Chapter 55 The Second Message
“You are making the biggest mistake of your life,” the message read.
“What could this mean?”
“Who could this be?”
“Did the sender make a mistake by sending the text to me?”
I kept asking myself questions that I didn’t have answers to.
I tried calling the sender but the number was not reachable.
I stared at the text again, trying to see if I would be able to decode it, but it was to no avail.
“I think they got the wrong person,” I told myself.
I flung my phone to the side. Then my mind drifted back to Joan.
I picked it back up and dialed her number.
Still no answer.
“Joan, please pick up,” I swallowed.
“Should I go back to her house?” I mumbled under my breath.
That night was long.
The thought that Joan could still be with Dave made me so restless, and I couldn’t sleep, so I just kept tossing and turning in bed.
The next morning, I got out of bed, lower on energy than I’ve ever been.
I dragged my feet into the bathroom, took a bath, and dressed up.
Then I drove straight to Joan’s place before heading for work.
When I got there, I sat in my car for a while, gazing at the door and praying silently for her to give me an audience.
After a few minutes, I got out of the car and headed to the door.
I placed a small knock on the door and it opened almost immediately.
“Oh. Hi, Alex,” Lena said, her lips curling in a little smile.
“Hi, Lena. Is Joan in?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“Yes, she is. You can come in,” she replied and opened the door widely for me to go in.
Just as I walked in, Joan walked out of the kitchen with a lunch box in her hand. She wasn’t dressed like she was going to work, but I didn’t think too much of it.
“Maybe she’s on a break,” I told myself.
She stood still when she saw me and her expression was so dark that it made my palms sweaty.
“Ermm… hi…” I stammered.
Lena stood there, looking at us with slightly raised eyebrows.
That was enough to tell me that Joan hadn’t said anything to Lena about what she saw at my place.
“I will be in the car,” she said to Joan, and then she collected the lunch bag from her.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind Lena, Joan turned to face me.
“What are you doing here?” she asked firmly.
“What you heard isn’t what you think, Joan,” I said, trying to steady my voice.
“What was it?” she asked, her voice still firm.
“I… I…”
I wanted to speak but no words came out. I knew that I had to say something, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t.
How was I supposed to say that a grown man like me was cornered and now I had to take responsibility for a pregnancy I didn’t want or plan for?
She stood there, looking at me with resentment.
“Leave,” she said, her voice soft but still with that firmness.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” I said, lowering my head in shame.
“Just leave, Alex,” she added, looking away from me as she pointed at the door.
“Joan,” I muttered softly.
“Leave!” she said, almost loudly.
I looked at her, my chest feeling heavy as I turned to leave.
I stopped midway and looked at her one more time.
Then I rubbed my temple slightly and walked out the door, closing the door slowly behind me.
Outside, I greeted Lena and walked towards my car.
“Damn it!” I said, slamming my hand against the steering wheel.
At that moment, I knew I had fucked up and that I was on the verge of losing her.
That’s if I hadn’t.
Soon after, she walked out of the house. Her gaze landed on my car, but she took it off immediately and walked towards Lena.
They got into her car and they drove off.
As I watched her car disappear into the street, I thought of following them.
But I couldn’t.
“That would make her more furious,” my inner voice chided.
I placed my head on the steering wheel for a while, then I drove away and headed to my office.
At the office, I walked straight to Marcus’s office. I met him working on his laptop, so I pulled a chair back to sit.
“What’s up? You are late,” he said, his eyes fixed on his laptop.
“Yeah. I went to Joan’s place,” I replied, my voice barely audible.
“Oh okay. How is she?” he asked.
“I’m in trouble, Marc,” I said, running my fingers through my hair.
He immediately looked up, his brows pulling together.
“Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
I breathed out loudly, running my fingers through my hair again for the umpteenth time.
“Joan overheard Cassandra talking about the pregnancy,” I muttered slowly, my stomach tightening with each word.
“Damn!” Marcus exclaimed, leaning back in his chair.
“So… what’s happening now? What did you tell her? Have you explained the situation to her?” He asked, genuinely concerned.
“I don’t even know where to start from, but I tried to explain things to her,” I replied.
“She hasn’t been replying to my texts, and she hasn’t been picking up my calls,” I added, staring blankly at the wall.
Marcus sighed.
“So… I went to her place this morning… I thought I would be able to clear the misunderstanding before it gets worse,” I continued.
Then I scoffed.
“But, I couldn’t even say a word.”
“What? Why?” Marcus’s brows furrowed.
“I don’t know for real. I was just so ashamed of myself,” I explained, dragging a hand over my face.
“What do you think you can do about this?” he asked.
“I came to you because I don't know… This is far beyond my control. I don’t even know what to do,” I admitted, my voice low.
“I feel like I have lost her already… if not to Dave Wilton,” I added.
Marcus stared at me, concern clear in his eyes.
“This is messy. I won’t lie to you,” he said.
“Messy? That’s an understatement,” I scoffed.
Before I could say anything else, my phone vibrated in my hand.
I glanced down at it absentmindedly, because I wasn’t expecting any call or message.
It was a message from the same unknown number, so I thought they wanted to apologize for the text they sent the previous day.
But that wasn’t the case.
It was another message, this time more threatening.
My heart pounded as my eyes scanned through the text.
Marcus noticed immediately.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
I didn’t answer. I just kept staring at my screen, my fingers slowly tightening around the phone.