1. Party Favor (part 1)

Most of us have dear memories. Those that bring us happiness, smiles, hearted laughs and peace of mind. Some of us aren't so lucky, some of us can't recall happiness, some of us had traumatizing experiences overtaking all of their so called happiness to an extended where they can't understand the concept of joy. It's all grey.

That's the story of Calla Amara.

For starters, her dear mother, what a creature. Cora was a strong willed woman. That's a way to define her. After a pretty cliche development she found herself madly in love with a rich businessman. Shout out to "madly", she was **madly** in love.

Unfortunately it was a one sided deal.

'But that's just because she hadn't given him enough time to fall for her wholeheartedly' That's what she thought.

To reach her goal she gave the man her heart, soul and body and soon enough she wanted to take his everything. She only forgot to take *the* pill.

She got pregnant. Her first time and bam, baby.

Cora was livid. The man, Mr. H, never even bothered to tell her his real name, on the business world and outside he was known as Mr. H and that's what she knew. On the other way around he did gave her something, his semen, unwanted semen but definitely not unappreciated.

Cora was angry but not at his refusal on recognizing their child, his refusal meant nothing, she could take care of it with a hand tied at her back. She was mad for he had taken her virginity without a single kiss, not even a peck, he didn't gave her release, orgasm who? And as soon as he was finished, Mr. H fled.

She had already come to terms with the fact that a magical first time was just a silly dream and dreams are for the ones that can afford to sleep without fear at night.

Cora had hopes though. Their unborn child would be her free way ticket to his heart.

She tried keeping the conversation between them but his strong refusal made her feel like she had no choice but to abor...

He wished,

her plan had always been to visit his parents first, yet, on the meanwhile on which she tracked their address down, Cora gave Mr. H a heads up. "I'm pregnant, it's yours, marry me, I love you"

She did it for his sake, for their love and their future happiness ( ~sigh).

Let's put into perspective, Cora is a woman who knows no shame, who thinks coyness is a waste of time and she is extremely calculative. She is self conscious, Cora knew for a fact that she was the most beautiful women in the world and Mr. H refusal only proved that he was the one, he wasn't with her for her superior appearance, but out of true interest. That's what she thought.

Interest, something that most of us would call lust and hornyness, but not Cora.

For Cora that was blooming love. Pure, beautiful reciprocate shy love. Yes, Mr. H is a shy man.

Give her 12 hours, a taxi drive, a thick envelope of medical reports, a heavy bag and an address. By lunch time she had already dropped the bomb at his folk's Villa, not without raising a ruckus at the gate in order to gain their attention.

Mr. and Mrs. Handel were terrified.

Cora was beaming, face full of smiles, for now she finally knew his name, Theodore Handel.

His parents chose not to believe her and that got Cora to talk.

She had the motel's register,

Mr. H's, their son's, signature in it. She had the cctv footage of the motel. She had their messages and phone calls register. She had it all.

Cora said she couldn't believe how heartless this people could be, if they were doing it just for they had the power to.

Theodore had went the distance by telling her to abort this child he would never recognize.

How could he do this to his first son, his rightful heir, our baby. She also lowkey threatened to expose the entire thing, how the rich and powerful abused the poor, and by it self tarnishing Theodore's reputation on the business world.

The most unsettling part was that the woman said it all smiling.

The old couple broke out in cold sweat as the smiling Cora took out of her bag a cellphone. An audio recording. A compromising audio recording conversation.

Theodore Handel was screaming at a crying women, telling her that "it" would never see the light of day, telling her that he couldn't even be sure that it was his, for she was a loose woman. A slap followed by the woman's scream was heard.

Mrs. Handel fell on the floor.

The man's shouts and 3 thuds were heard amidst the woman's pitiful cries.

Mr. Handel couldn't take it anymore.

The elderly couple looked up at Cora, who kept beaming holding her medical reports and passing them to Mr. Handel. She had been punched 3 times on her belly. Her 3 weeks pregnant belly had been punched thrice. The report contained a warning of miscarriage risk. Cora had an internal bleeding. She received a slap across her right cheek and ended up biting her tongue, the cut was deep and she ended up with 2 stitches.

The audio recording continues and the process of her being kicked out of Theodore's office, is evident considering the nail scars left on her arm that to this day aren't fully healed.

Mr. and Mrs. Handel were exasperated. Their son was doomed. Mrs. Handel stood up and went at the happy woman. She inquired if Cora was sure that the baby was a boy.

At last, Cora finally stoped smiling. She narrowed her eyes and frowned. The old couple got scared at her face and even more when the girl fell on the floor and started to cry.

She incredulously complained that because of people like them, even the dream of discovering her child's gender during labor and having a surprise was ruined.

If her baby turned out to be a girl they would abandon her, she was scared of this people who saw no value on human life.

She just a family and that man took away her purity, impregnated her and left. All the medical expanses, the medication and exams she shouldered alone. She has no family in this earth, no one to defend her but herself and that's what she gets for loving their son. She had this gut feeling that the baby was a baby boy, but would he or she be loved less if it turned out not to be? How cruel. How awful.

For the maids close by, that was one of the most pitiful scenes they have ever seen, most of them had already started to cry and were looking at their bosses with new eyes, 'heartless people, the rich are the worst.'

One of the maids went to the young women with tissues and a cup of water. This maid, a mother herself, was utterly touched by Cora. She told her to check on her emotions, much agitation would harm the baby and considering the amount of trauma that she already had...

Cora stood up, drank the water and dried her tears. She then hugs the maid very tightly and thank her gazing at her eyes and struggling to hold back the tears. She said she's been trying to smile this entire time in order to don't harm her kid even more, but she just couldn't take this kind of treatment again. The maid smiled at her, gave the bosses a quick stare, bowed for Cora, who immediately bowed back and left the scene.

- "Miss Cora?" asks Mrs. Handel.

Cora looks back at the elderly couple, bringing that unsettling smile back and she tilts her head to the side.

Mr. and Mrs. Handel gaped.

Mr. Handel shouts for someone to summon Theodore as fast as possible and the three keep each other company.

What a joyful moment ! ! !