It was almost nine at night when she arrived home and Pandora felt like she would die from exhaustion. She let herself into the house and dumped the bags near the door. She kicked off her shoes and dropped them down to the floor beside her luggage.
She was just about crawl to the stairs when she heard a knock on the front door. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” she muttered to herself and went towards the staircase.
“Pandora!” She frowned when she heard Derrik yelling from outside the door. He began to pound on it, making her groan.
“Nothing important, it seems. Just a lunatic knocking at an odd hour,” she said to herself and moved to the door, knowing Derrik wouldn’t leave without seeing her face.
She only managed to pry the door open when Derrik pushed it open and barged in. Pandora stumbled, shocked by the force he had used.
“Finally came home, I see!” he yelled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You look like a slut with that hair color. What? Are you trying to look good now? You’re already divorced and nothing can help with that face of yours.” He snickered sarcastically.
“What I have been doing or how I look is no longer your business. Cut the crap and tell me what you want.”
Derrik glared at her before rolling his eyes. “Did you get the eviction notice I sent you? You need to move out immediately; I need the place.”
Pandora pressed her fingers to her forehead, hoping the headache would lessen. She didn’t have the energy to fight with him. “Not going to happen. This is my house… the court gave it to me. Go cry to someone else because I ain’t complying with your void eviction notice,” she said firmly. She opened the door, needing him to get the hell out of her house. If possible out of her life, too.
“Still as stupid as ever,” Derrik spat out so harshly that Pandora was sure he had hated her for all the years they were married. “Don’t you flaunt your money all the time? Use some of it to buy a place of your own. This is a family home where a couple who will have kids should live.”
Pandora scratched her forehead, trying not to respond to him as she wished. But mincing words was not good for her health. She had wasted enough time on this man.
“The doctor told me I could get pregnant if I tried. It seems part of the problem is also with you… and what mistress of yours? Take care…” She stopped with a grim look. “This is my house. Now leave.”
Derrik laughed incredulously. “You’re right. This shitty house and you go together. I deserve a much better place where I can raise my children. How about we sell the house and go our separate ways.” He waved between the two of them. “We will never see each other ever again.”
“Even if I sell the house, you won’t get a dime from it. This is my house. That I bought with my money. The money I spent a lot of effort making… of course, you wouldn’t know what that feels like, would you?”
Derrik snorted. “Ah, if only you had put in as much effort into our marriage as you did your work and house… Maybe we could have actually lasted.”
Pandora rolled her eyes. “If you actually loved me and not the money you are drooling after right now, we could have been happy,” she corrected quickly.
“Wow. How did you expect me to like you when even your parents abandoned you? I’m not a saint, Pandora.”
“Out,” she hissed through her gritted teeth. “Get out this second!” she yelled louder this time.
“You’ll do well handing the house over before I drag you back to court. Mackenna and I are trying for a baby and we need a house to raise our family,” Derrik responded angrily, knowing he was getting on her nerves.
‘Please leave. Why isn’t he leaving?’ she screamed internally. She was already drained from the trip, she couldn’t handle a fight right then.
“Then get a job like a normal man and pay for a house,” she sneered.
“Well, I can’t because I have to look after Mackenna. We need all the help so that the baby is safe.” He stopped talking and looked at her menacingly. “Oh, I understand now, you don’t want me to have children because your broken body can’t have any.”
She shook her head, having enough of his nonsense. She pushed him against the chest and toward the door.
“You are pathetic, you know that? You can go around telling your sob story to everyone, but at the end of the day, I will be getting this house. I promise you,” he said before storming away.
Pandora slammed the door shut and locked it. She sank to the floor and tears started to drip down her face without her permission. It was strange how a year of her life could completely change how she felt about the man she thought was her soulmate.
The love she had felt for Derrik had slowly morphed into hatred. A hatred so deep that the tears were short-lived and it gave her the energy to get off the floor, head upstairs and change for bed.
“This house is mine. I gave him ten years of my life and I won’t let him take away another moment of happiness from me.”
With that mantra in place, she closed her eyes and dreamed. Her dreams were plagued with taunts from Derrik and Mackenna. She tried to push them away, but she tumbled instead. She waited for the fall to hurt but two strong arms wrapped around her protectively.
“Hey, I’ve been looking for you,” the voice said. “Why did you leave me without saying goodbye?”
Pandora turned to look at her face, but she couldn’t see him. She recognized those piercing grey eyes of his. She looked down and saw a swirl of tattoos on his arms.
“Wh—who are you?” she whispered.
“Did you forget me? It’s me, Dora… Nemo.” Even though she couldn’t see his face, she could tell he was smiling. “Don’t worry. I’ll find you,” he promised before disappearing.
Pandora awoke feeling rested and happier than she had when she went to bed.
“Spill,” Kiera said, wriggling her brows at Pandora the moment she sat down.“What?” she asked, looking between Keira and Sia, her friends from high school and college respectively.“Don’t act coy. You had sex. It’s written all over your face,” Sia said smugly and Kiera nodded rapidly.Pandora’s mouth dropped open in shock. Was it really written on her forehead? How tense had she looked before? “No, I didn’t,” she answered stubbornly.“Yes, you did. I swear we will torture it out of you if you don’t start speaking.”Pandora frowned at the two and motioned at the server. “I need some coffee before my lips open,” she announced. In no time, the coffee was in front of them and Pandora had taken her first sip.“You've had your coffee now. What did he look like?”She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t remember.” When she opened them, she saw the look of worry on her friends’ faces. “Did someone hurt you?” Sia asked urgently.“No.” She shook her head before placing her hand over Sia’s. “We we
Pandora groaned, still feeling tired after ten hours of sleep. As she sat up, she felt a wave of dizziness overcome her. Before she could lay back down, her stomach turned. She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, hoping and praying she wouldn’t puke on the floor.She hunched over the toilet and heaved. Nothing really came up. She didn’t have time to be sick. And she willed her body to stop without much result. When the retching finally stopped, she dragged herself to the sink to clean up. Still, her stomach felt uncomfortable.As the day passed, she felt worse. Nothing seemed to help with the nausea she was feeling. She tried to force down the lunch before resting her head on the desk, hoping a short nap would make her feel better. Sleep made everything better, right?“They pay you to sleep at work?” she heard Derrik say. She jumped at the sound of his voice, but it was her stomach that made it worse. She covered her mouth and looked at him. “What?” he said irritably, staring
Keira helped her sit on her couch and walked away. Pandora knew she was still in the house because she could hear the other move around the house. She was speaking to someone, but Pandora had no idea who it was.“Here, have some tea,” she said, placing a cup in Pandora’s hand. Her hands lingered. “You got it?” she asked and Pandora looked down before tightening her grip on the cup.“I’m going to have a baby?” she questioned, still thinking that the universe was playing a cruel joke on her.“You are,” Keira confirmed. “This is real, right? It’s not a joke.”“No, it’s not a joke.” Keira rubbed her shoulder.“I’m going to be a mom?”Keira squinted, reevaluating Pandora’s sanity.“Derrik and I tried for years and nothing happened. I didn’t even mistake myself to be pregnant. But I sleep with a random guy and I am immediately pregnant?”A stranger whom she didn’t remember, whose face she had forgotten, let alone what his name was.“What’s wrong, honey?” Keira asked, worried.“I don’t know
“If you are ready, we can begin with the breast exam?” he asked but she got the feeling that he was staring at her. Pandora looked his way but his head was not positioned in a way that he could look at her. “I will be touching you now. My hands are warm.”“That’s fine,” she said nervously. “It will be hard for you to do the exam without touching me.”His soft hands touched her breasts, sending tingles throughout her body. He took his time as he pressed and moved his fingers over her. Once he was finished, he covered her back up with the sheet provided. Of course, by this point, her nipples were hard and tenting the sheet in two spots.“You have a small stature. Is your husband tall?” Dr. Parks asked.Pandora frowned, looking up at him. “He’s—” She cut herself short as Derrik wasn’t her husband any longer. How did she answer that question? The doctor obviously didn’t need her explanation but she was curious as to why he needed to know how tall Derrik was.“Is he over six feet?”Pandora
“Have you lost a baby before?”She shook her head. “After the diagnosis and surgery, I was told that the chances were slim that I would get pregnant.”Dr. Parks sighed before nodding. “I take it that you have been trying for a while, then?”“Yes, we tried for years, starting as soon as we got married. But nothing and now—” she said but stopped herself from blurting out her dirty secret. She felt his hand touch hers and she opened her eyes to see a silver wedding band on his finger. The image of him being so happy in his wedding photo hit her again and only made her cry harder. Again, she asked herself why she had to choose and marry an asshole.“I can’t promise that everything will be okay, but I will watch over you. I would like to see you every week until you give birth. According to the scan, you look about eight weeks along. That means you have another seven months to go.”Pandora agreed, feeling a little better that he was willing to watch over her so carefully.“Do you work?” h
Pandora looked at her dad’s house, taking a few deep breaths, trying to muster up the courage to go inside. ‘I am a grown woman with a job, a car, and a house!’ she told herself, but she also had that small voice in the back of her mind repudiate. ‘Did you forget the ex-husband whom your father asked you not to marry?’ Pandora groaned, knowing she was about to start her engine and just leave with how conflicted her thoughts were.She jumped when she heard a sharp knock on her car’s window.“Sorry,” Nina smiled as she looked through the window. Pandora let out a nervous laugh and opened her car door. “Is everything alright?” Nina asked as she looked her stepdaughter over.“Yeah,” Pandora muttered and shut the door.Nina and she walked to the house the older woman shared with her father. They had known each other since high school. They went from being close friends to raising Pandora together. Nina’s husband cheated on her ten years ago and Pandora’s father, Walter, stuck by her side
She quickly got out of the tub and put on her bathrobe before grabbing her cell phone. Instantly, she jumped as it started to vibrate in her hands. She hissed when she saw Derrik’s name flashing on her screen. She pressed accept to answer the call and forewent all formalities when she spoke.“That better not be you at the door!” she stated as she went to the window.“Get your ass here and let me in!” Derrik sneered.“Fuck you,” she hissed out and disconnected the call. Right away, she dialed the emergency number. “I warned the asshole, this is on him,” she muttered as she waited for someone to respond. “Pandora!” she heard Derrik yell and he started pounding on the door again.“What is the address of your emergency?” The monotone male voice asked over the phone.“Pandora!” Derrik yet again bellowed followed by the pounding on her door.She stated her address, her voice breaking.“Answer the fucking door, you stupid bitch!” Derrik screamed again, continuing to pound on the door.“What
“Where is my bracelet?” she asked herself as she looked through her jewelry box. She groaned, unable to find it. She closed her eyes, trying to remember where she had last worn it. But she wasn’t fully awake and after a night of no sleep because of Derrik, it was hard to function.Just as she was about to give up, she imagined the bracelet on her wrist. She could feel someone touching her softly and with so many emotions that it made her whole body tingle from that one spot on her wrist.“Where did you get this?” a smooth voice with the smell of alcohol asked, and her eyes sprang open.“Vegas,” she declared and she shuddered. She moved to the closet and got her bag. She took out the small jewelry bag she had taken with her. She dumped everything out and grabbed her bracelet. As she put it on, a silver ring caught her eye.“Where did that come from?” She lifted it up to inspect.It was a simple silver band. She frowned at it and turned it around in her fingers. Suddenly, what looked li