Leap OF Fate

Justin did not know how long he slumped on his office floor. His fist bled from punching the wall. His hands held his temples and his usually tidy hair fell on his face like curtains. He cried uncontrollably. His chest rose and fell as his breathing became laborious; his

shoulders shook from his cries. He could not recall the last time he wept this way.

He picked up his phone and dialed her number, and just like his previous attempts, an electronic voice told him that the number was no longer in service. He lost her. No, he will not accept it. Didn't she say she loved him? She will not leave him. The loud ringing of his phone cut off his ramblings. With trembling hands, he looked at the display, but his heart sank when he saw Dylan's name instead of hers.

""Hey," he choked.

"Where are you?" Dylan said sounding somber, unlike his usual self.

"Office."

"Come up to the bar, will you?"

Dylan sat alone drinking in the bar. His shoulder slumped. Justin sat beside him and nodded to the bartender. After a while, a glass of scotch was in front of him. He drank it in a single gulp.

"She broke up with me," Dylan said after finishing the golden liquid in his glass. He gave Justin a sideway look.

"Mary? Why?" Justin sounded surprised. What a turn of events. He and his best friend fell in love almost at the same time and now got dumped almost at the same time too. No, he did not get dumped, he dumped her. And that's the biggest mistake of his life. "She said she wanted to focus on her business and did not want to be in a relationship." Dylan sneered and shook his head before gulping down another glass. "Can you believe that bullshit?"

Justin looked at Dylan. In the years that they've been friends, this was the first time he saw Dylan devastated.

"You look like shit, what happened to you?" Dylan inquired after he scanned his face.

It's his turn to gulp down his drink. He stared blankly in front of him before he narrated what happened, beginning from when Serene waited for him in his office.

"That's just stupid, Man." Dylan looked at him, disappointment written in his face. "Serene loved you like crazy. How could you even think that she got a thing for your brother-in-law?" He said, shaking his head.

Justin said nothing and took another swig of his drink.

"Did you call her? Ask her back."

"I did, but her number's already unavailable."

Dylan froze from his answer and stared at Justin. He looked as if an idea sparked from his brain.

"Do you know where Serene is now?"

"No. She's probably in Coast City."

Dylan stroked his chin, his brows furrowed and contemplated.

"Do you think Mary broke up with me to hide Serene?"

"What?"

"I don't know, man. Mary's actions were just sudden and stupid. Focus on her business? What bullshit is that? She's doing well in her business, in fact she started venturing internationally.

But now you said that you and Serene broke up and you could no longer contact her. It just felt too coincidental that Mary broke up with me from out of the blue.

You know how protective the Lewis's are of Serene. I just feel Mary's decision had something to do with her."

The more Dylan spoke the more Justin's brows knit, not because he talked crazy, but his words made sense to him. Were they hiding Serene?

The two drank some more until they were numb to the pain they felt.

Justin woke up with a bitter taste in his tongue and a splitting headache. He's in his Hotel Le Grande suite. Dylan must have asked someone to bring him back.

He took a quick shower and changed into a clean set of clothes. Picking up his phone from the bedside table, he dialed his secretary's number.

"Joseph, I need you to check something for me. Yes, look into Serene. I need to know where she is right now."

Although the order sounded odd, Joseph, on the other line, answered, "Yes, Mr. Rain."

Justin attended to his schedule per usual, but his mind was elsewhere. He anxiously waited for Joseph's report.

The day was almost done when Joseph knocked on his door. He came in holding a brown folder.

"Mr. Rain, here's what you asked me to check. I began from the time Ms. Ellis was last seen in Hyacinth Bay." "Thank you," he politely said and took the folder.

He opened the folder as soon as Joseph left. They were basically a collection of surveillance camera snippets.

The first showed Serene from the domestic airport, followed by her arriving in Coast City airport. There was a still of her hugging Conrad. However, unlike his first visit with her, this father and daughter embrace looked like a father comforting his daughter. The next still showed Conrad carrying Serene in his arms.

Justin's hand froze when he saw the next still. It showed Conrad carrying a woman in his arms. Carol tailing them. This was captured outside the hospital's emergency ward.

The last picture showed Serene hugging Mary. The surroundings looked like they were in an airport.

He put down the pictures and looked at the documents. The first showed Serene's hospital record.

Color drained from his face as he read the document. Threatened abortion? 6 weeks. Dichorionic twins. Twins.

Justin wiped his hands on his face several times in disbelief. She's pregnant? Did she know? Perhaps not. Otherwise, she would not have waited outside his villa that night.

He thought he reached his pain threshold yesterday when he realised the huge mistake he committed. How wrong he was! The pain that wrung his heart now was far more intense, he felt like dying. She's pregnant with twins. Their twins!

His shattered heart got powdered at the revelation. She left with their children. He scrambled for the other documents in the bag. She's in Los Angeles.

As he was returning the documents to the folder, a tiny picture fell in front of him. It's a sonogram image. In the middle were two tiny bubble-like images.

Tears flowed out from his eyes as he tenderly looked at the tiny bubbles in the center of the picture. His finger gently caressed each bubble, his chest tightened as he did so. More tears welled in his eyes the longer he stared at the sonogram. They're his.0000