Flower of the Moon : บุปผาเคียงจันทร์

CHAPTER 1

“Congratulations Nancy, you’re six weeks pregnant,” The good doctor smiled as he broke the information to Nancy.

She suspected it when she didn’t see her monthly visitor last month but confirming it gave her mixed feelings knowing life was growing inside her when the man who put it there would probably never accept it.

“But doctor, how can that be? I have an IUD,” She replied, worry etched on her face.

“It happens. No prevention method is 100 percent guaranteed. If you’re going to be keeping the baby, it’s best to take it out,” the doctor replied and shook his head as if he could read her troubled mind.

“No, leave it in, I’ll have to discuss this with Lloyd,” She said, knowing fully well it wasn’t going to be an easy discussion.

Yes, Lloyd Banks, her boyfriend, well their relationship wasn’t exactly defined after almost three years but she hoped that after all this time he saw her as his girlfriend.

He made her get an IUD two months into their relationship because in his words,

"I like it raw and I don’t want any accidents.”

“Welcome back baby,” Nancy greeted Lloyd when he came back to the condo they lived in later that night.

It was a three bedroom condo that he owned. The place felt more like a prison to her than a home because she hardly went out or did anything without his knowledge, but to make him happy, she never complained.

She rubbed her Belly as Lloyd pushed past her to the dinning without saying a word.

The dust that settled on his shiny black hair told her he was at one of his construction sites today. His family was huge in the real estate business amongst other things.

“You should probably wear a helmet when you visit your site, baby. Your hair has dust and God forbid if any accidents occur,” Nancy said as she dished out his food.

The man loved her cooking. It was what first got them together. Well after they had a one night stand and she made him breakfast.

“Safety measures are for pussies. You play it safe, you die, you don’t play it safe, you still die, so why miss out on the thrill?” He said with a shrug, frowning his face.

Nancy set his plate before him. “I understand,but still, you should…”

Lloyd slammed his fist on the table causing her to jump. “Are you going to lecture me on something you know absolutely nothing about? Just stick to the kitchen woman and let me eat my food in peace.”

“I’m sorry,” She replied. He waved her off and she retreated to eat her food in silence at the other end of the table, opposite him. It was an eight seater dining room even though there were only two people living in the house and no one ever visited.

Halfway into his meal, Lloyd asked. “So what did the doctor say was wrong with you?”

Nancy’s heart started thumping violently when she heard his question. She didn’t want to tell him the truth just yet. He didn’t seem to be in a good mood and he was clear that he didn’t want any accidents AKA pregnancy. She knew he wouldn’t react great to the news, perhaps later in bed she would open up to him.

The chink of his fork hitting the plate as he dropped it made her look up from her plate.

“Didn’t you hear me or have you suddenly gone deaf?” He asked, raising his voice.

She scratched the nape of her neck and looked down, unable to hold his gaze as she lied “It was just a fever.”

Lloyd scoffed. “Just a fever? That’s not what the doctor told me.”

‘Shit! I totally forgot the doctor could have informed him.’ Nancy cursed in her head.

She gulped and struggled to find the right words to explain herself when Lloyd’s light brown eyes suddenly turned a shade darker. His throat tightened as he stood up forcefully, knocking his chair over and walking to her side of the table.

“So you want to trap me with a child, is that it?” He barked. As his voice echoed across the room, her heart rate further increased.

She hurried out of her seat as he reached her. Her eyes naturally settled on his broad chest and she kept them there.

His strong muscular arms grabbed her frail ones and he shook her violently. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

She raised her eyes to meet his and there was no love in them. All she saw was pure contempt. He was raging.

“I’m sorry Baby, I thought…”

“You thought what? That you were going to bear me a child? You really think there is a world where a woman like you would birth my child? You are only good for one thing. My pleasure and satisfaction,” Lloyd cut her off, with iciness dripping from his tone.

His harsh words hit her like a brick and her eyes turned moist before the tears fell like a stream.

“Just your pleasure and satisfaction? Is that all I am to you? A thing to satisfy your urges? I thought you said you love me,” She managed to ask as her teary hazel eyes fixed on his cold brown ones.

Her words must have felt repulsive to him with the way he pushed her down, making her crash into her chair and as her rib hit the edge of the seat, she screamed.

Lloyd looked down at her as she winced in pain but there was no emotion in his eyes, neither pity nor remorse. Rather, he continued to berate her.

“Love you? When did I ever say that? And even if I did, it doesn’t mean a dishonest gold digger like you is going to carry my child. First thing tomorrow morning, I’m taking you to get rid of that filth growing inside you,” He spat out venomously.

Nancy felt like a bucket of ice was dumped on her as she heard his words. Goosebumps covered her entire skin from the fear his word instilled in her.

‘I know he’s just angry that I lied about the pregnancy, surely he didn’t mean any of the things he was saying. I’m just going to have to calm down and apologize to him. Make him see reason.’

She took a deep breath and struggled to her feet. She leaned on the table to ease the sharp pain she felt in her rib.

“I’m sorry I lied to you baby, I was just scared of your reaction. Please, I don’t want to have an abortion, let me keep the child,” she begged, looking in his direction with teary eyes as he went back to sit.

He picked his fork and continued eating his meal, pretending he didn’t hear her.

“Please Lloyd, don’t do this,” She said, raising her voice a little and he looked up from his meal. His eyes were even more cold and distant.

He dropped his fork and folded his palms in each other, rested both his elbows on the table and he leaned forward.

“You don’t get it, do you? Having a child for me gives you a claim to me, my wealth and my family. What would my parents even think when they find out their only son, the heir to the Banks empire, is having a child with the daughter of a nobody.”

Nancy bit her lower lip in agony as he said those words but she held back the bitterness they were creating inside her and chose to ignore the insult to her and her parents.

She went over to him, massaging her ribs as she walked, to subsidize the paralyzing pain she was feeling in them.

She knelt beside him and laid her hands on his thighs. He looked at her and for a moment she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes but it was quickly replaced by a cold stare.

“Baby, your parents don’t have to know. I can have the baby in secret. We can be your secret family. You can send me to another city, far away from here. Just please, don’t take my child away from me,” She begged as tears kept dripping down her cheeks.

“No. You are not worthy,” He shook his head and then he continued.“The truth is, when I look at you, I don’t see the kind of woman I would do that for. Look, I don’t think I will ever see you as anything more than what you are right now, a thing for my pleasure.”