The worry in Crista’s eyes seemed to have vanished in an instant as she heard my response.


    “Oh, thank the good god. After a long period of time apart, I’m sure your mother and you are catching up on old times. However, the next time you do this, you need to inform me about it first, okay? So that I won’t stress myself and think too much wondering where you are,” she spoke quietly, her eyes on the verge of welling up with tears.


    Crista’s hands were wrapped around my body, but I quickly removed them and said, “Okay. I’m going to take a shower first before my meeting.”


    Crista jogged my memory and said, “Jack, you don’t have any work today.”


    “Alvin and I have a scheduled meeting today,” I told her simply before turning around and walking into my wardrobe. I halted and looked to the side for a moment before leaving. “Also, please don’t say anything that isn’t true to my mom again.”


    I didn’t bother waiting for Crista to respond and instead continued on my way to the closet in my room. It should go without saying that Crista and I did not have anything nned for today. When she called mom to tell her that we had a n for today, Ipletely understood what she was saying, but I quickly realized that it was simply just her trying to get me to go home.


    Even just thinking about that made me more irritated than I already was.


    As I entered the restroom, I couldn’t help but let out a frustrated and unhappy sigh. Because hell, I’ve started missing my mom all over again. I desperately want to see her, touch her, and be with her.


    More and more, I felt like I was being pushed back to the period when life was only about the two of us. God, I want her to understand how I truly feel about her. I want her to acknowledge who I am and to take me back as I was before.


    Is that too much to ask after all?


    I had nned to get together with my buddies from high school so I headed to our meeting ce, a pub somewhere in the city, as soon as I could. There were several of my closest friends who had apanied me on previous vacations outside of town. As soon as I saw Isaac and Brandon, I smiled and gave each of them a cordial salute as well as a couple of fist bumps. “Been so long.”


    “How’s the life of a married man treating you, Jack?” The conversation started off with Isaac teasing me.


    We continued to drink despite the fact that the sun was shining and the temperature was rising outside the pub. I didn’t respond to the question and instead merely shrugged my shoulders.


    As more of our pals arrived and gathered together, the jeering andughing became increasingly boisterous.


    “What’s up, man? Not happy, are you?” Alvin asked. He was my closest friend among all of them. As always, he could sense whether I felt well or not at the time.N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    “You’re not going to tell me it’s a shotgun wedding, are you?” Isaac chimed in one more time.


    I let out a sigh and cocked my head before saying, “Guessed it right the first time.” As soon as the taunting died down, I started telling everyone about what went down between Crista and me and how it had been since then.


    Theyughed and shook their heads in a way that suggested they felt terrible about what had happened to me. Even I, in all honesty, had the same reaction.


    “How’s it going, Brad? Did you fix it with Ofelia?” Isaac asked next.


    The smile that had been stered on Brandon’s face vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and his expression quickly became serious and dark. “No, we split up. Chloe, that whore, is entirely at me for everything that has transpired here. Hell, her child isn’t mine. Because of her, my engagement with Ofelia was ruined. Ofelia left me… Chloe is the reason she left me. Shepletely messed up everything!” As he yelled his remarks, the aggravation and sadness that he felt could be seen in his eyes. After some time had passed, he broke down in tears as he recounted what had taken ce. “Ah… It fucking feels like hell… Ofelia… Please do not leave… Please… I’m making an effort… I’m so sorry… Please forgive me for everything I’ve done.”


    As I witnessed him break down in front of us with Isaac attempting to get him to sober up but failing miserably, I suddenly thought of the tale I heard from Brandon. Apparently, Brandon’s ex-girlfriend, Chloe, showed up at his and his fiancee’s engagement party and said that Brad was the father of the baby she was carrying. He believes this to be true. Only to discover a few weekster that he was not, in fact, the father of the child she was expecting. Because of it, Brandon and Ofelia’s marriage did not continue, and after Ofelia’s family learned that Brandon had cheated on her, Ofelia’s family did not want the marriage to continue any longer.


    I drew a deep breath and sipped from my ss. As I turned the ss around in my fingers, the thought of the same scenario kept popping into my head.


    What if Crista’s baby isn’t my child?


    Mom and Amy came flooding back to mind. The moment I saw Amy, I noticed a striking simrity between myself and her, particrly in my early years. Even mom remarked on how simr she seemed to a female version of myself. It was far too soon to make any assumptions, but I couldn’t find any simrities between myself and Yohan.


    I was lost in thoughts for so long that I failed to see that I had already taken out my phone and started texting Mom’s number. I told her that I was going to go where she was.


    I couldn’t wait to see her and our baby again.