Chapter 4:
She gaped. And gaped. And gaped.
Just that morning she was ripping his picture into shreds.
"I- You- My dad-" she stuttered, pointing in the direction of the door, "It- Me- This- New job- I-"
He gaped back.
"You- New? But- This- Him- Mrs Erse- My dad-"
She stopped and stared at him unbelievably before pushing past him and sitting in her new desk. She looked at his neat desk decorated with pictures. There were a few of the triplets, his old mates from school, and family members. There was one of her framed in gold taken back in school.
"Uhm…" he hastily reached over and put the picture in his drawer.
Ignoring him, she looked around. There were few pictures of Cho Chang. Boy, had she grown into something more than a swan. And then there was one… There was one of him, Cho Chang, and a young boy around the age of 2…
A mallet hit her as reality brought her back to Earth. She placed hand over her mouth after seeing that picture.
"Christine…"
She looked at him and gave him the best smile she could manage with trembling lips.
"Congratulations! You… You had a baby with Cho!" she said with a false tone of cheerfulness.
"I…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" she said, getting up and walking over to him, seizing his hand and pumping it enthusiastically.
"I…"
"After all these years! I thought you would have!" she said in a too-bright voice, still shaking his hand.
"I…"
"I mean… You would have at least bothered, right?" she said, shaking it faster and faster, getting more vigorous.
Her eyes were slightly red now, but her smile was intact, beaming away like there wasn't a tomorrow.
"Christine!" he said loudly, making her stop shaking his hand.
"Yes?" she replied softly.
A knock came on the door as their secretary entered.
"Err… Mr Diggory? You are needed in the conference room. Urgently. Arse is fuming," she said.
"Oh erm, Christine, this is Daphne,"
"Arse…?" Christine said, confused.
"I told you not to call her that already!" Cedric said, grinning.
"We all call Mrs Erse that. I mean, we would have been nicer with the name if she were nicer to us," Daphne said, "And call me Daph or Daphy," she said, smiling.
"Diggory? Will you hurry?" Dahpne said, gesturing towards the conference.
"I'll… See you later," Cedric said, before awkwardly walking out of the door.
Christine fell hopelessly back into her chair after the door was closed.
He's with a kid.
What was this she was feeling? She had Roger, she didn't need him.
Maybe its one of those feelings a girl gets when she breaks up with her boy friend… Like he's her property… she thought, yet, I broke up with him ages ago!
Whatever, Christine.
She leaned back in her chair and stared at the white ceiling before looking out of the enchanted windows. It was raining and cold air was blown into the room.
She rubbed her eyes, forgetting that she was still soaked. It was like as if life had turned around and slapped her hard on her face.
BORDER.
Both had worked quietly without speaking a word to each other except for muttering and grunting.
One day, he caught her eyeing the picture of his son. Somehow, he looked somewhat foreign…
Cedric gave a small laughed and tapped his pencil on the photograph, saying, "My son, Jonathan,"
She nodded and gave a taut smile before looking back at the whole load of documents she had to approve of.
"So… Are you married to Roger already?"
She snorted derisively and said, "Married? I'm only engaged," she said, showing him the ring on her finger.
His body went cold.
"Oh… Oh… So when- When will the wedding bells ring?"
She shrugged as she fingered the ring with a sorrowful smile on her lip, "They say dreams come true… I hope this one will never will,"
What did she mean?
"Whatever. Are you done with those-" Christine said before being interrupted.
A knock came.
"Come in," Cedric said.
The door opened, revealing a beautiful woman with a young boy in her arms.
"Cho…?"
"Cho!" Christine said, startled.
"Christine?" Cho said, smile faltering.
"Cho! You've… Changed so much!" Christine said.
As much as she hated to admit it, Cho Chang was beautiful and managed to remain slim after delivery.
Cho smiled sweetly as she introduced Jonathan who was sucking on his thumb.
Christine winced. One thing she hated most was kids chomping on their thumbs.
"Why aren't you a cute little thing?" Christine said, reaching forward and pinching his plump cheek.
Cedric winced.
I hate children…That exact sentence she said to him six years ago echoed in his head. He realized how much of an effort she was making to be nice as he watched her chat with Cho Chang about Jonathan's idiosyncrasies and his sleeping habits.
"What are you doing here?" Cedric said, hastily adding the word, "Honey," when Cho glared at him.
"Oh I erm…" Cho said, nervously looking at Chrstine, "Came here to give you a surprise. Surprise!" she added feebly.
"And err…" Cho said, looking at Christine, "I came here to tell you that I am err… I am two months pregnant,"
"What!" Cedric and Christine said in sync.
"But Cho, you and I haven't… We haven't.. In months and-"
She raised her eyebrows.
"You're second!" Chrstine said.
"Well, not really. You see, Jonathan is ado-"
"-Is our first and we will always love him as much as the second. Won't we Jonathan?" Cho said, cutting in and at Jonathan.