Chapter 63: The baby is Mine alone

She expected them to leave the room, but they lingered there. As she forced her eyes closed, she heard them mumbling quietly.

With a glare, she turned to them. "Won’t you leave so I can rest?"

Chris sighed. "I’ll come back to check if you have used the drugs."

He placed a small kiss on her hand and left.

Rauf remained in the room. He couldn’t leave her alone, not when he knew she was bothered about something and was probably overthinking it.

June’s brows furrowed.

She had been careful about her pregnancy. Apart from Ellie, no one else knew about her appointments. She had made sure to wear big shirts to work just to hide her small bump.

And now, the person she wanted to hide it from most was the one who had already figured it out.

How?

When?

It couldn’t be.

She removed the blanket from herself and turned to see him watching her.

Glaring at him, she asked, "You haven’t answered my question yet."

Rauf knew what the question was.

But her mood was off, and this was the wrong time to give her an answer.

"I think you should use your drugs now and rest."

"Not until you tell me how you knew," she insisted.

Rauf pinched his nose. She wasn’t planning on letting him off the hook.

"I found out when I realized you had been going to the hospital."

June’s eyes bulged.

"You have been keeping tabs on me."

Silence.

There was no point in lying to her.

"How could you?" Her voice was starting to rise again.

And the doctor’s warning kept ringing in Rauf’s ears, but he couldn’t just leave her with this unresolved anger. If she wanted to channel her anger towards something or someone, he didn’t mind.

"What gave you the right to keep a tail on me?"

Rauf sighed. "It’s not what you think."

June tsked, shaking her head. "You don’t get to tell me what I think. You don’t even have the slightest idea what my thoughts are."

Silence.

There was no point in provoking her.

Instead, Rauf kept quiet and let her channel all her anger towards him. She called him all sorts of names and told him how he was such a selfish man.

Yet, when she was done, she told him quietly, "I don’t care if you know about my baby or not. I just want you to know this baby has nothing to do with you."

Rauf moved backward.

He knew she hated him.

But he had no idea it was to the point of denying him his child.

"June..." he started, his voice softer than usual.

"I don’t want to hear what you have to say." She pulled the blanket closer to herself. "You made it clear when I told you about the baby. You didn’t want it then. And I don’t think you still do."

She rested her hand on her stomach.

"This baby is mine alone."

Rauf watched her quietly. The more she spoke, the more the vein on her forehead appeared.

He wanted to be a source of calmness to her, but yet his presence alone brought more anger to her.

The food and drinks he had bought for her were probably somewhere getting cold.

Having no idea what else he could do to please her, he took the bold step.

"What do you want me to do?"

But before she could answer, the door opened again.

Chris came back with a plate of food and a bottle of water.

"I thought you might end up getting hungry. You didn’t eat much during dinner."

June watched him drop the food and water beside the drugs.

Rauf had kept a bit of distance from them.

She couldn’t hold it in anymore.

"Chris, did you know anything about my pregnancy?"

At first, there was silence.

But after a while, he nodded.

June’s eyes widened again.

Was she that careless?

"Since when?"

He let out a breath of relief.

"Not quite long."

June looked away from him.

"I had no idea how you found out. I wanted to be the one to tell you about it." She sighed. "I bet you’re ashamed to have me as a sister now. You just found me and I was already pregnant..."

Before she could continue, Chris cut her off.

"Come on. This is great news. Why would I be ashamed of you because of something like this? If anything, I am more proud of you."

June’s gaze swayed to Rauf for a moment before moving back to Chris.

"Even if it doesn’t have a father?"

Chris wanted to look at Rauf.

He wanted to see his reaction and ask how exactly he planned on winning her back.

But June was already suspicious of them. A simple glance at Rauf could alert her to the things he knew.

So instead, he held her hand and smiled.

"Even with that. You’re family, and by extension, your baby is family."

A small smile appeared on her face.

She had thought of the best way to present it to Chris, but she had never thought he would be this understanding about her situation.

"What we should be talking about is the fact that I am about to become an uncle."

Her smile got wider.

"Yes. You just became a brother, and you’re about to become an uncle."

Chris nodded.

"Talk about a double blessing. Do you have a name already?"

And to ease June’s mind, he started mentioning different names he would love to call her child.

Rauf watched them with a feeling akin to jealousy.

He imagined himself sitting next to her just as Chris was, suggesting names they could give their child together.

When she had said that even if the baby didn’t have a father, he felt something strange run through his body.

And at that moment, he promised to do anything to make sure his child had a father.

Seeing that she was finally relaxing while discussing with Chris, he could tell his attention wasn’t needed anymore.

"I’ll be leaving now," he said.

June ignored him.

"I’ll be back to check on you..." He paused before adding, "...and the baby."

Then he left the room.

Rauf frowned.

He had spent all day at the mansion because of her, yet he was unable to move her.

Just as he was going to his car, without caring that it was too late, he heard voices.

"Did you figure out why she collapsed?"

It was a female voice.

A very familiar voice.

But he knew it couldn’t be June because she was still resting on the bed and talking to Chris.

So, it was just one person.

Amie.

The other voice responded, but his voice was low.

So low that regardless of how Rauf strained his ears, he couldn’t hear anything.

Then Amie’s voice came again.

"Then that will be your first assignment, and I want you to find out as soon as possible."

Rauf waited, but there was no more voice.

He heard the sound of footsteps coming towards his direction, so he started walking.

Soon, he almost collided with Amie.

She had wiped off the excessive makeup on her face and had changed into something more appealing.

A look of shock crossed her face when she saw Rauf, but then she forced a smile.

"You’re still around, darling."

Rauf ignored her.

She remained by his side as he moved towards his car.

"How’s June?"

Again, he ignored her.

"Why did she collapse? Is something wrong with her?"

Rauf paused.

Was she trying to extract information from him?

Did she think he was some sort of fool?

Just for the pleasure of seeing the look on her face, he asked, "Who were you talking to just now?"

Amie looked backwards, her eyes widening in shock as she touched her chest.

"Me?"

No response.

She chuckled.

"I wasn’t talking to anyone. Maybe you heard someone else."

Rauf nodded.

"Are you sure it wasn’t you?"

She shifted on her toes.

"Maybe you heard one of the maids. I was just coming from the garden. I needed some air after what happened to June."

She stopped following him.

"I think I would say my goodnight at this point. And I am sorry I haven’t come back home. I need to resolve some things here. After that, I’ll be back. Don’t miss me too much."

She screamed the last part before turning towards the direction of the house.

Rauf stopped at his car, opened it and sat inside.

With no one in sight, he hit the seat in anger, releasing some of the anger he had pent up within him.

What had he done?

Or more importantly, what was he supposed to do?

He was so clueless.

Another day spent without achieving his goal.

Another day spent away from the person he wanted to be closest to.

And then he remembered how free and close she seemed with Chris.

Maybe he needed to let go of some of his pride and ask Chris for help.

Whatever would help him.