Seven words were all it took for Lola's perfectly planned life to change.
"Congratulations, Miss Young. You're three weeks pregnant."
"Huh?" Lola's mind went blank.
Pregnant?
She hadn't even processed this as the doctor continued. "I've written you a prescription for your vitamins…"
His voice felt distant as her entire world spun around.
What… what's going on? She wondered.
"Here." The doctor casually peeled the page from his prescription pad, producing a scratchy paper noise that snapped her out of her daze. "Come back next month for your monthly check-up."
Lola opened and closed her mouth, gazing at the prescription atop a small pregnancy manual for first-time mothers. When she looked up, a tiny smile appeared on her face as she let out a short, dry laugh.
"Doctor, are you sure… I'm pregnant?" She asked, visibly causing the doctor to frown. "I think there's a mix-up here. Because that's — that's impossible! I've never been with a man."
She didn't even have a lover; she never had one in her life. Not even flings. Well, if having a fiancé who had only looked at her in disgust could count as getting impregnated, then she'd had a dozen children by now!
So, how could she get pregnant?
"Besides, I'm only here because of some stomach problems… no?" Her voice slowly sounded tinier and more nervous. "Doctor, I really didn't — I'm telling the truth."
The doctor frowned. "Miss Young, did you undergo medical procedures like in vitro fertilization or donor insemination?"
"What? No."
"Then there's only one way you could be pregnant!" The doctor's tone continued to dip.
"But—"
"Miss Young, if you're embarrassed that you got pregnant out of wedlock, please stop wasting our time!" This time, the doctor couldn't help but scold her. His voice was loud enough to reach the people waiting outside for their turn. "We still have plenty of other patients waiting to be examined. I've finished my diagnosis."
Lola frowned and dejectedly left the office.
As she stepped out, she could hear the hushed, nasty comments and see the scornful looks of the other pregnant women outside the office.
"I can't believe she's been keeping this line waiting so long just because she's embarrassed."
"Youngsters these days. They selfishly don't listen to their parents and end up getting knocked up."
"Young guys don't have taste or standards anymore. How could they stomach knocking up such a fat girl? I fear for this new generation."
"She's still so young… another young mother who will have to burden her elders with such a responsibility."
"I pity her child. The child wasn't born yet, but his mother already denies his existence!"
Lola hung her head low as she dragged her feet outside the clinic and jumped back on her scooter. When she reached home, she barely closed the entrance before slumping to the floor as if her entire world were crumbling.
"I'm pregnant…" she whispered to herself, utterly confused. "How?"
But more than the confusion of just being pregnant, Lola was more perplexed because…
"This didn't happen in my first life, though?"
Lola had a secret she hadn't told anyone.
This wasn't her first life.
And in her first life, around this time of year, she… was pushed into an accident that left her crippled for life.
Placing a hand on her stomach, her eyes fell on it. Her lips quivered, still confused how, out of nowhere, she was blessed with a life within her.
"A life…" she whispered to the life within her. "How do I—"
The rest of her words choked in her throat as she remembered one of the mean comments she heard at the clinic.
"I pity her child. The child wasn't born yet, but his mother already denies his existence!"
Lola pressed her lips together and bit them. Her hand pressed against her stomach, eyes softening with guilt and bitter warmth.
"What now?"
Lola's life had always been a tough daily battle ever since she moved out of the Young family. She worked multiple part-time jobs just to make ends meet. Her life was barely starting to look brighter after years of effort and planning, but then this happened.
Even so, with a life growing inside her, she knew she had to make it somehow. Not just for herself, but for this little life that came out of nowhere.
****
Seven months later, Lola's stomach was bigger than that of a typical eight-month-pregnant woman. Somehow, she had managed to survive the past eight months by selling things online and doing some online art commissions. After all, the company she had started was barely staying afloat.
As she walked out of the clinic after her regular monthly check-up, her hands were on her hips for support. Her belly was huge and heavy; she struggled with each step, her back aching.
Suddenly, a flashy neon orange sports car sped past her at high speed.
Lola couldn't help but jolt back, subsequently falling on her bottom. Thankfully, she was able to reach out and land on her palms first. She winced in pain, then worried if her fall might have harmed her baby.
"Lola!"
While she worried about the baby, she abruptly heard a familiar voice. When she turned, she saw Derek storming towards her. The beautiful woman clinging to his arm was Melissa Young, Lola's half-sister.
"How dare you get pregnant while we're engaged, huh?!" Derek pointed a finger at her angrily. "Lola, you always said you'd dedicate your life to me! How could you get pregnant by a hoodlum just because I rejected you?!"
Lola frowned as she darted her eyes between Derek and Melissa. He was saying all this nonsense while her half-sister clung to him like a koala.
"Lola, I couldn't believe it when I heard you're pregnant. You and Derek are still engaged. Are you trying to trap him into raising your bastard?" Melissa mocked disdainfully. "Is this your way of repaying our family's kindness for raising you, an embarrassment?"
Derek fumed even more upon hearing this. He felt Lola was too shameless and ungrateful. The Young family sent her to school, but she got herself pregnant by a hoodlum!
"I'm canceling our engagement! There's no way I'd father a bastard!" Derek's words were like daggers aiming straight at her heart.
It was true that Lola had been engaged to Derek since they were teens. However, she thought the engagement had already been canceled when she moved out. After all, she and Derek were engaged, but he treated Melissa more like his lover than her. They never even hid it, just like right now.
Melissa smirked cunningly, pleased to see the good-for-nothing half-sister miserable. She squeezed her body closer to Derek's side, deliberately pressing her chest against him and smiling beautifully.
"Derek, there's no point in wasting our breath on a woman like her," she cooed. "We already confirmed she's pregnant, and you already canceled your engagement. I'm sure this is enough evidence to cancel the engagement."
Looking at Melissa, Derek's frozen heart melted. The difference between Lola and Melissa was far too great. It was hard to ignore. Melissa was smart, beautiful, and gentle. Lola, on the other hand, was only smart.
"You're right," he agreed. "She's a waste of breath."
Melissa smiled beautifully, and the two lovingly strode off to that horribly blinding neon sports car.
Lola was still left on the ground, watching the flashy neon sports car speed away.
"For someone who doesn't want to waste their breath, they sure know how to run their mouths," she murmured, still holding her stomach. "Who said I'd devote my life to him? He's not even my type. The nerve—oh, no, happy thoughts."
She rid herself of any thought of those evil entities and worriedly gazed down at her tummy. "My baby, are you okay? I'm sorry, Mommy is being reckless. No, I'm not thinking of bad things."
When she was sure she was no longer in pain, Lola helped herself to stand up. With such a big belly, she struggled a little, but she managed. She dusted off her dress and gazed up at the pedestrian light. Seeing it turn green, she carefully crossed the road.
But before Lola could reach the other side of the road, she heard a loud honking noise. A light beamed into her peripheral vision, and when she turned her head, all she saw was a speeding black sedan. No license plate. Just the scent of rubber, and a scream she never finished.
****
Five years later, Lola was seated on a first-class flight back to the country where she had lost her children to fix one problem. Her red lips were drawn in a thin line, and her alluring eyes swirled with curiosity and displeasure at the engagement invitation of her half-sister, Melissa, and her former fiance, Derek.
No, she wasn't coming to celebrate this auspicious occasion with those two. She was flying in to cancel a previous engagement she never wanted, with a family she never asked for.
Melissa could take the man, but Lola was here for something more important.
Five years ago, she lost everything she worked hard for and the little life that made her heart beat because of them.
Now, five years and one first-class seat later, she was finally ready to end it with them once and for all. And while at it, she might as well make them remember never to send her another damn invite about them.
Little did she know, as she was reading this lovely invitation, two small heads just popped up over the seats a few rows from where Lola was. Only the tops of their round faces peeked over the seats—the highest they could reach. But their wide, round eyes gleamed clearly as they eyed the beautiful lady in the last row.
"Ma… mommy," the little girl whispered in awe.
Her twin brother beside her blinked and whispered back, "We found her."