48. It's your baby.

TONY.

I knocked on Beth's house door one more time, but I didn't get any reply. I was about to call her on the phone when her front door opened and she stepped out. She was surprised to see me. She looked around the house first, probably to see if I was with anyone else. When she didn't see anyone, she turned back to look at me.

"Are you at the wrong house?" She asked mé, a look of surprise still on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her and held her wrist, then I walked into her house, dragging her with me. She closed the door behind her and we both went to the sitting room together to have our seats.

"How're you doing?" I asked her.

"I was fine until I saw you at my doorstep." She said, still looking at me with a look of confusion on her face. "I'm surprised to see you. Why aren't the others with you? Did you all plan something and didn't want me to know?" She asked on and on.

I chuckled seeing how she was contemplating aloud what I was doing at her place. She suddenly stopped talking and started to stare at me.

"Uhm, is anything wrong?" She asked me.

My eyes went from her face to her stomach and back to her face. "Nothing. I came to see you, Beth."

"Uh, me?" She asked with raised eyebrows as she shifted a little on her seat. I could tell that she probably felt a bit uncomfortable or so.

"Yeah, Beth," I said and shifted closer to her, but she moved a little aside too. I chuckled lightly and started speaking. "Congratulations on your baby. I heard about it," I said to her.

She jerked up in her seat quickly. The look on her face was priceless. I could tell from the expression on her face that she was shocked as to how I knew about it. "What… what did you just say? How did you…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of whoever might have told me. Then, the expression on her face suddenly changed, "Was it Lara that told you?" She questioned.

"This isn't about who told me, Beth," I said and stood up, approaching her.

"Then what is it about?" She asked me sternly. With the look on her face, it showed that she was already so bothered about the fact that I knew. It seemed like she was feeling uncomfortable with the discussion we were having. But I wasn't planning to stop anytime soon, not until we get to the bottom of this.

"Who's the father of the child, Beth?" I asked her and her eyes went wide opened one more time, before going back to how it was initially. She tried to stay calm, but by just looking at her, I knew she wasn't calm in any way.

She scoffed and stared at me abruptly. "And how is that any of your business?" She snapped at me. "How is that your business, uh? Who the father of this child is, doesn't concern you in any way."

I moved closer to her and she walked some inches backwards. Then, I stopped to fold my arms, still staring at her intently. "I'm just curious and surprised. Any sane person will feel the same way I feel right now too. You don't have a boyfriend or a fiancé or a husband—"

"Thanks for stating the obvious." She cut in and rolled her eyes at me.

I couldn't help but stare at her and acknowledge her beauty once again. There has been something about her since the first time we met during the one-night stand. She was just everything a man would ever want in a woman, but then, I wasn't ready to be in a relationship so I let the thought of her go, until I met Lara and fell for her. But meeting Beth again, there has been some unexplainable things I felt anytime I come across her. What made me realize my feelings for her, even more, was when I started seeing her with Luca more than I expected. It was already enough shock that they knew each other beforehand, but seeing how she and Luca got close again just didn't sit well with me.

I let out a sigh. She was misunderstanding me, and I didn't like it like that. "Look, that wasn't what I meant, and you know it." I tried to explain to her, but she just stood there staring at me with a look of fear on her face. "I was just surprised that you don't have any male figure like that in your life and you're suddenly carrying a baby. Besides, I'm also aware that you don't hoe around like many females your age, you barely even engage in one-night stands—"

"I do not engage in it at all." She countered firmly. "You and I just happened that day, and nothing of such ever happened again after that. It never even happened before." She tried to defend herself. I knew she was saying the truth, but what she didn't know is that she was only giving me hints about who the father of her baby is.

"I believe you," I said, and she let out a sigh of relief. "But that only means that you didn't have sex with anyone recently, which equals to the fact that the last person you fucked was me," I stated. From the way she was glaring at me, I felt she already knew where my speech was headed, so I smiled a bit. "Does that possibly mean… In fact, what am I even saying? That points to the fact that the baby in you belongs to me," I pointed out calmly.

Her mouth opened, but no words came out of it. She was probably terrified that I knew about it, and she was going to deny it, but she preferred not to. She sighed and sat on the sofa next to her, and then she spoke. "Fine, it's your baby, okay? But this mustn't be known to anyone, especially Lara. She'd be so hurt to find out she was being cheated on, and it would even hurt her more to know that her best friend is carrying her boyfriend's baby." She explained to me. On her face was a look of sincerity, like she was begging me not to tell her.

"But that's my baby too, Beth. Sooner or later, she'd find out about it," I said to her.

"She won't. As long as nobody tells her, she won't. Let's just keep this a secret between us, okay?"

I stared at her intently and she also stared back. Then I blurted out the unexpected. "I like you, Beth."