Chapter 2

• ARIA'S POV
• As I parked my clothes in the wardrobe inside my bag, footsteps approached my room followed by a series of knocks. Savannah was the only person in the house with me, so it had to be her.
• "Come in," I said as I continued to fold my clothes inside the suitcase.
• The door opened and I didn't bother looking up because I already knew who it was. "Do you need some help?" she asked.
• "No," I replied without looking at her.
• "You're leaving this week, right? Have you arranged for an apartment yet?" she continued.
• "Yes."
• "Don't you think we should talk before you leave?" She walked further into the room to stand beside me, but I ignored her. "Since I moved in here, you avoided me like a plague. Whenever I tried to talk to you, you either give me one-word answers or give some hurtful remark."
• Refusing to look at her, I muttered under my breath, "I wonder why?"
• "How long do you plan to keep hating me?" She asked but I ignored her as I left her side to fetch my fashion magazines piled under my wardrobe. "What did I do so wrong?"
• I stopped in my tracks and turned to her. "You don't know what you did wrong? Fine, I'll tell you." I took a few steps closer to her so that I was standing in front of her. "You ignored my warning when I told you to stay away from brother as if my words meant nothing to you."
• "Don't you understand that it's so hard to stay away from someone you love?" she countered.
• "Love?" I gave her a confused look. "What kind of stupid love does not warrant you to use protection when having sex? For Goodness sake, he denied you and the baby. You would have been begging on the streets with nowhere to go if my parents hadn't forced him to take responsibility, is that what you call love?" I yelled in her face.
• "I... I... I..." she stuttered when she couldn't say anything to prove me wrong.
• Taking another step closer to her, I said with a soft expression, "We had everything planned together, Ana. Graduate from fashion school with good results, find the perfect job, and get married to a man who would love us unconditionally. This was not part of the plan." I pointed to her belly. "But who knows, you might be happy the way you are. Happy that you have been disowned by your parents, happy that you are restricted from chasing your dreams because of an unplanned pregnancy, happy that you are stuck here with nowhere to go and engaged to a man who is only obligated to take responsibility for you, not because he loves you."
• Her brown eyes were clouded with tears and her lips trembled as she stormed out of my room with her ginger hair bouncing after her.
• My words were coming out harsh, I was well aware of that. She didn't realize the gravity of the consequences of her decision on her life, and it pissed me off that I was the only one who was unhappy about how she turned out which was why I decided to point it out to her. I wanted her to regret her decision and learn a big lesson from it.
• They said every cloud had a silver lining, I hoped she finds her silver lining and does not repeat the same mistake.
• I took a deep breath to calm myself and continued to pack my stuff. I arranged all my boxes by the side of the door and slumped on the bed. Just when I was about to close my eyes and take a brief nap, my door was pushed open.
• Assuming it was Savannah again, I shot up from the bed and raised my voice, "What do you want this time?"
• "My guess was right." My mom leaned on the door frame.
• My eyes widened in shock as I tried to process why she was home by that time of the day. She doesn't close her business until evening time.
• "Rest your brain. I came home because I needed something, I will leave once I get it."
• "Okay." I nodded.
• She walked into the room and sat on the bed next to me. "I stopped by Savannah's room and found her crying, so I assumed it has something to do with you." She narrowed her Hazel eyes at me which I took from her.
• My mom and I had the same physical features except for my light brown hair which I took from my dad. My brother was a photocopy of my dad but he also took my mom's eyes.
• "I only told her what she needed to hear, it's not my fault that she is a crybaby." I rolled my eyes.
• "She's pregnant, of course, her emotions would be all over the place." She held by hand in her. "Ana is not the first person who would make a wrong decision that would have a great impact on their future, so you shouldn't judge and hate her because of one mistake she made."
• "A mistake that could have been avoided if she had listened to me."
• "Ari, I understand that you care about her and you are not happy with the way she is right now. I can tell that you want more than anything for the both of you to have graduated together and celebrate finding your dream jobs, but what has happened has happened. You can't turn back time and change the future by hating her. As her best friend, you should be supporting her and giving her hope that everything will be fine instead of making her feel worse about the situation."
• She was right. I was so mad at Savannah that all I wanted to do was make her regret not listening to me. We promised to always stand by each other, I couldn't believe I broke that promise first and turned my back on her when she needed me to stand by her the most. I was a terrible friend.
• "Do you think she can ever forgive me after what I said to her?" I glanced up at my mom with a remorseful expression.
• "There's only one way to find out." She smiled at me. "Go."
• I stood up to leave the room but her voice stopped me. "When you get there, don't forget to thank her too."
• "Why?" I gave her a confused look.
• "She's the reason why your brother came back to his senses and started acting responsibly. Her pregnancy was a blessing in disguise in your brother's life."
• "You're right." I moved toward her and wrapped my hands around her. "Thank you, Mom."
• "What would you do without me?" She chuckled.
• "Absolutely nothing." I pulled away from her and made my way to Savannah's room.
• Here goes nothing.