Footprints
Disclaimer: I don't own what doesn't belong to me.
: Thank you for the reviews. I'm sorry for not updating sooner, I have been back from vacation for a while but I got distracted. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Chapter Four
Kimberly stared numbly at the pile of neatly wrapped presents that took almost a quarter of her small living room. It was bright and early in the morning when suddenly almost consistent knocks at her door woke her up from her deep slumber. It wasn't an easy sleep, featuring her father chasing her in an endless tunnel, even mentioning her late mother in one point. That and the knocks in her door snapped her in a heartbeat and she jolted awake.
Never, in her twenty six year old life, had she ever seen so many designer carrier-bags from high-ends stores. MiuMiu, Tiffany's, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui… Anxiously chewing at her lips, she reached out and took the closest carrier to her. Louis Vuitton. While she loved shopping as much as the next girl, there's no way, a Kimberly Hart could possess a Louis Vuitton bag. It's not something that could be easily afforded by a mediocre-paid kindergarten teacher.
She unwrapped the package, was almost afraid to take the expensive hand-bag out. The faint smell of the leather wafted into her nose and her fingers nervously yet excitedly grazed the calfskin handles. Hot damn. While she wasn't going to give in, enjoying the feeling of holding an expensive bag was allowed, wasn't it? Besides, Kate knew all the places that sold a similar handbag for only 15 bucks. Sacrificing her pay-checks to buy an original Louis Vuitton handbag while she could get an exact replica was ridiculous, Kimberly thought stubbornly, trying to convince herself. Her motto that she got from Stephen, her gay bestfriend, was: First class design, first class quality, and third class price.
Casting the bag another long, longing glance, Kimberly returned it carefully and put it with the rest of the mountain of presents which needed to be shipped back to Dave as soon as possible. But how? She probably would need to rent a truck or something equally huge to carry all these stuff. Kim sneered. If Dave really thought all the presents could melt her heart and make her marry him willingly, he was wrong, big time. Oh, and that reminded her that she also had to give the ring back.
Truthfully, Dave Winsor was not bad, at all. He was a gorgeous man, taller than Tommy—where the hell that Tommy came from??--, taller than Jason, with broad shoulders and curly, sandy blond hair. She hadn't met him in a while, but she recalled he looked like one of the Armani models, with piercing grey eyes and high cheekbones that never smiled while they're doing runways. If only his attitude hadn't been so annoying, he would have been a perfect boyfriend material. It's a shame that he's no more than a low class scumbag. Besides, that man had smoother skin than her! Why would she marry a guy whose skin resembled a porcelain doll's?
To keep her hands from rummaging through the La Perla shopping bag, Kim turned around and walked straight to the bathroom. She had the pregnancy tests waiting for her with the result. Waiting was a complete torture and thus she had left them and gone to check out the stuff Dave had sent to distract her mind. Honestly, she had actually thought that maybe by prolonging the moment of truth, the test would come out negative. It just had to be.
As the sticks came to view, her heart was racing and her feet were shaking like a puddle of jelly. Please, please, please, let it be negative, let it be negative… Kim chanted over and over again. Having someone to stand by her side right now would be wonderful, but she hadn't told anyone about this, or about Tommy. Not Kate and not even Jason, the man who she had always considered as her big brother. Get a grip, just prepare for the worst, Hart.
If it turned out to be negative, she swore she would start doing voluntary works, maybe instead of sending the presents back to Dave, she would ship them off to Ethiopia or Vietnam. Perhaps she could adopt a Cambodian child just like Angelina Jolie and name him Maddox Jr…
It was pink.
There's only one pink line.
"Oh Jesus Christ! I knew it! Oh my God!!" Kim shrieked, abruptly dropping the stick to the sink and swirled around, her fist pumping into the air. Suddenly the sky seemed to be much bluer and she didn't even mind having that single pimple on the right side of her forehead that was evident now that she had pushed her bangs back with a silver clip. "Thank God! You hear that, Tommy Oliver?" She realized she was acting like a crazy person, but it's hard not to when you just discovered that you're not carrying anybody's child. "Go eat that, Oliver. It's NEGATIVE!"
She did her happy dances jubilantly in the tiny bathroom and pushed herself up on the bathroom counter, still giggling uncontrollably. It felt like there's a huge burden being lifted off her shoulders and it was simply, utterly, wonderful.
Okay, so she had said that she would adopt a kid if the test turned out negative, but she wasn't exactly independently wealthy to raise a foreign child that most likely could not speak English fluently. Setting the stick back to the counter, Kim grabbed the other pregnancy test. The ad said that the first one she had used was 99.9 percent accurate but she still bought another one, for a just-in-case situation. She was, in fact, a woman.
"Kim-ber-ley…,"
"Geez!" She jumped, hands clutching her chest tightly as the loud banging kept going on. What time was it now?
"Miss Hart, anybody home?" Kate shouted and knocked again.
Groaning, Kim immediately rushed to her bedroom, flung the pregnancy test into her bag and turned on her heels, ready to open the door before Kate woke up the entire floor. It wouldn't be the first time it happened.
--
Kimberly was still walking in cloud 9 when they arrived at school. In fact, she felt so light-hearted that the idea of getting engaged to Dave didn't seem really bad... meaning that it's still bad but less frustrating since she only had one problem remained now. The truth was, she didn't know which was worse, carrying Tommy's child or having to spend the rest of her life married to Dave. Both options were… unbearable.
She waited until Kate went to her desk before flipping up her cell phone and heading out of the teachers lounge. She had to see Dave. As much as she hated it, it had to be done. He had to know that she wasn't interested—Kim tried not to think about how good it felt to touch a Louis Vuitton bag—and that there's no way she would agree to be with him. Not in this lifetime or the next.
Calling his house would be such a waste of time since she was pretty confident his butler would ask her, his young master's not-so-official- fiancée, to make an appointment even just to talk with him. While she had his cellphone number, she refused to call him in his private line. She's not going to ruin her good mood and she's pretty convinced he's still sleeping anyway. It's a win-win situation.
We have to talk. Are you free today? Let me know. – Kim.
She closed the phone with a flick of her thumb and then leaned against the wall. She was generous enough to let him choose the time and place so he'd better reply or else…
--
"Here you go," Tommy unbuckled the seatbelt and set Violet to her feet after he playfully smooched her cheek, making her giggle. In contrary to what he had said to Rocky, he did love to dress up her daughter. He eyed Violet in her new peach overall and pigtails. She was the most adorable little girl around, he mused and practically beamed with fatherly pride.
"That's Suze!" Violet shouted and pointed her fingers at a thin American-African girl who was standing alone near the entrance, clearly waiting for someone. "Can I go now, Daddy?" She turned and looked at him eagerly, cheeks flushed pink with excitement.
"Sure," He leaned down, hugged her and kissed Violet on the forehead. A second later, she dashed towards the taller girl, small hands waving vigorously.
Tommy watched until they got into the building, hand in hand, and sighed. He had to face the elephant in the room. Kimberly owed him tons of explanation. Determined, he shoved his hands into his pocket and ascended the stone stairways.
Since it was still pretty early, the front lobby was not as crowded as it usually was. The hallway now displayed most children's favorite characters on the ceilings and some of the students were now 'aahhing' and 'ohhing' over the painting of Tweety and Silvester. Tommy followed the same route he remembered from Violet's first day when his eyes caught a sudden rush of a pink flash from the corner of his eyes, startling him from the bulletin board that showed some of the wonderful things the students had made.
Speak of the devil.
He stared as Kimberly practically ran towards the ladies room, hands over her mouth. Then he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening and he still had his memory of Amy's pregnancy all those years ago.
Morning sickness.
Startled, since he hadn't expected he would get his answer this quick and without having to ask Kim himself, Tommy could only stand there, agape. Was he anxious? Scared? Or even, happy? Anxious because although he might know her-, Kim would kill him if she ever heard him saying this, physically, they barely knew each other. Hell, they couldn't even finish one conversation without ending up in an argument. One reckless night had dragged themselves into this mess that not even he knew how to solve. This was a baby, for God's sake, not a puppy. His child could be growing inside Kim's body as he was thinking right now. Next, there's her father. He didn't even dare to imagine what Mr. Hart would do to him when he finally knew that Tommy had gotten his daughter pregnant.
"Kimberly," He called out once she emerged from the restroom. The glint in her eyes told him that even if she was surprised to find him there, it was not unexpected.
"Hey you," She greeted with a smile and wiped her mouth with a tissue paper before discarding it to the nearest trash bin. Tommy was still not her most favorite person in the world, especially after ruining her dinner a few days ago, but being a little friendlier towards him coming a bit easier now that the test had confirmed that she wasn't pregnant; that the other night could be chalked in as an ordinary one night stand that would never, ever, happen again.
"Are you okay?" Tommy regarded her with a cautious look, slightly taken aback with her change of attitude. She's being uncharacteristically nice towards him; was that the hormone? "You see, I don't think it's a good idea to be running in those shoes. Do you know that wearing heels for a long time can shorten your Achilles tendon?"
Rolling her eyes, it was Kimberly's turn to give him an incredulous look. "Don't tell me you're here to give me lectures about my shoes… or that was only your excuse to check out my legs?" While she was waiting for him to answer, her cell phone vibrated inside her pocket and she immediately checked the new SMS. Finally, a reply from Dave.
Hi Darling. How about watching HP 4 tonight? AG Cineplex. 8 pm. Cu there. –Love, D.
Oh, he so did not just call her 'Darling'! Harry Potter? Well, she was a fan of the books and hadn't watched the latest movie actually, so the idea was genuinely tempting. But on second thought, only God knows what Dave would do inside the darkened theatre. The last thing she wanted was for him to rent the whole theatre just to be with her alone. The idea made her shiver although it was nearly 30 degrees outside.
"You could have fell or slipped or something…," Tommy went on, not liking the idea. "And endangered your baby," He added in a much softer tone.
Stuffing the mobile phone back into the front pocket of her black slacks, Kim's smile faded and was soon replaced with a frown. Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, she pulled Tommy down until he was face to face with her and hissed, "For your information, mister, I am not pregnant," Damn, it felt good to let it out finally. Her eyes danced in satisfaction and she released his shirt. "So now that it's no longer a dilemma, we can continue with our lives. Pretending as if we don't know each other would be a really good start,"
"But you had morning sickness," He pointed out, confused. "And Kate told me that you had been experiencing a terrible mood swing lately,"
"Kate? Was that where you got your silly ideas about me being pregnant?" One eyebrow lifted and her arms folded protectively across her chest. "Morning sickness?" Sighing, Kim realized that he probably had seen her running towards the ladies room, acting as if she wanted to throw up. Well, she did, but that had nothing to do with being pregnant. She was enjoying her morning brownie when all of a sudden the television showed a documentary about cannibalism in China.
"Well, I assumed-,"
"Look. I'm not, okay? I meant it when I said I wasn't pregnant," Kim replied defiantly, jaw tilting forward. Still sensing his skepticisms, Kim finally said, nose wrinkling in slight annoyance. "You should be happy that you won't get another kid to feed, not from me anyway. But seriously if you don't believe me, I have my proof,"
"What proof?"
"Just hold on for a sec," She still had 10 minutes before the class started and she would make sure that before her first class, she had settled her problems with Tommy, for once and for all. Ignoring Tommy's silly advice, Kim run back to her desk and grabbed her bag. "Come here," Once she'd returned, she gestured at Tommy to follow her into an empty classroom and closed the door behind her. Beaming widely, she took the pregnancy test and held it up high in bravado as though she was holding up a trophy. "One line. Not pregnant,"
She expected him to laugh or jump in delight, but not even a small smile was displayed. Anxiety started to grip her heart and the air around her began to feel heavy. Now she was afraid to turn over the stick; afraid of what she would see. He must be pulling her legs, right? It was negative. One single line.
"Kimberly," Tommy started, looking grim like a doctor who was about to deliver a really bad news and Kim felt a sudden prickle of alarm.
"What?" Kim managed to squeak, and the world seemed to stop spinning when Tommy was poised for a few short moments, completely still and even avoided her eyes at one point. Now she's really rattled. She actually hadn't checked that test yet, with Kate tagging along and all. But the first one was negative so she had been pretty confident the other one would have said the same. She looked up at him, aghast. "It can't be! I tried it before and it was negative!"
"So the first one was negative while the second one," Tommy stopped, his dark chocolate eyes boring into her lighter ones seriously. The pregnant pause was slowly but surely killing her. "Was positive,"
Kim cringed at the word. She really shouldn't have peed on that second stick. Taking a deep breath, her trembling hand turned over the stick and two straight lines stared back at her. "Jesus,"
"Take a deep breath," He dared to suggest, his eyes darkening. "Relax,"
Relax? He asked her to relax? She was pregnant! Pregnant! With his baby! How could he stand there and act like there's nothing happened? "I'm not freaked," Kim stammered, too shell-shocked to move. That was a total lie. She was completely freaked. "I'm calm,"
"There's only one option left," Breathed Tommy decisively.
"Which is?" Kim questioned although she had a pretty good guess what his answer was going to be.
"Let's set a doctor appointment,"
: A cliffhanger! Sorry if this is a bit short but it's holiday so I'll have more time to write, hopefully. Thanks for reading. The next one would be the reveal, Kim's meeting with Dave and probably a wee bit more interesting thing to come.
Cheers,
Yuuri.
