178|Unfortunate One Percent

178|Unfortunate One Percent
Eden was in a meeting with the marketing and brand teams for a large part of her morning, going over the event lineup for the family fun day where Lydia would make her big debut as the company's brand ambassador.

By the time Sarah, the head of marketing, announced a second tea break, Eden's head was swimming with market analysis data—all the boring stuff she had no interest in and would never have known existed if Liam hadn't thrown her in the spotlight and put her in charge of Lydia's account.

She was so drained she could barely move from her chair, so she closed her eyes, hoping to catch a nap while everyone was on a body break.
She was still trying to convince her brain to shut down when Clara came in with a tray of something awful in her hands.

Whatever it was, Eden didn't think it tasted as horrible as it smelled. But heavens, the smell—no—the stench was too much for her.

"What is that?" She gagged and wrinkled her nose, surprising the few people still scattered around the boardroom with her question.

"What?" Clara asked, her eyes dark with confusion as she stared at the tray of mini savoury mince pies.

"That smell! Oh dear Lord! Can't you guys smell—" Eden couldn't even finish her rant. She puked a little in her mouth as she scrambled out of her seat, grabbed her phone and dashed to the restroom.

She locked herself in one of the cubicles and retched up the biscuits and tea she'd had throughout the meeting.

Feeling weak, fatigued and unwell again, she flushed the toilet, closed the pan and sat down.

She wasn't sure if it was because she was sick or just her nerves, but her hands shook like crazy as she unlocked her phone and rapidly flipped through the calendar.

It's impossible, she thought, her eyes wide with horror. There was no way it was true. The doctor has assured her it was ninety-nine percent safe, and only one unfortunate soul out of a hundred women could fall pregnant while on an implant.

Eden was damn certain she was not that unfortunate soul. Other than the shit with Simon, her luck had always been relatively good. So there was no way she was part of the unfortunate one percent.

But the dates on her calendar told a different story.

Sure, since she had the implant inserted, her periods had become lighter, but they were always on time, like clockwork.

Until now.

The restroom door opened, and high-heeled footsteps echoed on the tiled floor, stopping in front of her cubicle. A second later, a double knock pulled Eden away from her lying calendar.

"Eden?" Clara called out from the other side. "Are you okay?"

"I am," she replied. "Give me a minute."

"You've been in there for a while now."

"I'm fine. I'll be out soon," Eden said, praying her voice wasn't as panicky as she thought it sounded.

"I don't like talking through the door. Can you let me in, please?" Clara knocked again.

Bewildered out of her mind, Eden stood up and unlatched the door and ushered her friend inside before she sat down again.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Clara whispered as soon as the door snapped in place.

"Don't say it!" Eden replied, matching her quiet tone.

She had no idea why they were whispering since they were the only people in the restroom. But she reckoned they could never be too careful.

"Nausea, funny smells, throwing up—" Clara counted all of Eden's symptoms and came to a terrifying conclusion. "My sister had the same symptoms, and seven months later, I became an aunt."

"Shut up. I have an implant." Eden groaned. "This is just a scare, nothing more."

"Well, I don't know how that shit works, but I think all contraceptives come with an itsy bitsy disclaimer."

Feeling sick to her stomach again, Eden shook her head, her face flush with denial. "There's no way I'm pregnant."

She had barely survived giving birth to one, so what was she supposed to do with a second baby?

"Oh God," she banged her head gently on the wall. "Can someone wake me up and tell me this is all just a bad dream?"

If she was looking for comfort and a false sense of hope, Clara wasn't going to be the one to give it to her. Her friend doused her with a healthy dose of reality instead.

"You need to make a doctor's appointment ASAP. If you are pregnant and have that implant thingamajig, you might want to take it out like pronto. You don't know what it's doing to the—"

Eden placed a finger on her lips to hush her friend up when the restroom door creaked open again.

"Okay, I'm heading back, and I got rid of the mince pies, so it's safe for you to come back," Clara murmured and tiptoed her way out of the cubicle.

Alone again, Eden screamed silently in her hands while she paced up and down the small space.

Silent screams didn't work as well as full-on screams, but she felt a little less on edge and ready to think like an adult and possibly start making adult decisions when she left the stall.

"Okay, don't panic. This is just a major scare," she coached herself in front of the mirror as she washed her hands and held them under the dryer.

Yes, that's exactly what it was. A false alarm and a much-needed wake-up call for Liam to start wrapping up if they didn't want an 'oopsie'.

As Clara had promised, there were no signs of the offending pastries anywhere when Eden returned to the boardroom.

She took her seat again and doodled all her plans in her journal, a doctor's appointment high on her priority list.

She could go to the GP in their building, but there were too many eyes at Anderson Logistics, and since she hated hospitals, driving to the Medi Clinic in Glen Eagles was out of the question.

So, Dr Waylon, it was.

Eden wondered now if he was still on the 4th floor at Van Holt Industries—

"—Great job, everyone!" Sarah laid it on thick at the front of the room and pulled Eden away from her plans. She gathered up her laptop and her journal and was one of the first few people to bolt out of the room as soon as the meeting adjourned.

Back in her office, she looked through her phone and made her first adult decision for the day and called Dr Waylon. She'd put it off it long enough. The time for pussyfooting and denials was over.

The receptionist was happy to slot her in for 2:00 PM.

Eden didn't think she could wait that long. She needed to know if she had to start saving for onesies and diapers now or never.

But the receptionist politely told her she could either take the 2:00 PM or she'd happily book her in next Tuesday at the earliest.

"What if it's an emergency?" Eden argued.

"Then you'd go to the ER, Ma'am!"

Fair enough, Eden conceded and took the appointment, dreading the next two hours. How was she supposed to focus on her reports when there was a one percent chance she was now a mother of two?

Goodness, she cursed under her breath, properly pissed off with herself for trusting modern science.

While she drank her now cold chai tea from Rise—courtesy of Liam shortly after they came in this morning—Eden typed up her resignation letter and sent it to Zara in HR.

Sometime after Liam's exco catchup just before lunchtime, an email from Sarah popped up in Eden's inbox. The marketing head wanted to see her.

Eden figured she'd already heard the news of her resignation. The group chats were still closed, but her imminent departure had spread like wildfire on chain emails, and the gossip mill was already swirling with rumoured reasons for her exit.

She would have preferred to stay in her office and hide behind her drawn blinds until she had all her ducks in a row. But whatever Sarah wanted—most likely her continuity plan for Lydia's onboarding—sounded quite urgent, so Eden reluctantly made her way to the marketing area.

Five minutes later, when she walked into Sarah's office, she didn't expect to find Zara there, and she certainly wasn't expecting another job offer, especially after she had decided to serve notice. But that's exactly what she got, and she was mindblown.

"We have an opening for a freelance illustrator slash graphics designer, and we think you'll be a possible fit for our area."

Stunned as she was, Eden liked the sound of freelancing. It would give her time to pursue all her other side projects, get back into painting and finish Aiden's book. But this whole thing reeked of Liam.

She narrowed her eyes at the two women. "Did Mr Anderson ask you to offer me this job?"

Both ladies were baffled by her question.

"Why would he do that?" Sarah asked. "Matthew put your name forward months ago when you first joined his area. But we didn't offer you the role then because it's a contract position."

"But now that you've resigned, I immediately thought of you." Zara jumped in. "Your résumé mentioned you're an illustrator, and you have a background in graphics design."

It still sounded too good to be true, but the longer Eden thought about it, the more she liked the idea of freelancing for Anderson Logistics.

"Here's everything you need to know," Zara pushed the file in front of her. "Your salary won't be as much as what you're getting now, but you'll be working fewer hours, so it balances out. You won't have any of the company perks, either. And you'll work remotely, but there are times you'll be required to come in once or twice a week."

Eden read through the document, her smile growing wider the longer her eyes stayed glued to the pages. It sounded like her dream job sans the company perks.

"Who will I report to?" She asked.

Sarah frowned at her. "Me, of course. Look, Eden, Julian has tasked us to cut costs, and my design agency budget is the first to go. It makes sense to bring you in as our in-house designer. You already know a lot about the company, and I'm impressed with the way you've handled Lydia's onboarding."

Eden beamed with pride at the high praise. She could get used to this— being appreciated and fulfilled in her role.

"Thank you." She stood up and tucked the file under her arm. "I'll look it over and get back to you soon."

"We do need your portfolio urgently, though." Zara reminded her as Eden shot out of the room.

She flew straight into Liam's office and dumped the file on his desk. "Did you know about this?"

"So you've decided to stop avoiding me?" He asked, barely looking up from his screen.

"I wasn't avoid—" She was about to deny his accusation but paused when she realised he was right. She'd avoided him the whole morning.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"A lot like what?" He peeled himself from his work long enough to gaze at her.

"I'll tell you tonight," Eden said and tapped the folder again. "Now, did you know about this?"

Liam reached for the file, flipped through the pages and scowled at her, an angry glint in his eyes. "So you resigned? Even after I told you not to? Even when I told you I'd reassign you?"

"I didn't want to be reassigned, and you know very well I had to resign!"

"Why?" He demanded as he rose from his seat, sending her scampering to the couch. "Because a bunch of stuffy old men told me to fire you?"

"No!" Eden shook her head as she fell on the leather plushness in a clumsy heap, feeling intimidated and overpowered by his sheer presence.

"Why the fuck did you resign then, Princess? I thought you love being with me."

"Don't confuse our relationship with my job, Liam," Eden sighed and clenched her hands. "I love you, and I love being with you. But I'm not happy here. I came here for one goal, and it's time for me to move on. I can't type another PowerPoint presentation and report. Every day I sit in a board meeting, I die a little."

"What do you want to do?" He asked as he plopped on the coffee table, took her hands, and kissed them. "I don't want you to be unhappy, Princess. So tell me what you want to do!"

"I want to paint and draw and finish Aiden's book. I want to hang my first painting at Fugue, and if I'm lucky and it's good enough, sell it for a million Rands."

"That's got to be some piece of art," Liam smiled.

"Good or bad, you are not allowed to buy it. Your family, friends, and associates too. None of you will be allowed to buy it."

"Why?"

"Because I want to earn enough money on my own, Liam. I don't want to depend on you for everything. Now I'll ask you again, did you know about Sarah's offer."

"I didn't even know you resigned." He grunted as he returned to his desk and pushed a pharmacy bag at her. "I got you this. I'm hoping it will help. But if it doesn't, we're going to the hospital."

"Thank you," Eden smiled, stood up and dashed to his desk to grab the bag and file. "But I've made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon."

"And when were you planning to tell me?" Liam asked as he crossed his arms. "Did it not occur to you I'll want to go with you?"

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?" Eden frowned at him, unable to understand why he seemed to be spoiling for a fight.

"And you don't have to come with me. You need to focus on the meeting with Aleksei. I'll be okay." She added as she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Liam called after her. "I thought we'd have lunch together—"

"I have a résumé to update and a job to secure," she called over her shoulder and returned to her office.

By the time she'd polished her digital portfolio, it was almost time for her doctor's appointment. She grabbed her handbag and rushed off to take care of her little problem.