Chapter 6

AVA'S POV

My knees buckled under me and I let out a loud cry as I sank to the ground.

"Hey, hey, relax," Raelynn held me the instant I'd struggled to say the words. "Trust me, it's going to be okay. Please, just calm down."

"How?" I spat. "How is it going to be okay? I'm still trying to get my life back on track and now I have to worry about another life."

"You don't have to rush anything," she continued.

I had decided, as certain as I was ever going to be.

"Max needs to know about this," I said to her.

"He doesn't care, Ava. Neither will he accept you and this child!" she yelled back at me. "He slept with you, impregnated you, and is getting married to someone else. Will he love you and this child properly?"

I winced at her words but I shook my head in any case. "This baby is his too, he has to know."

"And then what are you going to do if he talks you into getting an abortion?" Raelynn asked. "And what if he does that to you, too, and breaks your heart into smithereens again?"

"Then I will look for another option, But first, I've got to give him time to take responsibility."

She struggled to sit up beside me on the small table and brushed away one tear that spilled on my cheek with a gentle sweep of her finger. "You're a better person than him, you know that?

I looked down at my stomach."It's not about me anymore, though."

She merely clasped my fist-sized one with her fist. "Okay. I'll go with you if that is something you so desperately desire. But you promise me one thing?"

"Anything."

"If he touches you again, you let me kick him."

I half-smiled but did not cry. "Deal."

The rest of the other individuals were scrubbed from my windshield and I drove home in the passenger seat of Raelynn's car. I had no idea what I wished for.

That Max would take me in his arms and tell me that night was not a mistake? That he would break off his engagement to take responsibility for me and my baby.

I tutted with irritation and scowled. "Shut up, Ava," I swore.

"What was what?" Raelynn questioned me.

"Nothing." I face-planted onto the glass. "Just nervous, I guess."

"About telling him?" She was laughing. "You actually think that guy's worth talking to?"

I'd been quiet ever since, I mean, I didn't even know what was going on in my head. But Max just had to know about his baby. This was it. Nothing more.

Or at least I kept telling myself that over and over.

We stopped at my apartment and I let out a genuine sigh of relief. "Thanks for the ride."

"Oh, I'm coming with you," Raelynn said, unbuckling her seatbelt. "You need someone as your backup in case he does anything funny."

I chuckled. "I am just impressed with your courage."

We'd only made it to my front porch when I heard my name being called.

"Ava?"

I looked back to see Mia, a former colleague of mine who worked close to me at Max's coming.

"Oh my God, you're here!" she squealed, throwing her arms around me. "I thought you wouldn't come to Max's wedding because you resigned but I'm glad you are here. "

I was shocked. "What? Whose wedding."

Mia stepped back, her own mouth agape. "We were all surprised that you resigned just like that. We missed you so much. It didn't help that Max's new assistant has been having trouble fitting in and making things difficult for us. But I'm so glad you are here, maybe I and the others can convince you to come back to the company after the wedding ceremony."

I cut through my trachea. "The wedding, when is it?"

Mia stared at me in confusion. "Today. You didn't know?"

I just stood there, dazed.

Today.

He was getting married today? When I'm carrying his baby?

"Where is the wedding holding?" I clenched my teeth, colder than icing on boots on a midwinter's morning.

"Oh, at the city hall." She answered. "How come you don't have any information about this? I thought Mr. Anderson would have informed you himself, considering how close you guys worked together."

I was turning white in the face, apparently. "It must have skipped my mind." I forced a smile. "I'll be on my way now. I would want to miss the wedding."

I walked away from my front door, heading toward the main room to get a cab.

"Ava, no!" Raelynn yelled after me. She ran to catch up with me and pulled me by my arm. "You're making a mistake here."

"I have to see it," I wept, crying so hard my eyes would well up with tears. "I have to see it myself."

"Ava-"

"Raelynn, please," I told her. "I just have to see it for myself. I won't believe it until I witness it with my own two eyes."

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you against this."

We arrived at the Grand city hall which was built with luxury and designed with beautiful materials.

"Ava, we can still go back now." Raelynn held me back as we walked in as she tried to talk me out of it which she had been doing throughout the drive here. "You don't have to do this."

But I couldn't turn back now.

As I stepped in, I saw Max in a tuxedo, standing at the altar with a wide smile on his face as he gazed at Aaliyah who was standing in front of him in a beautiful white dress with silver patterns.

"Do you, Max Anderson, take Aaliyah Patel to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish, to always stand by in times of good health and sickness, for better or worse, till death do you part?"

Max hesitated. For a single moment, his eyes ravaged the room, and in the same flash of a moment, I allowed myself the hope that he wanted me.

Then the lip movement. "I do."

A silent sob escaped me.

The minister repeated the same words to Aaliyah.

"I do," she muttered.

The minister beamed. "You may exchange rings."

I couldn't do this. I couldn't take it any longer.

When their lips touched in a sloppy, mushy kiss, my heart shattered into teeny-tiny, shard-like pieces.

I ran.