CHAPTER 3

MINA

FLASHBACK

I woke up feeling startled as my alarm rang by my ear. I let out a groan and felt for my phone to switched it off. I stretched and turned to my side to find it empty. I felt the empty space and it was cold. Memories of the past night came flooding in. I had a frown because he left early and was satisfied about what happened last night.

Time check, 10am. Class starts at noon so I took my time to get dressed. I sent a message to the neighbours taking care of Minjae that I would pick him up after my class ends. They had taken note of that. Just as I was about to leave the room, my eyes found a piece of paper taped to the door. It was a short note written by him. It says, “I had a wonderful time last night and I would like to know if you are up for a date? No rush but once you’re ready, here’s my number.” It put a smile on my face but knew it was not sincere. Rather than throwing it, I had folded it and put it into my purse. Who knows when I need it.

FAST FORWARD (A FEW DAYS BEFORE PRESENT)

I had class on that day, at 8am. I usually woke up at 7am and made it just in time for class but today was different. I was wide awake at 5am because I had to go to the bathroom to puke. I had started to feel nauseous a few days ago but decided that it was because I ate something wrong. With this happening a few times and it has been constant, my mind instantly thought of me being pregnant. “No” I whispered to myself. I started to sob because I knew I was pregnant. I went to check my cycle and turns out I had missed it, a week ago.

I had prepared Minjae to go to the neighbours and once I passed him to them, I went to the pharmacy straight. I could care less about class right now and made the decision to skip. I bought a few pregnancy tests of different brands and threw them onto the counter to be scanned. I paid for the items and made my way home.

People usually pee onto the stick but since I have a few, I decided to pee in a cup and dip in the stick. I was sitting on the floor of the bathroom and stared at the covered sticks. At this moment, I was feeling numb.