The annoying bzzt, bzzt of her phone beside her ear wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear first thing in the morning. Cracking open a blurry eye, she huffed in annoyance when she saw who was calling. For all her tech savvy-ness, her bestfriend was hopeless cause when it came to pocket dials.
Reluctantly surrendering a hand from the warmth of her covers to the crisp morning chill, she jabbed at the touch screen before croakily snapping, "What?"
"Keiko please tell me it was you that just sent me those texts."
"W-what?" Keiko groaned, shuffling her head closer to her phone.
"I just got these two texts, from an unknown number and I don't know what to make of them! The first one said 'I'm pregnant' and the other simply stated that they thought it was mine. Please, just tell me it was you! If not, then what the hell am I going to do? I can't raise a child!"
As her distraught friend continued to rant, Keiko had to try and stifle an exasperated sigh as she moved to sit up, realising that this was going to require full attention. She could just see Kimiko pacing in her small office, wringing her pale little hands anxiously. Deciding that her friend owed her big time for being the voice of reason at 6 in the morning, she interrupted her rant.
"Kimi. Settle. Now."
"Kei-" she began to whine in response but she wasn't having any of that.
"Did you txt them back?"
"…No."
"Did you consider it was just a case of 'wrong number'?"
"…Yes. But what if it's not?"
"I think it's safe to assume that it is. I mean, who else would send you a txt about them being preggers?"
"…our non-drama queen friends?"
"Doubt it. Now then, take a deep breath…good. Breathe out. Gooood. Relax. Now tell me nice and calmly, why are you panicking?"
What came next was a cry of anguish as Kimiko restarted her rant about how she couldn't be the mother to some child, and what if they decided to ship the baby off to her? Where would she put it? How would she feed it? It was getting to the point where Keiko was questioning her own sanity. Rubbing at the bridge of her nose in frustration she snapped, "Honestly woman, get it together! How could you get someone else pregnant?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the line that just made Keiko grimace knowingly.
"You didn't take your meds this morning did you."
"Shuddup."
"Kimi," she sighed, settling back in her pillows tiredly, "You need to stop doing this. Last time you were like this led to the Fountain Accident. I mean, listen to yourself. You're flipping out over a miss sent txt. Take your pills, drink some tea, and deal with it in an hour. Just txt them and say 'Sorry, but you've got the wrong number.'"
"But what if they don't accept that answer?"
"Then convince them. You're good at that." Keiko muttered, flapping her hand in the air dismissively, knowing that Kimiko could sense the gesture despite the kilometres between them. "Now, get back to work. I'm going back to bed. Don't contact me until after 9, please."
There was another sour pause before Kimiko muttered a small, 'fine' which made Keiko smile.
"Good. Laters freak."
"Bye dork."
Hanging up, she stared at the small mobile device for a bit before snorting as she threw it back on to the pillow beside her, already cocooning herself back into her blankets.
"Honestly, getting someone pregnant. This'll be one to remember."
Staring at the 'Call Ended' dialogue on her screen awhile, Kimiko fumed silently at Keiko for a while. She knew she was right, but she didn't feel any better after their discussion. Blindly grabbing for her handbag beside her, she tipped its contents upon her desk, searching for that little tinfoil packet she had grown to despise. Popping two little pills angrily, she swallowed them quickly, rinsing away the bitter after taste with a grimace. You'd think by now that they'd found a solution for that. Slamming her water bottle back amongst the mess of her desk, she returned her glare to her phone. A million options were still circulating through her mind as to what to do with the txt. Drumming her fingertips, she considered tracking the number online, but decided that it was too early in the morning for simple hacking. Scrutinizing the txt again, she confirmed that the area code was definitely not from Japan, but from where, she had no clue.
Pushing her cell and clutter away from her with a grumble she decided to focus on her work, which meant starting with a relaxing cup of tea, like Keiko had suggested. Then organizing her desk. And then, maybe when she had mellowed out a little, she'd be able to come to a decision. Her plan seemed to work for the first few hours, but by the time lunch rolled around, she found that her hand would start to stray from the keyboard to her phone, or she'd realise she had been staring at it for the last five minutes, as if waiting for it to sing to her the answers. She thought her determination and medication would help her, but by early afternoon, that thinly veiled resolve broke.
"Again with the buzzing!"
Diving into her bag, Keiko hunted for her vibrating phone apologetically, well aware of her boss's glare as she interrupted his tirade. Locating her phone she hastily excused herself.
"You have the worst time today you know?" She hissed once she had answered the insistent call.
"Sorry, but this txt is driving me crazy."
Sighing Keiko leaned against a nearby wall, folding an arm across her stomach tiredly. "I thought we already established this Kimi. One; you can't get anyone preggers- you're a girl- and two; it's just a wayward txt."
"It's from Brazil."
This made her pause, which seemed to be all Kimiko needed.
"I tracked the area code online. Don't ask how, I just did. It comes from somewhere in Brazil, most likely South of Rio De Janerio, but I couldn't find out more with what I was working through. So I txt them back-"
Keiko jumped to attention at that, opening her mouth to butt in but her friend was on a roll.
"-but for the life of me, I don't know why I sent what I did. Maybe I'm becoming immune to my meds. I mean, why else did I do this? Keiko? Am I going bat shit crazy? Keiko?"
"Oh, so I can talk now?"
"Haha, very funny."
"But seriously Kimiko, what did you send?"
"Um…"
"Please don't tell me you said you'd help the poor girl connect with her suitor? Cause I swear if this is another one of your 'Knight in Shining Armour' moments, I will throttle you through this phone." She hissed, turning away from her boss's infuriated gestures for her to return to the meeting. "They're in Brazil. Brazil, Kimiko. You are not helping out that unfortunate damsel."
"Well, be relieved, cause I didn't."
"Good."
"I replied somewhat sarcastically."
The sound of Keiko's palm hitting her forehead was all that was needed to respond to that.
"I know, I know! Bad! But something tells me it wasn't a wrong number. I dunno, I took a risk-"
"Which you have to be more careful about than others remember?"
"-And I'm gambling that it'll turn out for the better." She sniffed adamantly. Keiko ran her hand across her face slowly, wondering how she was supposed to deal with this. Slouching back against the wall, she gnawed her lip curiously, wondering what Kimiko had said in return.
"I can hear you chewing. So you must be curious. To answer your question, I said," There was a pause as she hunted through her files to find her response, "How'd you know it's mine? Too involved?"
"Too involved Kimi, too involved." Keiko murmured, only to hear her swear loudly on the other end.
"What do I do now?"
"If they reply, don't answer. Delete it and get out before you get in too deep. Cause I know you will. If they don't reply, count your lucky stars." Keiko commanded, catching sight of her boss storming towards the breakroom door, obviously about to order her sorry ass back or be fired, "Listen I've got to go. Keep me updated, but please, wait till after work. And preferably when I'm not asleep."
"You did say after 9…" Kimiko grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah, you should know not to take my word so seriously. Now, go back to work. Bye."
"Bye." Kimiko sighed, before hanging up. Glancing at her desk clock she scrunched her nose up in thought. Tokyo was twelve hours ahead of Brazil, so she wasn't expecting a txt back any time soon. But a small part of her was giddily hoping that they would reply quickly. She was starting to like this mystery.
Meanwhile, in a small, dark apartment, halfway across the world, a cellphone lit up beside up rickety bed, silently indicating it had received one new message.