by Rosie Praks
“You could start from the beginning,” Clarice offered. “Start with my test results.”
Clarice admitted she was ready to bolt out the door at any moment if Dr. Flint were to carry on with his weird behavior. She felt more like she was the doctor and he her patient.
“Okay, here goes,” Dr. Flint said after taking a few deep breaths to relax. “Congratulations, Ms. Mason, you’re going to be—”
And then the door just had to open, interrupting Dr. Flint’s speech, revealing Hunter looking around the room like a little lost lamb searching for its mother. When his eyes landed on Clarice, he smiled and came to her side.
“There you are. When I came back from getting your straw, you were gone.”
“I was in taking tests,” Clarice said, embarrassed. “What are you doing here anyway? You should be outside waiting,” she whispered.
Dr. Flint was about to diagnose her condition. She didn’t want Hunter hanging around while he explained her condition. This information was strictly confidential.
Hunter thought Clarice was having one of her mental moments again, so he ignored her outburst and turned to the… very colorful doctor.
He’d never seen a doctor dressed like a clown before. What was with the bright polka-dot bowtie and the yellow-and-green striped shirt and bright-orange glasses? The doctor looked more suited for a circus than a hospital.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. I was just worried about her. Is she all right?” Hunter asked.
“Oh, you have the right to worry.” Dr. Flint grinned again, gesturing for Hunter to sit himself down beside Clarice before he announced her condition.
Clarice just stared at Hunter like she wanted to murder him. “No, Hunter,” she said. “Go back out now. Dr. Flint is about to diagnose my condition. I don’t want you here.”
“But I want to stay,” Hunter whined.
“No, go,” Clarice repeated.
“No. I’m staying.” Hunter remained in his spot.
“I—”
“Please, Ms. Mason.” Dr. Flint interrupted their bickering. “Let him stay. He’s needed here as much as you are.”
“Ah?” Clarice asked. “I don’t understand why he needs to stay.”
“All shall be explained soon,” Dr. Flint said, then turned to Hunter, gesturing for him to sit next to Clarice.
Hunter was only too happy to oblige.
“All comfortable?” the doctor asked.
“Yeah,” Hunter replied coolly.
Hunter wasn’t sure why the doctor was paying more attention to him than to Clarice, who was the patient. Maybe he was gay, hitting on him. He cringed at his own thought.
Dr. Flint just smiled at them both like he’d just won a million dollars. If only he and his partner were approved for adoption, he thought.
“I congratulate you both,” Dr. Flint said finally. “You are about to be proud parents!”
“Come again?” Hunter said. Proud parents? What’s this doctor talking about?
“In simple terms, Mr. Mason, your wife is pregnant.”
Chapter 25
Hunter was feeling hot and cold at the same time. He could feel his world spinning and tilting on its axis.
It can’t be. It just can’t be.
Clarice, the Avocado, was pregnant. Pregnant! But how… and with whom?
Hunter could feel Clarice’s hand gripping his arm. Oh no! She must have been just as surprised as he was. He turned to Clarice then, ready to comfort her, only to have Clarice hug him instead. Her embrace was very intimate as she hugged him tight, her head nestling against his shirt.
“Hunter.” Clarice pulled back with tears in her eyes. “Did you hear that?” she asked him softly. “I’m pregnant.” And then she smiled at him, and it made his heart jump. And he wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to embrace her again. He didn’t know where that feeling had come from, but he realized he wanted this woman. God help him, he wanted her. But before he could respond, she closed her eyes and collapsed on him.
“Jesus, Clarice,” Hunter yelled, which alerted the doctor, who came running around his desk to help assist Clarice too.
“Deary me,” Dr. Flint said, scratching his head. “Must be the excitement of having the little one. Don’t you worry, Mr. Mason. I’ll look after your wife. If you could just wait in the waiting room for now.” And before he knew what happened, Clarice was taken out off his hands and he was ushered out of the room, colliding with the many nurses that came scurrying in.
What the hell just happened? Hunter came stumbling out of the doctor’s office. Clarice was pregnant. And she was happy. And now she had fainted.
Hunter could feel a little stabbing pain in his heart. He couldn’t understand what it was. He was so confused and so numb. He just didn’t know how to react anymore. What was wrong with him? How come he felt this way? Who was the father? He wanted to just bash the bastard’s face.
All of a sudden, anger emerged within him and he swore loudly. He ran his hands through his hair roughly. What in the bloody devil was wrong with him? She already had someone. Why did it concern him so much? Shouldn’t he be thinking about his mysterious goddess? Why had he stopped searching for her and now focused all his energy on that avocado? For Christ sake, she was pregnant, so why was he still thinking about her? God, he needed to cool himself down. He needed to get some air.
Fern saw Hunter coming out of the doctor’s office, looking like he’d just seen a ghost.
“Hunter!” Fern came running over. “What’s wrong? What happened to Clarice?”
Hunter couldn’t respond. He didn’t know how to answer his friend’s question. He felt if he said the words, somehow his world would fall apart.
“Hunter!” Fern urged. “Did something happen to Clarice? Tell me.”
“She just has low blood pressure.” Hunter lied. “She’s being looked after now.” God, he tried to suppress his emotions. It was so damn hard and so bloody painful.
“You should have said so in the first place. I was worried,” Fern said with ease, then went back to her seat with her magazine in hand and started reading again. But not before she took in the sight of her friend’s distraught face.
She knew it. Clarice must be someone important to Hunter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t look like he’d just been to hell and back. She must ask him how serious his feelings were toward Clarice. But now wasn’t the time. She promised herself she would dig into this drama later.
“When will Clarice be going back home?” she asked instead.
“I don’t know,” Hunter said numbly. “Why don’t you go? I’ll wait for her.”
“Are you sure?”
Hunter nodded, still in shock.
“Okay, you take care,” Fern said, looking at her friend. “You sure look pale too.”
When Fern left, Hunter slumped back in his chair and shuffled his hair. He really didn’t know what to do anymore. He really didn’t know how to act anymore. All he knew right now was he was mad, frustrated, afraid, hurt, and most of all shocked. All because of that news.
Clarice is pregnant.
Hunter glanced up, and out of the corner of his eyes, amongst the crowd rushing about the hallway, he could make out the person he was searching for. He jumped out of his chair immediately and raced toward that person but ended up getting caught in a stampede of people rushing toward the elevator instead.
There was definitely no denying it. This time when he caught that person, he was going to get this whole shebang straightened out.
As he fought closer through the cluster of people, his hand reached out and made contact with that shoulder. “Waiter boy!”
Max walked into the hospital foyer, rubbing his stomach. Why didn’t he eat anything before coming here to pick up Clarice? When she had left him that message on his cell phone that she was in the hospital, he was so scared that he couldn’t imagine keeping anything down. But why didn’t she just text him? Why use an unknown phone number?
Anyway, that wasn�
�t important right now. What was more concerning was Clarice’s health and safety. He just hoped she was okay, though, because he didn’t know what to do if she was sick. Hopefully, it was just some mild accident.
After receiving the news, he texted both Whitney and Elise. So far, he hadn’t received a reply.
As he was about to approach the reception desk, he felt someone touch his shoulder and call out, “Waiter boy!” By instinct, he glanced around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Hunter, who he had thought was Anton, careening toward him at a very high speed. Not sure of what else to do at that instant, Max took off before Hunter could get a good grip of his hoodie.
“Hey, you! Stop!” Hunter called out, running after Max.
But Max didn’t stop. He knew he was in trouble. That Anton guy must have found out it was him. He had to escape. Clarice said she wanted his sperm, but she didn’t mention anything about wanting the guy, so Max just ran faster. But Hunter was taller and had longer legs, so after only a few seconds, Hunter caught up with Max and gripped his hoodie, halting the boy.
“Okay, I’m stopping. I’m stopping.” Max raised his hands in surrender.
Hunter relaxed his grip then, knowing he’d captured Max, but when Max felt the tension ease, he surprised Hunter again by running off at full speed.
“You rascal,” Hunter yelled when he realized he was fooled.
“Huh, like I’m gonna let you get me, big bro.” Max laughed, then sprinted off again.
“Get back here. We have to talk,” Hunter yelled.
“I’m not talking to you,” Max yelled back.
“You! Arrgghhh, waiter boy.”
Hunter hastened his pace, his legs eating up more distance, until he was so close to Max that he came slamming into the smaller boy, tackling him to the side of the footpath. Getting a good grip on his neck, Hunter pinned Max until he pleaded for him to let go.
“Fine, I promise I won’t run off again,” Max said while trying to catch his breath. And then his stomach had to release an embarrassing growl.
Max looked up at Hunter then, who was about to lecture him, when he raised his hands before Hunter started with the preaching.
“Please,” Max panted trying to catch his breath again. “If you want me to talk, you have to feed my stomach first.”
“McDonald’s! You’re the heir to Silverton Enterprises and you take your honorable guest to lunch at McDonald’s?”
“Honorable guest my ass.” Hunter wanted to kick the kid in the butt just to teach him a lesson in messing with people’s lives. “McDonald’s is good enough for a kid like you. Now talk. I want to know every single detail. Why the hell did you pretend you were a waiter and drag me into that room? And who was that woman? I’ve been running around for ages looking for her.”
“Well, let’s just say that woman wanted something that belongs to you.”
“Belongs to me?”
“Yeah.”
“What is it she wants? Apart from my handsome body, I can’t think of a reason anyone would want to sleep with me,” Hunter asked Max shrewdly. “Unless she wants my money, but then why did she disappear before I even woke up?”
Oh, so that’s how it was, Max thought, snickering. His cousin must have been so embarrassed with the whole sperm exchange situation that she had to flee the scene before Anton woke up. Max shook his head and laughed. Typical of his cousin.
“What are you laughing at?” Hunter growled, irritated when Max wouldn’t answer his question.
“Nothing.” Max grinned. And then to change the subject, he said, “Man, all that running has really used all my energy reserves.” Then he picked up his Big Mac and started munching on it.
“Hey, kid, you hear me?” Hunter said, getting angrier. “I’m talking to you here.”
“I know. I’m so hungry that I need to eat first. Otherwise, I can’t concentrate.”
Hunter waited for Max to finish swallowing his burger before asking him again. “I want to find my mysterious goddess,” he said. “Where is she? And more importantly, who is she?”
“Mysterious goddess?” Max asked, confused. “Who’s your mysterious goddess?”
“The woman!” Hunter slammed his fist on the table to intimidate the smaller boy, but all Max did was give him a sour face, sure Hunter had gone berserk.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, big bro,” Max said, brushing aside the subject, then took another bite of his burger.
Hunter wanted to slam the table again, but he didn’t want to hurt his hand again.
“I’m referring to the woman who was in that room that night you pushed me through that door,” Hunter said, exasperated.
“Urgh…” Max didn’t know how to reply to Hunter. Clarice was already angry with him for interfering with her life. He didn’t know if he should answer Hunter’s question or not. Instead, he took a sip of his ice-cold Coke to calm himself first, then answered, “Even if I tell you who she is, you still wouldn’t know her.”
“I don’t care. I can get to know her after you tell me who she is. I’m dying here. I want to see her again.”
“You like her or something?”
“I… I don’t know. But I want to see her again,” Hunter confessed.
“Really?” Max asked. “You looked really stressed out, big bro. Did this woman really affect you that much?”
“I guess so,” Hunter said, suddenly exhausted. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if his mysterious goddess was the one that contributed to his sulky feelings right now. He believed it was the avocado that had caused him this infliction.
“Look, I gotta hurry,” Max said, getting up. “I gotta pick my cousin up at the hospital. She’s not well.”
“Look, kid,” Hunter pleaded. “Can’t you just give me a name.”
“It’s Max,” Max said, getting a little irritated that Hunter kept calling him kid.
“You mean her name is Max?” Hunter said, sitting up straight. “Is that short for Maxine or something?”
“No, I mean my name is Max. Maximillian Mason. So call me Max, not kid from—”
“What did you say your last name is?” Hunter shot up from his seat, piqued upon hearing Max’s last name.
“Uh… Mason?” Max repeated, staring strangely at Hunter’s weird behavior.
“You have the same last name as someone I know,” Hunter muttered under his breath, then sat back in his seat again.
“Yeah, Mason is a pretty popular name,” Max said, ready to go.
“The woman I know is in the hospital too.” Hunter continued. And then thoughts of Clarice came swimming into his head again.
Clarice! Pregnant! The shithead who got her pregnant! All of a sudden, that anger he tried to suppress came lashing out again, and he slammed his fist on the table, alerting Max. He stared at Hunter, who had just been transformed into a wild animal who looked like he could tear through anything.
“Look, big bro, if you’re acting like you want to punch me, then I’m outta here. Clarice is waiting for me. Gotta—”
“What did you say?” Hunter grabbed ahold of Max’s hoodie before he took off again. “That name? Your cousin’s name.”
“Hey, big bro, won’t you stop that habit of yours?” Max said, breaking Hunter’s grip from his collar.
“Would you stop playing around?” Hunter was in no mood to talk about correcting his flawed behavior. He needed to know whether the Clarice he knew was actually the same Clarice as this kid’s cousin. “Give me her name. Your cousin’s name.”
“Clarice,” Max said once he managed to break free from Hunter’s grip. “My cousin’s name is Clarice.”
“You’re Clarice’s cousin? The one who works as a periodontist?” Hunter uttered in disbelief. Could the world get any smaller?
“Yeah, I am. So you do know her after all.” Max smiled. “Anyway, we don’t look alike, do we?” he said. “Well, if you don’t have any more questions, then I’m off. In fact, I’m picking up Clarice. She left me a
message.”
“I’ve just been in the room with her.”
“You have?” Max asked, sitting down again, then went to pick up his discarded burger and started munching on it. “I didn’t know you were that close to her already. Is she all right?”
“She looked pale,” Hunter said, sitting down too. “I didn’t know. And she vomited too.”
“Oh, Clarice sounded sick on the phone. She needs to rest. She works too hard.”
“She’s pregnant,” Hunter said, still in shock, remembering the doctor’s news.
“Pregnant?” Max asked, spitting out the remnants of his food. “She’s pregnant?”
“Yes,” Hunter said numbly.
“She’s pregnant. Clarice is pregnant. My sweet cousin is pregnant. Hooray!” Max jumped from his seat and started doing a dance while singing, “Clarice is pregnant. Clarice is pregnant.”
“Why are you so happy?” Hunter scolded in annoyance. It looked like even this kid was happy, just like Clarice was when she hugged him and smiled at him before she collapsed. Hunter felt like he was the only one in this world who wasn’t happy with this news.
“Because it was always her wish to have a baby,” Max said as he continued to dance around their table. “Has she told you yet, Anton? Has she? Has she?”
“What?” Hunter asked, standing up. “What did you call me?”
“Huh?” Max stopped dancing and came back to Hunter, who looked so shell shocked, like he’d just seen a ghost.
“I asked what you just called me,” Hunter repeated.
“Uh… Anton.”
“The name’s Hunter, not Anton,” Hunter said, sitting down again.
And this time it was Max who looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
“Cou-could you repeat that again?” Max stuttered nervously as he felt his carefully constructed mosaic of Clarice, her baby, and Anton breaking into tiny pieces. “Your name, repeat your name again.”