A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

"What about the baby?" Rita's belly had gotten quite big by now. Emily couldn't help but stare at it.
"The baby was an accident," Rita replied nonchalantly," but I'm still going to have it."
"But... why?" continued Emily inquisitively while trying not to step on her toes. Just a little bit ago, Rita was determined to get rid
of her unborn child, and now she is so keen on keeping it. 'What had changed?' she was wondering.
It wasn't that she minded. On the contrary, she was happy that Rita was not going through with the abortion. But what had made
her change her mind?
"David promised me all his property as long as I keep the child. I think it's a good deal, so I agreed," explained Rita on the same
carefree tone. She followed that by a smile and a wink, as if nothing was wrong.
In spite of her bright, large smile, Emily could not reciprocate the gesture. Uncomfortable, she quickly changed the?subject.
"Rita, have you been experiencing any nausea or vomiting lately?"
Rita nodded, "Yes."
Indeed, she had been having a hard time eating any meals at all. The simple smell of food would make her vomit. Fruit, however,
didn't trigger any unpleasant symptoms; so she ate plenty of those.
She craved cherries often, but it was not yet the season for them. So David decided to ask some merchant friends of his to bring
him a few kilos of cherries from abroad when they imported their next batch. He wanted to keep the baby. So it was his duty to
accommodate Rita's needs.
All the talk about Rita's morning sickness and cravings led Emily to the realization that her pregnancy had really been a cakewalk
compared to her friend's...too much of a cakewalk, in fact. She had not been experiencing any side effects at all.
Rita and her got pregnant around the same time, too. So why wasn't she showing?
Perhaps Rita would have an answer for her, and she did indeed, but it wasn't a convincing answer. "Every woman is built
differently," she said," so it's normal for each pregnancy to evolve differently as well. Don't worry about it. Besides, the baby is
still too small to be felt. Everything is fine as long as you don't have any discomfort."
But was everything just fine? It had been almost four months. Was the child really that small?

The doubts were starting to eat away at her inner peace, but Rita's argument, even though cliche, did make some sense. Emily
reasoned that if she had not had any bad symptoms at all, then everything must still be going well. Otherwise, she would have
felt something. "You're right," she told Rita.
"Of course I am. Now, what about your wound? I have brought some herbal tonics for you. They can help speed up the healing
process. Remember to eat them."
"Thank you, Rita. They will definitely help."
......
Their conversation kept going up until the afternoon. Rita had been at the Tyrone Mansion for hours by that point, all while David
was waiting outside for her. When she finally came out of the house, he greeted her with an irate grin and an extremely tense
frown.
Forcing the words out through his clenched teeth while trying to keep his calm, he inquired," You told me you were coming to see
Emily for a LITTLE while. What took you so long?"
She must have deliberately kept him waiting that long. Didn't she realize the time? What was he supposed to do out there for all
those hours?
"If you didn't want to wait for me, you could have left. I didn't tell you to stay here, did I?" With a roll of her eyes, she confidently
stood her ground while preparing her next argument in her mind.
David, however, was done arguing. Though still angry, he decided to instead take a deep breath and let it go. "Get in the car," he
asserted.
'I must have been out of my mind when I agreed to fulfill her every whim, ' David reflected silently while Rita was getting adjusted
in her seat. 'She isn't carrying a child; she's carrying an attitude."
Once both of them were in the car, with their seat belts fastened, David turned on the engine and started driving.
He also started blasting the air conditioner to calm himself down. But it didn't take two minutes for the whiny voice beside him to
complain.
"I am cold. Turn it off."

Though he was not planning to accommodate her this time. Plus, she had no right to order him around like that. "If you are cold,
you can cover yourself up with the blanket," he said harshly.
"You are being horrible to me." The lack of an answer from him, however, caused her to behave even more like a brat. Noticing
David's struggle to swallow his words, Rita demanded," Stop the car, I want to get off! I can't stand sitting in your car like this,
Master David."
"Rita, you're exaggerating!" After a longer day of tolerating her bad temper, David was finally reaching his limit. He had never
been treated this way by anyone. Who did she think she was? Actually, the real question was why had she changed so much?
In the past, Rita was always the one looking for ways to please him. She was the one chasing him, but now the tables had
turned and David was beginning to care too much.
"Exaggerating?" she declared on a surprised tone. "Ha! Look who's talking!" The past was starting to crowd her thoughts.
Did he forget how he had been treating her all these past years? How he had made her feel useless, pointless? How he insulted
and humiliated her a million times, while all she did was love him? And look at him now, getting all riled up because that love was
no longer there. Why would it be?
Buried in all those memories, Rita began to release some of her thoughts. "You said you were willing to give me everything?you?
own if I kept the baby. Now, you can't tolerate me anymore. What about..." Rita paused, drawing a deep breath. No, she wasn't
going to go there. She didn't want to talk about the past because she was too embarrassed for allowing love to turn her into such
a weak person. The past was gone, and now all she wanted was to live for herself.
The red traffic light suddenly came in her field of vision. The car stopped, and inside the car there was complete silence.
David turned his head to look at Rita. Her chilling glare made his limbs feel weak.
Rita's eyes were dark and cold like the silent night sky. She was void of any emotions, and her expressionless face was
unsettling. It almost felt as if he was a stranger to her.
Or, to be more exact, he felt like she saw him as inferior to her.
This was not the Rita he once knew. Had this woman really changed that much? Or was she just playing the "carrot and stick"
game with him?

Eventually, Rita's anger subsided and she remained in the car. David turned off the air conditioner as well, and for a short while
the ride was actually peaceful.
Only a few minutes later, that short peace came to an end with Rita bursting into a hysterical laughter out of nowhere.
Somehow, David had a feeling that her reason for laughing couldn't be anything actually funny. The laughter was too evil, too
forced to be so. David reasoned that it was better not to ask anything about it and continued minding his own business. However,
Rita couldn't help herself and decided to share her thoughts.
"David, don't you find it ironic how much of a slave you've become?" Continuing to laugh even harder at fate's irony, this time
with tears coming out of her eyes, Rita murmured," Is this baby so important that you would rather chose to be a poor man than
not keep it? I used to beg you to have a child with me, and you kept refusing. Now you're begging me!"
It was true that people were weak when they had weaknesses. However, with no attachment towards David nor the baby, she
would be fearless.
Just as the words fell out from Rita's lips, David stepped on the brake abruptly, clutching the steering wheel. His veins were?
popping?out?on?the?back?of?his?hands and neck. Without looking at her at all, David spelled out his request by syllables," Ri-
ta, get-out."
It was the wise thing to do: get out before he did something he would regret.
Aware of his anger, Rita started laughing even louder. Her words were noticeably true. He cared so much and she felt nothing
anymore. That's precisely why she decided to obey his request, in fact. She unfastened her seat belt and got out of the car
without hesitation. A taxi came by right after. He pulled by the side of the road at her request and then she left without saying any
more words.
Furious, David drove away thinking she was laughing at his anger.
He didn't make it too far before he stopped the car to calm down. His vision had turned blurry and now he was also starting to
feel remorse. After a few deep breaths, he started the car again, caught up with Rita's taxi and followed them around while
fighting off a growing feeling of regret and guilt for having left her like that.
......
In the evening, at the Tyrone Mansion.

As Emily and Jacob were having their dinner, she suddenly remembered her conversation with Rita. Still worried about the
progress of her pregnancy, she decided to open up about it to her baby's father–– Jacob.
To her surprise, his expression changed showing that he was taking the matter seriously. He put the fork down, looking at her
underdeveloped belly. Jacob's long stare worried her even more; so much in fact, that perhaps if she took smaller breaths and
not moved her stomach muscles, he would come up with some comforting deduction.
"Almost four months, but it looks so small," Emily said, trying to break the silence.
As she also looked at it again, she couldn't help but think 'my belly is flat rather than small.'
Pulling his chair closer, Jacob leaned over to touch her belly. The worried expression would not leave his face. On a serious
tone, he asked, "Do you feel any discomfort?"
"No," Emily answered softly. After she had become pregnant, Emily ate and slept better than before. She wasn't experiencing
any of the regular signs of pregnancy.