My Dream Marriage

Aniston

“Thank you Maish, this meeting has been long but successful. Have a good evening.” I say as we come out of the elevator to one of my company directors and his brother.

“Don’t mention it, I have never regretted working with you or your father and I hope this is going to come out as planned.” Maish says and on my part, I have always been grateful to him for choosing to be on my side when everyone thought otherwise. “Yes Mr Aniston, I promise to provide everything you need concerning this matter.” His brother says.

“Have a nice evening and I will get back to you soon.” They enter their respective cars but before they leave, I can hear some noise coming out from the security guys’ room. Maish pokes his head through the car window, “everything okay?” He might have heard the noise too. “Yes,” I wave at him and they leave.

“What was that?” I ask Michael who seems to be alert. “Sir, could it be that some people broke in here because I suppose the security are at the entrance?” He asks. “Maybe you should go and check.” I tell him but he makes no effort to go. I move forward but he is still standing.

“Sir, you should be careful,” he cautions and I feel like laughing. “Aren’t you coming with me?” “Sir, I might as well wait outside for anyone that would threaten to follow you inside.” He looks in all directions and gives me the sign of the way forward to soldier on.

“Michael, don’t be like that, stop joking. Charles!” I call but no sound comes from the room. I need to leave now. “Let me check and see if there is anyone inside the room, maybe he tripped, fell and fainted,” he says and goes to take a look. He gasps the moment he pushes the door and looks inside.

“What?” He shouldn’t be dramatic right now.

“Sir, it is a woman!”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“A woman?” Yeah, but why is he panicking about that? He should just ask her to come out or confront her on whatever she is doing here. Could she be one of the security’s girl? But this is against work ethics.

“A…a pregnant woman!” He starters. Could it be Charles’s wife? “Michael, why are you shouting instead of talking to her? Be fast about it, we need to leave.” Doesn’t he know Charles’s wife? If he doesn’t, he just asks who she is and gets over it. Why is he behaving as if he has seen a ghost?

“Who is she?”

“Sir, she is…she is dead.” The moment he says that I feel a sudden urge to get to whoever this pregnant woman might be. Dead? I walk to where he is standing and push him aside so that I can get in. “Sir, wait. You don’t know if she was killed or something. You can’t let your fingerprints be on her. You shouldn’t touch her,” Michael says and I wonder why he thinks the woman is dead. She is facing away from us but she looks oddly familiar. “We have cameras here, Michael so I won’t get into trouble. Why do you even think that she is dead?”

“It’s just an assumption sir.” I step inside the room and crouch down and feel her pulse. Thank God she only fainted. “She is okay, she only lost consciousness. She should be taken to the hospital right now.” I say. “Let me call an ambulance,” Michael says and I turn her head to see who she is. Her hair covers her face in the process and I brush it off her face. My breath catches in my throat as I instantly recognize her. What the hell is she doing here? That one aside, I should take her to the hospital immediately.

“Michael, wait, don’t call the ambulance. It might take too long to get here. Prepare the car, we should be getting to the hospital as soon as possible.” I say and his jaw drops. “Don’t be dramatic, we are leaving now.” It seems he doesn’t recognize who she is yet. “Can I help you carry her?” He asks and I can’t let him do that. “No,” I warn.

“Sir, I am only trying to help.” He says. “Michael, stop all this drama and help me by driving the car, okay? Someone needs to get to the hospital right now.” He looks at the woman I am gathering in my arms and his jaw couldn’t drop any further. “Sir, it’s her, what is she doing here?” He asks as if I know the answers to that question. I mean, aren’t we from the same meeting on the topmost floor or the building?

“Michael!”

“Yes sir!” He leaves hurriedly and I pick her up bridal style and follow him. She is heavier than the last time I carried her to my office but yeah, I can still manage very well. Michael opens the rear doors of my car and helps me get her in gently. I then get in after her and hold her in place as Michael takes the steering and speeds to the hospital. I hope we won’t get a ticket for this.

She is sweating and I take my handkerchief from my pocket and wipe the excess sweat from her face. Her usual calm and beautiful face is distorted and I only hope that she isn’t in pain because that would be a risk to her and her baby.

She opens her eyes slowly and looks at me, opening her eyes wide. “Neera, are you okay?” I ask her and she tries to open her mouth but only a few letters come out. “Neera, please say something, are you in pain?” I ask her but she closes her eyes again back to unconsciousness. “Hey, wake up, we are almost at the hospital,” my pleas fall on deaf ears.

“Sir, we’ve arrived,” Michael announces as he switches off the engine. “Help me get her out of the car.”

***

I am sitting outside the gynecology room waiting for Neera to be attended to. My heart is beating fast in my chest as I remember the way she was trying to talk with difficulty and it breaks my heart. But what was she doing in the basement of my building? Why does she look like that? Do any of my security guys know about this?

The door opens abruptly as the doctor comes out and comes to me. “Mr Aniston.” “Earnest, how is she? Can I see her?” I ask him, concerned. “Relax, Aniston. She is fine. Who is she to you?” I scratch my head and say, “she is my friend.” “Aniston, you have a pregnant girlfriend and you have never told me about it? Did you break your friendship without my knowledge? Wait, where have you been taking her for her clinics? Don’t you have faith in my capabilities anymore?” Earnest and his witty behavior.

“It’s complicated.”

“I see, you had a secret affair. It’s okay, when I get married, you will know about it after a month,” he says. “Earnest, it’s not like that. Seriously, tell me, is she alright?” We are missing out on the main issue here.

“Aniston, she is alright now but her pressure is increasing and she is malnourished. Tell me what you were doing when this happened? Don’t you love her? If you don’t then you can let me take charge, she isn’t bad looking. I can take care of your son very fine.” He says and I widen my eyes, he isn’t joking, he is serious about that. I don’t know how I am going to tell him that I only found her not so long ago in the security guys’ room. I also have a lot of questions for her. I also need to know how Charles knows about her.

“I am sorry man, I need to see her now. I will tell you later about our ‘secret affair’.” If only he knew this is a married woman. “You can go and see her now.”

I open the door slowly and close it behind me before moving to the bed where she is sleeping quietly. I sit beside her and take her left hand in mine. Her hand is soft but cold and I cover my other hand on top of it to at least transfer or share my heat with her. I rub her fingers and notice that her ring finger is empty. What is going on? I don’t know what prompted her to come to my place. Why didn’t she meet me? Could it be that she wasn’t coming to me?

I must be blowing things out of proportion. She might have come to see someone else. When she wakes up I will take her back. I should wait outside before then. I turn to leave but my hand is gripped tightly and I can’t even stand up.

“Mom…mom.. don’t. Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone. I don’t want to…stay. Stay with me.” She murmurs in her sleep. “Neera, wake up.” I say. “Don’t go…don’t leave…, please,” she pleads. “I am not going anywhere. I am not leaving you,” I say, wiping off the sweat on her forehead. She is having a nightmare. She calms down and goes back to sleep peacefully but still holding my hand firmly.

I won’t be able to move my hand from her hold lest it wakes her up. I pull a nearby chair carefully with one of my hands and sit on it, resting my head on the bed and placing our entwined hands above my head.

It is peaceful here except for the smell of the disinfectant. I feel peaceful around this woman, I have never felt like this around any other woman before. Her breath is steady and I look up at her bump that is protruding. I lift my hand slowly and place it on her belly. I spread my fingers but a movement inside her belly makes me withdraw my hand abruptly. What was that? I calm down and remember that she is pregnant and…oh my, did the baby just move? That was, I don’t know how to explain it but it was so refreshing.

My fingers are now itching to touch her again but I don’t know how to stow it away so I give in. The baby seems excited right now. The door is knocked and Michael enters regardless.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” I ask him and he bows. “Sorry sir. I just wanted to know if you are okay in here and that it is late already. How are you planning on getting home?”

“I am going to stay until she wakes up. I need to ensure her safety given that she is here alone and I am sure no one knows where she is. I will have to take her home.” I say and his eyes shift to my hands, one touching her belly and the other holding her hand. I know she is married but what to do, she is hard to resist.

He clears his throat and focuses his eyes back to my face, “but what was she doing at the company? Have you talked to Charles about it? She could have come to visit him and he might be wondering where she has gone to. She doesn’t even have her phone with her.”

“Yeah right but I would prefer if she said it herself. Talking about her phone, could you arrange for it to be brought here together with anything that she had?”

“I can call Charles or his partner to make arrangements for her things to be delivered here.” Michael says and leaves to make a call. After a few moments he comes back.

“Is everything settled now?” I ask him. “No sir, there is an issue,” he answers. “Issue? What issue?” Is he too busy or something? “Sir, she had a bigger luggage with her other than her phone.” “Then was she visiting anyone at the company?” I ask because how can she carry some luggage without going anywhere?

“Let’s talk outside, we shouldn’t wake her up.” She moves her body when I withdraw my hand and I freeze. I watch as she searches for something with her hand and then relaxes.