Jane was looking at Nick sleeping peacefully on the bed. Whoever sent those pictures had sent another one to her phone. She sighed. She never wanted anyone to know about it. She looked at him and wondered if he deserved to know the truth.
She feared that if she did not tell him, whoever was taking these pictures was going to blow up her cover before she realized it. She tapped him on his shoulders. He opened his eyes slowly. He sat up on the bed.
“ What is it? Is anything wrong?” He asked her as he stretched his body.
“ I want to talk to you about something,” she said to him. She wondered if he already knew about it.
“ Alright, I am listening to you”
“ Is there anything about me that you are not aware of?” She asked him. He sat upright the more when he heard what she asked him.
“ Why would you ask me that? You tell me everything, why should this be coming up, is there something I do not know?” He asked her. She looked away from him. She had to let him know before someone else told him. Nick shook her body, trying to let her know that he asked her a question.
“ Do you know something about me that I have not told you before?” She asked him again to be sure that he did not know about it and to be sure that the guy had not said anything to her yet.
“ I do not know what you are talking about, is there anything you are not telling me?” He asked her.
She cleared her throat. “ You see, the two years I traveled out of the state, I told you that I needed to attend to my family then I came back, Nick, I had a child, our child”
She swallowed.
Nick stood up from the bed. He did not want to ever believe what she was saying.
“ What are you talking about”
“ I had a baby, I got pregnant and it was just you I was seeing. I did not know how to tell you about it”
“ You must be joking. These are some jokes that you could not put together because it is not funny” he shouted. She drew back. She was rubbing her hands.
“ It is the truth, stop acting like a jerk, I got pregnant, and I did not want to bother you with it so I kept it away from you”
“ Where is the child?” He asked her.
She did not want her child near Kate, she was scared that Nick would take her away.
“ She died in the tenth month, it was the most traumatic period of my life”
“ I had a child? You could not tell me till her death? So why the hell are you talking about it right now, what made you think it would make any difference?” He looked at her feeling pained that he was not able to meet his daughter.
He got home and was looking all glumpy. He did not eat that night. He was not able to talk with Kate either because they fought in the morning.
Kate noticed how cold he was, how he looked so quiet. He punched the laptop keyboard like he was going to rip them out. She tried to talk to him but had to remain calm. She continued what she was doing. She looked at him again as he sighed at every interval.
He would leave the room and come back again. She did not want to interfere with whatever he was handling.
He got to the office, still looking so dull. Jay came to him and was worried about him.
“ Is everything alright sir?” He asked him.
Nick raised his head. He wondered if everyone in the office saw his mood too.
“ I am okay," he replied.
“ No sir, you do not look okay to me, did something happen?” Jay asked.
“ And If something is wrong, how is that any of your business, leave my office please,” he said to him. Jay wanted to protest but he let it slide. He walked out of the office.
He looked at himself in his office mirror. He wondered if the other workers saw the way he looked. He took a towel, soaked it in water, and began to clean his face.
“ No one should know or suspect anything,” he said to himself as he dipped the towel inside the water and rubbed it on his head. Nick felt a pit in his stomach as he realized that everyone at the office had seen him at his worst. He knew that he'd made a fool of himself, and he couldn't imagine how they must have been talking about him behind his back. He could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment, and he wanted nothing more than to run away and hide. But he knew that he had to face the music, so he took a deep breath and headed back to his desk.
As he walked through the office, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He tried to keep his head up, but it was difficult. He felt like he was not his usual self.
Nick stood in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at his reflection. His face was pale, and his eyes were red and puffy. He looked like a mess, and he knew it. He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face, trying to bring some color back to his cheeks. He reached for the towel and dried his face, then looked in the mirror again.
He still looked awful, but at least he didn't look like a complete disaster. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix the mess that it was in.
He took more deep breaths and went back to his desk, determined to face whatever was coming. He sat down and straightened his papers, trying to look like he was busy. But he knew that he couldn't hide from this forever.
Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door. He turned around to see Jay standing there, holding a cup of coffee.
"I thought you could use this," he said, smiling.
Nick took the cup and smiled back. "Thank you," he said, taking a sip of the warm, comforting liquid.
"That's kind of you."
Jay shrugged. “