Pregnancy Test Strip

Evelyn’s POV

As I drove home, my thoughts ravaged chaotically in my mind.

It had been almost half a month. Half a month and two more days if I counted correctly. Half a month and two days since that night with the mystery man. Just thinking about the night made my pulse quicken.

I had been expecting anything, a sign maybe, something to show that I had been impregnated. Biologically, by now I should have started to experience the initial symptoms.

I stopped outside a pharmacy, impatience driving me. I didn’t even think about it; I just went in, bought the test, and drove again.

Back at my apartment, I locked the door, tossed my bag on the couch, and went to the bathroom. My hands trembled as I opened the packet.

For the first time in a while, I felt nervous. A feeling I had already grown unaccustomed to.

Minutes stretched like hours.

When the result showed—a single pale line, negative—I stared until my eyes burned.

“Unbelievable,” I whispered, throwing the stick into the bin. My heart clenched—not with disappointment, but with frustration, like something had failed me.

I grabbed my phone, scrolled to Alex’s name, and called.

He picked up quickly. “Miss Evelyn?”

“Tell me,” I snapped, not bothering with greetings. “That man—” I almost spat the word—“the one you arranged. Is he incapable? Because it’s been over half a month and I’m still not pregnant.”

On the other end, silence lingered too long. I imagined Alex speechless searching for answers.

Finally, he said carefully, “Miss, conception doesn’t usually happen from a single encounter. It’s… a matter of chance and probability. Timing, cycles, many factors. It’s not abnormal that there’s no result yet.”

I pressed my palm against my forehead, pacing. His voice was rational, calm, but it only made my irritation spike.

“So what?” I bit out. “I wait? I try again and again, hoping chance favors me?” My laugh came out. “Isn’t that too risky?”

I stopped pacing, then relaxed.

“If once isn’t enough, then he comes again,” I said firmly. “Every day, if necessary. Do you hear me, Alex? Every single day, until I get pregnant.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass. Every day, until I get pregnant. I’d make it happen. But wouldn’t it give rise to feelings? Especially if it's with the same person?

Alex’s POV

Her words surprised even me. Every day. Until she got pregnant.

Evelyn had always been decisive, smart but this… this was something else entirely. I knew she wanted control over her future, and a child with Ben would give it.

But what she asked for—what she demanded—every day?

From the corner of the office, Ben shifted. He had been silent during the call, listening in to what Rue had to say.  The weight of his stare intense.

I forced myself to meet his eyes. “She wants… daily meetings,” I said cautiously, avoiding the rawer words. “What should I tell her?”

Ben’s expression didn’t change. He leaned back, hands folded loosely, as he thought hard.

I hesitated, then asked, “Can you even… manage that? You’re already—busy. Every day is—”

He cut me off with the smallest motion: a nod. Steady.

Before I could react, he extended a hand for the phone. His voice was low, almost hollow when he spoke: “Give it to me.”

I handed it over.

Ben held the phone to his ear…

It took only a second before his voice slipped into something ghostlike, deliberately so.

“Then what about tonight?” he asked, each word slow, dragging. “Will you be back home?”

The silence that followed was heavy. I imagined her biting her lip, calculating, the way she always did.

Finally, her voice came—soft, tired. “No. Not tonight. I’m exhausted.”

She hung up before getting Ben's reaction.

The room fell silent except for the faint buzz of the disconnected line. He stared at the dark screen, unmoving. A minute passed. Then two. The air grew heavier with every heartbeat.

At last, he placed the phone down.

“ Maybe she is still with her ex-husband, yesterday they were together too.” the words came out of my mouth before they registered in my brain.

“Ex-husband?” Ben asked, his voice a bit surprised, anger lacing it.

“Yeah,” I nodded with a whisper. I couldnt help but notice how his face had turned drastically after I mentioned that she was with the ex-husband.Infuriated, hurt…I wasn’t sure.

“But…” he paused as if words were lost on him

He stood up and said, almost to himself, “I’ll go to her residence.”

My blood went cold.

“You will?” I stammered, leaning forward. “Isn’t just the opposite of what she just said—”

But he wasn’t listening. He had already stood, adjusting his coat like a man preparing for battle.

Then he paused, his gaze sharpening as if some thought had struck him. He turned to me, voice quiet but firm:

“Do everything you can to prevent her from remembering that night. She must not recall it.”

That night. The night I had arranged, the one I had been the middleman for. If Evelyn pieced it together—if she realized the truth—everything would collapse.

I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll make sure of it.”

He left without another word, the sound of the door shutting echoing through the office. The silence that followed pressed against my chest.

But even as I sat back down, my greatest fear clawed at me. My contract was with Miss Evelyn, not him. If she discovered what I really was, who I really answered to… there’d be no mercy. She’d ruin me in ways a termination letter never could.

Fear. That was all that threaded through me now.