A Christmas Wedding: Hiding His Twins

Aileen Do you know what happens after you catch your boyfriend cheating on you? Have a one night stand with a stranger? Well, that's what happened to me but instead of a stranger, I ended up in bed with my brother's best friend. Caleb ànd I dated for three years before we decided to make it official. So you can imagine how hurt I was when I found him balls deep insíde none other than the nemesis of my existence,Emma Collins. Emma and I grew in the same social circle but we're like water and oil. She couldn't stand me and the feeling was mutual. I hated her bitchy behavior and she said I was a pretender, a goody two-shoe. What did she know though? That's how I was raised and expected to behave. Being the daughter of the infamous Carter family demanded elegance, poise and charisma anywhere in public. Emma always wanted to prove to me that she was better than me. Everything was like a competition to her.Maybe that's why of all the men she could sleep with,she chose Caleb,my then fiance. Caleb ànd I grew together. Their family worked closely with the Carter family. Growing up, he cared for me like a little sister. It's no wonder I ended up falling in love with him. His betrayal shattered me and I ended up getting drunk. How I crawled in bed with Lake is still a mystery to me. When I woke up the following morning,I did the only thing I deemed fit; leave as quietly as possible. When I stepped inside the house to meet the whole family having breakfast, I did the walk of shame. The furious look on my father's face and the disappointed look on my mother's face shattered my already broken heart. To them, keeping yourself chaste till marriage was the ultimate goal yet the evidence of what transpired the previous night sold me out. “ We will start making arrangements for your wedding with Caleb?" Those were my father's words when he summoned me to his study room later. “ I hope you didn't spread your legs for any random man, Aileen." My mother had said, a look of disapproval on her face. Scared, I shook my head. I could not bear the look she would wear on her face if I said I slept with someone who isn't my fiance. I wasn't going to risk saying Lake's name,the last thing I needed was him resenting me for making him enter an arranged marriage. So, I made another hasty decision; threaten Caleb into agreeing to our marriage. With a video clip of his affair with Emma while engaged to me in public ,that was like throwing a chicken into a room full of crocodiles. I knew he could not risk the reputation of his family company which he was running. His father would have skinned him alive. So, I took advantage of that, and used him while I plotted my escape. My plan was to escape on our wedding day, well, that's until I discovered something else that shocked me. Pregnant? After a one night stand? How unlucky could I have got to carry a baby after a night of Indulgence? If losing my chastity was bad, getting pregnant out of wedlock would have guaranteed being banished from the family. I didn't wait to face that fate though so I left the country a week after I discovered my condition. I couldn't risk any of my family learning about it and be driven out like a shameless slut even though that's what I reduced myself to. Worse would be getting my ass dragged to a clinic and being forced to abort the child. No matter the circumstances the child was conceived in or whoever the father was, the child was already a part of me, one that I wasn't going to allow anyone to take away from me. There's a time I contemplated telling Lake about our baby, but when I saw a new woman in hís arms, I discarded that thought. I remember how I cursed him endlessly in my mind that day. It was barely a month after our encounter and he was already flaunting a new woman? Was he trying to tell me that what happened between us didn't mean s**t to him or did he simply forget the woman he had exhausted that night? At the end of it all, I chose to keep my pregnancy to myself. “A roundtrip or one way Miss Carter?" The lady at the ticket counter asks, pulling me from my thoughts. “ One way, please." I reply, flashing her a smile. “ Moving to Italy for good? I hear romance sparks in that country." She beams at me ànd I can't help but smile wider. “ Yeah, but love is a big scam. Never fall for it.” I remind her and her smile drops, replaced by pity. I don't drop my smile which I have mastered all my life but my heart clenches at her reaction. I mentally scold myself. Did I really have to make such careless comment? Just because s**t didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't for others. “ Have a safe trip to Italy, ma'am.” The kind lady says and I nod, smiling. " Good luck finding genuine love. Although hard to come by, it exists.” I tell her and her smile returns. I push my small luggage to the waiting room and settle under international flights. My phone vibrates on my porch and I retrieve it. A message pops on the screen that has me smiling. “ Have a safe trip cupcake. I'll miss you, keep in touch." A smile breaks on my lips seeing the message. “ I love you too." I type before switching the phone off. Minutes later, my flight announcement sounds on the speakers and I sigh, grabbing my boarding pass and my luggage with the other hand. I turn around, probably hoping someone would come running to stop me from leaving only to chuckle when I realize I am not some character from a fantasy story. No one is coming for me, that's my reality. “ Goodbye Los Angeles.”