Joshua sat at his desk, sketching a picture idly and occasionally glancing out the window. He heard a knock at the door.
"You might be able to come in, depending on who you are."
"It's Ephraim," sighed a voice at the door.
Joshua furrowed his brow in concentration. "Fine."
Ephraim opened the door and walked in, bounding over to look at Joshua's picture.
"Whatcha drawing, Josh?"
"Don't call me Josh," Joshua muttered through gritted teeth.
Ephraim rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Whatcha drawing, Joshua?"
"A two-headed coin," the swordsman replied.
Ephraim thought for a minute. "Ummm... how do you draw a two-headed coin?"
"You draw both sides next to each other on coin's faces, and explain in a footnote what they are."
"So what are they?"
"My face on one side, and... Natasha's on the other," Joshua sighed, not even trying to disguise the heartbreak in his voice. "Us on two sides of a coin really represents our relationship well. We can never be together."
Ephraim sighed in exasperation. "Joshua. Wake up, man. This is not the Joshua I know. The Joshua I know is a cool, controlled, mysterious, avid gambler. Not this creepy, depressed, heartbroken loner dude who has obviously taken over my friend Joshua's body."
The creepy, depressed, heartbroken loner dude who had obviously taken over Joshua's body rolled his eyes. "Listen here, dramaprince," he said. "You ever gone through a breakup with the girl of your dreams?"
Ephraim was quiet for a while. Finally, he said, "No."
"You see? I'm an idiot, Ephraim. I hate myself."
"You know what, Joshua? Natasha fell in love with a mysterious, charismatic gambler with a wicked glint in his eye. She did not fall in love with... this." He gestured to Joshua's slumped body, defeated, dull red eyes, and sallow face. "And this attitude. Man, if only she knew what she'd done to you."
"If only you knew what I've done to her," Joshua said, so softly that Ephraim couldn't hear."
...
Natasha couldn't breathe. She felt sick. Everything was happening so fast. But it couldn't. It couldn't be happening. No. No, no, no.
She thanked Artur (at least, she hoped she did) and staggered out of his office. Before she knew it, she was in her bedroom, hugging her knees against her stomach. She wanted to disappear, just disappear.
Someone knocked on her door.
"What?" She snapped.
"It's me! Eirika!" A cheerful voice called from the other side.
"C-come in, I guess," Natasha said, suddenly shaky.
Eirika opened the door. "Okay, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing," Natasha mumbled, very unconvincingly.
"Yeah, right." Eirika sat on the side of Natasha's bed. "Tell me. What is it?"
"You know how I broke up with Joshua a few months ago?"
Eirika's face turned even more sympathetic. "Yeah..."
"You know how I started eating a lot to ease the stress?"
"Mm-hmm..."
"Well..." Natasha struggled to find words. She could feel a huge lump in her throat.
"Well... I... he..." The dam broke. Natasha started sobbing. She could feel Eirika's arms around her, trying to console her.
"I... I just... I'm lonely!" She lied.
As Eirika tried to help her with her fabricated heartbreak, Natasha curled up in a fetal position and thought of the night they had broken up.
Natasha stood at the counter, the screen of Joshua's cell phone blurred by her tears.
How could he have betrayed her like that? Marisa was her friend. Joshua was her boyfriend. They had no business fooling around together. Drunk, she expected.
When he came home, they had their biggest fight ever. Natasha had never seen her red-headed desperado so weak and spineless. Naturally, she kicked him out. For good, the lousy, drunken, cheating, no-good gambler.
So why did her heart ache so much?
Natasha was jolted back to the present as she heard Eirika gasp.
"Oh no, Natasha," Eirika said. "I just remembered. Ephraim told me that he was going to try to get Joshua to come apologize to you... I tried to stop him, but it was too late."
"Oh, God," Natasha moaned. "Protect me if he comes..." Natasha gulped and tried to tell Eirika the truth. "Oh my God, Eirika, I have to tell you something..."
Natasha's doorbell rang. Both girls jumped, and Eirika bounced off of the bed and checked the peephole.
"Oh God... Natasha, it's Joshua..."
Natasha whimpered in fear and hugged a pillow to her chest.
Joshua stood outside. "Natasha!" He called. "I know you're in there! Natasha, I'm sorry! Really! I don't even know what I was thinking... I was drunk!" Joshua's voice broke and he fell to his knees. "Please, Natasha! Please! Just speak to me!"
To Joshua's immense surprise, Eirika unlocked the door and disappeared. Natasha's puffy, tear-streaked face appeared at the crack of the door, prevented from opening all the way by the chain.
"Fine. Talk." A fresh wave of tears gushed down Natasha's cheeks.
"Natasha..." Joshua reached in his hand and tried to wipe her tears off. She pulled away.
"I hate you!" Natasha screamed suddenly. "I hate you! I hate you so much!" She fell to her knees and began sobbing.
Joshua reached his hand inside the door and opened the latch. Eirika immediately held a sword to his throat.
"Go away, Eirika," Natasha moaned. She felt so mixed up and confused, she didn't know who to talk to... "Just... go."
Eirika shot a sad look toward Natasha before slipping out the door.
Joshua and Natasha stood alone and stared at each other, Joshua looming a good four inches above Natasha's head.
"Natasha... just... just tell me what was so bad. I'm sorry, and so is Marisa. We didn't know what we were doing. Really. I never meant to hurt you."
Natasha took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. "Do you remember... the night before we broke up?"
Joshua smiled his old smile, his fearless smile. "Fondly. Why?"
"You..." Natasha's voice broke. "You... you got..." A fresh wave of salty tears gushed down her cheeks.
"What?" Joshua put his hands on Natasha's shoulders. "What did I do, Natasha? What?"
"You got me pregnant!" Natasha screamed.
It was completely silent in the room. Neither one breathed. Joshua's eyes dropped to the pronounced bump under Natasha's dress.
"But that was... five months ago," Joshua said slowly, not lifting his eyes from Natasha's bulging stomach.
"I know," Natasha moaned. "I thought I was just getting fat."
"Oh my God," Joshua whispered.
Silence again. Then...
"So... do you know the gender?"
Natasha looked up at him. "W-what?"
"Well, I'm obviously getting back together with you. You're not going through this pregnancy alone. And it's my fault, so I'll be your personal slave for the next four months." Joshua winced at the last words. Despite herself, Natasha giggled.
"You smiled, I'm off the hook!" Joshua joked. Then he turned serious. "I will help you, Natasha," he said. "I will not make you go through this alone."
"Oh my God," Natasha murmured. Affection for the mysterious, luck-loving swordsman with crimson hair and eyes washed through her all over again. And this whole personal slave thing was certainly going to be fun...
"Twins." Natasha answered his earlier question with. "One boy and one girl. And we're naming them... Isabella and Seth."
"No way in hell," Joshua said immediately. "Jacob and Samara."
"Isabella and Seth!"
"Jacob and Samara!"
"Flip you for it," Natasha suggested, smiling.
Joshua rolled his eyes and fished through his pocket for a coin. He was about to toss it into the air when Natasha nabbed it from his fingers.
"I flip," she said. Joshua rolled his eyes again.
"Fine. Heads."
Natasha flipped the coin into the air, failed to catch it, picked it up, and slapped it onto the back of her hand. Her face fell.
"Heads," she said dejectedly. "Well... I guess those are lovely names. Jacob and Samara."
"It's a good thing you like 'em, 'cause that was a double-headed coin." Joshua smiled.
"Of course, knowing you. And now, my slave, fetch me some pickles and ice cream."
As he set off for the market, Joshua sighed contentedly. It was going to be a long, albeit happy, four months.