Two: A New Life

“A room for the week,” Amelia said to the man behind the counter, who she assumed was the motel’s manager. 

“That’ll be three hundred dollars,” the slightly obese man behind the counter spoke up, adjusting the glasses resting on his nose to look up at Amelia.

Without uttering more words, she handed him her credit card to pay for the room, and he gave her the key and the room number after she’d filled out the visitors' form.

“Have a wonderful stay,” he called out to her but she was already on her way out to locate her room.

Amelia was easily able to locate her room, inserting the key into the keyhole to open the door before stepping in with her luggage. As soon as she was in, she locked the door from the inside, her eyes quickly roving around the room to see it was clean and neatly arranged with white beddings covering the small bed, and a mini tv hanging on the wall directly opposite the bed. Releasing a breath, she pushed away from the door and headed towards the other door in the room, hoping it was a bathroom and her hopes weren’t disappointed as she opened it to see an equally clean co-joined bathroom and toilet.

This will have to do for the week. She told herself, stepping out of the small space and heading for the bed. With a thud, she fell flat on it, bouncing a bit from how soft the mattress was. Although she had enough money to settle at a good hotel until she could gather herself together, she didn’t want to start overspending the money Ryan had transferred into her bank account that morning without knowing what the future had in store for her. Hence, the moment the plane touched down in Texas, she’d asked the cab driver to drop her off at an affordable motel.

The previous night, she’d stormed out of Ryan’s bedroom to sleep in the living room, hoping by morning he’d be back to his senses or it’d be a bad dream and she’d be up and awake to reality. But those hopes had quickly been destroyed when the beep of her phone had awakened her first thing in the morning, with a credit alert from her bank. At first, it hadn’t been clear to her, but in the minutes that followed, Ryan had emerged from his home office, asking her to pack her things and prepare to leave for the airport as he’d booked a flight ticket for her to leave his home and to leave New York City. It was then the truth and reality of the situation had finally dawned on her. One look at the man’s face had told her there was no going back on his decision. Thus, instead of trading words with him, she’d quickly done as he’d instructed, leaving his home without a second glance or words of goodbye.

Throughout the car drive to the airport, she’d barely been able to hold back her tears but she did, convincing herself that it was going to be fine. After all, the same thing was to happen in seven months' time, but he’d only sped it up with his sudden decision. Over and over again, she’d glanced at the money on her account balance with mixed feelings of joy and emptiness. While she had enough to settle her bills until she could find a decent job, she felt a part of her was missing and couldn’t be replaced.

Now in her motel room, she couldn’t hold back the tears. A few stray tears escaped her eyes but she furiously wiped them off, reminding herself that the man wasn’t worth it. Mentally tired and exhausted, and with the jet lag from her three hours flight sipping in, Amelia drifted into a dreamless sleep.

It was only the second day of Amelia’s stay at the motel but she was already surfing the internet for available job ads. It felt like she was a fresh college graduate all over again, still lacking a good and commendable working experience. She found herself in the same place she’d been five months ago before stumbling upon DCL. But in this case, it was different and even tougher because she was in an entirely new city where she knew nothing and all of the job ads she’d come across were requesting at least a year of working experience or a year of experience as an intern and she had none of those. It was beginning to dawn on her that her vision of a new life might not be as easy as she’d dreamt. 

Tired and frustrated, she rose to her feet, attempting to turn on the tv to take her mind off her situation for a while. She flipped through the channels but couldn’t see anything interesting. After a while, she gave up and was returning to the bed when a wave of dizziness hit her, causing her to fall onto the bed, as a slight headache began to form. She huffed in annoyance, trying to rise to a sitting position, but this time, she didn’t need her strength to pull her through as the urgent need to puke had her scrambling to her feet and rushing toward the bathroom. 

The bacon and toast she’d had for breakfast were soon floating in the toilet, while she was still bent over it, emptying her bowels. After a while, she rose to her feet, still feeling dizzy, and held onto the bathroom sink, leaning over it. Splashing some water on her face, she raised her head but her eyes met with her reflection in the mirror and she winced. Her hair was scattered, with dark circles on her eyes and she looked a bit pale for someone that had always had tanned skin.

“Lord, please I can’t fall sick,” she murmured to herself, recalling that for the past five days, her mornings had been the same_feeling weak and dizzy then throwing up.

At that time, she hadn’t bothered to inform Ryan because she was sure she wasn’t sick as the last time they’d gone for a medical check-up was at the beginning of the month, as he’d always insisted it was good to know one's health status regularly.

“Wait… it’s a new month.” her eyes widened in realization, her horror-stricken reflection staring back at her. 

It’s been two days into a new month and her period was yet to come. It was already seven days late. Never in her life had she experienced a late period.

“How could I forget?” she berated herself, slapping a palm over her face, but then she suddenly felt a sensation in her breasts that she hadn’t noticed before. 

They were a bit sore, and it suddenly felt as though her nipples were tingling. Of course, she was aware sore breasts were a sign of ovulation in most women but in her case, it was never so. She had never experienced sore breasts up until that moment. With the stench of her vomit still assaulting her nostrils, her ultimate fear began to come alive, her eyes widening to extremes as she shook her head in denial.

“It… it can’t be. It was… it was just once right?”

But you didn’t take pills. A small voice whispered in her head. 

Again, she shook her head in denial, but her heart was slamming hard against her chest, already seeing the possibility of the impossible becoming a reality. Without further thought, she flushed the toilet and sped out of the bathroom, quickly grabbing her pause from the bed and exiting her room in quickened steps.

“Where’s the nearest drug store?” she threw the question at the motel manager, disrupting his conversation with a visitor.

A frown appeared on his face, visibly showing how displeased he was with her intrusion. But he answered anyway.

“Two blocks from here, to the left,”

Amelia wasn’t civil enough to express her gratitude or apology as she quickly ran off in the direction the man had described, intending to buy a pregnancy test to confirm her condition. About thirty minutes later, she returned to her motel room with about five pregnancy tests, while fervently praying that her worst nightmare wouldn't come to pass. Within a twinkle of an eye, she urinated on all five of them and began pacing the small space of her room, while awaiting the results.

As soon as they were ready, she expelled a loud breath, telling herself to calm down as it couldn’t be. But the last of her hopes were shattered when all five showed the positive sign, meaning she was truly pregnant.

Tears of distress and regret streamed down her face as she sank down to the bathroom floor, blaming herself for landing in such a predicament.

How was she going to handle the situation? How could she land herself in such a hopeless and helpless state? She had no family to run to, and neither did she have a home. She was lost in the world and all by herself. Could she really take care of a baby when she wasn’t sure about her future?

These questions and many more ran through her head as she continued crying.

How could she be pregnant for the same man that has rejected her and even paid her to get out of his life? 

It was now obvious to her that signing that contract with Ryan had been the biggest mistake of her life.

For the next few hours, she sat on the bathroom floor, crying and thinking of the best way to resolve things but no ideas came to her. Tired and drained, she rose to her feet and exited the bathroom, heading for the bed. But the noise from the tv caught her attention as she heard the name of the same man that had left her in this terrible condition.

“Most sought after billionaire bachelor, Ryan Davidson, rumored to have found his lost love,” the news presenter said, smiling excitedly.

A picture of Ryan in an intimate position with a brunette came up on the tv before the presenter went ahead to explain how the picture had been shot the previous night at a social event where the billionaire had publicly proclaimed to the paparazzi that the woman who had been his date, Selena Halbert, was his lost love and now that he’d found her, he was no longer in the market.

This news only broke Amelia’s heart more, causing more tears to stream down her face. All of her considerations to inform Ryan of her current situation were killed. She was now aware that it wouldn’t matter if she was carrying his child. The man had quickly moved on from her as though she’d only been a ghost of his past.

With her tears-streaked eyes, she protectively wrapped an arm around her flat stomach, staring down at it.

“It’s you and I alone in this world,” she murmured in a broken voice.