21 Drunken Folly (2)

He was confused.

He had a hangover which made his head feel like it being split in the middle.

But that was not the worse thing.

The worse thing was him waking up naked with a woman who was not his wife.

He tried thinking back to the night before, he's head accompanied by a massive headache, but he did not care. It was more important to figure out what happened. After thinking long and hard, he was able to remember some fragments of memories from the night before. He remembered a woman approach her in the bar section with her drinks in her hand. She was familiar to him therefore he let her stay to have chat. She was also in their team, a researcher who was famous for being smart and beautiful, and most of all single. This made every capable male research to woo her, they wanted to the boyfriend of this beautiful researcher. They all tried their best but each and every one failed.

He remembered having a pleasant conversation with her. She had a pleasing personality and was easy to talk with. That was the only thing he remembered. Timothy tried massaging his temple as he looked at the woman beside him. He must have drunk too much for him to black out and not remember anything. He did not wait for Elaine to wake up, he looked for his clothes that were scattered on the floor and wore them. After which he bolted out of the door.

He was so ashamed of what he did that he spent every day and night with his research unable to look into his wife's eyes due to his conscience. He would pass by Elaine once in a while, but the woman was too shy to even maintain eye contact with therefore he also avoided her thinking it was only a one night stand and did not mean anything to her. In his heart, he felt more relieved if that was the case.

He wanted it to be a one-night affair that was due to their drunken folly.

But it seems everything has a cause and effect. No matter how much you disregard or avoid a situation, it will one day hunt you and kick you from behind once you took your guard down.

It was the night Elaine approached him outside of the building with tears almost dripping from her eyes. With a trembling voice and a pleading gaze, she said something that made his world turned upside down.

With a soft voice and while holding onto his clothes she said, "I think I'm pregnant. I'm one week delayed." She was looking downwards afraid to look into his eyes while she told Timothy the truth. Her hands were trembling and her shoulders sagged. Although she was holding Timothy's clothes, it seemed she did not have the strength to properly stop him if he decided to run away.

Timothy felt his heart racing mad, unable to believe what was happening. His expression was one of utter disbelief.

For once in his life he made a mistake.

This mistake was something he could never had dreamt or imagined making.

He loved his wife dearly, no matter what difficulties they were facing right now, he knew that they would be able to fix everything in the end. But now it seemed it was impossible as there was a life, a living being inside Elaine, and he was the father.

He could not accept it as he stood outside with Elaine in front of the building while his mind went blank from the utter shock he experienced. It was then that from who knows where the paparazzi's took pictures of him and Elaine together. It was unfathomable for him to be in the eyes of the paparazzi's as he was not someone famous or newsworthy. It was by pure coincidence that a passing paparazzi took his picture and made a news article about him. He thought it made sense because, at that time, talks about Anne was still circulating in the media. She was still the number one trending topic of discussion.

The picture taken made them look like they were very intimate. The angle made it difficult to see the truth behind the picture taken. From the angle, it seemed like Elaine was holding his hand. Just this single movement of the camera lens made the effects bigger. It made the lies they spread into the tabloids feel more truthful.

This was also the reason why he could not pacify his angry wife as he went home. It had already been a couple of hours and the news had already spread like wildfire on the internet. Once he got home even Anne was aware of the photo taken.

His mind was a mess at that time so he could only leave with regret as he was not able to explain what happened. In truth, he did not know how to explain himself.

What should he say?

That he got a woman pregnant?

He was so drunk that he did not remember anything?

It was due to depression that he drank too much and it was the alcohol to blame?

No matter what he says, they were nothing more but shallow excuses. He did something despicable and all he could do was run away from the circumstance afraid to further hurt Anne in the process.

Original novel by Chuchuwachuwa