Chapter 222

Asher gently brushed the hair back from my face. By now, Chase had visited and then left, leaving Asher and I alone in the hospital room.

I closed my eyes, reveling in the softness of Asher’s touch. He was always gentle with me, but since being here, he had treated me like I was fragile. Like too much pressure might break me.

I wanted to disprove that notion, but honestly, it was very likely the truth of it.

With my stress level so high, I was prone to breaking. I needed an ultra-kind touch right now.

Asher leaned in then, and pressed a tender kiss to my lips. The heart monitor quickened, making my true emotions difficult to hide.

Asher smiled against my lips. “I like kissing you too,” he said.

Embarrassment burned hot in my face. When he leaned back, I hid my cheeks behind my hands.

His smile turned smug. He knew exactly what he did to me. The heart monitor continued to beat too quickly.

“Do you need a minute to calm down?” he asked me.

I nodded. As much as I wanted him to continue doing what he was doing, I didn’t want to alert the entire hospital.

What we did to each other, I wished to keep private, safe behind the closed door of the dorm room we now called home.

Asher seemed to understand. “Why don’t I go down to the cafeteria and see if I can find us a snack?”

My stomach rumbled as he mentioned food.

He laughed, and my heart jumped. I groaned as the heart monitor made it obvious.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” He leaned in again, this time pressing a kiss to the hands that covered my face.

I didn’t lower my hands again until I heard the door latch behind him.

With him gone, I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. With everything that happened since I entered the hospital, I’d been caught up in a whirlwind, not truly able to sit and consider all that has happened. The good and the bad.

The Vice President was arrested. But Joseph was still on the loose. The police were looking for him, enough to help protect me, but I still felt too exposed.

When Joseph had left me those notes, it had seemed like he was everywhere at once. Was one guard at the door going to be enough to stop him?

A knock on the door startled me from my thoughts. It couldn’t have been Asher. He would have just come right in.

“Hello?” I called out.

The policeman peeked his head into the room.

“Apologies, ma’am, but there are a couple here who wish to see you. They are adamant. They say they are your parents?”

The last time I had seen my parents had been at their house, when I had been trying to make my escape. They had been so upset about me being pregnant, and said such terrible things.

Why would they think to come here? How would they even know?

Then I remembered: they were still listed as my emergency contacts. They must have been alerted when I first entered the hospital.

Why did it take them so long to arrive?

“Let us in! I don’t need permission to visit my own daughter in the hospital!”

I recognized my Mom’s demanding voice straight away. She could have been worried about me. Maybe it was worth giving them a chance.

As scared and stressed as I was, I wanted my family. They hadn’t always been the kindest or the most supportive, but they were still my parents. Surely seeing their daughter in the hospital would wake them up and remind them how much I meant to them.

Right?

I was willing to take the chance.

“It’s okay,” I told the policeman. “They can come in.”

He stepped back from the door and my mom and dad burst their way in. They came to my bed, one on either side. I convinced myself that my mom’s scrunched up expression was borne from her concern for me.

It was a nice little dream.

Dad’s expression was much sterner. He’d been the cooler head before, telling all of us to take a breather before speaking again. I wondered now if our few brief days apart had been long enough.

“Cynthia,” my mother said. Instead of the calming, worried tone I had been hoping for, her voice was as demanding as it had been with the police officer.

“Gently now,” Dad said to her. I looked between them, unsure what was happening.

Mom took a steadying breath. When she finished, she leveled me with a flat stare.

“You must see now how dangerous it is to continue this pregnancy,” she said.

Her words shook through me, and the heart monitor beeped quicker. Did they really only come here to try to convince me to get an abortion?

“I’m fine now,” I said.

“Are you?” Dad chimed in. “Then why haven’t they released you? You don’t need to lie to us, Cynthia. You must know that an abortion now would be in your best interest.”

I supposed I could see their side of it, if I tried. Admittedly, I was only here because my pregnancy had weakened my body, and my high level of stress had place both me and my child in mortal danger.

But that didn’t mean that I wanted my baby gone. I’d already sacrificed so much for this baby, and I would continue to do so. Gladly.

I loved this baby, even unborn, and no one was going to convince me to stop.

“You are already here in the hospital,” Mom said. “We’ve already talked to the nurses. The procedure would be so simple. All we would have to do is wheel you doing the hall.”

“No,” I said, finally finding my voice. To emphasize, because they could never seem to listen to me on the first attempt, I said again, louder, “No!”

“Don’t be stubborn, Cynthia,” Dad said.

I shook my head. “I’m never getting an abortion. I love my baby.”

“The baby doesn’t love you,” Mom snapped. “Look at where you are. Look at what that thing inside of you is doing to you. It has already stolen your dreams, and any hopes you might have to find a good mate.”

“That’s not true,” I said.

Asher was the best mate I could have ever wished for, and I knew I only had him because he’d been so protective over me, in large part because of my pregnancy. I’d like to think he would have found me anyway, after a time, but me being pregnant seemed to kick start our whole affair.

“An abortion would be in your best interest,” Dad said.

“I don’t believe that. I’ll never believe that.” I ran my hands protectively over my stomach.

But Dad continued to press. “Don’t you want to be healthy again? Don’t you want to succeed in life?”

“I will succeed, even with my baby.” I just had to go about it in a different way than I had previously planned. “I’m taking the transfer exam, and –”

“The transfer exam?” Dad laughed. “Cynthia, be realistic.”

My mouth snapped closed.

“You are not that smart, Cynthia. We all know athletics was your only saving grace,” Mom said. “Why throw away the only thing you are good at?”

I looked at these two people at my bedside, and started to truly see them for the strangers they were, and not the illusion of good parents that I had envisioned them to be. They didn’t truly care about me. If they did, they would respect my wishes.

I lifted my chin, defiant. “I am never getting an abortion, so if that is the only reason you came here, you can go right back home.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Silence totally engulfed the room

Then Dad’s hand’s clutched into fists.

Mom’s gaze hardened. She looked crazed.

“You will get an abortion,” Mom said. “Even if we have to force you.”