Chapter 1: She is Awake

In the city of California, a beautiful bright morning. Aiden, stood in front of the mirror fixing his tie. He combed his hair and exited the bedroom of his luxurious, 5-bedroom apartment inside an expensive Estate in Beverly Hills. Wearing an all-blue-black slim tuxedo, he headed for another bedroom in the apartment.

Inside another bedroom of the apartment, a pregnant woman was lying on a bed with wires attached to her body and connected to a monitoring machine. She had on an oxygen mask and a young man in his thirties was attending to the woman.

The room was 12 ft by 18 ft (216 square feet). The bed was positioned at the centre of the room, with the wardrobe closed to the wall opposite the foot of the bed and adjacent to the entering door. The room was painted white with glass windows to the right and a table at the centre of the two windows far apart from each other. A white heavy drape was pushed to the sides of the window allowing in some sunlight.

The young man, Dr Jerome, a personal doctor and friend of Aiden was moving from the woman's bed to the table and back attending to her. He prepared some medicine and injected it into the pregnant woman's vein. After doing that, he checked the monitor, recorded a few things on a chart and placed it inside the drawer of the table. There was a small tabletop mini-fridge sitting on the table alongside some containers all filled with different types of medications.

"Now it is time for you to eat something, Ms Ana," Dr Jerome said and opened the fridge brought out some things, prepared the special food and fed it to Ana through the nasogastric tube. 

"Now that should keep you till afternoon," Dr Jerome said.

"How is she doing?" came Aiden's voice from behind Dr Jerome.

"She is doing very well, Mr Scott," Dr Jerome replied happily.

"And the baby?" Aiden asked.

"The baby is very healthy," Dr Jerome assured.

"Are you sure she can have this baby safely?" Aiden asked.

"Mr Scott, I assured you. Everything is going to be fine. This is an induced coma. Six more months and this is over. As said earlier, I will use a cesarean section to deliver the baby," Dr Jerome assured.

"Can I see the baby?" Aiden requested and Dr Jerome moved the ultrasound machine closer.

Dr Jerome exposed Ana's belly under the watchful gaze of Aiden. He applied a gel and began moving the ultrasound transducer on Ana's belly.

"Here, that is the baby. That is the hands and legs," Dr Jerome said to Aiden, pointing to the sonogram.

"What gender?" Aiden asked.

"Is a boy," Dr Jerome replied and Aiden nodded before exiting the room. "I did the noninvasive prenatal testing yesterday," he added.

Dr Jerome did his last check after packing the ultrasound machine away and also exited the room into the connecting corridor locking the door up. He walked down the corridor, made a turn to the left and continued walking towards the staircase. He descended the staircase into the living room and found Aiden sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in hand.

"Mr Scott. I am done for today. The nurse will arrive in an hour to attend to her," Dr Jerome said and handed the key over to Aiden who accepted it from him.

"I will be on my way now," Dr Jerome said.

"Remember, no one must know about this," Aiden warned and Dr Jerome acknowledged before exiting the apartment.

Dr Jerome pressed for the elevator and soon left the apartment and headed for the hospital where he works. He drove out of the Estates gate and made a turn onto the main road. The hospital where he works, was a forty-five minutes drive away from Aiden's apartment.

Back in the apartment, Aiden was still in the living room, hoping everything would go well, according to plan. His housekeeper, Angela, walked into the living room and greeted him.

"Good morning Mr Scott. Your mum called earlier today and asked me to remind you of tonight's programme," the housekeep, Angela said.

"She said I should let you know it is important you attend," Angela said and Aiden responded with a 'hmm'

"I am going out now. The nurse will be in an hour from now. Give this key to her, she knows what to do. If anything, call me or send me a message. If it is urgent call," Aiden instructed and Angela acknowledged accepting the key from his hand.

Aiden exited the apartment and once out, his driver, Lewis, greeted him and brought the car around. Lewis sat behind the wheel after opening the door for Aiden to sit in the back seat. Lewis brought the engine to life and drove towards the Estate gate. After exiting the apartment compound, Aiden's phone rang as the car made a turn onto the main road toward Aiden's workplace, the Golden Light Hotel. Aiden answered after checking the caller ID.

"Hello Daniel, how are you doing?" Aiden said.

"I am good. How are you?" Daniel said.

"Good," Aiden replied.

"Mr Scott, are you coming to work today or you will work from home?" Daniel asked.

"I am coming to work. What is wrong?" Aiden asked.

"Nothing happened," Daniel replied.

"That is how I know something happened. Spit it out, what happened?" Aiden asked.

"Well, your mum called me a couple of minutes ago inviting me to your family house. She said something about a surprise for you," Daniel replied.

"Did she say what the surprise is?" Aiden asked.

"No, but she said it is important I come over too because it is going to be a great day for you. I know you don't like being caught off guard reason I decided to inform you," Daniel said.

"Thank you, Daniel. I will see you later in the day," Aiden said and ended the call wondering what surprise awaited him.

After a few minutes of driving, they arrived at the Golden Light Hotel, but before Aiden could get out of the car after Lewis parked inside the underground garage, his phone rang again. This time it was his sister, Ruth.

"Hello Sis," Aiden greeted.

"Hi brother, congratulations in advance. I hope you will put work aside and come for tonight's programme," Ruth said excitedly from the other end of the call.

"I take it, you are in California," Aiden said.

"Yes, why will I miss my big brother's special day," Ruth said excitedly.

"Why do I feel tonight is not the usual Thanksgiving and family gathering," Aiden said walking into the hotel.

"Welcome Mr Scott," greeted one of the hotel staff and Aiden ignored the greetings still on the call with his sister.

"I am not telling but you will love it. I promise," Ruth said and the call was disconnected afterwards.

"Welcome Mr Scott," another staff greeted as Aiden headed for his office on the top floor thinking about tonight's programme and what surprise awaited him.

Back in his apartment, the nurse arrived exactly an hour as communicated and Angela let her in after confirming who she was by her ID. Angela gave the key to the nurse and the nurse headed upstairs to the room where Ana was.

Upon arriving at the door, she put the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. She pushed the door open and entered. She walked toward Ana's bed and checked on her. She looked at the readings on the monitor but she felt a movement. The nurse looked at Ana and her eyes were still closed. The nurse walked to the table checking the time on her wrist-watch. She opened the fridge and brought a container out. She picked up a syringe, filled it and headed back to Ana's bed. The nurse pushed the content of the syringe into the cannula but while she was at it, Ana spoke.

"Where am I?" came Ana's weak voice and the nurse jolted backwards.

Ana was not supposed to wake up now so how did this happen?

"Who are you and where am I?" Ana asked fully awake and scanning her environment.

Ana tried to get up and that was when she noticed her belly which was followed by a small movement which gave her a slight pain.

"What is going on?" Ana asked almost screaming as she tried to get up.

The nurse was trying to get Ana to relax and lie back down but Ana was too shocked to listen. She was confused about her environment and why her belly was looking that big.

The nurse quickly went to the table, got some sedatives and returned to Ana's bed. Ana was one after the other removing the wires attached to her hand. She pulled out the cannula and wounded herself in the process. She let out a cry.

At the Golden Light Hotel, Aiden was in his office, when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and it was Dr Jerome.

"Hello Dr," Aiden said as soon as he answered the call.

"She is awake," Dr Jerome said

"What!" Aiden exclaimed.