Dawn's Pov

My heart thundered heavily in my chest as I released slow pants.

It made sense.

It all made sense.

God, I wanted to believe this wasn't true. I wanted to believe that David wouldn't lie to me without having a valid reason to, I wanted to believe that he wouldn't hurt me like this. He said he wouldn't right? So he wouldn't.

But what if...

What if he was really cheating on me?

What if Paula had been right all along and he was actually... I held my chest and leaned over the desk, panting. Oh, God.

"Dawn." Paula rubbed my shoulders. Her brows pushed together. "Are you alright?"

How could I be?

How could anyone be alright in a situation as complicated and as confusing as this?

"If you need to sit." The Secretary chided, gesturing to the white couch resting against the glass floor-to-ceiling window reflecting the pleasant skyline filled with floating white clouds.

My throat closed up. "Thank you but we'll take our leave now." I breathed, finding my voice. My attention shifted to Paula. "Let's go."

"But we're—"

"Please." I pleaded, cutting her short.

She frowned as she weighed my mood. "Alright fine." She finally agreed. "Let's go."

The walk to the car was silent, I didn't say a word. I didn't know what to say. My mind was racing in circles, trying to understand what the hell this meant.

"Dawn," Paula called the moment we reached the parking lot.

I kept walking. I didn't want to talk to her. If anything I was sure she thought of me as stupid and naive.

"Hey, Dawn." She nagged but I kept on walking until I reached my car and grabbed the door handle.

"Araceli, I'm talking to you."

Her words made me stop. I inhaled a shaky breath and turned. "Fine, you win okay." I drawled out. "You were right all along, your instincts are top-notch. My husband lied to me and he's probably cheating on me." My lip quivered and my eyes blurred, making it difficult to see her. "You can go on with the big 'I told you so' and lecture me on how naive I was but make it quick because I need to leave and go home and..."

"Oh, Dawn." She grabbed my hand and pulled me into her chest. "Geez please don't cry."

My helplessness and confusion converted into the tears that now slid down my cheeks. I wrapped my hand around her waist and buried my face into her shoulders. "I'm scared," I confessed, sobbing. "I don't want this to be true Paula... I love him so much, I don't know how I'll handle it. I don't—" I choked on my wails. "I don't—"

"Shh..." She held me tighter and soothed my back with pats. "I know I said he might be cheating but maybe he isn't okay. Maybe he has a reason for skipping work today." Her words were meant to soothe me but they didn't. I didn't feel better. My heart ached. All my tangled mind wanted was to see David and have him look me in the eyes when he told me the truth.

"Hey, listen." She pulled away to look at me. "What you need to do right now is go home, rest, and get ready to engage your husband when he comes, okay?" She cleaned my cheeks. "Don't do anything rash okay? Remember you're pregnant and you need to take care of your child, physically and mentally."

When I did nothing but continue to weep, she shook my shoulders gently. "Dawn you need to listen to me! Stop freaking crying!"

"I'm trying!" I shot back, not understanding my irrational behavior. I tried to wipe my eyes but the onslaught of tears just kept pouring and the man passing must have thought I was crazy. Maybe I was. "I don't know why I'm like this. I'm not usually this emotional."

"It's your hormones, it's okay." She rubbed my arm. "Just take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale."

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, filling my lungs, trying to recover what was left of my serenity. When I opened my eyes and exhaled the warm breath, my heart steadied to its regular rhythm.

"You know what, take the car and go home, I'll take a taxi back to the office. You better not cry anymore."

I swallowed back my tears and wiped my eyes one last time. "I won't."

"I'll call you." She kissed me on the cheek. "Get going."

With her standing and watching, I got into my car, started up the engine, and drove off whilst clutching the steering wheel tight as I made a bold attempt to gather my thoughts but it wasn't working.

My mind was a mess. I had this intense urge to throw up. In the middle of a light traffic jam, I pulled out my phone from my purse and called David. The first one rang, and so did the second and the third but he didn't pick.

I tossed the phone aside once the jam cleared and drove. I could scream. I wanted to. I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch this stupid steering wheel with my fist and honk aggressively until I felt better but I couldn't because I told Paula I wouldn't flip.

So I drove home, knuckles white, eyes red and swollen from constant wiping, cheeks hot from anger.

Showering was my first thought. I needed it. I needed to cool off and think rationally. Clad in nothing, I walked in, allowing the heavy streams of water to ease my tension.

It worked. For the most part of it, I didn't feel like crashing the house or yelling at the top of my voice, or cursing David through the phone. Although, stepping out and glancing at the bed did make me remember the things he'd done to me and it made me feel revolted and grim.

Food.

The next best thing.

Phone in hand, I padded down the staircase in my t-shirt and track pants. My hair was wet, I didn't dry it. It soaked my shirt but I didn't care. I placed my phone on the island, opened the fridge, and skimmed through.

Nothing.

I crouched down to the freezer and looked.

Nothing.

I was staring at so many varieties of food but I didn't crave any of them.

What the hell was wrong with me?

My appetite was as unstable as my mind.

Rather aggressively, I opened one of the kitchen cabinets and took out a chopping board. I then opened back the fridge and took out two slices of bread, butter, three tomato seeds, and a jar of honey. I placed the slices of bread into the toaster and proceeded to watch my hands.

"Alexa play me Eine Kleine Nachtmusik I from the kitchen." I requested, placing my tomato seeds on the chopping board.

"Paying Eine Kleine Nachtmusik I from the kitchen." The electronically synchronized female voice resounded and soon after, the soothing music followed.

I started chopping my tomatoes whilst trying not to think too much. There was no need. I'd only go insane if I tried to place the dots together so it was best to just focus on what was right in front of me.

I allowed my mind to drift to other things that made me feel at ease but it kept taking me back to David and I found myself stealing glances at my phone, expecting it to ring, expecting him to call back or do something or even—ow!

I flinched and dropped the knife repulsively. "Ouch, shit!" I cursed, swinging the finger that had been nipped. Blood splattered on the island.

"Oh no." I rushed to the sink and ran my hand under the cold water. It stung. "Ow, no, no, no." When the blood didn't stop oozing out, I turned off the sink and raced up the stairs to the bedroom.

The first aid kit had to be here somewhere around. I just didn't know the exact location. I searched the drawers, wincing from time to time as the stinging pain throbbed.

Where the hell was it?

After checking the bathroom cabinet, I stepped out and ambled to David's old dresser. It had to be in here. I opened one of the top drawers, moving things out of the way, already paranoid. When my search turned out to be futile, I scowled with frustration and slammed the drawer shut a little too hard. It rattled the dresser and a box dangling over the roof of it fell, shattering open.

Piles of papers spattered all over the floor. I exhaled and got down on my knees to assemble the pieces back together and I had gotten halfway through when something caught my attention. Underneath the heap of papers, there was a book. I leaned back to sit on my heels and examined it and I was immediately stunned by coincidence. It wasn't just any book, it was a journal, the same one David had spent days reading.

Why did he hide it in here?

For some odd reason, my heart rumbled in apprehension. I peeled off the band and opened the first page.

Stacey.

It was written in bold letters.

I wasn't one to snoop around my husband's property but seeing this had my mind racing again. Why did he have a woman's journal and most especially, why was her name, Stacey?

It didn't make sense.

Eager to feed my curiosity, I flipped through the pages. A part of me hoped to find nothing, but there was another part of me that believed she was the one, and I wanted so bad for the mysteries, secrets, and lies to end so I looked through, adrenaline coursing through me as my eyes scrolled fast. I surveyed it, flipping quickly till my eyes joined with a certain paragraph that made my throat tighten and my breath seized.

Dear, April.

Mrs. Salome said it was a good idea to find out my baby's gender before birth. I didn't want to because I'd always wanted it to be this big surprise on the last day, but after realizing I might not live long enough to know, I decided to check in with my doctor today. My hunch was right all along. It's a boy. David is going to have a son.