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re she collapsed to her knees in front of the toilet. The smell of cooking from the apartment next door was all it
he whispered to herself, her b
en going on
nsomnia that had plagued her since that night. But somethin
e booked an appointment with an ob
gaze fixed on a scuff mark on the floor, Olivia felt time itsel
the doctor said, her smil
ld went
as all she c
it belonged to someone else. A ringing filled her
ssible. It c
lammed into her with
two months
the way it almost a
fled to her best friend Michelle's apartment, desperate
open and heard the moans. Then
y and M
end. Her b
d ran. Aimless, unthinking, she just kept running until she found herself in some dow
est... wa
tranger. Then, the bed of a hotel room. Moans.
ked between crisp, white hote
Especially bet
helming silence and the lingering echo of
she was
ow who the father was. She didn't want to know. She knew only one thing fo
now that deciding it
ld wasn'
ected blessing or
breathing reminder of everything
s in her child's face. She didn't want to be reminded of the night she was so desperate to erase, of the betray
when all she felt for it was
smiling mothers, and the cheerful maternity posters lining the walls. Everything seemed de
echoed in her head:
ice that tortured her most:
arched back to the doctor's office. She flung the do
s barely a whisper. "I..
papers on her desk, turned slow
surprise and judgment, as if she coul
hough she had heard
ok another step into the room, her knuckles turning
repeated, her voice crackin
or, a mature woman with a stern expression, slowly lowered the papers
oice," she said finally. "But I must also advise you to
liar disappointment of her generation, wondering why young people today were so irres
still clung to her lashes, but something n
ook a deep, steadying breath. "My decisi
from crying, but her
aking her disapproval perfectly clear. Once the arran
oing little to cover her body, her
y back on the cold tabl
So flat, so unassuming... yet a life she
hand stroking the thin gown over her stomach. "I d
ed by the icy silence
begin when a loud crash
en in sharp black suits stormed into the room. Th
ses scr
he doctor stammered, stumbling
ppened in
face and brutally efficient move
a needle pricked the skin of her neck. She felt a co
a hospital!" a
early the leader-pulled a thick wad of cash from his inner jac
e," he said, his voice la
th a soft thud, scattering
ed. No one
y had appeared, carrying Olivia's unconscious form
re knew wh
h immense power
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