<h4>Chapter 41: Two Positives</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    The hotel room was modest but clean. There was a queen bed, a hot shower, and fresh towels.


    And as I stood in the middle of it, I felt an overwhelming sense washing upon me.


    I dropped my bag by the door and settled down at the edge of the bed. A momentter, I picked up the phone, unlocked it, and stared at the saved contact.


    <strong>Professor Kieran. </strong>


    That’s how he had saved his contact. Opening the message box, I quickly tyoed: <i>Got the room. Thanks</i>.


    Barely seconds passed by before the phone buzzed with a reply.


    <i>Good. Rest tonight. Start fresh tomorrow.</i>


    I stared at the screen for a long time. Then I put the phone down, let out a deep exhale, and let myself fall back against the bed.


    I had three days to prepare. To be the girl who topped the entrance test. To survive Silver Moon Academy.


    And somehow... to keep my secrets buried where they belonged.


    * * *


    The next morning, I left the hotel early with the list Professor Kieran gave me. The air was still crisp and the streets half-empty as the town slowly woke up.


    Though there wasn’t a need for it anymore, I was still wearing the mask. Thest thing I wanted was to draw attention. Who knew if the other applicants of the exam were present in this town.


    The first thing I bought was the Academy’s uniform - two pairs of it, one for daily wear and one spare in case of damage. I also got a simple sportswear in deep blue, made from breathable fabric as listed on the Academy requirements.


    I stuck to the list and only the list.


    Books, notebooks, pens, an enchanted rm crystal... check, check, and check.


    By the time I was done, my bag was heavy, but my heart was lighter. The card Professor Kieran gave me still had plenty left on it... I knew that. But I refused to use more than I had to.


    I didn’t need more clothes, or food, or extras. The hotel room and meals were already covered. And thanks to that ridiculous midnight shopping spree he forced me into before the tests, I had more than enough clothes and daily essentials tost the semester.


    So I told myself I was done.


    I should have been done.


    But as I stood at the corner of the street, waiting for the light to change, my eyes drifted to the pharmacy across the road... and I stopped breathing.


    Though I didn’t want to waste his money, I knew I needed to do this. I quickly crossed the road and walked straight into the store.


    I didn’t say a word as I moved through the aisles and grabbed two boxes the moment I found them before heading to the self-checkout. I paid in cash, some crumpled bills I got as change at the previous store.


    Thest thing I wanted was a digital receipt to be sent to Professor Kieran’s phone about my purchase at this store with his card. No one could know about it, certainly not him.


    Ten minutester, I was back in my hotel room. And the boxes were sitting on the bathroom sink.


    I stared at them for a long time.


    My heart was thundering in my chest as I finally opened it and followed the instructions. The silence in the room was suffocating.


    Three minutes.


    That’s all it took.


    Three minutes to change everything. To confirm what I had known for a while by now.


    The first test turned out positive.


    <fnca52> Th?s chapter is updated by FindN0vel</fnca52>


    I sat down on the closed lid of the toilet, staring at it in stunned silence.


    Thest bit of hope I still had, it left me. But I still grabbed the second stick and did it again with trembling hands.


    Another three minutes and a second positive result.


    My head hit the wall behind me, and I shut my eyes tight, trying to will away the truth. But it was there. Clear. Unavoidable.


    I was pregnant.


    Now I was carrying a life inside me.


    I looked down at my stomach, it was t and quiet. Nothing was showing. Nothing was moving. But I was able to feel it now. That subtle, terrifying awareness.


    I didn’t know whether to scream or cry or just crawl under the bed and disappear forever. Even if I believed all this time that I was pregnant, there was still a part of me that was expecting it all to turn out as a false rm.


    But not anymore.


    I grabbed both tests and covered them with tissues and packaging so they wouldn’t be seen before shoving them deep into the trash. My hands were still trembling as I washed them and sshed cold water on my face.


    I looked up at my reflection.


    I was still Evaline Greystone. Still the top applicant of the entrance exams.


    But now?


    Now I was also something more.


    A mother.


    I pressed a hand over my stomach. All it took was just that fleeting moment where I made up my mind.


    "I’ll protect you," I whispered.


    The words came unbidden, shaky but sure.


    "I don’t know how yet... but I will."


    And just like that, I knew. I couldn’t afford to break down. Not now.


    I had made it this far. And I was going to survive the Academy. And I was going to find a way to keep all my secrets hidden, no matter what it would take.


    I wasn’t keeping the baby because I had no way to safely abort it, but because I just couldn’t make myself end an innocent life.


    And I was determined to make sure that my child would have a safe environment growing up. A house, friends, and a future.


    I was ready to fight, tooth and w, for the life growing inside me, because no one else ever had for me.


    I would be the kind of mother I never had.


    Even if I had to do it all alone.