Sitting on the chair staring at nothing. A hand was pced on his stomach, rubbing in circles. Wiping his cheeks, he looked at the doctor, who was patiently waiting for his response.

  She smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”

  “At a loss for words, an hour ago I thought this was bullshit, but now what can I say? With everything going on, is this even real? Am I asleep?”

  She nodded knowingly. “I was under the impression that you gave your consent. I hope we can come out of this with a positive note.”

  Shaking his head with a weak smile, “I’ve learned a lot about this business and it seems like this isn’t the worst part apart from me almost dying.”

  Dr Cassidy looked at the screen, then turned it to him. “It’s small, but there’s your baby.”

  Gun’s lips trembled. Afraid to look at the screen, he closed his eyes and wept into his palms. “His dead. What am I supposed to do with his child? Raise it?”

  Dr Cassidy sighed. “I don’t know who the father is but consider how he’d feel in this situation hearing about the baby.”

  Gun stood up. Gring at her, he said, “You performed an operation on me while I was unconscious, while he was out there trying to find the one who hurt me. How and when did you get me pregnant? None of this makes sense and you want me to think about what he would have wanted? What about me? Why did I have to fall in love with him? Why did I have to love him? Why did I cheat on him? Why did he take me back? Why did he love? Why couldn’t I just tell him? Why’d I have to feel so jealous of them? Why couldn’t it be me by his side? Why’d he have to live like that and why did he get so angry when they shot me? Why? Just Why? I want him back. I don’t want a baby, I want him!”

  He dropped back on the chair and screamed into his palms. “Why’d I let him go? I gave him my permission to go after them? Why’d he have to go? I want to hold him, I want to feel him, I want to smell him. I want to hear his voice, to smell the inside of his mouth, I want to taste him and I want him inside me—but there is nothing! All that’s left are my memories and this thing inside me and you want me to believe that this is real? Nothing is real, nothing at all. The only thing that’s real is that my bed is ice cold and that I feel like an empty shell.”

  Taking the seat beside Gun, she held out a business card saying, “Here, take this.”

  Gun looked at it, frowning as he asked, “What is this for?”

  “I can only suggest counselling to help you through your longing for your deceased partner and some guidance about your pregnancy. It can be a little stressful, but you will get through this.”

  “But the other guy, his baby, died.”

  She nodded, “Yes, there are certain complications, but let’s look towards the joy that will come from your foetus.”

  “And what joy are you talking about exactly?”

  Dr Cassidy looked at him, surprised. “Do you really find no joy in this gift?”

  “A gift from who? The heavens? No, this is some shit that I gave no consent to and I wish you asked me because now I have to decide whether I keep this child or kill it and I don’t want to lose anything from him.”

  Watching as he cried, she didn’t know what to do or say; she did what she was asked of and hopefully, Gun doesn’t say something that he shouldn’t.

  Standing up, she walked back to her chair, saying as she sat down, “Mr Laedeke, I hope you understand the situation you are in. You cannot speak of this to anyone other than the people involve. You’ll be experimented on and, or worse, the one who started the company will have a lot to say once he hears that someone is trying to bring his company name down.”

  Gun scoffed, standing up. He pced his hands on the desk, staring at her and asking, “And I wonder who your boss is. In fact, I’d like to have a word with him. I need to be compensated for the damage his employee has caused me, not to mention the emotional and mental trauma. How much do you think that is worth Dr Cassidy? Millions? Maybe more? What about your life? You know, I can take revenge on you.”

  Scoffing, he added, “How about I suggest counselling for performing an illegal experiment?”

  Seeing her expression change, he said, “Not so easy now is it?”

  Looking down at the business card, then at the screen, he said, “Print it.”

  Sitting in the car, he stared at the picture of his baby. Gun said, “I don’t understand Troy, why would you do this? King has children.”

  Turning to him, he answered, “I’ve said it before. He doesn’t have a child with the one he loves. Yes, he loves his children, but those kids are here for his sister, not for him. Sure, he took responsibility for what he helped her with, but he really did love you. I don’t think he knew about the company, but I know he wanted to marry you.”

  “Is there an option to abort it?”

  Troy sighed inwardly. “It’s not too te, but I beg you to reconsider this.”

  “What if it dies like your child?”

  “I have no attachments to it.”

  “Its as easy as that?”

  Troy nodded his head, “It’s what Lovely wanted. He never asked my permission. I considered it, but then again, I could die any day just like King did.”

  Gun sighed, “I loved him, I still do, but this child, how will I live looking at him when all I want to do is to be with his father?”

  “So it’s a boy?”

  “Huh?”

  “No nothing, it’s just funny how you think it’s a boy, considering you don’t want to keep it.”

  “This isn’t the time for jokes.”

  “I’m just reading between the lines. I didn’t agree with this, but it happened. We can work with it or we can work through it. That decision is for you to make, but I will be here by your side supporting you.”