All I want for Christmas is my ex husband’s twin brother

LISA

“You are pregnant.”

The doctor said it so simply that for a second the words didn’t even reach me. Then they hit all at once. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. I put my hand over my chest.

“I’m… really?” I asked. “I’m actually pregnant?”

“Yes,” she said. “The test is positive. Very early, but positive.”

I nodded fast. “Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.” My voice shook. I grabbed my purse and rushed to the door, almost tripping from how excited I was.

It really worked…. I’m pregnant. I thought kept making me excited.

But right when I pulled the door open, I slammed straight into someone’s chest.

“Whoa… watch it Lisa.” the man said.

I froze. My heart slammed into my ribs.

“Adrian?” I whispered.

He frowned a bit. “Excuse me?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping back like I’d seen a ghost. “Why do you have a lab coat on? Since when do you work here?”

He didn’t answer. His eyes looked down the hallway behind me, then he grabbed my wrist without warning.

“Hey…what the hell?” I snapped. “Let go!”

He pulled me into the room across the hall and shut the door hard behind us.

“Stop….Adrian, what are you doing?” I said. “Why are you…. Hey didn’t you say it’s over the day I signed the divorce papers…. Adri..”

He slapped his hand over my mouth.

“Be quiet,” he whispered sharply.

My eyes went wide. I tried to talk through his hand, kicking at him and pushing his arm. He leaned in closer like he was trying to keep me calm, which only did the opposite.

So I bit him.

Hard.

He yanked his hand back. “Ow! What is wrong with you?”

“You grabbed me!” I shouted. “Are you insane? You can’t just drag people around like they are toys. I’m nothing to you now.. isn’t that your words.”

“Stop yelling,” he said, rubbing the back of his hand. “Just stop for a second.”

“No!” I said. “Not until you tell me why you’re here, why you’re dressed like that, and why you’re acting like some kind of lunatic or did you follow me to the hospital. Did you overhear my conversation with the doctor?” I stoped asking questions immediately I saw his long face.

He stared at me for a long moment before saying, “I’m not Adrian.”

I blinked. “ Do you think I’m here for jokes.”

“No. I’m not… I’m really not Adrian can’t you see the difference between the man you lived with for almost a year and the man standing right in front of you?.”

“You look exactly like him.” I said bluntly.

“That’s because I’m his twin,” he said. “Brian.”

A stunned laugh left me. “ Oh this is hilarious Adrien. Now you’re saying you’re a twin…. The Adrian I know doesn’t have a twin so what’s this.”

“Yes he does,” Brian said. “He just never told you.”

“That’s the worst lie I’ve ever…”

“You think I’m lying?” he snapped.

I stared at him. Now that I was really looking, something felt off. His tone. His stare. His eyes didn’t look at me the way Adrian used to. His energy was cold but his eyes were soft. Adrian wasn’t like this.

“You… you don’t act like him,” I said slowly.

“Because I’m not him,” he said.

I shook my head. “No. No, this is crazy. Adrian never mentioned..”

“He didn’t want you to know,” Brian said, cutting me off. “And we don’t talk, anyway.”

“I still don’t believe you,” I muttered.

He let out a long, annoyed breath and started unbuttoning the top of his lab coat.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He tugged the collar of his shirt down and showed me a tattoo on his chest. A black wolf head with dark ink.

I stared at it, frozen.

Adrian didn’t have tattoos. He hated them. He used to complain about temporary tattoos on kids.

“Oh,” I whispered.

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Now do you believe me?”

“I… maybe.” I stepped closer, still staring at the tattoo. “It’s real?”

“Yes.”

I lifted my hand like I wanted to touch it, then stopped and dropped it fast. “So you’re really… Brian.”

“Yes.”

“And you really work here?”

“ I own this hospital .”

“ Why haven’t I ever seen you before. I always come here for check up.” I said with my brows raised.”

“ Maybe because I haven’t been in the country.” he said bluntly. “You talk too much when you’re scared.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I said.

“You were screaming.”

“I was not screaming.”

He gave me a look that said I absolutely was.

“Okay, maybe a little,” I muttered. “But you grabbed me first.”

“Because you were yelling,” he said.

I rolled my eyes and looked around the large office. Papers everywhere. Coffee cup half full. Coat on the table close to him. It all felt too real for a lie.

I sighed. “So… how long have you around.”

“A while.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the one you get.”

“You sound like him sometimes,” I muttered.

“We’re twins.”

I rubbed my arms. I suddenly felt cold, even though the office wasn’t. “This is insane.”

“Life’s insane,” he said simply. Adjusting his buttons.

“That’s your big answer?”

“Yes.”

I walked toward the door, then stopped, biting my lip. I turned around again.

“You scared me,” I said quietly.

“You bit me,” he said, holding up his hand.

“You grabbed me.”

“You were yelling.”

“I already said I wasn’t…fine, whatever,” I sighed and turned to leave.

“ you’re pregnant… I heard what the doctor said.” He blurted out calmly this time.

“ Wait are you spying on me??.”

“ No… No I wasn’t. I saw you walk into the hospital I knew it was Adrian’s ex wife. He bragged about having a wife he uses at home and a real girlfriend… it sucks.”

“ He really said that?.” Tears dropping out of my eyes already.

Brian leaned and wiped it with his fingers.

“ I know he hurt you badly. I know everything and now I want him to pay. I know you’d want to exert revenge on him for all he did to you so I would love to offer a contract.”

My blood ran cold the moment I heard the word contract. What exactly is he up to?.

“ A.. A contract? what kind of contract”

“We will look like a couple to the world, making Adrian pay for hurting you and making him pay for stepping on my opportunities. Let’s just call it Fake dating. If you end up falling for any man within this time, you are free to go along with him, as long as he is the right man. But in the mean time, I’ll be there for you and the unborn child. It’s my brother’s child anyway but we’ll keep it a secret. He shouldn’t know you are pregnant with his child.”

“ His child…. No no no I’m not pregnant with Adrian’s child.” I lied immediately that made him raise his brows in confusion.

What if he asks Adrian by mistake one day… what if Adrian tells him we never had raw sex….

“ Hey” he said making me flinch. “you seem lost in thoughts.”

“ I’m not pregnant with Adrian’s child. I did an external fertilization in the hospital I only wanted to have a child I could call family.” I lied immediately, feeling the wrath of my lies. I can’t let him know what exactly I did to get pregnant and I can certainly not tell him it’s Adrian’s child either.

What part is my world taking now…. This wasn’t how the plan was meant to go.