0.02
1292 Words
-OLIVIA-
Dian and I never once lost eye contact during the entire procedure went by rapidly as the twinkle of a star. She looks much weaker than before the surgery. Almost lifeless. I tear up when her eyes tremble, the power of fate wills her to succumb to its arms but she still holds on. I know if she had a chance to make nine months come by swiftly in seconds, she would do anything for that to happen just to witness how precious her child would have turned up to be.
Our beds are close, allowing me to hold her delicate hand. Fernando walks in with two files. He smiles.
"How are you feeling, Dian?" He questions, going through the first file as he adjusts his lens.
"Weak" She mumbles and wince a little. She has been doing that a lot.
"What about you, Olivia?" He goes through the second file.
"Good,"
His eyes wander on the file, flipping it back and forth, pleased. I eye him and clear my throat, earning his attention.
"Is something wrong?" Dian asks.
"No, No. Everything's perfect" He exclaims. We both nod to his remark and face each other.
"What would you like to name it?" I try to lighten her mood.
"If it's a girl, Loretta. Lucas wanted that...has always wanted to name our baby girl that, that is if we ever had one." She smiles, with eyes brightening up like that of a shooting star.
"What if it's a boy?"
She stays silent for a moment.
"If it's a boy... Lucas preferred Lucious Lucious after his dad" A low tired yawn escapes her lips as she forces herself to stay awake.
"What would you have liked to name him?"
"Me?" She pauses and I nod. "Venus...I'd name him Venus"
"Venus Hay..." I try it on my tongue, not quite pleased with its feminine sound but I go along with it so as not to worry her in her last moments.
She shakes her head vehemently, gripping my hand tightly.
"Vasech. Let them carry your name. He doesn't have to ever know he's not yours, but a child of a weak, hopeless woman who couldn't keep any of her children alive. My soul will not be at peace if he gets to know that."
She sobs.
Her hands start trembling and her breathing slows. I watch the heavy rise and fall of her chest, stuck in a trance and unable to pull myself out. Realization dawns on me. This is it. The moment I lose her like I lost him. Memories flood in my head at a rate I cannot control and with no time to react to. The monitor beside her beeps continuously, showing a negative result. Blinded by tears and unable to move any part of my body, I lay still, savoring everything as more nurses rushed to her side and mine as well.
She's gone.
Dian's really gone.
The only person who managed to keep me in check. She left me with a child.
Her child.
My vision blurs and the voices surrounding me become too disturbing and far away. I keep falling and falling, unbothered by how long it will take to reach wherever I'm supposed to land.
"Where's Dian?"
She's gone. Dead.
"Olivia"
"Where's Dian?"
Sigh and a gentle hand wraps around one of mine. " She's gone."
I turned my head from side to side to find myself alone with Fernando in another suite.
"Mm."
"It's okay, Olivia. You have to be strong for both children" He takes my hand and places it on my stomach. That's when what he said hits me. He sees my furrowed eyebrows and parted lips, and replies to my confused look with a wide smile. "Meaning?"
"I just found out you were already less than a week pregnant before the surgery as rare as it sounds."
My face drops and I shift on the comfy bed.
"How?"
"It's very rare but happens. Will you inform Richard about all this? He's outside"
My head falls back on the pillow along with a fresh weight settling on my chest. Too many problems in just a day and the sun is yet to set too.
"No...No one has to ever know about this. I fainted from Dian's death and it turns out I'm pregnant. That's what everyone has to know. We should respect her last wish."
"I'll gladly do so...The hospital is crowded with the paparazzi but Richard's men have that under control. Someone might have leaked the news about you being under treatment."
****
My head hurts and my body aches. I let my head fall on the pillow as I pushed one more time. Richard stands at my side. He holds my hand, encouraging me as a nurse wipes my forehead with a cold drenched towel. I sink into his arms, letting myself soak into his attention and care which is rare to come by.
Turning my head from side to side, another cry slips pass my parted lips, my body unable to take the pain anymore. Fernando notices the hopelessness and sends an encouraging smile my way and a plea, begging me not to give up.
One more to go.
Just one more push, then I'll be relieved of this pain.
"One last push, Olivia," Fernando says, getting ready to pull it out of me. With every little strength left in me, I cry out gripping tightly onto the nurse and my husband. The cry of a second baby relaxes me. I free my shaky legs from their position.
"Well done." Richard smiles with his gaze following the crying children.
That's one thing that always tears my insides. He only smiles genuinely when I'm in this kind of pain. Richard engages me in a conversation as a nurse attends to the umbilical cords and everything left. A clearing of the throat cuts our conversation, drawing our attention.
"Congratulations....they're both boys"
Fernando holds two babies in each arm. He hands them to me. Holding them closer to my bosom for warmth. The one in my left arm flutters his eyes wide open. One look into those hazel eyes tells me he's mine. I look at Fernando to confirm and he answers positively with a nod. My son smiles then creases his forehead, exciting a little laugh from me. He has that fire in his eyes. The fire that lit just like mine.
My gaze shifts to the other just when his eyelids flutter open. I stare into blue eyes that look so much like Dian's.
"You have to breastfeed them," Fernando says.
I do so and watch them both cling to my breasts, sucking them in a competing manner with their hands clutched to their source of food.
"There is no resemblance," Richard says with a smile.
"They're fraternal." Fernando intrudes.
"He has blue eyes? " Richard rhetorically asks.
I look at my son and he returns my look with eyes wide and bright. My heart is drawn to him much more than I ever thought.
"Mummy!"
Zendaya, Carl, and Daniel come rushing to my side with the former leading.
Zendaya takes their tiny hands into hers.
"They're so pretty! " Carl exclaims.
"You got to name them, dear...only this one though" I gesture to my child.
"Yay!"
Zen exclaims.
"A name..." Zendaya pauses, holding her chubby cheeks in her palms in thoughts.
"Amaury...meaning bravery and power. I learned it from school!" She adds earning a pat on the head from Richard.
"Amaury Lewis Vasech," I say.
He giggles and focuses on his first meal.
"What about him?" Carl questions.
The question brings warmth to my belly.
"Little Venus... Venus Vasech" I whisper and bless him with a gentle kiss on his head.
- Writer
