beside me. I opened the window and savored the cold night’s air, letting it sink into my essence. I poke out my head outside to clear my worries. Well, my worries are already cleared but I want my head to be empty except for my fiancée and our upcoming baby.

            It’s true to what they said. You never know how happy a man is upon knowing he’s a father until you become one. When I was still gambling, all my mind would say that there’s no more important than winning a game and drinking then gamble again.

            But when Minerva told me she’s carrying a life in her womb…I quit my gambling lifestyle. At that very moment came the plans I wanted to do with my soon-to-be wife, our soon-to-be child, and my life in the future.

            I realized then that life is a gamble already. Why gamble more when you are already gambling by living?

            What I felt when I was gambling in the casino was also the emotion I felt for my child: nothing more is important than seeing your baby—your own flesh and bone and blood—smile at you for the first, the first among the many smiles to come. The feeling that, at long last, you’ve won.

            My phone rang from the backseat and I picked it up. It was only a matter of seconds that I managed to grab it from behind. My eyes are on the road and backseat, then to the backseat to the road.

            But, it was also a matter of seconds before I realized there was a huge truck coming towards me.

            Everything crashed, everything wrecked. All around me was destroyed. That was all I witness before I close my eyes…forever.