KATRINA:
Thud!
I landed heavily on the tarred floor of the road, bruising my left arm in the process. Turning to glare at the woman before me, my lips parted in disbelief at what she had just done without looking remorseful or shaken by her actions. Laura Rivera, the mother of the man I had just gotten engaged to. She had a smug smile on her face as she held my gaze, I understood she never liked me right from the first time her Son introduced me to her but her being this brutal, I never believed.
The Rivera household was one of the most influential and stinkingly wealthy people in L.A, they owned one of the biggest conglomerates In the city, Denmark Holdings. I was just a simple girl from a small well-to-do home who had just simply fallen in love with a wealthy billionaire like Christian Rivera. Till this day, I keep wondering what he saw in a simple plain woman like me when he had classy and sophisticated women fawning over him and desiring his attention. Guiding my unbruised right arm to my waist, I lifted myself from the ground ready to bash the woman with all the hurt I had cooking up in me.
Maybe Mom was right after all, I could never meet up to the class and expectations of these wealthy people, I was nowhere close to their league. On second thoughts, Christian already made his intentions known, he was going to marry me and had even proposed with the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen in my life and he loved me too, that was enough to fight for my place in his life, right?
“Take yourself out of my house and out of my son's life! He's never going to marry you, I’ll make sure of that!” Her yelling voice came through, jolting me out of my thoughts, she wiggled her finger in my face aggressively, she looked vicious and mad, I had to swallow a lump in my throat to steady myself from being shaken by her threats.
“ That's not up to you ma'am, only Christian can decide what goes on between us and I’ll appreciate it if you stay clear of our relationship and not try to be a meddlesome third wheel” I found myself saying and without waiting for her response, I turned to my heels and walked out of the mansion premises.
Flagging a cab and jumping into it, I angrily dialed Christian’s number. I was all pumped up to scream out to him the frustrations and anger his mom had planted in me that afternoon, while my eyes stung with brewing tears. His number kept diverting to voicemail and at the third dial with no response, I angrily threw the phone into my mini tote bag in exasperation. We hadn't even gone public with our relationship, all I saw every day on TV and blogs were rumors about the mysterious woman he was allegedly dating. On some occasions, I had found photos of us on social media outlets, secretly taken with my face nowhere in sight or blurred. I understood this was the life I would get into once we were married but I was ready to take it all, as long as we were together.
His mother's words kept echoing in my head and for some uncertain reason, my heart began thumping loudly in fear of what she could do to detach me from her son’s life. She was someone I shouldn't underestimate.
“Ma'am, we are here” I heard the cab driver say, with a weak wave of the hand to signal that I heard him, I stepped out of the cab and was already walking away when he called after me angrily.
“Hey! My money—do I look like I'm running some charity work? Huh?!” The man yelled and as the realization hit me, I ran back to where the cab was parked, mentally chiding myself for being so carried away in my thoughts.
“Here now, I'm so sorry—” I started, breathing heavily as sudden fatigue washed over me.
“Save that for yourself, miss, I know people like you!” he retorted while snatching the cash from me and as he started the engine to drive away, I furiously kicked the cab impulsively.
“Get lost! You bloody heifer!” I barked after the cab that was already zooming away, the wind blowing right through my hair as it scattered across my face, with one angry shove at the hair, I walked into my apartment, one I shared with my mom and step-sister. My head was suddenly spinning by the time I got in and what welcomed me was a slap to my face.
My legs gave way and I fell to the ground like some heap of dirt. wiping away the tears that were already threatening to fall, I raised my head to meet the scornful look from my mom as she eyed me maliciously. Anger seethed through me as I forced myself up from the floor, clenching my fist, I could hear Rosalyn my step-sister cackle from where she sat on the cushion, filing her nails.
“What was that for?” I fumed angrily as she pulled out a pink pregnancy kit test from behind her, my breathing hitched and panic washed over my face as I quickly snatched it from her. I had gotten it from a convenience store the previous day because of the constant throw-ups I was having, fear had enveloped me the previous night and I couldn't sleep a wink as uncertainty loomed at what the outcome of the test would be, I had been both happy and nervous as hell at the thought of having a baby for the man I loved.
“What do you have that for? Don't tell me you've gone and slept with a man you aren't even sure would get married to you!” She spat at me furiously while pointing at the pregnancy kit in my hand, I threw my face away to hide the guilt in my eyes as I moved away from her.
“Why did you go through my things?!—I’m a grown-up woman at twenty-three for crying out loud, it's high time you stop treating me like a kid!” I yelled back at her, throwing my hands up in the air as I talked. I never understood why she despised me so much, she hated my very guts to the core and I was done trying to get on her good side.
“Are you pregnant, Katrina?” She suddenly asked and I was taken aback. I gulped, not knowing the answer myself and there was only one way to find out.
“Even if I am, why does it matter? I'm engaged to him already!” I defended showing her the ring on my finger as a reminder before storming into my room.
“He's gonna dump her, I'm sure of it! How would a sophisticated man like Christian Rivera get married to someone like her?” I heard my sister say, mock evident in her voice and at that moment all my resolve slowly melted as I let her words get to me. Touching my wet face, tears I had been holding back all through the day were already falling freely, and In fury to prove them all wrong, I dashed to the bathroom.
*****
Standing there and waiting, it felt like an eternity and as I was getting prepared to relax my nerves in relief, the second line slowly appeared on the stick, my left palm flew to my mouth as I stared with wide-eye.
“Let me see!” I suddenly heard and the stick was snatched from me, turning to see Rosalyn my blood boiled.
“What do you think you are doing? Give that back!”
“Omg! Katrina you are pregnant!”