44. I'm so happy for you.

BETH.

The girls had started dancing by now, but Lara was nowhere in sight. I was in no mood to dance, so I decided to wait for her. While waiting for her, I began to feel nauseous again. Immediately, I rushed to the bathroom and vomited. When I was done cleaning the mess, I angrily picked up my phone where I placed it and dialled my doctor's number. After the third ring, she picked up the call.

"Good day, miss Elizabeth," she called out to me.

"Doctor, I don't get it anymore. This shit is bothering me so much, I can't explain it." I ranted to the doctor.

"Calm down, ma'am." She said to me with a calm voice. "What is it that's wrong with you?"

"Isn't there something I can do to stop this vomiting thing? It's annoying me," I said. "Must everyone know I'm pregnant?" I snapped at her.

Ever since the day, I found out about the pregnancy and I got to know that that was the reason for my constant vomiting, it had become tiring for me. I was getting tired of it already, and I've come to know that the only thing I can do is ask her what way to go.

"Calm down. It's one of the signs that you're pregnant. You have to take it however it comes. I'm sorry I can't help you with that," she said to me.

"Shit!" I snapped at her, then I hung up the call immediately. I hissed angrily and opened the bathroom door of the bathroom, only to see Lara standing in front of the room. A look of shock appeared on my face as my heart began to beat hard. I didn't want her to know yet, and no one needed to tell me that she had already heard everything. Shit. "Uhm, why are you here? Were you trying to eavesdrop?"

"No, no, not at all." Then, she scoffed. "Wait, why would I even eavesdrop if you aren't hiding something?" She asked me, and then she folded her arms. I could tell from the way she was staring at me that she was about to say something harsh. Her eyes went from my face to my belly and back to my face. "So, tell me, who were you calling in the bathroom?" She asked me.

"I came to ease myself. Then I got a call from my mum and I spoke to her. Anything wrong with that?" I asked her, trying my best to look confident and not like I was hiding something.

"Beth, I heard you talking to someone that you were pregnant. I wonder why you're lying about that. Maybe I ain't your best friend after all, because immediately I knew about my pregnancy, you were the first person I told about it. I wonder why yours is different." She said and rolled her eyes. She walked further toward me and stood in front of me as if waiting for me to counter her accusations.

"I'm not ready for this conversation, Lara. I have things to do. Besides, I don't know what you're talking about." I said and was about to walk away when she dragged me back by the arm. I turned to look at her and was about to speak, but she beat me to it.

"Beth, are you pregnant or not?" She asked me. "Look into my eyes and tell me the truth. I'm not going to bite you or anything, because who am I even to judge? I'm pregnant too! I'm even excited about it because we'd have our birth almost at the same time unless you plan to abort it?" She asked the last part calmly. When I didn't answer, she raised her eyebrows at me. "You aren't planning to abort it, are you? Oh my God, are you? Okay, look here, is it because you don't know who the father is? Trust me, you can just pin it on any man. Look at what I did now, and I'm still with Tony!"

Yeah, because he has no idea about it. I thought but didn't say it. I let out a sigh as I thought about it. There was no point lying to her anymore because she caught me red-handed already. The only thing I needed to curb right now was that she shouldn't tell anyone about it. I needed to keep it hidden till I knew what step I would like to take next.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Lara. That was the only reason I didn't. I was scared of letting you know I didn't know the father of the child. I know you're going through yours at the moment and I didn't want it to bother you." I said to her, feigning sadness in the best way I could.

I could tell that she bought that lie as she immediately pulled me into a hug. "Oh my God! I'm so happy for you! I am!" She said and held my hand when she was done talking. Her eyes lit up in excitement as she stared into my eyes, still holding my hands. "We need to throw a party to celebrate both of us!"

That was what I was avoiding by not telling her. Immediately, I countered it. "Oh, no, there's no need. I'm not ready to tell anyone yet. You know, they'd want to know who the father of the child is, and—"

"I told you already, Lara," she cut in. "Just pin it on anyone just like I did. Since you don't want to abort it, which I strongly advise against, then pin it on any random guy! It could even be Luca."

I coughed immediately after she said that. Luca? Lara sure doesn't know what she's talking about. "Lara, Luca and I have nothing going on, I told you. It would be absurd to pin it on him."

Her eyes went wide open in surprise. "Wait, do you mean…" her voice trailed off as she used her hands to demonstrate what she wanted to say initially. She was trying to ask if Luca and I have had sex before, which made me roll my eyes at her.

"No, Lara. We have nothing going on, we've not had sex and we don't plan to. Not soon, not later." I said to her.

She was about to speak when Janet walked in. "What are you guys doing here all alone? We've been waiting for you two," she said to us.

"Oh, Beth was just telling me—" Lara was about to tell her the news of the pregnancy, but I interrupted her quickly.

"Yeah, I was telling her that we needed to return to the sitting room to join you guys. I came here to ease myself, so she's been looking for me." I said quickly, and Lara looked at me confusedly.

"Oh, let's go then," Janet said and walked out.

"What was that?!" Lara snapped.

"Later," I whispered and pulled her out of the guest room to go join them in the sitting room.