Chapter 3

• ARIA'S POV
• Taking a deep breath, I knock on the door of Savannah's room.
• "Come in," she called from inside.
• I pushed the door open to see her on the bed lying on her back. "Hey."
• She sat up on the bed with wide eyes. "Aria? Do you need something?"
• Since she moved in with us, I had never knocked on her door not to talk of stepping into her room. I had always avoided any reason for going there, so I get why she was surprised upon seeing me.
• "I need to talk to you about something." I fiddled with my finger, unable to meet her eyes.
• "If it's about what you said earlier, you're right. I made a terrible mistake, disappointed my parents, and ruined the future we had planned together. You have every right to be mad at me and I can't blame you for hating me for what I did. It's all my fault, I'm sorry Ari." She wiped her tears.
• "No, Anna. I should be the one apologizing." I gathered the courage to look her in the eyes.
• "Why should you apologize to me? You did nothing wrong." She gave me a confused look.
• Shaking my head, I said, "I did everything wrong. Yes, It's normal for me to be mad at you, but as your best friend who promised to stand by you no matter what, I should have comforted and supported you instead of making you feel worse about the situation. I'm sorry."
• The room was quiet as Savannah stared at me with a bewildered look. Before I knew it, she stood up from the bed and enveloped me in a hug with her bulging stomach standing between us.
• "Where have you been all this while? I was so lonely." She cried on my shoulder.
• I rubbed her back as she sobbed harder. "I'm sorry. I'm here now."
• She pulled away and wiped her tears-streaked face. "But you will be leaving this week and I will go back to being alone again." She pouted.
• "So? Technology has made it easy to communicate and also I will make sure I come back once you have your baby." I smiled at her.
• "Okay, I can live with that." She returned the gesture.
• I bent down so that my face was leveled with her stomach. "Hey dear, how is it going in there? I know Aunt has been a real bitch all this while but I'm hoping you are not too mad at me and find it in your tiny heart to forgive me." I brought my hand up to touch her belly but I paused with my hands hovering over her stomach and glanced up at her. "Can I?"
• She nodded and placed my hand on her belly with her hand on top of mine. All of a sudden, I felt a kick in my palm making me remove my hand with my eyes widened in astonishment.
• "Woah," I glanced up at her with the same expression on my face.
• "That's her way of telling you that you are forgiven." She chuckled at my expression.
• "Do you experience that all the time?" I asked, standing up straight.
• "Most time, especially when your brother is around. It's like she can sense his presence and recognize his voice." She sat down back on the bed.
• "Wow." I nodded before pausing and then staring at her with a confused look on my face. "How do you know it's a girl?"
• "I have a feeling it's going to be a girl though your brother is convinced it will be a boy." She shrugged. "We decided to wait till the baby is born to find out the gender."
• Sitting on the bed opposite her with my legs crossed, I said, "I'll be rooting for you to win because I want it to be a girl too. I can't cope with another version of my brother." I laughed and she joined in.
• The door opened, causing me to turn back and see my mother standing at the entrance. "It's good to see you guys getting along again." She smiled. "I'm going back to the restaurant now."
• "Did you find what you were looking for?" Savannah asked as my mom was about to leave.
• "Yes, dear. See you guys in the evening." She left and closed the door after her.
• Savannah and I spent the rest of the day together as she made me fill her in on everything she missed after she dropped out of school. I also told her about how Lena offered for me to move in with her. Hearing all those things, she promised that she was going to go back to school no matter how challenging it might be and I promised to support her in whatever decision she made.
• It was already getting late when the room door was pushed open followed by my brother's baritone voice, "Anna, I got you the potato chips you have been craving for."
• He stopped on his track when he noticed my presence in the room. With a confused look on his face, he stepped back into the hallway and glanced left and right before coming back in. "Did I enter the wrong house? Or have I been transported to an opposite universal?"
• Without warning, Savannah took my hand and placed it on her stomach. True to her words, her baby kicked on hearing my brother's voice. "Wow, she's going to be a daddy's girl."
• "It's a boy," he corrected, narrowing his eyes at me.
• "Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night." I rolled my eyes as I climbed down from the bed.
• "Wait, what's going on?" He pointed to me and Savannah.
• If I were in his shoes, I would also be surprised to meet two people who have been distanced for seven months suddenly getting along in just hours you left them.
• "What does it look like?" I walked past him toward the door.
• "Did you get me the strawberries I asked for?" Anna asked, diverting Xavier's attention from me.
• "Yeah." He walked toward her and handed the bag in his hand to her.
• My lips stretched in a smile seeing how caring and responsible my brother was. He was a different person from who he was seven months ago. Savannah's pregnancy was all he needed to get his head straight.
• Remembering what my mom told me, I stopped at the entrance and turned to them. "Savannah," I called and she glanced up at me. "Thank you."
• "What?" She raised her eyebrows at me.
• I walked out of the room without replying, leaving her to battle with her curiosity which was going to be annoying for her because Savannah hated being curious more than anything.