Her Right Mistake

(39) Audrey

Before you continue, please know that this book still needs a lot of fact checking because pregnancy 101 is not something I am an expert of. This means that the author of this book needs to have more research about PREGNANCY and you'll probably be questioning some farfetched information in the book. Again, I did not make some thorough research. Please know that is the first draft and will undergo minimum to drastic editing once done with "fact checking."

NO NEED TO PREACH, PLEASE.

They haven't been speaking. Her mother doesn't come out of their bedroom anymore. Her aunts were the only ones she permits to come in and out – but just because they insist she eats something. It was a torture on Audrey's part. Her own mother is avoiding her like she couldn't bear the sight of her. It was pang in her chest – hardly tolerable.

"You and your mother fought?"

Audrey raised in one elbow and sat on the sofa.

Her aunt Gemma stands on the foot of the stairs and walks over to her. "She's just in pain, that's all."

"I know." She tucked her legs beneath her, the throw pillow secured on her lap.

"People say a lot of things they don't mean when they're mad." She sinks herself beside her and patted her knee. "She'll be fine."

Audrey sighed. "She still doesn't want to talk to me, does she?"

She nods slightly. "If it's any consolation, she's not talking to me either. She just ate what I gave her and that was it."

Ah, the silent treatment. One of a few things Audrey has copied subconsciously. Her mother just needed time and space to cool off. She could give her that willingly. She gets her. But it doesn't stop her from nursing a wound of her own.

"She'll be okay, Audrey." Her aunt breaks the silence.

Her phone vibrated on the coffee table, Vren's name blinking on the phone. She lets it go to voicemail. Like she did last night. And earlier this morning. She hadn't noticed how long she was staring at her phone until her aunt Gem call her name. She retrieved her eyes back to her.

"Is everything okay?"

She clears her throat. "Yes."

She gives an unsatisfied nod. "I thought Vren would be staying with you."

"He have to take care of a few things," she answers curtly.

Her aunt Gemma blinked, sensing her detachment. "I better go."

Audrey nods. She lied on the sofa, staring at the ceiling as she hears the backdoor closing where her aunt exited the house. Her phone vibrated. This time it was Kylie. She didn't answer. She sent her a text message after two missed calls. Kylie packed her clothes like she instructed and Vren took the luggage with him when he dropped by her place and that he was now on his way.

She decided to close her eyes for a bit. She wasn't planning on sleeping the day away. Apparently, she did. The sun has set when she woke up from a car pulling up the driveway. She scratches her eyes and pushes herself off the sofa with her elbow.

She shuffled to the door and opened it with a rush in her swelling heart and butterflies in her belly. She was one step out the door before she had to stop dead in her tracks. She missed him. The realization snuck on her and slapped her right across the face. She hadn't seen it coming. Until she registered it was indeed Vren's car parked in their driveway.

She has missed someone before. After all, she was human. However, she hadn't feel this kind of intensity in missing another person. There was a leap in her chest that had her thinking about the biological capacity of a normal heart. Scientifically, it wasn't making any sense.

It was like she hasn't been answering her calls – secretly – for personal reasons. She earned a sense of calm from not answering. Because, for the life of her, she was growing dependent on his calls. She was disgruntled when he doesn't call on time. His calls was all she could think about all day. When he's not calling, she's thinking what to tell him if he finally does call.

Once upon a time, months ago, her phone was pure business calls. Now it's one third of her personal calls - all from the same person.

Audrey refuses to take another step. She assessed the car and got puzzled why said vehicle is empty. There was a laughter coming from their neighbor's fence and there he was, helping out a middle-aged Mrs. Fitzgerald with her groceries. Her daughter, whom Audrey had a few classes with in middle school was delighted at the handsome gentleman that could easily be labeled as 'not from around here.'

She sees her gesturing him inside – perhaps to reward him with a glass of his choice of beverage.

Why would she let a stranger in her house? Vren was gorgeous, yes, it's on the table but he could be a serial killer for all she knows. Hadn't she heard about Ted Bundy?

Audrey shakes her head to rid herself of the thought. She sees him shaking his head, doing his trademark grin. She had to look away.

Vren jogged out their neighbor's lawn to theirs. His eyes warmed when he sees her in the doorstep. He knew too well that she wasn't going to run to him and they would hug and kiss like reuniting lovers in arrival gates. She gasped. Lovers. Her tongue suddenly staled in her mouth.

He walked over to her, pulling her by the waist and guided her to the warmth of his arms.

Audrey doesn't know whose softness fits the other's hardness or was it vice versa?

"I missed you," he whispers, his breath fanning her cheek.

Her insides flip back and forth. Another foreign chemical reaction.

Vren adjusted his forehead so it was resting on hers. His hands were on her cheeks. Then he dipped his head down to give her a kiss that tasted sweet. Sweeter than anything sugary she won't even bother to identify. It was simply beyond compare.

***

"Scale of one to ten, how much did you miss me?" Vren's arms snake around her from behind, his hands going over her baby bump.

She lets her hands cover his. "Pass."

He chuckles.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the sofa downstairs?" Audrey's old bed is crossed out from the list of options since she had a growth spurt away from home. The bed was cute, but she couldn't stretch her legs anymore in it. She couldn't offer it to Vren either.

"Two more minutes."

She rolled her eyes. Her aunts just left from her parents' bedroom. She was by the doorway in case she would be welcome inside... to no avail. "You said two minutes more two minutes ago."

"I want to hold the baby this time." His lips touched her earlobe.

Sparks went berserk all over her body. Third biological mystery. She closes her eyes, shoving it out of her system. She ended up with her head on the crook of his neck instead because he just smells amazing. Feels like it too.

"Audrey?"

"Yes?" She removed her head from the solace of his neck.

It took him a moment before speaking again. "I have this ridiculous idea of kicking our story up a notch."

"How?"

"Would you want to walk around with a ring on your finger?"

It caught her off guard but she recovered within a second. She turns all the way around to look at him. "You're kidding."

"Just consider it." He takes her knuckles to his lips. "No rush though."

Audrey could only nod.

Later in the night, under the sheets and cushions of the bed, she barely thought of sleep. 

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